The Renault Twizy is a two-seat

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are ofte ...

designed and marketed by

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

. It is classified in Europe as either a

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

heavy quadricycle The quadricycle is a European Union vehicle category for four-wheeled microcars, which allows these vehicles to be designed to less stringent requirements when compared to regular cars. Quadricycles are defined by limitations in terms of weigh ...

depending on the output power, which is either for the 45 model or for the 80 model, both names reflecting its top speed in km/h. Originally manufactured in

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

, Spain, production was moved to

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in March 2019 to meet increased demand in Asia. In July 2023 it was announced that production of the Twizy was to end in September 2023; it is to be replaced by the new Mobilize Duo. The Twizy debuted as a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and was designed by Françoise Leboinne and Luciano Bove. In November 2010,

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

announced a rebadged variant to the Twizy, called the ''New Mobility Concept'', or ''NMC''. It was also displayed as a concept with Renault Samsung badging at the 2011

Seoul Motor Show The Seoul Mobility Show () is a biennial auto show held at KINTEX (Korea International Exhibition Center), Goyang, Gyeonggi-do. Hosted by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), it is recognized as an international show by the Orga ...

, although it was branded as a Renault in South Korea for production. In May 2011, Renault announced they would produce the Twizy and began taking reservations. In March 2012, the Twizy was released to the French market, followed a month later by several other European countries. Available in three models, the Twizy sales price does not include the battery pack, which is leased for a monthly fee that includes roadside assistance and a battery replacement guarantee. In 2020, the Twizy became available as a direct purchase in the UK, no longer requiring the battery rental. The Twizy was the top-selling

plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) via an detachable power cable to store electrical energy within its onboard rechar ...

in Europe during 2012. The milestone of Twizys sold worldwide was achieved in April 2015. Global cumulative sales totaled 29,118 units through December 2019, with Europe as its main market.

Specifications

Construction and safety

The Twizy is an ultra-compact vehicle, with a length of , a width of and a height of . The vehicle's frame and body offer occupants extra protection with its deformable structure, while the outboard position of the four wheels and the lateral beams located either side of the chassis provide protection in case of a side impact. The safety retention systems include a driver's airbag, a four-point safety belt at the front and a three-point one at the rear. The Twizy may be winterized with winter tires and adding flexi side windows to enclose the cabin. Heating would be provided by plugging in

electric blanket An electric blanket is a blanket that contains integrated electrical heating wires. Types include underblankets, overblankets, throws, and duvets. An electric ''underblanket'' is placed above the mattress and below the bottom bed sheet. This is ...

s to keep the driver warm.

Models

The Twizy model is all-electric, part of Renault's Zero Emissions program. Renault Twizy

Twizy Urban

=Twizy Urban 45

= The Twizy range starts with the

light quadricycle The quadricycle is a European Union vehicle category for four-wheeled microcars, which allows these vehicles to be designed to less stringent requirements when compared to regular cars. Quadricycles are defined by limitations in terms of weigh ...

-classed Urban 45 that was originally priced at in Europe with a monthly battery lease charge of . The price has since been raised to around €10,300 exc. VAT but now includes the battery. It has a motor power of , a maximum speed of and can thus be driven in most European countries by drivers from 14 years old with a special driving licence (France, Italy, Spain) or with a moped licence (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Slovenia).

=Twizy Urban 80

= The

-classed Urban 80 model features a electric motor and can drive up to .

Twizy Colour and Technic

The Colour model is a colourful and 'fun' Twizy available for both the 45 and 80 trims. The Technic model brings additional design elements while sharing the technical features with the Urban. It is available for both the 45 and 80 trims.

Twizy Cargo

In June 2013, Renault announced the introduction of the Twizy Cargo, a model designed for hauling goods. The space destined for the seat of the second passenger was replaced with a cargo box with a volume of and maximum weight capacity of . The Cargo 45 has of power and top speed is limited to .The car only has one seat and there is a larger space behind the driver to store goods.

The Cargo 80 delivers a top speed of .

Nissan NMC

A rebadged version of the Twizy was launched in Japan as the Nissan New Mobility Concept (NMC). The electric vehicle was deployed in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

on 11 October 2013 for service on a one-way

carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

program called "Choimobi Yokohama" (Choimobi means "easy mobility" in Japanese). During its first month on the market, over 2700 customers signed up for the service. A total of 45 units were registered through the end of October 2013. The NMC is classified as a

kei car Kei car is the smallest category of Japanese expressway-legal motor vehicles. The term ''kei'' is a shortening of , (kanji: ), which translates to English as "light vehicle" (). With restricted dimensions and engine specifications, owners ...

due to the car's dimensions and as such is equipped with yellow license plates. The Nissan-badged version was also used by

Scoot Scoot Pte Ltd, operating as Scoot, is a low-cost airline based in Singapore and a subsidiary of the country's flag carrier Singapore Airlines. It began its operations on 4 June 2012 on medium and long-haul routes from Singapore, predominantly t ...

