Jeep Renegade Concept. Click image to enlarge |
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Jeep Renegade Concept
Detroit, Michigan - Jeep unveiled the open-air Jeep Renegade concept, a sporty two-seater 4X4 with a lithium-ion battery pack that provides a basic driving range of 64 km (40 miles). A range extender - a 1.5-litre three-cylinder Bluetec diesel engine - can extend that driving range up to 644 km (400 miles).
"With an electric motor powering each axle, the Jeep Renegade concept is designed for a 'hang on and have fun experience,'" said Tony Shamenkov, Jeep Renegade concept principal exterior designer. Shamenkov says the Renegade is a sporty, "minimized" two-seater ideally suited for the all-weather fun of dune-surfing or rock-crawling.
The sporty Renegade concept features large, flaring wheel openings, oversized wheels and tires, and cut-down speedster windshield. Underneath is a lightweight aluminum architecture, regenerative braking system, dual electric 200 kilowatt (268 horsepower) motors, and a 4x4 system complete with low range and locking differentials.
While the Renegade features a roll bar, it has no top. Instead, the cargo deck just behind the cockpit can be fitted with a variety of "lids." Options include a plain lid, or lids configured to accommodate the gear of a particular outdoor day-trip activity, such as mountain biking or kayaking. Or it can come "as built" - with formations designed to accommodate two matching water scooters with open storage underneath. Fluid-fill caps, a plug-in port and a first-aid kit are also included.
The Renegade Concept is targeted at customers who are extremely environmentally oriented, appreciate high-tech and innovation, and enjoy performance combined with style in keeping with their "green" attitude, says the company.
Materials used in constructing the Jeep Renegade concept were deliberately selected to be environmentally responsible, both in manufacture and end-of-vehicle-life recyclability.
Innovative construction includes one-piece moulded soy-based foam seats and doors, a one-piece co-moulded instrument panel with a urethane skin, a co-moulded aluminum/silicone steering wheel, a one-piece moulded chassis created without using environmentally-harmful resins, and a one-piece moulded interior compartment "tub."
The Jeep Renegade concept's sporty doors incorporate unique canvas-pull remote "handles," while the rush of the moving landscape visible through the door's elongated openings enhance the feeling of carefree, open-air mobility.
The Renegade's contoured, figure-form seats - covered in scuba-like waterproof materials that are both soft-touch and flexible - feature in-seat belts and unusual, hollow, lightweight upside-down "U-shaped" headrests. A "thermal unit" in the centre console plugs into the electrical battery pack, permitting food to be either heated or cooled.
The dual-cockpit instrument panel is symmetrically balanced for easy "plug and play" left-hand drive and right-hand drive applications. There is no conventional wiring. Instead, the instrument panel features wireless electronics in sealed, self-contained units, removable by the customer. The panel is built about an exposed cross-car beam containing an integrated power strip, and on the passenger side, yaw, pitch and roll indicators (also built into the fluid-fill gauges). The instrument panel itself is hollow, allowing open storage below the beam. Separately-configured impact-absorbing vinyl-wrapped knee-blockers "float" beneath the cross-car beam.
The Renegade's wireless interior is designed to be hosed down. It features a drain in the floor, while the formations built into the floor mat are designed to channel water to the opening. Hollow-section billet-formed pedals float above the tub floor.
