Renault’s weapon to invade the affordable electric market, the electric R5 E-Tech officially debuts at the Geneva Motor Show. Up to 150 hp and 400 km of range, discover all the details of the long-awaited electric city car.
After more than three years of waiting, Renault is taking advantage of the Geneva Motor Show to finally lift the veil on its electric R5 E-Tech. A vehicle drawing its philosophy and its name from the past, but after 37 months of teasing and a call price below €25,000, it is above all supposed to embody the electric future of the brand.
95, 120 or 150 horsepower?
To move from prototype to production model, Renault and its subsidiary Ampère worked on the AmpR Small platform (formerly called CMF-B EV), a fully electric base close to the thermal one used on the Clio and Captur.
But this is not the only element reused by Renault since the engine on board the R5 is derived from those of the Megane and Scenic E-Tech. Made more compact to be able to integrate the bodywork, the latter is offered in three power levels. As soon as it goes on sale in France, the R5 will arrive with a 150 hp (110 kW / 245 Nm) engine.. The range will subsequently be completed by two units of 120 hp (90 kW) and 95 hp (70 kW). With the most powerful of the three engines, the city car is limited to 150 km/h and goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 8 seconds flat.
Up to 400 km of autonomy!
This AmpR Small platform allows Renault to equip its R5 with two different batteries. With the big engine, the capacity of the block is 52 kWh (gross value), which offers a range of 400 km in the WLTP cycle. The two less powerful engines inherit a 40 kWh battery (gross value), which drops the range to 300 km.
In fast charging, they can receive up to 110 and 80 kW respectively, enough to pass the charge from 15 to 80% in 30 minutes. On a domestic socket (AC 11 kW), allow 4h30 to go from 10 to 100% on the large battery, and 3h30 with the smallest.
Renault is taking advantage of the marketing of its R5 to launch its 11 kW bidirectional AC charger. In addition to being able to charge the vehicle conventionally, it adopts V2L and V2G technologies. The first one, vehicle-to-load, allows you to recharge an electrical device via your car while the second, vehicle-to-grid, proposes to reinject its electricity into the networkwhether to power your home or simply resell this energy.
Modern or vintage? Both !
But enough about these figures since the sacred tour de force of the R5 E-Tech and its style, “its face” as designer Gilles Vidal likes to describe it. And as the prototype predicted, the city car retains its share of nods to the model of yesteryear.
Unmissable at first glance, there are first of all the headlights in the shape of rounded squares which sit at the level of the grille. They will probably remind nostalgic people the fog lights of the R5 Turbo. This homage also extends to the sides where the wings, quite muscular, easily stand out. In back, the vertical lights are inseparable from the R5 and Super cinq.
But in the midst of this heritage, the Renault 5 E-Tech remains modern and sports fairly clean lines, specific to electric vehicles. The body takes shoulders and wheels, since they are now 18 inches. Symbol of this course towards digital, the manufacturer has even placed a battery indicator at the level of the hood.
Technical Characteristics Renault 5 E-tech 100% Electric
| Dimensions | |
|---|---|
| Length | 3.92 m |
| Width | 1.77m |
| Height | 1.50m |
| Wheelbase | 2.54m |
| Ground clearance | 145mm |
| Weight | from 1,450 kg (52 kWh version) 1,350 kg (40 kWh version) |
| Trunk volume | 326 liters |
Around a hundred accessories on board
In the cabin too, several elements are reminiscent of the original R5, notably the double dashboard or the H-shaped seats. On the other hand, the spirit is clearly oriented towards the future with a significant touch of digital.
As on the Megane E-Tech for example, the R5 has the OpenR Link system. As a result, the driving position is equipped with a 10 inch digital dashboard (7 inches on the entry level), as well as a central panel also 10 inches.
The OpenR Link, well known at Renault, offers for the first time a conversational avatar named Reno. In the same way as a voice assistant, this “ companion » integrates Chat GPT and is supposed to be able to answer the driver’s main questions.
In order to personalize its vehicle as much as possible, Renault has used 3D printing technology to offer no less than 104 accessories. While most are dedicated to storage and personalization, one of them takes the form of a wicker basket…. allowing you to accommodate a baguette.
A Roland-Garros version on the program
THE yellow “pop” of the prototype is back on the bodywork, but it is not the only flashy shade since the model has as a base color (free) the green Pop. The rest of the palette is more modest: night blue, black and white.
Common to the Renault configurator, the Evolution and Techno finishes serve respectively as entry and core range. The most equipped version is, for the moment, called Iconiq 5. But designed as an “evolutionary” finish, it is destined to transform in the future. The brand also specifies thata Roland-Garros collection is on the program.