Renovo Motors, Inc. have introduced the world to the groundbreaking Renovo Coupe with a production prototype on display at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance. Founded in 2010 with the mission to build the world’s most exciting vehicles, Renovo has operated in stealth mode for over four years as they developed and refined their patent-pending EV technology. The Coupe—the first all-electric American supercar—is the culmination of these efforts.
Founded in 2010, Renovo Motors have been building their all electric supercar in great secrecy. The startup company has been busy fettling 60’s Cobra Daytona designs to create a modern yet retro homage to the great Le Mans winner of 1964. Using the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Renovo stunned an unexpecting crowd by creeping up on them with their near production ready prototype.
Supercar is a term often shouted about by those who wish to be amongst them, but yet who are not truly there. This is not true of the Renovo that claims to offer truly remarkable performance from their twin sequential axial flux electric motors, which provide around 500 hp and a whopping 1,000 ft lb torque. Coupled with a low weight, particularly for an electric car laden with batteries, of a mere 3,250 lbs (1,474 KG) 0-60 mph is claimed in under 3.4 seconds – rapid by anyone’s standards.
Interestingly, Renovo have not opted for the traditional single unit battery, instead preferring to spread the load by placing batteries in several positions around the car thus giving better balance and near 50:50 weight distribution.
Despite appearing like an historic racing machine, the Renovo features the expected plethora of electric car standards, including a regenerative braking system and throttle response times of just 37 milliseconds. Renovo’s CEO Christopher Heiser, said:
“Renovo Motors sought to create an aspirational vehicle that demonstrates the performance, control, and excitement that is possible with EV technology. We have poured our passion and innovation into the Coupe in an effort to deliver a truly amazing driving experience, and we’re honoured to present the Production Prototype of our car at the Concours d’Elegance.”
Despite being modelled on the 60’s legend, the Renovo Coupé has had every detail of the interior reimagined and a range of controls added to provide the driver with information. Classic needle gauges surround a modern circular digital display, and a muscular drive selector enables brake regeneration to be adjusted in real-time.
The Renovo Coupé will be built in Silicon Valley where the company is based, in limited numbers. Significant claims about the cars performance have been made, including that it is the world’s fastest accelerating vehicle of its type in production.
Charging is taken care of in a mere 30 minutes by a fast-charge system and is compatible with a wide range of standard Level 2 chargers. Range is stated as 100 miles putting the car in the same league as most current market EVs but we’re certain the performance will take its toll on range should you have a heavy right foot. No word yet on exactly when deliveries will begin, nor whether the car will be sold and marketed outside of the US. However, deliveries should commence in 2015 with a price yet to be announced but you can bet it won’t come cheap!
To find out more about the company, view their website here: http://renovomotors.com/
Source; Renovo Motors. Photos; David Bush
