This car, under the well-known body of the little Twingo, launches a state-of-the-art technology, which readily available, and the engine and battery components are manufactured entirely in Switzerland.
This vehicle is totally reliable for daily professional use, as its battery life is around 130 km and it allows speeds of up to 120 km/h on the motorway.
Not to forget the exceptional appeal when driving - spectacular silence and acceleration which won over the whole team at Infomaniak right away (from 0 to 29km/h you have more torque than a conventional petrol car).
Using it reveals how appealing it is in its simplicity. Full recharging is done be simply connecting the car to a 220v outlet and only takes a few hours (1-6 h).
If the purchase price of a Twingo Quickshift Elettrica seems prohibitive (40,000 CHF), the savings achieved in "regular use make amortisation easy, as there is no maintenance for the motor or batteries (the service life of which is between 4 and 7 years) and there is 5 times less wear as far as brake pads are concerned, given that the car recharges the batteries by using inertia force when braking.
We only recharge this car at night at the reduced rate at night (electricity generated by hydraulic power + 2.5% solar energy). After installing an electric meter to monitor the real charge for several months, we pay exactly 3.20 Swiss francs for every 100km driven on average.
Nonetheless we regret that despite the convenience and performance achieved by electric power where automotive transport is concerned, at the time we bought the Twingo there were only three equivalent vehicles that were 100% electric in Switzerland...
The technology used in Zebra batteries is an invention b
This technology has several advantages as compared to existing concurrent solutions: batteries with this technology are composed of non-polluting raw materials, which are available in nature in very large supplies. The negative electrode is sodium and the positive electrode is nickel chloride (household salt).
The table below gives a good summary of the variou
| Energy density (Wh/Kg) | Power density (W/kg) | Service life in cycles | |
| New generation of lead acid | 48 | 150 | 600 a 1000 |
| Nickel-Cadium | 50 | 175 | 1500 a 2000 |
| GM Ovonic Nickel-Metal-Hybride | 70 | 220 | > 600 |
| SAFT Nickel-Metal-Hybride | 70 | 150 | 1500 |
| SAFT Lithium-Ion | 120 | 230 | 600 |
| Zinc-Bromine | 70 | 100 | < 1000 |
| Zinc-Air | 180 | 125 | < 400 |
| Lithium-Polymer | 150 | 350 | < 600 |
| ZEBRA sodium-nickel chloride | 86 | 150 | > 1000 |
The great advantage of this battery is the use of non-polluting materials which are available in nature in very large supply an
Its fault is that production is in small quantities in Switzerland and therefore the price is high. Less important but it should be noted nonetheless: the fact that the battery is kept permanently at 270°C. It uses its own energy to maintain this temperature and ends, after 6 weeks without charging, by draining the battery completely. The best thing is to leave the battery on the mains supply each evening when you finish driving to avoid any surprises if you donít use the car for several days. In this case, the car will cost you on average 3.20 Swiss francs for 100 km driven.
All in all, we are completely happy with this electric vehicle and encourage as many companies as possible to use this type of technology for city transport. Of course, 40,000 Swiss francs may seem a lot but 100,000 km driven in an electric car will cost you about 3.200 Swiss francs in electricity, while a petrol-fuelled car with a consumption of 8 litres/100km will cost you 16,000 Swiss francs and emit 19 tons of CO2 in the atmosphere, without counting emissions of fine particles which are carcinogenic and nitrogen oxide from this type of vehicle.
Are you interesting in investing in an electric car? We are at your disposal if you have any questions or would like to try our vehicle.