Renault unveils the concept of the future electric Mégane
- Renault unveiled its first battery electric vehicle (BEV) based on the new C-segment CMF-EV platform shared with all the brands of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi group. This first model – named Mégane eVision - 95% prefigures (according to Renault management) the future electric Mégane which will be one version of the future Mégane family scheduled for 2022. The production model should appear at the end of 2021 for a launch onto the market scheduled for early 2022.
- Even though the future Mégane with a thermal engine will be produced in Spain, at the Palencia plant, the BEV version will be produced in Douai, in the north of France. Renault has for objective to turn the Douai plant as the largest European production center for BEV, competing the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau, in eastern Germany, which has a production capacity of 200,000 BEV per year.
- The future electric Mégane is the first model in a series to come which should include three or four different models on the Douai plant, while Scenic, Espace and Talisman will have disappeared from the assembly lines in 2023. It is to note that the future electric Mégane will be more of a crossover than a traditional sedan. The two or three other models to be produced in Douai should be SUVs of a different segment. It is possible that the third generation Zoe will also become an SUV.
- Renault has announced that the CMF-EV platform will have a choice of three different batteries: 40 kWh, 60 kWh and 87 kWh. The future electric Mégane will be equipped with a 60 kWh battery allowing a range of 450 km in the WLTP cycle. In its press release, Renault explains that the batteries are "structural", meaning integrated into the body floor. It is not yet explained how the batteries will be integrated into the body production process, as today the cells are assembled in modules, themselves gathered in a "pack" of batteries. This pack is subsequently mounted (bolted) under the floor of the body already fully built. Also, Nissan for its future Ariya (C-segment SUV), which also uses the CMF-EV platform, explains for its part, that the battery pack will directly integrate a cross member to increase the rigidity of the body. We will see therefore if the two platforms differ in their design.
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