Renault 5 E-Tech: The better Zoe?

With the Renault Zoe, the French carmaker won the hearts of many European fans of electric mobility on four wheels. But in the meantime, the sales figures of the electric car are dwindling. With the Renault 5 E-Tech (official website), the manufacturer seems to want to put its old idea of a lot of e-car for little money into practice again. In terms of price, the company even wants to undercut its successful Zoe.

Renault 5 E-Tech to build on old successes

On the European car market, Renault celebrated real registration records in the field of e-cars with its Zoe. Over time, however, it was not only the battery capacity and charging power of the all-electric city runabout that grew. Unfortunately, the French also charged ever higher prices. This had a negative impact on sales figures. However, the growing competition certainly has something to do with that. After all, other manufacturers now also offer affordable electric cars. The Dacia Spring, which comes from the Renault subsidiary Dacia of all places, is particularly popular. So it’s high time for a successor. The Renault 5 E-Tech is set to follow in the small Zoe’s big footsteps.

Renault Zoe will be discontinued

With the concept of the Zoe slowly gathering dust, Renault decided at the turn of the year against continuing production of the all-electric city car. Initially, there was no talk of an immediate successor, but with the Renault 5 E-Tech, at least a spiritual successor seems to be coming. Strictly speaking, however, the newcomer has a much more aged predecessor. Fans of the French automaker will certainly recognize the name Renault 5. The iconic car is now to receive an all-electric new edition, which is to go on sale as early as 2024.

Will the Renault 5 E-Tech be a true people’s electric car?

Renault has developed an exclusive platform for its brand new electric car. In cooperation with the experts from Nissan, the CMF-B-EV was created. This is a further development of the CMF-B platform used in the Zoe, among others. According to Renault, however, they only want to adopt just under 70 percent and rework the rest. Particular attention was paid to saving weight and manufacturing costs. Driving behavior is also expected to improve with the new platform. The Renault Zoe did not offer any real comfort, especially on bumpy roads.

In addition to more comfort, the Renault 5 E-Tech is also designed to be more fun to drive. According to Renault’s Gilles Godinot, for example, the new platform enables a much sportier driving experience. The chief engineer behind the project is already describing the new R5 as “a real fun car”. However, he does not give any real data. However, the ecological approach has already been emphasized. For example, no rare earths are to be used in production. Efficient driving is to be ensured by targeted energy recovery during braking. Performance is also to increase significantly.

In view of the outdated maximum 50 kW of the Renault Zoe, this is also necessary to keep up with the competition. And that seems to be growing at the moment. In particular, Renault could compete here with the VW ID.2, which was shown for the first time in February. But since the latter is not due to go on sale until 2025, the Renault 5 E-Tech could have a time advantage. We’re curious to see what the bottom line is for the new edition of the R5. Renault’s promise to pass on the savings in production to the customers certainly sounds promising. Now we’ll have to wait for more technical data before we can make a first preliminary judgment.