But the number of car manufacturers investing in electric cars and relevant technology grows by the day, and one manufacturer seems to be taking larger steps than most.

Renault.

Between now and October 2012, Renault are planning to introduce 4 EV (Electric Vehicle) models to the UK market: a Kangoo van, the Twizy, the Fluence Sedan and the Zoe. (Is it me or have they run out of names – or are they just now taking the mickey?)

That’s a big commitment to electric power from the French Va Va Voom merchants. As Andy Heiron, head of the electric vehicle programme at Renault UK says: “If you’re going to do it, you need to  offer a range of vehicles and we’ve made a very significant investment.”

Andy also believes that there is a collective movement towards electric vehicles despite “…cynicism out there, but the only proof of this particular pudding is going to be in the eating.”

Renault’s electric journey is all the more amazing when you consider France’s love affair with diesel but its not eggs in the basket time. These 4 cars are just part of Renault’s plans for the future. Heiron says that the future “…will become a closer choice between petrol, diesel and electric”  and that “some (people) will switch to fit their moral compass, others because it makes financial sense.” of the cars and vans.

One way that Renault hopes to capture the electric market and to differentiate itself from others is to lease the owner the expensive battery at a price around £70 to £80 a month, meaning that  it can undercut the initial price. An interesting move as the Fluence, for example, undercuts the Nissan Leaf by just over £8,000.

Admittedly there will need to be a leap of faith to go from fuel to electric, possibly via hybrid, but Renault hope that, by showing their belief in the electric revolution, their customers will follow.

Fans of the Renault Laguna will be pleased to hear of the introduction of a new 1.5 dCi 110 engine to the popular Hatch and Sport Tourer models.

Featuring new technology, lower CO2 emissions and improved fuel economy, the new 1.5 dCi engine replaces the existing 1.5 dCi unit offered in the current Laguna range and beats rivals VW Passat, Ford Mondeo and Peugeot 508 hands down with its new CO2 and MPG figures.

With the new 1.5 dCi engine under its bonnet, the Renault Laguna returns an impressive 109 g/km of CO2 for the Hatch and 110 g/km for the Sport Tourer. Fuel consumption is also notable with the official figure now at 67.3 mpg on a combined cycle, giving the car a theoretical range of over 970 miles on a single tank of diesel.

Renault has also announced that the new Laguna will also feature Energy Smart Management (ESM) first seen on the 1.6 dCi 130 engines found in the Renault Scenic. This new system enables the kinetic energy generated during declaration or braking to be recovered and re-used to power the cars heater, lights and audio system.

Orders for the new 1.5 dCi engine are now being taken with the first vehicles due to arrive late October / early November.

Wouldn’t you just love to be considered to be one of the world’s greatest minds? It would mean that you’d get to test-drive the latest in zero-emission technology when the Renault-Nissan Alliance takes place in a global conference.

I didn’t receive an invitation. I guess I can assume, then, that I’m not amongst the artists, scientists, economists, philosophers and activists who’re together judged to be some of the world’s greatest minds. They’re meeting this week at Edinburgh’s TEDGlobal conference.

Now. What’s the TEDGlobal conference? Well, it’s an event which aims to answer such questions as “How can life be better lived?” Good question. This year’s event will take place July 11-15. The Renault-Nissan Alliance (automotive partner of the conference) will provide a platform for nearly 1,000 participants to drive their latest in their zero-emission vehicles at the show and on the streets of Edinburgh.

Sounds fun.

TED started in 1984 as a conference which aimed to bring together luminaries from the fields of technology, entertainment and design. They’re a non-profit organisation who claim to be devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It seems that TED conferences have become must-attend events for “early adopters” in worldwide industry and academia. That I’ve never heard of them before today I think goes in a long way to explain as to why I wasn’t bloody invited.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance prides itself on being the global leader in sustainable transportation. They also recognise themselves as the only car group to be launching a range of affordable EVs for mainstream consumers worldwide. You are, of course, by now familiar with the Nissan LEAF. It;s a mainstream, affordable zero-emission car which consumes no oil at all and can be charged from nearly any energy source – from conventional electricity to home solar panels and other forms of renewable energy.

