Paris 2010: Saab 9-3 ePower Concept

"We're not dead," said Saab, "yet." That was the general feeling at the Saab display, with the now dutch-owned Swedish carmaker not really having a lot to show.  Still, the fact that they were alive and present for the 2010 Paris Auto Show is reason enough to celebrate the survival of Swedish weirdness.

But yes, they did have a concept car.  In a lot of ways, I'd say the new 9-5 Sedan is more exciting than this concept, but that's because you all know how I feel about electric tree-hugging transportation pods.  Still, the 9-3 ePower is probably a good idea for Saab's future viability.  Here's the lowdown.

Take one Saab 9-3 Sportcombi (errrm, wagon.)  Remove turbocharged gasoline engine.  Replace with electric motor.  Fill trunk with batteries, install a plug, profit.  There's not much else to it, besides that lovely set of three-spoke alloys.  (You know, they never made an electric SPG.  Just saying.)  The numbers for the ePower are pretty good for an electric car: 184 horsepower from the electric motor, 35 KwH lithium-ion battery pack, 120 mile projected range.

The ePower has enough... uhh, ePower to accelerate to sixty in 8.5 seconds, which is pretty fast for an electric car (or slow for a Tesla, depends how you look at it), although it probably won't go 120 miles on a charge if you keep doing that.  Saab says it's battery pack is better engineered to deal with cold temperatures than other manufacturer's setups, which would be important in Sweden.

And that's about it, really.  Saab will be making 70 of these 9-3 ePower wagons and distributing them to 'trial' families for a two-year test.  The point of the ePower is for Saab to gather knowledge about how to build an electric vehicle that meets the demands of real-world customers, so don't let it's practical shape and production-car roots fool you.  It's more of a data acquisition device than a business plan.  Will this work for Saab?  Who knows.  But we do know it's better than sitting there and waiting for the future to just happen.

Photos: Jonathon Ramsey, AOL Autos.