Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi will triple their investments in the joint development of electric vehicles, reinforcing the Franco-Japanese alliance that has loosened somewhat in recent years. Target? Cope with growing competition, especially from Asia. According to Reuters, therefore, on Thursday the three manufacturers will announce a five-year investment plan worth more than 20 billion euros for the development of electric vehicles. By 2030, the Alliance is expected to offer more than 30, based on five common platforms.
The investment would be in addition to the 10 billion euros that the Alliance has already put on the table for electrification and connected mobility. The five platforms mentioned above, therefore, should form the backbone of 90% of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi electron vehicles: the first of these architectures will be the “CMF-EV”, at the base of cars such as the brand new Renault Megane E -Tech and the Nissan Ariya crossover. The second, on the other hand, will serve as the foundation for more affordable cars, such as the Dacia Spring, as well as minicars and similar Nissan-branded models. The other two platforms will form the technical basis for the so-called “kei cars”, the micro cars that have always been in vogue in Japan. But there will also be an architecture dedicated to light commercial vehicles.
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By the middle of the decade, the Alliance aims to implement a fifth common platform, dedicated to small electric vehicles and engineered by Renault. The latter is expected to take the name of “CMFB-EV” and also be used by the next generation of Nissan Micra, which will be launched by the middle of this decade. While Renault plans to launch the small 100% electric Renault 5 by 2024 and build a small battery-powered SUV inspired by the classic Renault 4L.
The collaboration between the three companies will optimize the sharing of key components – starting with the batteries, which will be produced between France, Great Britain, China and Japan, with the aim of reaching a capacity of 220 gigawatt hours by 2030 -, implementing the economies of scale: this should make compact electric vehicles as affordable as gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size.
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