But what we first learn from Patrick Lecharpy is that the EZ-1 is designed for car-sharing ... It follows that you will not be able to buy it, since Renault's goal is to switch us from the possession of the vehicle to its sole use, therefore its rental, by the hour, by the day etc. A very interesting idea for large metropolises but which excludes somewhat distant suburbs, small and medium-sized towns and of course the countryside, where the Twizy is nevertheless not absent ... The other consequence of car-sharing strictly urban, as other sources assert, is that the EZ-1 will be "license-free" therefore limited to 45 km / h. Therefore it will not be the replacement for the Twizy 80 which is limited to 84 km / h and requires a license.
The presenter tells us very quickly that the EZ-1 is connected and that it is an electric vehicle. Okay ... No indication of the benefits or the need for this connectivity but the word is placed ...
Then come considerations on the little printfoot that the EZ-1 have since, like the Twizy, you can park 3 in a single parking place. Other sources of information indicate that the EZ-1 would be 2.30 meters long, roughly like the current Twizy. According to Patrick Lecharpy, it would be the least bulky of the quadricycles, but we don't know more.
Patrick Lecharpy claims that since the EZ-1 is for car-sharing, it is sturdy, which is indeed necessary as these shared vehicles often get abused. He says it has 2 doors that open vertically, in other words scissor doors like the Twizy, so that you can get in and out of the car easily and safely. What is funny in this passage is that Patrick Lecharpy does not show any of this, he only talks about it, which logically leads me to think that what he designates as a "prototype" is just a model without any functionality, a block of plastic placed on wheels ... The term prototype seems rather abusive ... On the other hand, when you know the Twizy well, which is my case, you knows that access to the rear seat is not really easy, however, looking closely at the video of the EZ-1 we see that the steering wheel is slightly shifted to the left and therefore the driver's seat too. Would it be to make life easier for the passenger? We can hope so.
We are told that the EZ-1 is bright and open to the city, we can believe it, the glass surfaces are generous. On the other hand, when we are told that it is comfortable, we would like to have some details ... Still looking very closely at another extract from this presentation, I think I can guess that the driver's seat is quite simply that of a Twizy and I can guarantee you that this is not a model of the comfortable kind!
Now here is a very interesting element concerning the batteries. Well, no technical information on their capacity, so we cannot deduce anything from the autonomy on a full charge which would be according to other sources limited around 75 km like the Citroën Ami. No, the interesting thing about this is the fact that these batteries are exchangeable, ie instead of having to wait to recharge to start again, we “simply” exchange the battery with another previously charged. In theory, this is a big plus for car-sharing companies with a significant gain in productivity. In practice, this assumes a heavy infrastructure. This concept of swappable batteries (or quickdrop) is not new, which is not to say that it is not a good idea. But it has already had its "flop" in 2013 with the bankruptcy of Better Place, a specialized company in which Renault had however invested before withdrawing, judging that there was "no economic model". It must be said that it is already difficult to install sufficient charging stations, then battery exchange stations ... Wait and see ...
Patrick Lecharpy is now talking about an ecological plus : EZ-1 will be made of 50% recycled material. In addition, it will be "refreshed" twice which will lead to a final recycling of 95% of the vehicle. Nice score that we can only approve but will the batteries be part of this calculation? That too remains to be seen.
Last information and perhaps not the best: the EZ-1 will not be available until 2023 ... By then a lot can happen and we have seen a number of concept cars remain in the pipeline. Right now the EZ-1 is just an idea.
Conclusion: as a fan of Twizy, I was rather disappointed by this presentation which in the end is only based on a pretty model whose only available features seem to be just a few lights and a screen on the front that displays "Mobilize"... The rest is just words and good intentions, that's okay, but that leaves room for many questions.
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