Wheels Automotive

Bolloré and Pininfarina bring forth entered into a partnership featuring totality the expertise required to launch serial production of an electric car which, thanks to its technical characteristics and its attractive styling, is bound to make waves in motoring circles.

This car will not be a original. It will be a mass prolongation model, with the first units approach off the prolongation parallel direction at the cessation of 2009, after that production will be ramped up gradually based on the availability of the batteries. Built in Turin by the agency of Pininfarina-Bolloré, a joint venture formed through the sum of two units family-owned groups, the Pininfarina B0 electric car will be powered by Bolloré’s proprietary LMP technology, using a combination of batteries and supercapacitors manufactured in Bolloré’s plants in Quimper, France and Montreal, Canada. The Pininfarina B0 will be a fully-electric vehicle destitute of any carbon dioxide production, having been designed from the ground up with that aim in mind. Its batteries will subsist housed in a compartment specially designed concerning that purpose and located under the car, between its axles, lowering its centre of gravity and providing it with outstanding road-holding properties.

With its superb body styled by Pininfarina, Italy’s renowned vehicle design shop, the Pininfarina B0 electric car will be an elegant four-seater, four-door hatchback with an automatic gearbox. Its LMP battery, which will exist rechargeable in a matter of hours from a standard household main socket, will provide it with a range of 250 km (153 miles). The Pininfarina B0 will have a top despatch that is electronically limited to 130 km/h (80 mph) and will feature potent acceleration, reaching 60 km/h from a standing call forth (0 to 37 mph) in 6.3 seconds. The Pininfarina B0 will also feature solar panels on its roof and shelter, such as to help recharge its electrical power reserves.

LMP: revolutionary battery technology

At the heart of any electric car, lies the battery. Bolloré is a highly diversified group of companies with a combined yearly turnover of 10 billion US dollars and 35,000 employees. For the past 30 years, the group has been the world’s leading producer of components in spite of capacitors. Thanks to its acquired know-how in extruded polymers and the storage of electrical energy, Bolloré has been working for 15 years through its subsidiary, Batscap, to advance to maturity a solid-state lithium polymer battery. This battery is able to set by, weight-for-weight, and it can be recharged in just a few hours. The battery does not require any victuals and has a lifespan of around 200,000 km (125,000 miles). Another key benefit is its unmatched safety while in operation. Added to that, the Pininfarina B0 electric car does not emit somewhat exhaust gases, nor any fine particles. The car’s LMP batteries thus take part with combat air pollution. The batteries of the Pininfarina B0 also contribute to reducing noise, another pest which affects people’s quality of life in urban environments.

Supercapacitors: boosting acceleration and recycling power

Natural energy from solar panels

Because it is 100% electric powered, the Pininfarina B0 does not generate any pollution. But the train of generating the electricity which the car uses must also, as far as possible, not have produced any atmospheric corruption. That is why the creators of the Pininfarina B0 have designed it to incorporate every possible disentanglement designed to optimise the car’s energy efficiency and use of clean energy sources. For instance, the Pininfarina B0 electric car is fitted with supercapacitors, which enable it to store and recycle the energy that is generated while braking. Similarly, the car’s roof and part of its hood are covered with highperformance solar panels which help power some of its equipment. It goes without saw that a responsible environmental approach be required to exist coherent throughout. Which is why the whole of the materials used to build the car’s body, battery and interior state bring forth been carefully selected for their low environmental impact. All are recyclable or reusable. The Bolloré Group is also in the process of developing straight-forward panels of photovoltaic cells that might be installed by the agency of individuals or in public places to to the full or partly recharge the Pininfarina B0 electric car’s batteries using solar energy.