The Nissan LEAF will, of course, take centre stage at this year’s TEDGlobal. Also appearing, though, will be Renault’s offerings to the world of electric vehicles – Twizy and Fluence Z.E.

Renault Twizy is a two-seat commuter car which promises to be affordable, practical and safe – without compromising on style or aesthetics. With its 15kW AC motor, top speed of 80km/h and range of 100km, it’s designed to be the environmentally sound choice for the inner city traveller.

Larger is the Renault Fluence Z.E. It’s a full electric five-seat saloon which, thanks to its innovative patented floor design which allows a fully automated battery pack swap to be undertaken in less than five minutes, recently won a 300km Inter City Challenge where it beat not just conventionally powered cars, but other EVs too. It’s powered by a 70kW AC motor, has a top speed of 135km/h and a range of 185km.

Says Hideaki Watanabe, Corporate Vice President of the Zero Emission Business Unit at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Renault-Nissan Alliance Managing Director, Zero Emission Business: “TEDGlobal is an inspirational five days of thought-provoking presentations designed to provide genuine hope for the future. Similarly, the electric vehicles from the Alliance are the auto industry’s hope for a future where we are no longer dependent on a single, non-renewable form of energy. It’s an excellent partnership.”

Thanks, Hideaki.

I’m now going to polish up on my intellect in the hope of getting myself invited to next year’s event.

The Renault Twizy, showcased at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year and due for release in March 2012, is the latest in a long line of fully electric vehicles being released recently with the Green revolution seemingly in full swing now.

The Twizy as a concept seems a good idea, small, nippy, zero emissions, relatively cheap at a projected £6,000, not bad for an electric car. However it does have one large, gaping problem; there are no doors only a rather flimsy looking side bar to prevent the driver sliding out and underneath the wheels of passing vehicles. Well, they do offer a model with optional doors, but it’s not a lot of help, the ‘doors’ are only the bottom half of the doors and there are no door windows so Twizy drivers may be advised to put apart some money on top of the £6000 price tag for a good coat, scarf and hat, and maybe a pair of those old driving goggles. It might be worth it just to be able to justify wearing a pair of those…

Weighing just 450kg including its 100kg battery pack, Twizy qualifies as an L7e quadricycle under EU regulations. The Twizy also features tandem seating with apparently enough space in the back for passengers although how much room they’ll have is questionable with general reviews suggesting not a lot. The controls are simplicity itself however and the Twizy has a rather essentialist approach; there’s a start button, a gear stick, handbrake, and screen displaying speed and battery life. And that’s about your lot. All you need and nothing more. Doors optional.

The safety features are a snazzy 4 – way seat belt and air bags but being classified as a quadricycle it requires no rollbar or crash tests which is reassuring to say the least. In relation to performance the range on the car is roughly 80 – 100 km (about 62 miles) and the top speed is only 50mph.

The Twizy is sure to be popular for those living in the city for nipping about cheaply through the traffic but don’t kid yourself that it could be used for anything more.

The Renault Kangoo Van Z.E., the world’s first 100% electric light commercial vehicle, will go on public sale in October priced at £16,990 to £18,690 excluding VAT. Even without the government’s £5,000 green incentive it is still almost £8,000 less than the much derided Nissan Leaf. It is arguably better looking also. The battery, however, is leased to customers at £59 per month based on 9,000 miles/4 years.

The Kangoo Van Z.E. has a range of 100 miles and this can be monitored by the user through the Man Machine Interface; further evidence that the judgement day Sarah Connor hoped to avoid is fast approaching. Man machine Interface? Really? You mean the screen that will beep/flash to let me know I won’t be making it to the church on time? Does it need such an ominous name?  

Anywho, The Z.E. is identical to its petrol powered equivalent in terms of load capacity, dimensions and equipment while the internal experience benefits from more advanced technology and a quiet motor.  

