Some major news could be coming our way later this week if we were to rely on a new report from Reuters. The international news agency is citing two sources familiar with a new plan Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi are working on to boost their electric vehicle portfolios. The automakers are said to invest about $23 billion in the development of EVs in the next five years.
It is believed more than 30 vehicles are slated to arrive by the end of the decade. The alliance is apparently working on five different platforms that will underpin this new wave of new EVs. One of them is already in use as the CMF-EV has underpinned the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric and the Nissan Ariya crossovers pictured here. In addition, another architecture already underpins the Dacia Spring for low-cost electric city cars.
Reuters goes on to mention that a separate platform will be used for kei cars in Japan where Mitsubishi will begin to sell later this year a production version of the K-EV concept X Style. Also coming in 2022 will be a mechanically related Nissan IMk. Light commercial vehicles are getting their own dedicated electric platform, with the fifth and final one arriving by 2025 for smaller cars.
New EVs will include the revival of the Renault 4 and 5, along with the next-generation Nissan Micra supermini, which will all likely sit on that fifth common platform. To drive down manufacturing costs and speed up development, the three automakers are expected to share the batteries packs as well as many of the other components. In addition, there are plans to boost battery production by 2030 to 220 GWh in Japan, China, France, and the United Kingdom.
Rumored to go by the name of “Alliance to 2030,” it is believed the plan will be officially presented this Thursday, January 27.
Source: Reuters (subscription required) via Automotive News Europe
