Pininfarina pulls the wraps off Nido EV prototype

Pininfarina has ramped up its green car conceptual work dramatically since 2008. The latest yield is the Nido, a tiny but space-efficient EV built on a modular floorpan to accommodate multiple interior configurations and all-electric or hybrid drivetrains.

Designed and built from scratch at the company's Cambiano Style and Engineering Centre, near Turin, the Nido serves as a test bed for a raft of weight-reduction and energy efficiency technologies focussed on hastening improvements in battery charging and regenerative braking performance.

This first prototype sports a 30kW rear-mounted electric motor powered by a 21.2kWh, 278V Ni-NaCl battery. With 30kW and 125Nm on tap, it accelerates from 0-60 km/h in 6.7 seconds.

Pininfarina claims an eight-hour charge from flat to full, gives the car a range of 140km at speeds reaching an electronically governed 120km/h.

The Nido's modular floorpan design allows it to move freely between four different configurations -- two-seater, 2+2, pickup and light van -- using full EV or hybrid powertrains. Although this prototype frame is tubular steel, the final iteration will move to an aluminium space frame.

Other versions planned include, first up, a hybrid using a forward mounted internal combustion engine and rear mounted electric motor, then an all-electric version with the motor up front.

Pininfarina has spent the last several years ramping up its activity in the green vehicle space. The company's collaboration with French battery maker Bolloré, initially on the BO (B Zero) project, continues on the BlueCar EV development.

First unveiled in early 2009, the four-seat, five-door BlueCar was conceived as a test-bed for Bollore subsidiary BatScap's lithium metal polymer battery pack and Bollore's own supercapacitors supercapacitors.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi