Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric is almost ready for mass production (update)
During this summer, 30 pre-production units of the Mégane E-Tech Electric will be driven by Renault engineers for final testing before mass production begins.
Revealed during Renault eWays: The Challenge towards Zero Emissions, Mégane eVision showcar announced Renault’s first step on C-segment electric vehicles ; enhancing a comprehensive lineup of fully electric passenger cars: with the A-segment Twingo E-Tech Electric, and the B-segment bestseller ZOE.
Based on the CMF-EV platform, the all-new Mégane E-Tech Electric features a 160kW (217hp) e-motor and a 60kWh battery pack enabling up to 450km WLTP. Also called MéganE (pronounced “Mégane e”), the car starts to reveal its final silhouette as a fleet of 30 pre-production cars will be driven on open roads this summer by our engineers.
Made in the Douai factory, all the pre-production cars will be covered with a taylor-made pattern from Renault Design. Consisting in a play of lines and patterns from our new and iconic logo, this design creates a dazzle-like camouflage.
This is one of the most awaited electric cars in Europe and will share the new CMF-EV platform with the upcoming Nissan ARIYA.
Nissan ARIYA
The Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric with a WLTP range of 450 km from a 60 kWh battery suggests that it’ll have a consumption similar to the smaller ZOE. It seems that the higher weight is compensated by better aerodynamics and/or powertrain efficiency.
Update
French media reports that in addition to the 60 kWh battery, the Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric is also expected to come with 40 and 87 kWh battery options, for WLTP ranges around 300 and 600 km, respectively.
As it happens with the Nissan ARIYA, the 22 kW on-board charger is expected to only be standard in the highest trim-level, while the more affordable versions are expected to come with 7 kW on-board chargers as standard. Not sure if the 22 kW on-charger will be available as optional in the entry-level trims – I hope it will.
Anyway, it seems that with the new platform Renault will finally abandon its Chameleon charger. Renault’s Chameleon charger is simple, cheap and powerful, since it uses the electric powertrain as the charger, making use of the existing electric motor and inverter – similar to what happens with regenerative braking.
The good news is that with a common on-board charger the new powertrain will be more reliable and efficient. The not so good news is that a simple – but often unreliable – 22 kW on-board charger will no longer come as standard in Renault’s electric cars.
Finally, with the Mégane E-Tech Electric, Renault is expected to debut the new NCMA battery cells from LG Energy Solution (LG Chem’s battery business).
LG Energy Solution at the InterBattery 2021 event
More info:
https://www.renaultgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-16-cmf-ev-e-tech-presentation.pdf
Hopefully with the new platform and NCMA battery Renault will adopt liquid cooling to allow decent fast charging rates (at least 100 kW).
They already confirmed liquid cooling and 130kW DC charging. Hopefully, 87kWh version of Ariya will also be available.
I have a feeling that the advertised 130kW will be sustained for a minute or two and on average only a bit faster than 100kW of the ID3 58kWh…
Are you sure about the NCMA cells for Renault ? I could not get confirmation about it, only they plan to use NMC, most likely 722 or 811 from LG for Renault pack 40 or 63kWh. the 87kWh pack is coming from CATL
I’m not sure that the battery cells in the new CMF-EV platform are NCMA, but it’s likely. GM’s new platform will use them.
If the brand new platform from Nissan and Renault used old battery technology it would be very disappointing.
According to this video it looks like with CMF-EV they adopted sort of a cell-to-pack battery packing. Combining that with NCMA 90kWh (87 usable) version 600-650km should be archivable without a hassle (400km+ highway speed).
This isn’t cell-to-pack. (I’d be surprised to see anyone do CtP with pouch cells… Maybe not entirely impossible, but quite a PITA to get working I’d expect.)
What you seem to be thinking of is a structural pack: but the only thing they are showing on that front is that the battery *casing* is a structural component — which is pretty standard in most designs really. BYD’s or Tesla’s structural CtP — using the cell casings as structural elements — is an entirely different story. (And impossible with pouch cells, which don’t have casings…)
I would like to point out one thing. Most EV news are stating MeganE is crossover (which I think this is false). Let’s look at height specs:
(current Megane: 1360 mm, current Captur: 1619 mm, ID.4: 1636 mm)
I believe it is unfair to call those cars on the list crossovers. Moreover, nobody recognises ID.3 or Leaf as that so it’s unfair to those cars IMO. The additional height comes from the battery pack (MeganE 11cm, ID.3 probably more due to module-based structure). So they are for sure classic European hatchbacks, just a little bit taller due to the battery.
Good point Rok, I was wondering that too. I always use the Leaf as an EV size bench Mark, since I used to have one of them.
I agree with you, Leaf is the standard for new EV hatchbacks. I had an extensive test with ID.3, which is of similar specs (slightly bigger), and my personal experience is it is a roomy car. A lot of space inside and also quite a big trunk. Cars in this segment are usually a little bit lower but longer with less space inside. So it actually a better hatchback class, an improved one if you ask me.
