Bringing the much needed motor show ‘concept aura’ to the Renault pavilion at the 2016 Auto Expo was the EOLAB prototype. A “major engineering accomplishment in automotive innovation” according to the French carmaker, the EOLAB astonishes with its miserly fuel-sipping capabilities. The petrol electric hybrid is built on a B-segment vehicle platform and boasts around a hundred engineering innovations. The headline with the EOLAB is its claimed fuel consumption levels of 1 litre per 100 km. To achieve the feat, the EOLAB prototype relies on a lightweight design, focused aerodynamics and hybrid technology.
The technological innovations on the car are expected to feature on future Renault models by 2020. For now, the EOLAB is powered by a 1.0-litre, I3 petrol engine producing 75 hp, which is married to a 53 hp electric motor located in the clutch casing. Power is channelled to the front wheels with the help of, wait for it, a three-speed gearbox. There’s also a small-ish 6.7kWh lithium ion battery pack conjoined with the system allowing the car to go about 67 km on electric power alone.
The EOLAB comes with two driving modes – Weekday and Weekend. The Weekday mode is the sadder of the two, focusing unrelentingly on efficiency while the Weekend mode allows the petrol and electric power units to work together for maximum output and fun.
The weight of the EOLAB is a low 995 kg thanks to a lightweight steel, aluminium and composites construction. The car can also be lowered to reduce wind resistance to further increase efficiency. With some help from the specially designed aerodynamic wheels shod with narrow tyres, and spoilers the drag coefficient can be brought down to 0.235 Cd.
The technologies used on the EOLAB prototype will be used to power the ‘HYDIVU’ Mild-Diesel Hybrid prototype for LCVs, the ‘POWERFUL’ two-stroke, two-cylinder super-charged and turbo-charged diesel engine and the ‘VELUD’ Twizy-based electric urban delivery solution.
Check out the images of the EOLAB prototype in the gallery below
