Renault held a press conference this June 30 that received a fancy name. The Renault eWays ElectroPop was laid out as a hit parade to talk about stuff that we already knew – such as the deals with Envision AESC and Verkor – and exciting news for EV fans. The company confirmed for the first time the name of its Renault 4 replacement. It also talked about pricing for the new Renault 5.
The modern Renault 4 will be called 4ever, as the Dutch website Autovisie anticipated. The French automaker said that the idea with the name is to create a timeless classic powered by batteries.
For the next Renault 5, the company promised a price that is 33% lower than that of the ZOE, all thanks to its dedicated electric car architecture. Considering the veteran EV, which currently starts at €32,500 in France, the Renault 5 could start as low as €21,775 without incentives. That would make it cheaper than a Clio RS Line in France, where this derivative costs €23,650.
Photo: Renault
Both cars will be built with a new electric car platform called CMF-BEV, which will offer ranges of up to 400 km. We called it CMF-B EV until recently, but the official name puts the B (for the B-segment) together with EV. That makes the platform seem to refer to BEVs (battery electric vehicles), but all of Renault’s electric car platforms are for BEVs, including the CMF-EV.
This architecture had already been properly introduced. It will underpin the Nissan Ariya and the Mégane E-Tech Electric, two C-segment vehicles. Renault released teaser images of larger EVs at the event that should also use the CMF-EV platform. Vehicles built over this architecture may offer ranges of up to 580 km.
Another exciting part of the Renault eWays ElectroPop event came when the company announced its plans to make used battery packs an active part of its business. Mobilize may use them for stationary applications when they are not enough for cars anymore.
This Renault division will also offer health certificates, battery warranty extension contracts, and trade-in offers for second-hand EV owners. That will be quite reassuring for them, especially in times when a bad battery pack can make an entire vehicle worthless all of a sudden.
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