, an American

scooter sharing A scooter-sharing system or kicksharing system is a shared transport service in which Motorized scooter, electric motorized scooters (also referred to as e-scooters) are made available to use for short-term rentals. E-scooters are typically "doc ...

company, as a pilot for car-sharing operation in

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Twizy F1

Following the footsteps of Renault Espace F1, in April 2013,

Renault Sport Renault Sport () or Renaultsport, was a motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars and later a sub-badge of Renault cars managed by Automobiles Alpine, Alpine. The first Renault Sport was officially established ...

exhibited the Twizy F1, a concept version of the car that featured

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

technologies such as

KERS A kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) is an automotive system for recovering a moving vehicle's kinetic energy under braking. The recovered energy is stored in a reservoir (for example a flywheel or high voltage batteries) for later use under ...

. The KERS system and an upgraded electric motor boosted the car's power to , allowing to accelerate at comparable times with the Renault Sport Mégane R.S. 265 and reaching speeds up to . The car is equipped with various open-wheel aerodynamic and other racing parts, including tyres from a Formula Renault 2.0 car and steering wheel from a Formula Renault 3.5 car.

Twizy Delivery Concept

The Twizy Delivery Concept was developed from the VELUD project with École d'ingénieurs généralistes La Rochelle, Airparif, La Petite Reine Groupe Stars Service and the City of Paris for last-mile deliveries beginning in 2014. It consisted of a Twizy with shortened rear bodywork and an additional 2-wheeled trailer-like module for carrying containers sizing up to , forming a six-wheeled box-truck like vehicle. It was used in experimental test phases in Paris.

Battery

The

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...

is located underneath the front seat. Both motor variants carry the same weight of , including batteries of . The

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

is homologated at . In real conditions, Renault announces around . At high speed and no eco-driving the Twizy's range is about . The battery can be charged with an extendable spiral cable stored beneath a flap at the front of the vehicle. The integrated charger is compatible with roadside battery charging facilities as well as the standard 220-240 V 10 A household electrical supply. Charging an empty battery takes around three-and-a-half hours. A planned Renault battery plant near Paris was delayed due to technical constraints. Construction will start in the second quarter of 2012 and production of batteries is expected to begin in 2014 or 2015. In the meantime Renault intends to buy batteries for its EV range from a joint venture between

and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

as well as

LG Chem LG Chem Ltd. ( Korean: LG화학), often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the 9th largest chemical company in the world by sales in 2021. It was first established ...

of South Korea. Twizy is only supplied with

modules. Batteries are assembled in Renault Valladolid plant.

Safety

The Twizy 80 in its standard European market configuration received two stars in the

Euro NCAP The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a New Car Assessment Program) based in Leuven, Belgium. Formed in 1996, the first results were released in February ...

Quadricycle Ratings in 2014.

Sales

Since its market launch in March 2012, global sales reached 9,020 units through the end of 2012, Click on Ventes mensuelles December 2012, and download the file 294 Ko.xls, and open the TWIZY tab. of which, 9,015 units were sold in Europe, making the Twizy the best-selling

in the European market that year. In France, a total of 1,551 units were registered through June 2012, including 1,212 Twizy 80s and 339 Twizy 45s, representing a market share of 89% in the

segment, and a market share of 28.5% among all categories of

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

s sold in France during the first half of 2012, surpassing the Bolloré Bluecar, the top selling highway-capable all-electric car during this time period. Global sales fell 66.4% in 2013 from 2012, with 3,025 units delivered. Cumulative sales reached 14,160 units through October 2014. , the best-selling markets were Germany with 3,728 units and France with 3,276 units, followed by Italy with 2,265 units, Spain with 1,292, and

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

with 1,137 units delivered since 2011. ''Click on "Ventes mensuelles du groupe (décembre 2011) (xls, 183 Ko)" "Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2012) (xls, 289 Ko)" - Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2013) (xlsx, 227 Ko)" - "Ventes mensuelles (octobre 2014) (XLSX - 219 Ko)" to download the files for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 sales, and open the tab "Twizy Renault".'' The milestone of Twizys sold worldwide was achieved in April 2015. Renault Twizy ZE Rome 04 2016 6415

In 2016, Renault introduced the Twizy to

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, along with the

Renault Kangoo The Renault Kangoo is a family of vans built by Renault since 1997 across three generations. It is sold as a passenger multi-purpose vehicle or as a light commercial vehicle. For the European market, the Kangoo is manufactured at the MCA plant i ...

