What's wrong with the electric Renault 5 E-Tech?

Renault hits hard with its new electric R5. Less than 25,000 euros, autonomy, and fast charging allow you to go on vacation with it. But it is not without its flaws. Here are the downsides of this new, affordable electric car, which could still be a hit.

Renault took advantage of the Geneva Motor Show in its 2024 edition to formalize the Renault 5 E-Tech. An affordable electric car that could well revolutionize the electric car market. With a practically perfect recipe on paper. A design that is unanimously appreciated, a technical platform worthy of an everyday compact car, an up-to-date interior, and cutting-edge technologies such as bidirectional V2G charging.

Sprinkle on top of all that at an entry-level price of 25,000 euros, and you get a bestseller. Yes, but everything is not so rosy. Renault had to make concessions to arrive at this floor price.

The price: but what price exactly?

We start with the thorniest subject. The price. We warn you right away: the Renault 5 E-Tech that we have seen in video and photos since it was made official will never cost 25,000 euros. This is the most expensive version, with the most high-end finish, equipped with all the options. The famous Iconic Cinq finish. With the large 52 kWh battery and the most powerful 150-hp motor, we expect a price well above 30,000 euros for these showcase versions.

And then, will the entry-level R5 cost 25,000 euros? Renault boss Luca de Meo announced a price of less than 25,000 euros a few weeks ago. But the brand's language now indicates “around 25,000 euros” for the entry-level. We can therefore expect a slightly higher price, even if Argus sources confirm a price below 25,000 euros.

The bad news is that when orders open in September 2024, only the 52 kWh battery and 150 hp motor combo will be available. To benefit from the small 40 kWh battery, less powerful engines, and more affordable finishes, you will have to wait until the beginning of 2025, with the first deliveries planned after March. At the risk that the ecological bonus will be reduced by then or be eliminated in the worst case.

The fate of consumers will be decided at the beginning of summer when Renault will publish the price list for the first versions available. Let's take this opportunity to remember that the bonus will bring the price paid down to 21,000, or even 18,000 euros for households with more modest incomes.

Fast charging… optional?

The bad news about this Renault 5 E-Tech is that the basic version (with the 40 kWh battery and the 70 kW / 90 hp engine), sold for less than 25,000 euros, will not have the right for fast direct current (DC) charging with a power of 80 or 100 kW. Instead, it will be satisfied with alternating current (AC) charging with a power limited to 11 kW.

This means that the car without the fast charging option will take around 2.5 hours to go from 10 to 80% instead of around 35 minutes with direct current charging.

It is not yet known whether fast charging will be optional on the 70 kW engine. What is certain is that it will be there with the larger engines, 90 (122 hp) and 110 kW (150 hp), and therefore with the larger 52 kWh battery. Since this will only be marketed with the large 110 kW engine. The explanation is simple: the 40 kWh battery does not have enough power to power this powerful motor.

Charging too slowly?

Renault announces a recharge time of 30 minutes to go from 15 to 80% energy, regardless of the battery. That is less than 35 minutes for the 10 to 80% exercise, according to a brand engineer meeting at the Geneva show. Which would then be better than the Renault Mégane E-Tech and Scenic E-Tech. For comparison, the Citroën ë-C3 achieves 20 to 80% in 26 minutes, or around 30 minutes for 10 to 80%. The Dacia Spring requires around 40 minutes with the rapid recharge option for the same exercise.

We can therefore say that the electric R5 is about average. And it's true, that some electric cars in higher segments do less well, like BYDs, which require around 40 minutes to go from 10 to 80% battery. But Tesla recently struck hard, with its Model Y Propulsion, produced in Berlin and equipped with a BYD battery. She performs this same exercise in just 20 minutes, as we found.

In China, manufacturers are already marketing cars capable of recharging in 10 minutes, like the Zeekr 001, with even larger batteries, of around 100 kWh. We can therefore wonder if Renault could not have made an effort to quickly recharge the electric R5 so that it is less quickly overtaken by technological developments.

We had the opportunity to interview Gilles Godinot, the engineer in charge of Renault's AmpR Small platform. The man tells us that the R5 will not be able to recharge faster, because of the technical choices made for the design of the battery. These choices were made to reduce the cost of the battery and, therefore, of the car, while ensuring certain durability.

It would have been possible to offer faster charging, but this would have come at the expense of other elements. Faster charging also means adequate cooling to extend its lifespan and, therefore, a larger, heavier battery and an increase in the overall cost of the car.

As we saw in our dedicated article, a theoretical range of 400 km with the rapid charging of the Renault 5 E-Tech makes it possible to cross France, from Paris to Marseille. You will just have to stop a little longer than with a Tesla Model 3, for example. But much shorter than with a Dacia Spring or an MG4 equipped with a battery of equivalent capacity.

One-pedal driving

Unfortunately, the first examples of electric R5 sold will be without the famous one-pedal driving, which is very popular with drivers of electric cars. We will have regenerative braking, specific to electric cars, with a “B” mode allowing it to be accentuated.

