The spark of innovation powering Renault’s ElectriCity

How Renault is building its EVs better, faster and cheaper in its French homeland

Not that long ago Renault was in a bit of a rut. It was churning out largely forgettable hybrid SUVs and fading into the background of an increasingly noisy automotive sector.

Now, just a few years later, it’s one of the most exciting and innovative EV brands out there, impressing with award-winning cars like the characterful Renault 5 and practical Scenic, offering class-leading style, usability and value.

So where did it all go right for Renault?

The answer to that lies in the north of France, where the firm’s Douai factory sits at the heart of Renault’s ElectriCity and where EV Powered has been on a fact-finding mission.

This 118-hectare acre site 45 minutes from Lille is home to the all-new Renault 5, the Megane, Scenic and Alpine A290. It’s also home to Renault’s Ampere division – an arm of the company created specifically to drive the ‘Renalution’ towards electric vehicles.

Ampere’s motto is “better, faster, cheaper”. Its mission is to develop the next generation of electric Renaults more quickly and affordably than ever before. That involves everything from designing the vehicles and developing the tech that underpins them to parts procurement and production processes.

We’ve already seen the fruits of its labours in the new Twingo, which went from a mere idea to a concept car in just 18 months and will be on European roads in early 2026.

And we’ve driven it in the Renault 5, which was singled out by CEO Luca De Meo as a priority in his first weeks in the job and five years later is on sale, priced from a wallet-friendly £23,000.

A key part of Ampere’s work since its formation in 2023 has been to learn from its partners in China, where EV production is racing ahead. Using research there into production processes and battery technology, Ampere aims to simplify its car making in Europe, catch up with Chinese brands and steal a lead over European rivals.

Central to that are massive changes at Douai, which since 1974 has built everything from the original Renault 5 and 9 to the Megane and Fuego.

In 2019 Renault declared it would become its first all-EV plant. Work started in 2021 and within two years the site was reconfigured and the line completely transformed to begin production of the Megane E-Tech in 2023.

Key to the transformation and to the credo of “better, faster, cheaper” was shrinking the factory’s footprint by almost a third. A smaller factory and more streamlined production line uses less energy, reduces transfer time of components and cuts labour costs.

Wherever we go in Douai there is an emphasis on how innovation and integrated thinking – from automated component delivery vehicles to AI monitoring of the assembly line – is helping cut production costs, ultimately allowing Renault to make its EVs more affordable.

Smarter production technology is cutting build times and costs. More than 80% of the plant’s construction robots are cloud-connected, and centralised planning and monitoring mean the right parts are in the right place at the right time, allowing a seamless process. It also means any faults can be quickly identified, traced and fixed without having to bring the entire line to a halt.

All of this saves time and, ultimately, money. The aim at Douai is to build a Renault 5 from start to finish in less than 10 hours, with more than 700 cars leaving the factory every day.

But it’s not just about reducing construction time, or a smaller building using less power. The focus on efficiency goes right down to managing individual machines.

Maintenance engineers can monitor the whole plant’s energy usage or drill right down to a single machine on the line. They can identify if one robot is using more power than it should, highlighting a potential worn or faulty part and allowing for a speedier repair. That saves time, energy and – of course – money.

Away from the production line, one of the most expensive parts of an EV is the battery – accounting for 40-50% of the construction cost. So a key part of Ampere’s work is bringing that down. Using knowledge from its Chinese operation, it is working on simplifying the production process, embracing cheaper chemistry and refining the packs’ design.

By 2026, cell-to-pack construction will be in use and by 2028 Renault aims to mimic the cell-to-chassis technology already employed by Chinese brands such as BYD. This cuts down on parts and construction time. At the same time, it hopes to start using fully cobalt-free LFP with the same energy density as NMC cells and charging times of less than 15 minutes.

Currently the Scenic and Megane’s batteries are assembled at Douai with cells from Poland and casings from the Ruitz factory 45km away. Those for the Renault 5, Alpine A290 and Renault 4 are made on-site at the AESC battery plant which now occupies the former car yard. Transfer times between the sites are measured in minutes rather than hours and distances in metres rather than kilometres, aligning with another key element of Renault’s cost reduction – localised production.

While Douai is the home of Renault’s EV revolution, it is just one of three factories within a 70km radius that form the ElectriCity campus, and one of four in northern France working on EVs.

The nearby Maubeuge plant will soon begin production of the Renault 4 and factories in Ruitz and Cleon which previously built engines and transmissions now produce battery casings and motors. Three-quarters of Douai’s suppliers are within 300km of the factory and 75% of the European market for its products is within 1,000km. Renault and Ampere estimate this centralised ecosystem could bring a 40% reduction in logistic costs.

Ampere says it has already applied learnings from the Megane to the Scenic and from that to the R5, and is continuing to learn and adapt. In all, Ampere estimates that its experiences and knowledge gained over the last two years will allow a 40% cost reduction for its next-generation C-SUV, compared with the current Scenic. It also opens the door for even more affordable EVs like the Renault 5 and sub-€20,000 Twingo.

Back at Douai and looking beyond the cars already rolling out of its doors, the plant is capable of building up to eight different models on four different platforms all on the same line.

In the coming months it will start building the R5-based Nissan Micra and later in 2025 an all-electric Mitsubishi C-SUV will join it. Beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see what else comes down the line, but it seems that Renault’s renaissance shows no sign of slowing down.