Société de Véhicules Electriques (SVE) is busy developing a new generation of innovative and efficient electric vehicles, and at the Geneva Motor Show this month it presented the results of adapting its "Cleanova II" technology to fit the Fiat Doblò. This comes after the presentation of Cleanova II in a Renault Kangoo at last autumn's Paris Motor Show.

SVE's high-performance electric traction system benefits from the latest technological advances made in both range and drivability, and comes in two versions: the “all electric” and the “rechargeable hybrid”. SVE is a company which was formed, and is 100 percent owned, by two French industrial giants, Dassault and Heuliez.

Both partners see Electric Vehicles (EV) as an important future strategy. Serge Dassault, the President of the Dassault Group, considers EV’s as a high-tech activity which represents for them a diversification of their knowledge & experience in aeronautics, with the development of board computer systems and especially of energy management on board. Meanwhile Gérard Queveau, the President of the Heuliez Group, started major investing in 1983 in the activity of complete vehicle derivates. Heuliez has developed and manufactured more than 6,000 EV’s in the last 15 years.

Cleanova II has now turned a Fiat Doblò into a 100 percent electric vehicle. The system fitted to the Fiat light commercial vehicle consists of a lithium-ion battery, a permanent magnet synchronous motor, an optimised electronic vehicle management system, and an eco-friendly conditioning system.

After perfecting its first prototype at the beginning of the decade (the Cleanova I), S.V.E. decided to integrate its electric traction system into ordinary cars manufactured in France and elsewhere. In this way, it developed the Cleanova II (based on a KANGOO platform), and the Cleanova III (based on a SCENIC platform).
 

This multifunction drivetrain system integrates, in one single module, a 35kW electrical motor and a 15kW range extender generator with an integrated differential. Moreover, this system includes in this same module all the associated control and power electronics, the DC-DC converter and the battery charger. TM4's system makes of the Cleanova II a hybrid vehicle that runs primarily in electric mode. The Cleanova II versatile hybrid system allows for many uses. Firstly, it can operate in all-electric mode. Secondly, the generator, that is typically used to recharge the battery as a range extender, can also be coupled to the main electrical motor to boost its performance, depending on road conditions and the driver's requests.

Since 2005, the Cleanova II system has been chosen by the French Government for a nation-wide demonstration program dedicated to clean vehicles. S.V.E. has been continuing its developments with a view to industrialisation in collaboration with technological partners and plans are in place now to put the technology into production this year. Prototype vehicles incorporating Cleanova II have been tested by the French Post Office. Dassault-Heuliez will build 1,000 vehicles (600 Renault Kangoo, 400 Fiat Doblò) at the Heuliez factory in Deux-Sèvres, France with the vehicles available to business customers as well as municipalities. The conversion will add around US$10,000 to the price of the vehicles.