But to stop at the stop sign, you will have to press the brake pedal, since regenerative braking does not go all the way to a stop when the driver releases the brake pedal.

Renault explained to us the reason for this choice. But rest assured: one-pedal driving, also called one-pedal, will arrive at the beginning of 2025 with the arrival of the smallest 40 kWh battery. We can therefore count on deliveries starting around March 2025.

But there is no point waiting for a software update for Renault 5 E-Techs delivered before this date: the manufacturer must replace a hardware element, therefore preventing this function from being activated remotely.

Frunk

Most electric cars take advantage of the absence of the bulky thermal block to offer a second trunk, positioned at the front, under the hood. This is called frunk.

But on the Renault 5 E-Tech, it's difficult to offer that; we lack space. Too bad, because Dacia offers it with its new restyled electric spring.

Bidirectional charging: a lack of transparency?

Bidirectional V2G ( vehicle-to-grid ) charging is the biggest revolution brought to the industry by the electric R5. As a reminder, this function allows you to supply your home with electricity using the car battery ( and a special terminal), but also, above all, to resell the car's electricity to an energy supplier specially chosen for the occasion. : The Mobility House. Enough to reduce, according to Renault, the cost of home charging by 50%.

Yes, but there you go. To make the process as simple as possible for the customer, Renault has perhaps gone a little too far in simplification. In practice, the customer will pay a fixed cost per kWh (base rate, without off-peak or peak hours). As for a classic electricity offer, when he plugs his car into the terminal, the energy supplier will issue him a credit, to be deducted from his bill at the end of the month.

It was thought that this credit would be calculated based on the quantity of energy (in kWh) sent back to the electricity network. With a fixed cost decided in advance, or dynamically, depending on the spot price of electricity on the wholesale market. As, for example, Tesla and Nio do with their virtual power plants.

For example, if the customer sends 100 kWh back to the network at a rate of 0.3 euros per kWh, he receives a deduction of 30 euros (100 x 0.3) on his bill. But in practice, Mobilize, the Renault subsidiary in charge of this project, chose a completely different path. The customer will be rewarded (with a reduction on their monthly bill) according to the time (in hours) their car is connected to the terminal during the month.

We do not yet know the prices that will be charged and the reward level. But the customer will therefore be rewarded in the same way, whether the car sends energy back into the network or not, as long as the duration of connection to the terminal is similar.

All we know is that the offer created hand in hand with The Mobility House will be “  more competitive than the regulated electricity tariff ” and that the cost of recharging the car will be divided by two, thanks to this innovative mechanism.

But all this lacks transparency: a customer who charges his car a lot but who does not regularly plug it in at home will benefit much less than a customer who charges his car little, but who leaves it plugged in the majority of the time at the home terminal.

In all cases, the connected smartphone application will allow you to know, in real-time, whether the terminal is charging the car, or whether the car is supplying the electricity network. With cumulative winnings.

In the end, we lack the pricing conditions of the offer to form an opinion. And now, for example, if the offer is more financially attractive than EDF Tempo or EDF ZenFlex. But it would perhaps have been fairer to remunerate the customer according to the quantity of energy sent back to the network rather than a credit system according to the connection time.

Above all, we wonder if the V2H (vehicle-to-home) function allowing you to supply your home with electricity will be included, like Tesla's Cybertruck with the PowerShare function. It has a practical function. For example, it lets you keep using your electric appliances during a power outage from the main network. We asked Mobilize the question and are waiting for the answer.

Note that the V2L (vehicle-to-load) function allowing electrical devices to be powered from the R5 battery is different. It requires an adapter and does not go through the Mobilize terminal.

Batteries: not the most affordable nor the most durable

For its two different batteries, Renault uses NMC chemistry. The most widespread until now, but which is starting to be overtaken by LFP chemistry, is less expensive and more durable, but a bit less efficient in terms of power and speed of recharge for an equivalent design.

But in fact, the V2G function risks using the battery much more than an equivalent electric car without this function. The cause: the numerous charge and discharge cycles that the battery will undergo. Renault assures us that the endurance of its batteries is not a problem. However, knowledge on the subject shows that LFP batteries wear out less quickly than their NMC counterparts.

In other words, an LFP battery would allow the R5 to maintain its original autonomy for longer than an NMC battery. Especially if bidirectional charging is used regularly and intensively.

Asked about this, Renault told us that it would have been impossible to fit 52 kWh of electricity with an LFP battery in the R5. The reason: too low energy density. But it would be entirely possible to have a 40 kWh battery (or larger) in LFP.

Which would further reduce the costs of the most affordable version of the R5. While increasing the duration of this “small” battery. The brand allows itself this possibility in the coming months, as we relayed in a dedicated article on the subject.

Our opinion

In this article, we have focused on the negative points of the Renault 5 E-Tech. But as you can read in our first handling of this electric car, we are won over by this newcomer.

Renault has got it all figured out: a compact and affordable electric car, equipped with a good capacity battery, with fast charging, and which is full of technology, notably with the integration of Google Automotive.

However, some important information is missing to form a clearer opinion, beyond driving. The fundamental question of price is the most important. See you in a few months to find out more.