PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)—The alliance formed by car manufacturers Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi unveiled its plans for 2030 on Thursday, to accelerate its shift towards electric vehicles and connected mobility, including plans for investments of 23 billion euros over the next five years.
“The three companies have defined a common roadmap for 2030, by sharing investments in future electrification and connectivity projects. Massive investments that none of the three companies could carry out alone”, indicated Jean-Dominique Senard, the president of the Alliance, quoted in a press release. “We don’t play in the second division when we’re together,” Renault chief executive Luca de Meo told a virtual press conference.
The Alliance thus intends to invest 23 billion euros in electrification over the next five years to arrive at 35 new models of electric vehicles by 2030. Renault’s financial director, Clotilde Delbos, acknowledged that “the “essential” of this amount of 23 billion euros was linked to investments already announced by the manufacturers.
A new platform to “democratize” the electric
The three groups said 90% of the Alliance’s 35 electric models available in 2030 would be based on five common electric vehicle platforms, covering most markets in the largest regions.
A new CMF-BEV platform, dedicated to electric city cars, will be launched in 2024 and will equip the Renault R5 as well as the Nissan model to succeed the Micra. This new car from the Japanese group will be produced by Renault at its ElectriCity center in northern France. Luca de Meo assured that this platform would be the “key to the democratization” of the electric vehicle thanks to its cost competitiveness.
The CMF-EV, a versatile electric platform, will be “on the roads in a few weeks” to equip the Nissan Ariya and Renault’s electric Mégane E-Tech, the three companies said. “By 2030, more than 15 models will be based on the CMF-EV platform, with up to 1.5 million cars produced per year on this platform,” they added.
In terms of electric batteries, the Alliance plans to reduce the cost of batteries by 50% in 2026 and 65% in 2028, by working with partners. The three manufacturers also expect to have a total battery production capacity of 220 gigawatt hours worldwide by 2030.
Nissan will also develop its solid battery technology ASSB (“All Solid-State Battery”) for all members of the Alliance. This technology “will make it possible to double the energy density compared to current lithium-ion liquid batteries”, indicated the Alliance. “Charging time will also be cut by three, allowing customers to make longer journeys with more comfort,” she continues. The Alliance expects to mass-produce this technology by mid-2028.
Different electrification goals
The three manufacturers have different objectives for the electrification of their range. The Renault brand wants fully electric vehicles to represent 100% of its sales in Europe by 2030. Luca de Meo said Thursday that to achieve this goal, the brand should sell around 25% of electric vehicles in 2025.
Nissan is aiming for a share of electrified vehicles – i.e. battery-powered vehicles but also hybrids – in its sales in Europe of 75% in 2026 and then 100% in 2030, said its director of operations, Ashawani Gupta. Mitsubishi aims to reach 50% of electrified vehicles sold worldwide by 2030.
Mitsubishi has also announced a strengthening of its presence in Europe with two new models, including the ASX SUV.
Asked about a possible rebalancing of the capital links between the members of the Alliance, Jean-Dominique Senard replied that this scenario was “not on the table today”. The leader nevertheless assured that the three companies had demonstrated that their links had become “extremely strong” and in fact “unbreakable”. Renault owns 43.4% of Nissan, which in turn owns 34% of Mitsubishi Motors.
-Julien Marion, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0)1 41 27 47 94; [email protected] ed: VLV – ECH
Agefi-Dow Jones The financial newswire
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January 27, 2022 06:42 ET (11:42 GMT)