They’ve only gone and done it - take a look at the first 100% electric Alpine sports car.
Alpine is, of course, a subsidiary of parent company Renault and which has been producing spectacular grin-inducers on and off since the 1950s.
In January last year, Alpine announced that it was plotting to become a fully-fledged electric sports car manufacturer, and was working with Lotus to build a battery-powered replacement for its current A110 model.
And here’s a glimpse at the French manufacturer’s new change of direction - the electric, 242 PS A110 E-ternite.
For now this is just a prototype model, but a version of it seems destined for full production in the near future.
After all, Luca de Meo - the firm’s CEO of Renault, recently said he wanted to ‘electrify Alpine to preserve its name for all eternity’.
For Alpine, creating the A110 E-ternite meant tackling a seemingly ‘unsolvable contradiction’.
In one corner you’ve got a brand that goes hand-in-hand with lightweight, nimble, agile sports cars. In the other you’ve got a heavy battery pack needed to power the electric motors.
How do you marry the two things together and still end up with something that’s fundamentally Alpine?
Alpine has adapted the battery pack found in the Renault Megane E-Tech to suit the A110 E-terinite’s needs.
And even with the addition of the battery, the electric A110 weighs just 258kg more than the regular petrol-powered A110. A sophisticated double clutch system has also helped the electric A110 to keep the pounds off.
At just 1,378 kg, it weighs just a fraction more than the BMW i3 electric supermini.
How does power and performance compare between the petrol A110 and the electric variant? Well, the range-topping A110 S has power of 300 PS, 340 Nm of torque and can sprint from 0-62mph in just 4.2 seconds.
The A110 E-ternite, on the other hand, has less power at 242 PS, torque of 300 Nm and is also ever-so-slightly slower to 62mph, doing that sprint in 4.5 seconds.
While the internal combustion engine A110 might be more sprightly, what it can’t offer is a emissions-free range of up to 260 miles like the A110 E-ternite can.
Despite the commitment to keeping the A110 E-ternite light, it still has a fully-connected infotainment system and surround sound speakers.
With a removable roof panel you can also enjoy the feeling of a convertible without the extra poundage that drop-top architecture adds.
What’s more, the Alpine A110 E-ternite has also been created with a liberal use of a material called ‘flax fibres’. Flax is another word for the plant linseed, and the biodegradable fibres it produces are said to be both lighter than carbon fibre while also offering better acoustic damping.
An Alpine spokesperson explains:
“A second E-ternité demo-car was also developed and displays this new technology applied to parts such as the skin of the bonnet, roof, rear window, grille, seat shells and rear skirt.
“The material comes from the Terre de Lin company based near Dieppe, Normandy, France). As strong as carbon-fibre and with better acoustics, flax is a material of the future.”
We’ll bring you more news about the Alpine A110 E-ternite as and when it arrives.
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