The Renovo Coupe Is The First All Electric American Supercar

Renovo Motors introduced the world to the groundbreaking Renovo Coupe today with a production prototype on display at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance. Founded in 2010 with the mission to build the world’s most exciting vehicles, Renovo has operated in stealth mode for over four years as they developed and refined their patent-pending EV technology. The Renovo Coupe, the first all-electric American supercar, is the culmination of these efforts.

“Renovo Motors sought to create an aspirational vehicle that demonstrates the performance, control, and excitement that is possible with EV technology,” said Renovo’s CEO Christopher Heiser. “We have poured our passion and innovation into the Coupe in an effort to deliver a truly amazing driving experience, and we’re honored to present the Production Prototype of our car at the Concours d’Elegance.”

The Coupe sets a benchmark 0-60 time of just 3.4 seconds, the fastest of any production rear-wheel drive electric vehicle. The car’s massive 1,000 foot-pounds of torque is available immediately from a dead stop and delivers perfectly linear acceleration that is unlike any car on the road today.

The mid-mounted twin sequential axial-flux motors deliver both power and efficiency, with optimized energy mappings for a wide range of driving conditions. When run at full throttle, the motors produce over 500 horsepower. More importantly, the drivetrain ramps to full power in just 37 milliseconds—about ten times faster than the blink of an eye—and further redefines how a performance vehicle can respond to the commands of the driver.

The Coupe offers a new and unique viewpoint on the supercar segment. “Our motivation to design and build our cars is not artificially tied to any particular propulsion technology,” notes Jason Stinson, Renovo Motors CTO. “Simply put, we can do things with electric vehicles that can’t be replicated by any other platform. Exploring these areas, reducing them to practice, and building them into our products is at the core of what we do best.”

The Coupe’s incredible performance is made possible by the patent-pending battery technology developed by the Renovo team. Multiple separate battery enclosures enable a performance-oriented weight distribution and minimize chassis volume requirements. The Renovo Motors drivetrain is less than 40% of the total weight of the car, and yet delivers the highest peak power in its class.

The on-road performance is matched by a fast-charge system that can refill the batteries in just 30 minutes and maintains compatibility with a wide range of standard Level 2 charge systems. At the track, the Coupe can be charged between run sessions, offering the first true circuit-ready EV.

The Coupe’s sculpted drivetrain is on full display in its genuine, factory-modified CSX9000 chassis supplied by the world-famous Shelby American brand. Completely reimagined by award-winning designer Peter Brock, the CSX9000 delivers the features of a modern supercar while retaining the classic and race-proven aerodynamic silhouette of the original 1964 Le Mans winning car. “This shape was nearly perfect 50 years ago, and physics doesn’t change much over time,” said Mr. Brock, an early advisor to Renovo Motors. “However, the redesigned car has a totally updated body, frame, suspension, and cabin; it’s a new chapter for this chassis. When the Renovo team approached me with the idea of incorporating my work into their designs, I was thrilled. The finished product definitely carries the spirit of the original car strongly into the future.”

Every aspect of the Renovo Coupe’s interior was designed to create a more direct and immediate connection between machine and driver. From the cockpit, the driver has access to a wide range of controls and information systems. Classic needle gauges surround a modern circular digital display, and a muscular drive selector enables brake regeneration to be adjusted in real-time—another first for a production electric vehicle.

Each Coupe is built at Renovo Motor’s facility in the heart of Silicon Valley. The talented and experienced team of designers, engineers, and technicians at Renovo Motors are proud to share the Coupe Production Prototype with the world and are looking forward to entering the final stages of the car’s development program.

Renovo Motors is expected to bring the Coupe to limited series production in 2015, with a rumored price of $529,000. Pre-sales will commence at this Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Initial sales are targeted for California and will expand nationwide later this year.

I’ve long been singing the praises of electric vehicles, and it’s great to see a company like Renovo finally focus on the performance benefits of electric power rather than fuel economy. The Coupe sounds like an absolute beast, and while I definitely can’t afford one, I’d still love to take one out for a spin!

Visit www.renovomotors.com for more information.