Renault inaugurates its new production line of electric motors for the Megane E-Tech but also for the future R5.
Do you want a car made in France, a real one? Well, it seems utopian since many parts come from foreign suppliers, but Renault intends to try to repatriate a large part of its production in France. The French manufacturer has indeed announced that it has opened a new production line in its Cléon plant, to produce electric motors for the Megane E-Tech and the future electric Renault R5.
620 million euros for made in France
This new line has been made possible by the investments made by the Renault group in recent years with 620 million euros spent since 2018. Since 2015, the Cléon site has been manufacturing engines for the Renault Zoé, Twingo ZE, Kangoo ZE and Master ZE. With this new line, 120,000 motors can be produced per year, and double that if necessary with a few additional investments.
The new engine, called ePT-160 kW (220 hp), will be manufactured to be installed in the 160 kW version of the Megane E-Tech but also “ the future Renault C-segment model » which should be the future Scénic expected for 2023 or 2024. Then, the factory will manufacture the ePT-100 kW (136 hp) engine, from 2024, to equip the future Renault 5, the famous electric R5! Finally, in 2027, Renault will start manufacturing a 200 kW (270 hp) engine.
A motor without rare earths
As with the Renault Zoé motor, these are all wound-rotor synchronous motors. The synchronous motor is more efficient than the asynchronous motor, but especially at low speed. This is why we find this technology on the rear axle of Tesla all-wheel drive, while the front motor is of the asynchronous type, to provide more power when necessary by letting the synchronous motor do the rest. time.
But unlike Tesla, Renault uses wound rotor technology and not permanent magnets. This allows the French manufacturer to do without “rare earths”, the neodymium found in permanent magnets. What facilitate the task for Renault which does not need to seek this neodymium at a gold price on the Asian markets with all the economic and geopolitical problems that this can raise.
1 million motors produced per year
From 2024, Renault plans to produce 500,000 electric motors and 510,000 hybrid motors per year at Cléon. By way of comparison, the plant has produced 98 million engines and gearboxes since 1958 with 934,459 mechanical components in 2021 (including 34% electric).
The diamond brand is expanding its electric offer with the arrival of the Mégane E-Tech on the market. But with different versions offered, in particular on the capacity of the battery (EV40 and EV60), the power of…
Read more
To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You can read our articles, files, and watch our latest YouTube videos.