I own a Leaf 40kwh and I wouldn’t call it a crossover or anything… but it is quite high… for instance a TM3 height is 1,44m that is substancially lower…
I would personally prefer a lower riding car than the Leaf, but at the time only ioniq would enter the game and it was quite more expensive than the Leaf (December 2017).
Is there any confirmation that NCMA cathode can be put in pouch cells? LG never went to more than 721 in pouch compared to 811 in 2170.
GM’s new Ultium batteries will be made with long NCMA pouch battery cells from LG.
https://pushevs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/06/GM-Ultium-batteries-made-with-long-NCMA-pouch-battery-cells-from-LG.jpg
Renault released some specs for the Megane e-Tech Electric:
40 kWh – 8 modules of 24 cells each = 192 cells
60 kWh – 12 modules of 24 cells each = 288 cells
https://www.renault-presse.de/main-2642-1
“Die 40-kWh-Batterie besteht aus acht Modulen mit je 24 Zellen, die auf einer einzigen Schicht verteilt sind. Die 60-kWh-Batterie besteht aus zwölf Modulen mit je 24 Zellen, die auf zwei Schichten verteilt sind. In beiden Fällen bleiben die Abmessungen der Batterie unverändert.”
Doing the math, this is about 56 Ah per cell, probaby net capacity. These cells of about 56-60 Ah are small cells, not large ones from Ultium, where the cells are about 95 Ah. As long as Renault still makes modules first, and puts modules into a battery tray, they are not using cell-to-pack design.
Renault claims 20% higher volumetric energy density at cell level (600 Wh/Liter) over the Zoe cells (500 Wh/Liter).
Regarding your question: whether NCMA in pouch cells is possible? Ultium (GM with LG Energy in Lyric, Escalade, Celestiq, Silverado, Hummer EV) will get NCMA chemistry in pouch cells.
For Megane e-Tech electric: it is NMC-721. See this video and question and answer by Gilles Le Borgne, Vice President Engineering at Renault:https://youtu.be/oO7EV4VncmY?t=381
He stresses: NMC-721=NCM-712, 10% cobalt, 270 Wh/kg (at cell level). My interpretation: they kept the chemistry from latest Zoe cells (NMC-721, 78 Ah. LG E78), but changed the dimensions of the pouch cells to be smaller, essentially more flat.
They may use LGX N2.1 with NMC-721 as in Chevrolet Bolt EV facelift (66kWh), they are about 62 Ah gross capacity. Both of them share modules of 24 cells. But these cells would be about 100 mm in height, it’s hard to make a battery pack that adds water cooling and is only 110 mm in height. So eventually, they get LG pouch cells with different dimensions in a cell to module design.
Might be the perfect car for me, with the 22kw onboard charger. (I live in a flat and shorter on-street charge time is essential). I’m interested if they will include it as standard.
Probably it will be a better car than ID3, which has an underwhelming interior and interface, no option for a roof rack and not a very impressive trunk. Also the price of 58kWh with most options included does get very close to a Model 3… (2-3k € price difference in Slovenia).
Hi Matko.
Indeed, 22 kW on-board chargers should already be standard in European electric cars by now.
However, it seems that the standard on-board charger in the Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric will be 7 kW and 22 kW will be optional. Check the PDF below.
https://www.renaultgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-16-cmf-ev-e-tech-presentation.pdf
Basic question: can you charge at 7 kw (presumably one phase, 32 A) at a 11 kw charger (three phases)? If not 7 kw seems rather pointless.
AFAIK some (many?) european contries require loads above 16 ampere to be balanced, meaning that all three phases should be used.
If the 7,4 kw onboard charger supports two phases, compatibility shouldn’t be an issue. Do you expect that to be the case?
One could argue that 7 kw is a reasonable power level for over night charging. This saves the electrical infrastructure from some stress. But you give up the flexibility of fast ac charging.
Hi Matt. Sorry I don’t know the answer.
Usually 7 kw chargers are only 1 phase/32amp afaik… in a 11kw 3 phase charger you would pobably charge at a laughning 3,6 kw… that to fill a 60kwh battery would take LLLOOOOONNNGGG time… Hope I’m wrong.
Pedro, do you think that the release of this Megane will finaly push the ZOE price to a more normal level?
It should.
In Germany the Renault ZOE is no longer as popular as it used to be.
Volkswagen ID.3 Pure: 31.960 euros
Renault ZOE LIFE R110 ZE 50: 31.990 euros
The ZOE is now clearly overpriced and needs a big price cut.
ZOE production will end around 2024-2025 as Flins plant will be diversified in a Re-Factory for Remanufacturing, recycling…ZOE will be replaced by CMFB-EV models (B-seg) such as R5, R4…
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