Gorgeous Renault 5 EV Heads For 2024 Debut
It has been radio silence since its 2021 debut, but the Renault 5 concept EV will become a production car in Europe next year.
The 2024 Renault 5 EV will replace the long-serving Zoe in the European B-segment, and will debut Renault’s new EV architecture, with new battery, electric motor, power electronics and chassis systems.
But the Renault 5 has been eagerly awaited in Europe after stunning critics as a concept car in 2021.
Promising greater range, more power and lighter weight, the Renault 5 will be the first in a long line of Renault and Nissan EVs to sit on the company’s CMF-B platform.
Said to be 30% cheaper to build than the Zoe platform, the CMF-B will also underpin the Renault 4 and the next generation of the Nissan Leaf, Renault has confirmed, though there will be others.
It is modular for both width and wheelbase, and is capable of accepting different body styles, including a two-row compact SUV layout.
The CMF-B architecture shares 70% of its components with Renault’s similarly-sized, combustion-power platform, which underpins the big-selling Clio and Captur in Europe, saving enough that the 5 will have a fully independent, four-link rear suspension.
“The new CMF-B platform is a great opportunity from a product point of view because it means the future electric Renault 5 will boast real driving pleasure while remaining very competitive for its segment,” Renault’s B-EV product performance director, Delphine de Andrea, said.
The Renault 5 will use 400-Volt battery technology, with just four modules instead of the Zoe’s 12, in a move that Renault claims will save at least 15kg.
It will use a front-mounted electric motor, that has been developed from the Zoe’s synchronous, electrically excited motor. It will use no rare-earth minerals, and will come with a variety of power outputs.
Renault has combined the car’s charger, the power electronics and the motor in one housing, delivering a unit that is 20kg lighter than the Zoe’s.
Renault is positioning its reborn 5 to attack the B-segment’s EV players in Europe, particularly, and it will go on sale almost a full year ahead of the Volkswagen ID.2, which will debut in 2025 from the ID.2All concept car.
Renault has confirmed it has built nine Renault 5 prototypes so far, and is testing them in the wintery extremes of Sweden, hidden inside Clio bodyshells.
