The Renault 5 returns as a fully electric model. This beautifully unites old and new. Still, an electric Renault 5 is not as new as it seems. In the 1970s there was also an electric 5.
We can be grateful to the engineers at Renault that their courage did not fail after taking the first test drives with the 5 Électrique. A range of 110 kilometers is modest by current standards, but when you, as a test driver, have to walk all the way back to the workshop, you probably have a very different view. Joking of course, but still images loom of a Renault Estafette that repatriates such an exhausted, electric Fiver.
It was not invented that the small hatchback was equipped with a folding roof above the place where the rear seat normally sat. In the 5 Électrique, the bank had to make way for 34 lead batteries, which hoisted a crane in and out of the car. Then a folding roof is so practical. The batteries fed a DC motor, which sent 7.5 kW – in this case every half counts – directly to the front wheels. Considering the 1,075 kg the car put on the scale – almost 300 more than a 5 TL – that seems barely enough for walking pace. Indeed, it doesn’t make much difference: the Fiver managed to reach a speed of 60 km / h with that handful of kW’s. For a short time, 80 km / h was possible, but electric speed maniacs had to factor in the risk of premature beaching even more emphatically. And quick charging was not an option; the lead batteries needed 10 hours to regain their full strength.
The 5 Électrique was co-developed by the French energy company EDF, which wanted to investigate whether electric driving offered opportunities for the future. Renault gladly stepped in to experience that process. A good move, of course, no matter how difficult the start was. Renault would develop into a pioneer of everyday electric driving and it offers a hybrid version of the Clio in addition to the all-electric Zoe. We can consider them together as descendants of that first, electric R5, because it certainly contributed to their development.
90 copies of the 5 Électrique have been built by Renault and energy company EDF. At a cost of 18,000 francs, it was no match for an ordinary 5, which cost less than 12,000 francs.