Darren Payne, Director of Fleet and Commercial Vehicle Operations at Renault UK, said:“Renault will be the first manufacturer to offer a complete range of electric vehicles and this is a historic moment for us in the UK. I’ll look forward to handing over their Kangoo Van Z.E.s later in the year”.

JCDecaux, Europe’s largest “out of home” advertising agency, is equally delighted. Mark Cooper, Group Operations Director from JCDecaux, commented: “Here at JCDecaux, we have always been industry innovators and have done everything possible to reduce our carbon…Those fortunate to have sampled the Kangoo Van Z.E. have rated its performance and lack of noise very highly. They were also struck by how easy-to-drive and comfortable it is.”

You may have noticed plastered on the side of a bus recently an advertisement for a film entitled “The Megane Experiment”. If the 30mph speed limit beneath a sign reading “Gisburn” didn’t raise your eyebrows, then the terrible review excerpt just might have done. Unless I’m very much mistaken, it read something like “deserves nothing but our hatred” – this accompanied by a half-star rating. That’s 1/10.

Now, in my experience, the only time an advertisement will revel in a bad review will be in such circumstances where they feel as though negativity on the part of the straight press might have the opposite effect on their intended audience. Whilst no amount of “abhorrent, should be banned” reviews will ever make me even consider paying to watch Saw 3D, all the same I found myself intrigued enough to pay a visit to the website as displayed on the poster.

Here the “bad” reviews continue: “Cheap dig”, says Granada TV. “Pathetic,” says Nigel Evans, Tory MP. “Villagers Angered”, reports the Lancashire Telegraph. All very intriguing, I’ll give them that. I must admit, however, that upon spotting the Renault logo in the corner, I couldn’t help but feel more than a little disappointed. This isn’t some controversial new venture on the part of an auteur film-maker at all. Rather, it’s a highly elaborate (and more than a little cynical) marketing campaign for the Renault Megane. The clue is very much in the title – The Megane Experiment. I should have known from the start. The “bad” reviews were little more than a ploy to prick the curiosity of those who would otherwise ignore such advertisements. And, if you take me as a case-in-point, evidently it’s worked supremely well.

So, what’s it all about, then? Directed by one Henry-Alex Rubin who, in 2005 received an Oscar nomination for his Murderball documentary, it follows the exploits of a Frenchman sent by Renault to the village of Gisburn, Lancashire to test a “controversial theory”: Can a car change a town?

“It sounds preposterous,” reads the film’s synopsis. “But statistics had emerged that suggested otherwise. Could a man armed with only a cravat and a Renault Megane really win over an indifferent and sometimes hostile village?”

The “statistics” in question are, at best, questionable. The film opens by claiming that studies have shown that towns with more Meganes tend to have higher fertility rates. Fertility, the film claims, is a sign of happiness, or “joie de vivre”. The implication, obviously, is that towns with more Meganes are generally happier overall. The film claims explicitly that “money can’t buy happiness”. Evidently, though, the presence of Renault Meganes can. Even more dubious are the claims that more Meganes make for more lingerie shops, more days of sunshine per year and more “kisses per hour”.

If viewed as a pretentious and overlong Renault commercial, the film is tedious and depressing. If viewed out of context, however, it comes across as a strange variation on The Secret Millionaire. Claude Menton, the French protagonist who’s made it his mission to bring joy to Gisburn, is, I find, hard not to like. His accent is alluring and he stands out amongst the dreariness of his surroundings as though acting before a blue screen.

What really makes the film at once so amusing and distressing, though, is the sheer small-mindedness of the villagers with whom Claude interacts. Upon proclaiming that French beef is superior to English, someone hurls a cup of tea at him. That, perhaps, he was asking for. But the unbridled xenophobia of some of the residents is more than a little upsetting. “Are you French?” asks a man upon first meeting him with the air of one enquiring into war-crimes. Later: “Do you know why this [bleak English countryside] is better than France? ‘Cause there’re no French here.” Never mind “joie de vivre”, some of these people need a clout ’round the ear.

