英语文摘：Renault to sell electric Zoe less than 15,000 euros

PARIS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Renault-Nissan alliance will fix the price of its new electric car Zoe, expected to be sold in mid-2012, less than 15,000 euros (19,482 U.S. dollars), but the match battery will be separately charged, French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported on Monday.

Zoe will be sold at a price "less than 15,000 euros," given the government subsidy of 5,000 euros (6,494 dollars) is deducted, Le Figaro quoted an anonymous source with the French manufacturer on its website.

Renault group refused to give comment on the report but confirmed that Zoe's price will be close to similar models running on the road.

As the Zoe, a 21-inch-wheeled mini electric car with four seats, is developed on renovations of diesel-engined supermini car Clio, one of the French carmaker's best-seller, French media deduced that Clio's price of 15,000 was likely to be the baseline.

However, the monthly rental of the battery would be charged for a separate price at "approximately 100 euros (130 U.S. dollars)," the newspaper said.

Once fully charged, the rental battery of Zoe can provide a sustained run of 100 kilometers and the lithium-ion battery is enough for the rear-drive Zoe to reach 88 meters per hour, Renault' s official data said.

Besides Zoe, Renault-Nissan alliance aims to explore the electric car market with other three major models, which are mini van Kangoo and moderate-sized Fluence with four seats to be on sale in mid-2011, and the two-seated car Twity with sales to begin late next year.

Renault has predicted that by 2020, electric vehicles would represent 10 percent of the global market. The French-Japanese alliance has invested 4 billion euros (5.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the emission-free program, according to earlier reports.