Three New Electric Vehicles from the Paris Motor Show Excite the Crowds

Having started on October 2nd, the 2010 Paris Motor Show is officially underway at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles. Held in the autumn every other year, the show has traditionally been one of the biggest places for car manufacturers to announce the latest and greatest designs that would be coming for the future. This year, so far, has been no exception with an impressive set of vehicles coming off the lines by some of the biggest names in the industry. However, the show does not entirely belong to gas guzzling cars with some of the latest green vehicles going on show.

Kia made a showing early on with their latest electric vehicle design. Called the Kia POP, the little car seems to follow along the lines of some of Kia’s other vehicles and the overall urban electric car trend. The POP is designed to carry three people somewhat comfortably within the tiny frame. This design choice makes the POP somewhat ideal for a car pooling situation in any major city. The specifications are also similar to what you would expect for most electric cars of that size with around fifty horses. The POP does have an impressive range of around 100 miles, a pretty decent number considering it is meant to be an urban transport.

Proudly exhibiting on their home turf, Renault and Citroen has also decided to bring a few electric vehicles onto the show flow, albeit with a bit more flash than Kia’s entry. Citroen decided to make speed the priority with their all new Survolt. Designed as an electric race car, the Survolt can go from zero to sixty in about five seconds and has a top speed of around 160 miles per hour. The Survolt was unveiled earlier this year at the Geneva Auto Show, but so far full details on the vehicle have been somewhat sparse. However, we do know that the Survolt sports an all electric drive train and presumably runs on a battery system. Hopefully more will come to light as time goes on.

Renault’s entry has a bit more information to feed the curious, but exact specifications are also somewhat slim. As it stands, the DeZir, as the electric sports car is called, also boasts the figure of zero to sixty in five seconds like the Citroen Suvolt. Renault has also said that the vehicle is powered by a twenty four kilowatt electric engine. Specifications aside, the DeZir is a fairly stylish looking car, certainly keeping up with some of the other sports car designs being unveiled during the show.

With the show running until the seventeenth of October, there is still plenty of time to check out what kind of green vehicles the various participants will be rolling out. Of the three I detailed here, I have to be honest and say that the Citroen Survolt is the most pleasing to the eye. Though obviously it may not be the next practical electric family car, it has one slick design that really draws attention.

Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.