A Tiny History of the Renault Twizy
The Renault Twizy isn’t quite a car, but it’s a great example of an EV that understands its market.
Written by Alex Reale
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Table of Contents
Here in the States we enjoy our big
cars and trucks
, with their towing capacities and towering views of the road. It’s unusual to see anything smaller than a sedan tooling around town. In Europe, by contrast, it would be bizarre to see a pickup. Across the pond it’s all about whizzing through narrow streets and never worrying about parking. The tiny Renault Twizy is a perfect example of this European driving sensibility.
Dreaming in Paris
Renault Group was founded in late 1898 in France by brothers Marcel and Fernand Renault, with support from their other brother Louis Renault.
It was Louis, the mechanic, who was responsible for their foray into the world of automaking. He invented a two-seater car, which he called the “voiturette” (basically, “petite car,”) and then drove it up the famously steep Rue Lepic in Paris. This achievement caused a sensation, and the brothers were soon hustling to fill 12 orders.
Fast forward nearly a century and a quarter and Renault has built everything from race cars to sedans. And like any car company worth its salt in the 21st century, it has thrown its hat into the EV ring. In 2012, Renault Group released its first electric cars. Among these was the Twizy.
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Twizy specs
Actually, it’s not really fair to call the Twizy, which costs around £11,000, a car. It’s technically a quadricycle. And its name is no accident—”Twizy” is a combination of “twin” (number of seats) and “easy” (general use.)
The Twizy made its debut alongside a series of larger electric cars, which when lined up in ascending height order look a bit like one of those timelines that starts with an early hominid and ends with a modern man texting. But don’t be fooled into thinking that the Twizy isn’t advanced.
Imagine adding a roof and an extra seat to a riding lawn mower, and then giving it F1-inspired exposed tires, plus scissor doors and accent colors. It probably wouldn’t win any traditional design awards, but its funky blend of traits has a Picasso-esque charm. The Twizy features a tandem cockpit, and its earliest versions had no windows at all, presumably for proper enjoyment of the English countryside.
It tops out at 50 mph, which makes it a poor choice for highways, but its diminutive stature (92 inches long, 57 inches wide, 57 inches tall) will ensure parking at even the tiniest of sidewalk cafés.
And as for its EV bona fides, the Twizy charges from empty to full in about 3.5 hours, according to
Driving Electric
, and will get you a range of 62 miles. You won’t be able to take the Twizy on any big road trips, but who needs road trips when you can pop between the Louvre and the Jardin du Luxembourg all day long?Expanding the world of EV
The Renault Twizy has gone through several evolutions since its 2012 debut, including launching a rideshare service. European users could drop a Twizy anywhere within a dedicated range and scoop up another one on their way back. San Franciscans even got a chance a few years later to try out the Twizy, rebranded under the company Scoot as a Nissan, with a similar rideshare situation, reports
Car and Driver
. For residents of a hilly, complex city here on this side of the pond, the relatively safe and small Twizy might be just the ticket. And Louis Renault can smile down upon a voiturette, many times removed from its first ancestor, still gunning it up the hill.
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