Automobile designers should take into account tips on how to work with the electrical powertrain to provide automobiles that profit and entice customers. By Will Girling
As electrification progresses world wide, it may be straightforward to overlook the dimensions of the transformation underway. Automakers should take into account how they relate to the electrical car (EV) market and new infrastructure, and customers should acclimatise to merchandise that always differ considerably from what got here earlier than. Vittorio d’Arienzo, Platform World Chief at Renault subsidiary Ampere, believes the transformation is not any much less vital than the transition from horses to automobiles within the early twentieth Century. “EVs fully change the car structure, so we are able to actually take into account it a quantum leap,” he tells Automotive World. “In fact, each OEM will make use of a unique technique, some progressive and a few conservative.”
Constructing on the ‘Renaulution’ imaginative and prescient of Renault Chief Government Luca de Meo, Ampere goes “all in” on EV know-how that gives tangible person advantages past carbon discount. “We will’t count on to cost clients extra only for that,” states d’Arienzo. For an EV to succeed, it should have the DNA of a fascinating automobile, with the electrical powertrain merely a element within the broader idea. He places ahead the Renault 5 E-Tech, which started manufacturing in 2024, for example of this design philosophy in motion.
Freedom of design
In d’Arienzo’s opinion, EVs, free from the constraints of emission rules like Euro 6 and seven, present a chance to reintroduce a way of pleasure again into driving efficiency. “You can begin from a clean piece of paper,” he says. De Meo was reportedly captivated by the unique Renault 5 and needed to deliver its design ethos into the electrical period. “I feel it’s one of many few automobiles the place a platform needed to match the design, not the opposite means round,” states d’Arienzo. Ampere’s goal with the R5 E-Tech was to ship a “responsive, clean, and pleasurable” driving expertise.
The mannequin is constructed on the AmpR Small platform for electrical B-segment automobiles. Its 42kWh or 50kWh battery—relying on spec—is located low and central relative to the wheels for a low centre of mass and gravity. A compact multi-link rear axle created further battery house, whereas the flexibleness of an electrical powertrain on the entrance axle allowed designers to make the bonnet shorter and extra aerodynamic. This new era design method, explains d’Arienzo, produced a large physique with brief overhangs and a big (254cm) wheelbase, enabling steady dealing with and interiors extra spacious than a typical small hatchback. In whole, the R5 E-Tech is 9cm shorter and 6cm greater than a contemporary Renault Clio.
“You couldn’t do all this in an inside combustion engine (ICE) automobile: the engine and gearbox are so huge that they prohibit wheel flip radius.” Recognising, unlocking, and advertising these inherent advantages of an electrical powertrain will probably be necessary for increasing EV adoption. “That is design freedom with out compromising on the fundamentals: consolation, driveability, and storage.” It is very important get these proper, d’Arienzo emphasises, as a result of the EV driving expertise may be very completely different for patrons accustomed to gasoline-powered, handbook gearbox fashions. By comparability, the R5 E-Tech gives what he calls “impartial” on-street behaviour.
Delivering the EV expertise
It’s vital that the automaker resurrected the Renault 5 identify for its new electrical mannequin. The unique was produced from 1972 to 1985 and have become one of many best-selling automobiles in France’s historical past—roughly 5.5 million models. At a time when affordability is prime of customers’ minds, significantly in Europe, the automaker is now trying to recapture this mass market success within the electrical period. In France, there are at present three variations of the R5 E-Tech obtainable with completely different specs, beginning at round €27,900 (US$28,743), or €25,990 after factoring within the nation’s EV incentive deductions. A €25,000 base mannequin will probably be launched later in 2025, putting it among the many most cost-effective non-Chinese language EVs on this planet.
The R5 E-Tech is envisioned because the frontrunner of a “household” of EVs constructed on the AmpR Small platform. “On the one hand, it’s costly to start out with a devoted platform. However in the long run, clients have to really feel the actual benefits of EV possession,” says d’Arienzo. He summarises these as higher and quieter efficiency than ICE and a decrease whole value of possession. “If producers don’t concentrate on these, they’re merely offering an electrical powertrain with out truly delivering a unique expertise.”
Figuring out how design makes use of parts like batteries and motors, he continues, must be an intrinsic a part of the early EV growth course of. “Clients ought to love EVs as a result of they drive properly, look cool and supply every little thing vital, not simply because they’re electrical.” Certainly, there’s proof to counsel that customers world wide have shifted away from environmental issues to prioritising the day by day practicalities of EV possession. A number of legacy automakers are actually discovering that EV desirability is the important thing to sustaining their share in extremely aggressive markets.
Democratising EVs
Following a yr of decline within the European EV phase, the area’s automakers now face a major pricing problem. Authorities-sponsored buy incentive schemes have largely been deserted or scaled again, leaving many merchandise unaffordable and inaccessible to the mass-market customers vital for sustaining development.
I feel we have to remodel the compact/metropolis automobile phase so European clients can transfer away from 2.5 tonne SUVs with 100kWh batteries
If the target of electrification is to have a optimistic influence on the atmosphere, d’Arienzo believes promoting polarising, area of interest, and unsustainably produced EVs should come to an finish. “Specifically, I feel we have to remodel the compact/metropolis automobile phase so European clients can transfer away from 2.5 tonne SUVs with 100kWh batteries.” This will probably be tougher in some markets than others, though he studies anecdotally that it’s occurring. It’s notable that in November 2024, the R5 E-Tech’s first full month of gross sales, it managed to outsell the Tesla Mannequin Y in France.
By popularising smaller fashions with reasonably priced costs and EV-centric design, d’Arienzo posits that e-mobility may be “democratised”, and the trade can ship on its ecological mission. “That each one begins by contemplating the burden, footprint, and effectivity of the car.” The subsequent mannequin constructed on the AmpR Small platform—the Twingo E-Tech, scheduled for launch in 2026 and priced at lower than €20,000—will proceed Renault’s push on this course. “Fashions like these will make our cities a greater place to stay, and clients will discover they’ve paid one-third of the typical worth for an EV that’s nonetheless straightforward to drive and personal,” he concludes.
