Skip to content

Technology & Innovation — December 22, 2011

The Twizy: Europe’s Electric Concept Car

French car maker Renault is preparing to release its vision of what the commuter of the future will drive. The vehicle is built for two, has no doors and gets 62 miles per electric charge.

bigthinkeditors

What’s the Latest Development?

French car maker Renault is ready to make the Twizy reality. Once the company’s electric concept vehicle, it is scheduled to be sold in France this spring. With room for two people and no doors, the vehicle looks like a souped up golf cart though it is capable of traveling 62 miles on an electric charge from any household outlet. Like other electric car customers, friends of the Twizy will buy the car outright but lease the batter from Renault, greatly reducing fuel costs as they make our cities more efficient.

What’s the Big Idea?

The city of Paris, which was the first to introduce a municipal bike sharing program, has frequently taken the lead in shaping tomorrow’s cities. Now French officials are pitching the Twizy as the future of inner-city commuting. While the car’s no-door design means drivers will have to bundle up in the winter, subsidies from the French government may make that prospect more tolerable. After applying the subsidy to the Twizy 45, which doesn’t require a driver’s license in France, the cost comes to about $7,300.

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

Related

A pixelated image of a person in a white hoodie walking in the woods, with the person's face obscured by pixelation. The background features reddish handwritten text overlay.

25 years since Columbine: We’re closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology

Public mass shooters almost always have worldviews shaped by the "3 Rs": rage, resentment, and revenge.

An edited image of elmo peeking out from a trash can, positioned among scattered multiple cartoon-like chat bubbles expressing humorous thoughts.

Everyday Philosophy: “Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?”

When does "oversharing" become an issue?

Bald man in casual attire sitting on a stool with a strategic diagram background in yellow.

Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders

The ability to toggle between abstract and concrete thinking is a key differentiator of high-potential leaders.

A split image with a close-up of a blue eye on the left, and a classical painting of a woman resting her head on her arm on a sofa on the right.

Want true success? Be more philosophical about “good” and “bad” failure.

Bob Dylan gave us the paradoxical gem "there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." He had a point.

atom quantum

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

Up Next

Technology & Innovation

Google to Release Tablet Computer in Six Months

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has told an Italian newspaper that the company intends to release a high-market tablet computer in the next six months which could rival Apple's iPad.