Renault has presented the Scenic Vision, a compact class show car with fuel cell plug-in technology. The car can run on both electricity from the socket and hydrogen. The French company describes the concept as a preview of a future purely electric family vehicle.
The special feature is that while other fuel cell vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai or the Hyundai Nexo only have a very small battery, the Scenic Vision has a considerable 40 kilowatt-hours of storage capacity. This makes the battery much larger than that of the Mercedes GLC F-Cell (13.8 kWh), which, like the Renault concept, can also be charged externally.
Renault refers to a “battery fuel cell drive” in the announcement. However, this may cause confusion. For the Toyota Mirai or Hyundai Nexo are also powered by an electric motor and have – albeit a very small – battery on board. So small, in fact, that pure battery-electric propulsion without the fuel cell can only take place a few hundred metres – if at all. Mercedes, on the other hand, later launched the GLC F-Cell, a vehicle with fuel cell plug-in hybrid technology, which with its 13.8 kWh battery could at least cover a few kilometres purely battery-electrically and be charged at a charging station or wallbox.
Renault has now presented a similar concept with the Scenic Vision. The drive in this vehicle combines an externally excited synchronous motor with 160 kW in the rear and the aforementioned battery with 40 kWh. In addition, there is a fuel cell with 16 kW and an H2 tank that can hold 2.5 kilos of hydrogen.
For everyday journeys, Renault says the Scenic Vision operates like a typical electric car and does not use the fuel cell. For longer journeys, a route planner is supposed to calculate the share of power that the fuel cell has to take over to generate electricity, so that the user does not have to charge the battery on his route if possible, according to Renault. However, Renault does not give exact ranges or charging times.
The study also has the technical prerequisite for bidirectional charging and can feed electricity back into the grid using vehicle-to-grid technology (V2G).
The concept car consists of over 70 per cent recycled materials by weight. Similarly, 95 per cent of the materials that make up the vehicle, including the battery, can be recycled as part of the industrial materials cycle, according to the French company.
Renault describes the concept as a preview of a future all-electric family vehicle. The French manufacturer is rumoured to be reviving its Scenic compact van with an electric powertrain.
With reporting by Daniel Bönninghausen, Germany.
Keyword: Renault presents Scenic Vision concept with battery & fuel cell