First look inside the new all-electric Renault Megane

Renault has teased images of the interior of its first fully-electric SUV – the Megane E-Tech Electric.

The Megane E, which was revealed in concept as the Megane eVision last year, is expected to be fully revealed later this year, with a launch likely to occur in the first half of 2022.

The images, revealed at a press conference held in France on Thursday, gave us our first glimpse of the interior of the reborn Megane, featuring more storage, an L-shaped infotainment suite, and a large central display linked to a wide digital instrument panel.

The new look of the Megane, according to Renault, is based on “redesigned lines, spaces, and materials that embody a new era”.

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The Megane E-Tech Electric will wear the brand’s revamped logo and will sit on the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s CMF-EV platform.

New Renault boss, Luca de Meo, said at the debut of the new concept last year that the platform has “broken the rules of size, use and design”.

He added that “a whole family of new vehicles will be based on this new platform”, and that’s not just from Renault. Given it’s an alliance platform, the architecture has already debuted under the Nissan Ariya SUV.

Designer Gilles Vidal also surprised viewers on Thursday with a sneak peek at the rear-end of the near production prototype, which showcased its taillights and the new-look badge.

According to Vidal, we can expect to see “substantial changes” for the interiors of new Renaults from now on, starting with the Megane.

The Renault Megane E-Tech Electric contains a 60kWh battery pack under the floor and a single 160kW e-motor with 300Nm of torque driving the front wheels.

Its claimed driving range is around 450km on a single charge (WLTP).

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It’s also said to sprint from 0-100km/h in less than eight seconds. Not exactly the hot speeds we've come to hear about with EVs, but a Renault Sport version could be on the roadmap.

An on-board charger will allow 7kW AC single-phase charging from a wall-box. However, the only charge time Renault has revealed so far is that the electric Megane will be able to reclaim 200 kilometres of range in 30 minutes when rapid charging at its maximum of 130kW DC.

While a full reveal of the new electric Megane is expected later this year, a spokesman for Renault Australia told WhichCar there was no news yet on whether we can expect to see it Down Under.

At the beginning of 2021, the new boss of the French marque, Luca De Meo, announced the company’s new business plan – dubbed “Renaulution” – will see Renault launch seven new all-electric vehicles by 2025.

In 2021, with the recent release of Arkana and Captur E-TECH Hybrid and the Megane Sedan E-TECH Plug-in Hybrid overseas, the Renault brand now has an EV range of six E-TECH hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

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During Thursday’s press conference at Boulogne-Billancourt, the carmaker revealed more about its push towards “sustainable mobility”.

Renault aims to be the greenest car brand in Europe by 2030, with nine out of every 10 cars sold electrified.

In addition, it wants to move toward recycling 120,000 of its vehicles (including EVs) every year, and use almost 80 per cent of strategic recycled materials in its new batteries – a feat which would make it the world’s leading automotive manufacturer based on recycled materials being used in the production of new vehicles.

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