Renault Frendzy electric van-cum-car packs 37-inch TV on the side
Renault's uber-eccentric design team has conjured up an electric concept that's part van, part family car, part 37-inch television set.
What do you get when you cross a commercial vehicle with an eco-friendly family car? Fired from your job as a car designer, most likely -- unless you happen to work for Renault. The French company's uber-eccentric design team has Frankensteined together just such a creation in the form of the Frendzy concept.
The electric car-cum-van is a true multi-purpose vehicle that offers both 'work' and 'family' modes of operation. In work mode, its interior provides enough room in the rear to cart around whatever merchandise its owner wants to peddle, while its exterior features a weatherproof 37-inch display.
Sadly, this isn't for airing re-runs of Only Fools and Horses. Instead, it can be programmed to show a range of messages such as "making deliveries", "back in five minutes" or "give me a parking ticket and I'll hunt you down like a dog".
The gimmicks don't end there. The Frendzy's door sills are equipped with Oyster-style sensors that log the loading or unloading of packages equipped with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips, allowing you to track exactly what's on-board via a tablet mounted at the front.
In 'family' mode, meanwhile, the space in the rear all but vanishes as a bench pops up to house the buttocks of of the Frendzy's rear passengers. The aura inside the car changes in family mode, too, as the wing mirrors rotate from portrait to landscape orientation and the interior lights cycle from green to a 'radiant orange', providing a warmer, more welcoming environment.
If that's not mental enough, there's a rear-mounted tablet PC for watching movies and an Etch-A-Sketch-style digital slate on the window, onto which kids can doodle as you drive.
Whether this plethora of gizmos affects the electrically-driven Frendzy's range remains to be see. Renault hasn't yet released official confirmation of how far it can be driven on a single charge, but its electric power system is based on that of the Kangoo Z.E., which has a range of around 100 miles.
We also know it'll have a top speed of 80mph and pack a sound-generator that can warn pedestrians it's bearing down on them.
We'll be going hands on with this bizarre TV-toting puppy when it's unveiled officially at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Until then, have a gander through our photo gallery above and check out the video below to see it in greater detail.