|
DOUAI, France — Renault is in the midst of rolling out three new full-electric models, including the highly anticipated Renault 5 small car, but it is already planning its next-generation EVs on a new platform that will cut costs by 40 percent and debut by 2028 on a compact model, CEO Luca de Meo said.
The new platform will have an energy efficiency of less than 12-kilowatt-hours per 100 km for compact models, better than even Renault’s latest small EVs such as the Renault 5 hatchback, with bench-test efficiency of about 13 kWh/100 km, according to WLTP range figures.
Renault says the new platform would be so advanced that it would catch up “two generations in one.”
“By 2028, thanks to our next-generation, revolutionary C-segment [compact] platform, we will have caught up with the best Chinese players in product and cost, in a European environment,” de Meo said Oct. 30 at an event here marking the one-year anniversary of the founding of the Ampere EV business unit.
To reach that target, Ampere and Renault engineers will focus on improvements in aerodynamics, friction and underbody airflow, as well as a new-generation electric motor, power electronics and battery chemistries.
Renault’s current EVs ride on two platforms: AmpR Medium (previously known as CMF-EV), which underpins compact models such as the Megane hatchback and Scenic SUV and the future Alpine A390; and AmpR Small (previously CMF-B EV), for the Renault 5, Renault 4 SUV, Alpine A290 and future models that will include a replacement for the Nissan Micra small car.
A modified version of AmpR Small will underpin the sub-€20,000 Twingo minicar due in early 2026 and a possible Nissan variant.
Publishing Partner Sponsored Content from Kerrigan Advisors
Publishing Partner:
Sponsored Content from Kerrigan Advisors
TitleKerrigan Advisors Represents Sunrise Auto Group in Sale of Memphis Dealership to Jim Keras Automotive
Sunrise Buick GMC is sold to Jim Keras Automotive, representing Kerrigan Advisors 81st franchise in the Southern region sold since 2023.
Image
Multimedia Content
A green-colored Renault Twingo concept is displayed on the brand's stand at the 2024 Paris auto show.
The Renault Twingo concept at the 2024 Paris auto show. The car will appear in production form in early 2026 at a price below €20,000. (Peter Sigal/Automotive News Europe)
The new platform could appear first on a production version of the Renault Embleme concept that debuted last month at the Paris auto show. The Embleme is meant as a showcase for how Renault Group could reduce the carbon footprint of its vehicles by 90 percent, but it will also likely be the base for a production model, de Meo said.
“If you know me a little, whenever I put something on a stage I tend to do it at the end,” De Meo said about the Embleme, which was shown with a hybrid battery-hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain.
Renault’s last three EVs, the Renault 4 and 5 and Scenic, appeared in production form largely unchanged from their concept versions.
Renault will add LFP batteries by 2026
Ampere is also transitioning its battery suppliers and chemistries in the next two years to cut costs by 50 percent, crucial because batteries make up about one-third of the price of an EV, and chemistries account for up to 75 percent of battery cost.
Nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries will continue to be provided by Renault’s longtime supplier, LG Energy Solutions of South Korea, but LG will also supply lower-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, as will China’s CATL.
Technicians in white clean suits with battery machinery in the background.
Inside AESC's new factory in Douai, France, close to Renault's assembly plant where it builds the Renault 5. (Renault Group)
Ampere, meanwhile, will turn to two providers in France for NMC batteries: AESC, a Japanese company that is building a gigafactory adjacent to the Douai assembly plant; and Verkor, a startup that will supply high-performance cells for Alpine models at some point next year.
Looking to the next-generation platform in 2028, Ampere is turning to cobalt-free batteries with a silicon anode with the objective of reaching the energy density of NMC batteries with the cost of LFP. By 2030, Ampere plans to develop batteries that would double current NMC energy density “at a competitive cost.”
Such batteries would help reduce dependence on cobalt, a scarce metal that sees wide swings in pricing, and is mined in politically unstable countries.
Solid-state batteries could appear on production models sometime after 2030, Ampere says.
Another battery innovation that Ampere is working on with LG is “cell to pack” technology, which increases the number of cells in a given space by eliminating modules, enabling longer range and lower costs.
A black small car is shown on a production line, with two workers fitting components to it.
A Renault 5 on the production line at the Ampere factory in Douai, France. (Peter Sigal/Crain)
Renault has set up a partnership with the Chinese to cut development time
De Meo has been benchmarking Chinese brands as he worked to cut model development time to two years from four. The Renault 5 made it to production in three years, while the Twingo will do so in less than two, after being announced in autumn 2023.
The Twingo will be developed in part using Chinese expertise. Renault has set up a joint operation in Shanghai called the Advanced China Development Center, where it will learn from and work with Chinese partners.
“We have built a bridge to China,” de Meo said about the operation, which was spearheaded by Ampere engineering chief Philippe Brunet. “They are going to learn from our competitors and imitate what they do better. It’s what the Chinese did with Europeans in China
Renault tramite De Meo ha rilasciato dichiarazioni piuttosto impegnative.
Nel 2028 verrà lanciata una nuova piattaforma elettrica che avrà un’efficienza di 12 kW/hour. Le nuove batterie saranno capaci di ricevere un taglio dei costi del 50%.
Entro il 2030 le nuove tecnologie NMC saranno capaci di avere una densità di energia doppia rispetto a quella attuale.
Vedremo come la situazione evolverà, di sicuro se non ci saranno degli avanzamenti tecnologici significativi che permetteranno una forte riduzione dei costi e della complessità i cinesi continueranno a trionfare.
|
Iscriviti
Login
FAQ
Cerca
