Citroën ë-C3 vs Renault 5 E-Tech: what arguments will they have to offer?

The Citroën ë-C3 and Renault 5 E-Tech will be “the two cornerstones of the democratization of the electric car for the French automobile industry”. This is roughly how these two models are sold to us.

The Citroën ë-C3 has already been presented and will arrive on our roads in the first half of 2024, while the Renault 5 E-Tech will be presented at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show and will make its first rounds at the start of the next school year.

A price war already won by Citroën?

Even if there is still everything to discover about the Renault, we already know almost everything about the Citroën, except the price! These two models being part of the great offensive of electric cars for less than 25,000 euros, the ë-C3 should debut from 23,300 euros according to our first information, while that a version starting at 19,900 euros will arrive in 2025.

A time also promised at this price level, Renault has changed its mind a little and today evokes a car rather around 30,000 eurosbefore the ecological bonus.

The Citroën ë-C3 in a few figures

If Citroën has chosen to use already particularly outdated technologies, notably with some savings made in terms of design based on the Citroën C3 already sold in India, Renault seems rather to be focusing on a car a little higher in price. range, all sprinkled with a neo-retro style to hit the mark with customers.

The ë-C3 is based on the Stellantis “Smart Car” platform and is equipped with a LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery pack of 44 kWhoffering an autonomy of approximately 320 km according to the WLTP cycle. Although this figure is lower than that of the Peugeot e-208, which offers more than 400 km of autonomy, the ë-C3 is positioned at a more attractive price.

The recharge time is also competitive, with a fast charge capacity of 100 kW DC allowing you to go from 20% to 80% in just 26 minutes. Standard AC charging takes approximately 4 hours 10 minutes at 7 kW or 2 hours 50 minutes at 11 kW.

Under the hood, an electric motor of 113 ch propels the car, allowing it to reach 100 km/h in 11 seconds and achieve a maximum speed of 135 km/h.

The Renault 5 E-Tech in a few figures

For its part, the Renault 5 E-Tech should set the bar a little higher, even if we don’t yet know all the technical details of the car.

Unsurprisingly, the diamond firm confirms that its little city car will be based on the famous CMFon which most of the products of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance are based, whether thermal, hybrid or electric.

For the engine, Renault chose a synchronous unit with a wound rotor, like the Zoé and Mégane E-Tech. This block is free of permanent magnets and rare earths, thus allowing savings in its manufacturing, but also a weight saving of around 20 kg. If Renault has not yet announced figures, several sources mention powers between 120 and 150 hpand up to more than 200 hp for the famous Alpine version which will arrive in 2025.

Concerning the batteries, as for the motor, the diamond brand does not give figures. On the other hand, we already know that it will be a new battery pack in the range, with a simplified architecture and the passage of 12 modules, as on the Zoé battery, with four large modules allowing a weight reduction of 15 kg.

Concerning the capacity of the batteries, it is still unknown, but according to our information, Renault should offer two capacities: 40 and 52 kWh. The smaller battery should claim a little over 300 km of range, compared to around 420 for the larger one.

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