Renault gets an EV to go nearly 1000 miles in 24 hours

Dan Seitz Contributing Writer, Tech

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One of the big problems with electric vehicles is the range. Even the best vehicles have, at most, 200 miles of range, and then they have to charge for hours. Unless, apparently, you’re Renault.

Yes, Renault, one of many ongoing and thriving French jokes, has somehow managed to pull off a fairly impressive engineering feat: they got one of their cars to work.

Also, said car, an electric vehicle, traveled nearly 1000 miles in 24 hours. Yes, by itself, using its motor. It wasn’t towed or anything.

How’d they pull it off? They had the car perform “rapid” charging, which is to say you plug it in and wait half an hour, and that gives you roughly 130 miles of range. Granted, waiting half an hour to charge is not the best time, but it beats the overnight charge current EVs require.

This is actually a fairly big deal technologically because it makes EVs a lot more viable as cars. True, they’re not perfect, but this “rapid charge” makes using them for longer trips a lot more viable.

Also, a Renault runs! It’s a miracle! OK, OK, they’re not that bad, but come on, the French aren’t known for their engineering or their hip-hop for a reason.

Renault Zoe EV Goes Nearly 1000 Miles In Tests [Autoblog Green]