Renault quietly pulls the plug on the Fluence Z.E. – report

As per a recent report, Renault has stopped production of the Fluence Z.E. at the company’s OYAK factory in Bursa, Turkey.

Introduced around four years back in 2010, the electric version of the Renault Fluence turned out to be a major flop for the French automaker as it seems they were managed to sell just 3,500 units. However the discontinuation of the product is not only because of extremely low sales but also Israeli partner battery-swap company Project Better Place has been declared bankrupt in May last year.

Looking virtually identical as the conventional-powered Fluence, the Z.E. (zero emissions) variant came with an electric motor delivering an output of 94 hp (70 kW) and instant torque of 226 Nm (167 lb-ft). Using a regular household power outlet would take six to eight hours to charge the battery pack which would last about 99 miles (160 km).

Fast-charging technology and battery swapping capabilities didn’t help the Renault Fluence Z.E. much since the number of sold cars wasn’t high enough to justify continuing production and obviously it would not have been cost effective for the company to go ahead with such disappointing numbers and so finally the axe has come on Fluence Z.E.