Renault sets up special Ampere EV branch

Under the leadership of CEO Luca de Meo, the Renault Group started the ‘Renaulution’, a period in which the group wants to put things in order and examine the organizational structure. According to the French, it is now time for the third chapter in that transition. In this phase, which it calls ‘Revolution’, the Renault Group becomes a few departments richer. From now on, people will talk about five ‘pillars’, including Alpine and Mobilize. Newer names include ‘The Future is Neutral’, ‘Power’ and ‘Ampere’. The last one is especially interesting. This is a subsidiary that focuses purely on the development and construction of fully electric cars and the development of software.

Ampere’s first task is to prepare the production versions of the fully electric R5 and a little later the R4. In addition, it will also be responsible for the Mégane E-Tech Electric and the upcoming electric Scénic. Renault has already announced that two other EVs are in the pipeline for the longer term. The in house development of software is also on Ampere’s plate, which it is working on together with Qualcomm Technologies. The fact that Renault transfers software development to a subsidiary is somewhat reminiscent of Volkswagen’s approach with Cariad. The software is badly needed for the EVs, which according to Renault are becoming ‘software defined vehicles’ (SDV). Renault Group is not yet very much about what exactly is being developed, but you can count on over-the-air updates, (semi-)autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. The infotainment in the car is also part of it.

Ampere is going to be a decent company. Company? Yes, a Renault really speaks of a separate company within the group. About 10,000 people will work there. This includes 3,500 engineers, half of whom specialize in software. Ampere gets solid production targets in its ‘ElectriCity’ collection of factories in France. The annual production should immediately reach 400,000 cars, but this should be scaled up to 1 million cars per year where necessary. In 2031, the annual production must reach that number at the latest. Ampere will largely stand on its own two feet and it wants to go public in the second half of 2023. In addition, Renault Group will retain a majority stake in it.

Power and The Future is Neutral

The other two new pillars of the Renault Group are ‘Power’ and ‘The Future is Neutral’. The first focuses on the development and production of combustion engines, because they also have a future, according to the group. Renault also joins the Chinese giant Geely. We were able to inform you about those plans earlier today. ‘The Future is Neutral’ will be a branch that focuses on the circular economy. Here, among other things, a study is being made of how to make the materials that the Renault Group uses for its cars as recyclable as possible. This also includes the recycling of batteries.