If a concept car announces a trend, a show car is more concrete and foreshadows a marketable model. Thus, the Mégane eVision show car will give birth to the future electric Mégane. But what will Renault remember for this future production model? Argus reveals all its secrets to you.
[Mis à jour le 06/09/2021] A year after the e-Vision concept, Renault unveiled the production version of the electric Mégane. Which as advertised is true to the concept. Interior, range, power … discover all its characteristics.
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” The production model corresponds to 90 – 95% of this show car », Confirms Gilles Le Borgne, engineering director of the Renault group. Reassuring, as this Mégane eVision is so attractive… Its style is certainly out of step with the rest of the French brand’s catalog, but Renault has not gone as far as Volkswagen with its ID range. L’argus tells you everything about this future 100% electric Mégane which will also roll on the flowerbeds of the recent VW ID.3, a target designated by Luca de Meo, Renault’s new boss and who knows the German model well …
The perfect rival of the VW ID.3
At the beginning, the BCB project, its internal code (Renault does not hide it, it is registered on the show car …), should not take the name of Mégane. It wasn’t even intended to be a compact model. This orientation has arrived very recently. Luca de Meo quickly made this choice which allowed the production car to compete with a rival of choice: the Volkswagen ID.3. Both models display similar characteristics:
- They are 100% electric,
- They are based on a modular platform specifically developed for electricity,
- They measure less than 4.30 m …
On paper, the match promises to be interesting. However, on the style side, Renault has taken a less radical direction than that of the German manufacturer. ” Renault’s formal language remains focused on sensuality », Explains Agneta Dahlgren, Renault VE design director. Thus, the future electric Mégane will retain this show because its sides modeled with its muscular wings, its fleeting roof line, its marked engine cover, its lightning signature in the form of lightning, its illuminated bands running on the radiator grille and on the tailgate (the logo will, however, not be lit) …
It will also have Large rims of up to 20 inches on the top-of-the-range version. ” The final version of this show car will have tips to optimize aerodynamics which will improve autonomy “, Admits the one who is at the origin of the design of the Zoe, without however listing the elements that will be kept from the show car. However, according to our information, if the mirrors will be conventional on the standard electric Mégane, its front door handles will be very flush, and they will be hidden behind in a thicker amount. In the radius of the differences, note the front and rear bumpers, as well as the sills, more conventional based on designs known to Renault, as a single charging hatch. ” The tracks will also be slightly narrower than on this show car », Admits Gilles Le Borgne.
All in finesse
The model of the CMF-EV platform made available during the presentation of the show car is, for its part, the right dimensions. A smaller width which will have an impact on the interior coasts, we will come back to it below. This modular technical base integrates the battery directly into its structure, which certainly weighs more than 400 kg, but which measures only 110 mm in height, ie a gain of around 30 mm compared to the competition’s proposals. A finesse which allows to keep a reasonable height for a sedan (1.50 m). Two capacities will be offered on the electric Mégane (40 and 60 kWh). The platform may nevertheless have a maximum supply of up to 87 kWh, as announced on the Nissan Ariya. It is moreover the Japanese manufacturer which led the developments on this CMF-EV, however, the BCB project was entirely carried out within the Technocentre of Renault.
The battery pack will power an electric motor of 160 kW (or 217 hp) placed at the front and having a “boost” effect allowing it to peak, temporarily, at 278 kW (or 378 hp). ” This architecture at the front is much less expensive than a propulsion with a rear engine, we have no element to pass through a service tunnel. », Explains the head of engineering. While no version of the future electric Mégane will have a motor on the rear axle, other models based on the platform may receive one. It will also be the same type of electromotor as the one placed at the front.
Regarding autonomy, Renault advances between 400 and 450 km with the largest battery and the possibility of connecting on a fast terminal, up to 130 kW, in order to recover around 200 km (WLTP cycle) in 30 minutes, and 175 km for highway use. This battery can also be connected, as standard, to outlets delivering 7.4 kW, or optionally to a three-phase supplying up to 22 kW.
TO READ. Volkswagen ID.3 test: the truth about the autonomy of the electric ID.3
More space, less cumbersome
Through its show car, Renault did not wish to communicate on the interior of its future model. However, the dashboard will use the L-shaped layout seen on the Symbioz concept presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017. The driver will face an imposing digital panel acting as counters, which will continue on the console to a large vertical screen for the infotainment system.
With its wheelbase of 2.69 m, the electric Mégane will offer more comfort to rear passengers than the current Renault compact, while it is 15 cm less in length. On the other hand, as mentioned above, the tracks will be slightly narrower, and the curved bodywork will require a smaller width on board. As for the trunk, it will display, according to Renault, a loading volume similar to that of the thermal Mégane, around 380 l.
TO READ. Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric (2022). Secrets of the interior
One Mégane is chasing another …
This production electric Mégane will be presented in the course of next year and produced in the wake in the factory of Douai (North) for marketing planned for 2022, at a price of around € 35,000, excluding bonuses. However, it will not push the current Mégane out of the Renault catalog. At least not at first. The latter, recently updated, with an unprecedented plug-in hybrid offer, will satisfy those who cannot, for economic reasons, move towards a 100% electric model. On the other hand, the car should stop by 2024, without having any thermal descendants.
Illustrations: Motor.es
