Hydrogen test lab for lower carbon family car
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Renault has developed a vehicle platform to test out a wide range of sustainable, low carbon technologies including hydrogen for the next generation of family car.
Emblème continues the exploratory studies Renault started with the Scenic Vision concept in 2022. The aim is to create a working prototype of a family car while reducing the carbon footprint. This decarbonisation has to be studied across the entire vehicle life cycle from cradle to grave in five key areas: eco-design, selection of resources, production, use and end of life.
The Emblème demo car was developed by Renault’s Ampere electric vehicle subsidiary and emits 90% less greenhouse gases (CO2 equivalent) over its entire life cycle than the 2019 baseline. The dual-energy electric powertrain under the rear floor is powered by electricity and hydrogen.
The design achieves a 70% reduction in the carbon footprint for the production of all parts, while 50% of the materials used to build the car are recycled and virtually all the materials used are recyclable at the end of their service life. Engineers and designers worked together to find the best solutions in terms of aerodynamics and energy efficiency.
Innovative technologies include a new wide openR panorama screen spanning the length of the dashboard while the overall weight of the vehicle has been reduced to 1800kg.
Life cycle analysis (LCA) factors in raw material extraction and component production, as well as vehicle assembly, transport, use, maintenance and recycling. The Renault Group uses this to calculate the actual consumption of its vehicles over 200,000 km and 15 years.
The target total for the Emblème project is just 5 tonnes of CO2eq from cradle to grave to give the 90% reduction. This has been calculated and audited by independent experts from IFPEN (Institut Français du Pétrole et des Energies Nouvelles). This covers supply of raw materials and parts, manufacturing plants, the usage on the road and the recycling/recyclability at the end of life. Seven materials and components account for 90% of the car’s carbon footprint: battery, steel, aluminium, polymers, electronic components, tyres, fuel cell and tank.
By involving a range of suppliers such as Forvia Hella, STMicroelectronics, Valeo and Verkor in the design process, Renault was able to optimise the choice and diversity of materials.
The headlamps developed by Forvia Hella halve their lifecycle CO2eq emissions compared to conventional headlamps. To do this, they use fresnel lenses, which require 80% less material. Using new injection moulding processes, as well as the use of recycled and bio-sourced materials, contribute to half of the reduction in carbon footprint. Adaptive light intensity control reduces energy consumption by 60% in the city centre while the manufacture of the product in carbon-neutral factories from the end of 2025 will contribute up to 30%.
Emblème uses ST’s silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs for the traction inverter. By 2030 ST aims to reduce CO2eq emissions of the traction inverter by ~80% over its lifetime, compared to a 2018 Renault Megane.
The battery system is developed by Verkor in France which plans production in 2035. This has a 72% reduction in carbon emissions compared to an equivalent traditional battery, achieved through optimized manufacturing processes, a factory powered by low-carbon electricity, local suppliers, and optimized recycling of waste and end-of-life batteries.
“With Emblème, we wanted to bring the automotive industry’s ecosystem towards more sustainable mobility. This decarbonization laboratory is designed to operate without any compromise on all features such as comfort, safety, and connectivity. It is the result of an exploratory, horizontal, and collective approach. Between Renault Group and 20 partners, all experts in their fields, barrier-free innovation has enabled us to reach the ambitious decarbonization target set at the beginning of the project,” said Pascal Tribotté, Project Manager Renault Emblème.
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