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Every major carmaker at the biggest European car event of 2010 is planning some sort of electrification, from city runabouts to full-on supercars.
At the bottom end of the business, Kia is building its Paris display around the tiny plug-in POP. It's a three seater and unlikely to make it to Australia, but already set for production - with less extreme bodywork - for Korea within two years.
French brands have also plugged into the electric action, with Renault doing more compacts and Peugeot going all-out on a battery supercar called the EX1. Peugeot says the radical looking EX1 has 'lightning acceleration' thanks to a pair of electric motors with 240 Newton-metres of constant torque and an all-wheel drive system. The French concept is a full 177 centimetres wide but only 90 centimetres tall to cut its drag.
Even Infiniti, the Nissan luxury brand set for an Australian comeback within two years, is using Paris to showcase something special. It is an electric vehicle which taps the program that has already produced the Nissan Leaf, a sell-out in Japan and promised eventually for Australia.
Even scooters are involved in the electric action with both Daimler and BMW Group revealing battery-powered two-wheelers at the show.
BMW is badging its two-wheeler as a Mini, and pushing the design edge with the British connection, while Daimler is using Smart to push its first scooter. The Smart has a similar safety cell to the ForTwo and is powered by a 48-volt lithium-ion battery pack that gives a range of around 100 kilometres.