The film ends with a small festival of joy (the centrepiece of which is, obviously, a Renault Megane) and a cosy closing scene in the pub in which the French national anthem is sung and the local vicar proclaims his new-found joie de vivre with gusto and aplomb. The narrator claims that a “cultural revolution” has been sparked by “one festival and one car”. I can’t help but feel dubious about that. Nor, however, can I help but feel a modicum of pity for poor Claude. Nobody deserves to be exposed to such venomous prejudice.

So. Was the film worthy of the vitriolic hatred it so proudly demonstrated in its advertisements? Not at all. It may be a shallow and cynical marketing ploy, but there are many, many more offensive films and adverts alike currently making the rounds. Do I feel as though tracking it down and watching it was worth my time and effort? To some extent. In as much as it will, in some way, distance me from the narrow-minded and xenophobic Englanders as featured within, it has actually had the effect of making me wish that I owned a Renault Megane. The overall message seems to be that it’s not so much a car for those possessing “joie de vivre” as a car for those whose boundaries stretch beyond the Tesco at the end of the road.

For the latest in Nationwide’s Renault Megane leasing offers, click here.

When you think of popular MPV’s, you think of the Citroen C3 Picasso, the Renault Scenic, the Vauxhall Zafira and the Ford C Max… but it might surprise you to hear that Renault Espace is also up there with the top dogs!

Since its launch in 1984, the Renault Espace has sold more than 1.2 million units, winning over the hearts of consumers and critics alike. The AA even proclaimed the Renault Espace as the ‘MPV to beat all MPV’s’ in its car buyers guide. Can’t be bad…

Renault Espace fans will be pleased to hear then, that Renault has released the pricing and specification details for the new Renault Espace range. The 2011 Espace boasts subtle styling revisions, greater levels of equipment and lower pricing. 

Kick starting the changes, Renault’s emblematic MPV will now come with LED technology, a striking new Pearl Blue body colour, gloss black exterior trim and 17’’ Eptius and Novadis alloy wheels. On the inside, the 2011 Espace benefits from Carminat TomTom® Live real-time satellite navigation system, as well as its famous versatile interior, revised to enable the interior and boot space to be adapted in line with the number of passengers and luggage being carried.

In keeping with the times, the 2011 Renault Espace range boasts slashed CO2 emissions, down from 188 to 170g/km on the 2.0 dCi 150 model. The powertrains have also been modified to comply with the new Euro 5 legislation. 

Customers can take advantage of a new options list including an opening tailgate window for £320, bi-xenon directional headlights at £650 and DVD system with two 16.9” screens integrated into the rear of the front headrests for a mere £1,500.

The new 2011 Renault Espace is available to order from 8th November and is expected to hit UK showrooms in January. On the road prices start from £24,495, rising to £28,495 for the Grand Espace Dynamique TomTom.

Looking for an MPV? Nationwide Vehicle Contracts has some fantastic car leasing deals available across a number of people carriers including the Vauxhall Zafira, Renault Scenic, Mazda 5 and the Renault Espace. Simply follow the links to get an instant quotation on any car in our massive database!

External features include generous dimensions (length: 4.89m / width: 1.83m / height: 1.49m), bi-xenon adaptive directional headlights, chrome detailing and a rear lighting signature which incorporates LED technology. The car’s name is emblazoned in tasteful, stylish chrome across the rear.

The full list of internal features are yet to be released. However, Renault  extensive boot space (the largest in its class, apparently),  a dual-mode air ioniser with a double fragrance diffuser, triple-zone climate control, Bose-Premium quality audio and massaging technology in the driver’s seat. A smooth, quiet, comfortable yet powerful ride – the Latitude promises to have the edge over its rivals.

Though a decision has not yet been made in regards to the official UK release, the European version will debut as part of the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Here visitors will be afforded with a closer look at the car’s interior and will also have access to full details of the model’s equipment lists and engine range.

Media road-tests are promised “before the end of 2010” with sales commencing “shortly afterwards”.

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Renault Clio (car) advert ‘skiing’ 1993