- The test car is named after three record-setting Renault prototypes from the last century
- Renault claims the mostly carbon-fiber prototype weighs less than 2,204 pounds
- Most of the weight is from an 87-kwh capacity battery pack
Renault on Thursday unveiled a concept car designed not just to look pretty on auto show stands, but to test new ways of improving electric-vehicle efficiency.
The Renault Filante Record 2025 is a single-seat EV that will be used in efficiency and range record attempts later this year, Renault said in a press release. First, it will be displayed at the Retromobile classic car show in Paris, which runs Feb. 5-9, alongside cars that inspired it.
Renault has a long history of record-setting prototypes. The Filante Record 2025 takes its name from three of them: the Ètoile Filante (French for “shooting star”) that set speed records at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in the 1950s, and the 40 CV des Records and Nervasport des Records that set various speed and endurance records in the 1920s and 1930s, respectively.
Renault Filante Record 2025
The open-wheel bodywork, round headlights, and cab-rearward proportions are retro homages to those historic record cars, particularly the 40 CV des Records. That’s thematically consistent with Renault’s current road-car strategy which, as demonstrated with the Renault 5 E-Tech hatchback, doesn’t shy away from retro styling.
The design is still wind-tunnel proven, Renault claims. The elongated shape helps better control airflow around the body, and the wheels and suspension components have full fairings like those of a land-speed record streamliner. The driver sits in a reclined position similar to that of a Formula 1 race car, with the steering wheel attached to the cockpit canopy for easier ingress and egress.
Body panels are held together with visible screws, a choice inspired by aircraft construction that helps save weight, according to Renault. The panels themselves are carbon fiber, while the chassis is comprised of a combination of aluminum, carbon fiber, and steel. Topology optimization—the use of software models to determine the minimal amount of material needed in a given area—helped further reduce weight down to what Renault claims is less than 2,204 pounds.
Renault Filante Record 2025
The battery pack accounts for 1,322 pounds of that total. It has the same 87-kwh capacity as the pack in the Renault Scénic E-Tech crossover, but with cell-to-pack tech the automaker claims reduces weight and allows for more flexible packaging (the pack is placed forward in the chassis, under the driver’s feet). Similarly, steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems helped designers make the most of the limited space in the Filante Record 2025’s cockpit.
Renault didn’t provide much detail on the powertrain, but said the Filante Record 2025 will roll on specially-designed Michelin tires with a slim design to help reduce aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance.
As a one-off prototype designed to escape the weight-and-efficiency spiral of current EVs aiming for records, the Filante Record 2025 is similar in intent to the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX concept, which in 2022 managed 746 miles on a single charge on a road trip from Stuttgart, Germany, to the Silverstone racetrack in the U.K.—with enough charge leftover for a few victory laps. But where the EQXX at least vaguely resembled a road car, with four doors and a conventional interior, the Filante Record 2025 seems tailored for racetracks.