, expecting to import at least 150 to 200 units between the two models. The carmaker teamed with a shopping centre in

Cumbayá Cumbayá is a rural parish of the Metropolitan District of Quito in the Pichincha Province, Ecuador. It is located east of Quito, in the Tumbaco Valley northwest of the Ilaló volcano, in the San Pedro River valley, a tributary of the Guayllab ...

(a suburb of

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

) and the Ecuadorean Production Ministry to hold a draw for two examples in an introductory campaign. The winners received their cars on 17 February. All subsequent units are scheduled to arrive in-country from June, 2016, and will retail from US$14,990. Sales in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

totaled 305 units through May 2016, with Colombia as the regional market leader with 252 units, followed by Brazil with 34 units. The Renault Twizy 40 was certified by

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

in March 2016, and was scheduled to be released on the Canadian market by mid-2016. , Twizy sales led by Germany with 4,404 units, followed by France with 4,048, Italy with 2,696, Spain with 1,551, Benelux with 1,355, and Switzerland with 1,141. ''Click on "Ventes mensuelles (mai 2016)" to download the file "XLSX - 237 Ko" for CYTD sales through May 2016, and open the tab "TWIZY RENAULT" for details by country and by region.'' Until December 2016, a total of 18,592 units had been sold in Europe, representing 96.1% of global sales. ''Click on "(décembre 2016)" to download the file "XLSX - 239 Ko" for CYTD sales in 2016, and open the tab "TWIZY RENAULT".'' Global sales since inception totaled 29,118 units through December 2019. ''See pp. 24: Since the launch of the Renault electric program, the Group has sold more than 252,000 electric vehicles in Europe and more than 273,550 electric vehicles worldwide. Since inception, a total of 181,893 Zoe cars, 48,821 Kangoo Z.E. electric vans and 29,118 Twitzy quadricycles have been sold globally through December 2019.'' In 2020, Renault India said they were considering offering a stripped-down version of the Twizy Cargo for the Indian market.

Carsharing programs

Renault tested a

program called Twizy Way in

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles ( new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen ...

, France, beginning in late-June 2012. During the testing phase, the program operated with a fleet of 50 Renault Twizys distributed over a pilot area covering around , and around 200 were allowed to sign up for testing. Twizy Way opened the service to the general public in December 2012. In 2015, the

company offered rides within

in the "Scoot Quad", a Twizy with Nissan badging.

Italian Exclusive Model

Exclusive Italian model
LIMITED EDITION design by the italian architect Giansandro Schina, made in only 7 units

Chinese copy

In September 2014, the Chinese company Zhejiang Litong New Energy Automobile Corporation launched the Rayttle E28 which greatly resembles the Twizy in outside appearance, size and claimed performance.

Culture

The Twizy appears in large numbers in the film '' Ready Player One'' by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, released in 2018.

Gallery

File:Renault Twizy (front).jpg, Revised concept of the Twizy for a close-to-production vehicle, 2010, seen at the

AutoRAI The Amsterdam International Motor Show or AutoRAI was a motor show that took place every two years in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The history of the AutoRAI goes back to 1893, when the association of Bicycle Industry (RI) was established. The first bi ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

File:Renaul-Twizy-Madrid.jpg, Twizy parked in Madrid city centre File:Renault Twizy, side view.jpg, Side view from the back at the motor show in Baden, 2012-05-05 File:Renault Twizy Z.E. UBS.jpg, Renault Twizy compared to a regular-sized car File:Madrid Highway Patrol Renault Twizy.JPG, Renault Twizy of the Madrid traffic directors File:Binnenkant groot Renault Twizy.JPG, Interior File:Renault Twizy Okecie Airport.JPG, 1+1 seating arrangement File:Tiny electric police car, Campeche, Mexico 2021.jpg, Twizy used by Mexican police in

Campeche City San Francisco de Campeche (; , ), 19th c., also known simply as Campeche, is a city in Campeche Municipality in the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Campeche, on the shore of the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. Both the seat of t ...

File:Renault Twizy Z.E. in Moscow 2023.jpg , In comparison with motorcycles

References

External links

* (UK) {{Renault Samsung Motors Twizy Production electric cars 2010s cars Microcars Quadricycles Electric city cars Euro NCAP 2 seat heavy quadricycle Cars introduced in 2012 Rear-engined vehicles Cars discontinued in 2023