What is Ampere?
Ampere is the latest subsidiary of Renault Group. A company whose stated mission, since its creation by the Boulogne-Billancourt diamond firm, is to design, develop, manufacture and market electric vehicles at affordable prices (less than 20,000 euros for the Twingo which will arrive on the market in 2026). Ampere, which employs around 12,000 employees, plays the card of total autonomy. By bringing together Renault's electrical skills, relying on ElectriCity – its industrial center specializing in electricity which brings together the factories of Douai, Maubeuge, Ruitz and Cléon (for electric motors) – Ampere intends to drastically reduce the delays between innovation and marketing of vehicles. The subsidiary wants, in particular, to reduce the “time to market”, the time between the design of a product and its sale, by compressing construction times as much as possible… As well as manufacturing costs, which should drop by 40 % by 2028. For example, Ampere hopes to eventually be able to produce each copy of its R5 in less than ten hours.
Why this strategy?
Renault's strategy, via its electric vehicle specialist Ampere, aims, by limiting costs and production times, to democratize this type of vehicle. With Ampere, Renault is above all seeking to get ahead of other European manufacturers, starting with Volkswagen and Stellantis. At the same time, the automobile giant has the ambition to catch up with the Chinese and American world market leaders, despite the very clear slowdown in the trade in electric vehicles (-43.9% in Europe last August, -10% since the start of the year). To achieve this, Ampere does not hesitate to draw inspiration from the electric vehicle development processes of Chinese industry. To do this, the manufacturer has created an entity in China called Advanced China Development Center which works closely with its Asian partners.
What tangible results?
“The major advances made by Ampere in one year prove that the company is the European auto industry's most substantial response to competition from the East and the West,” said Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault Group and Ampere. The fact is that over the last twelve months, the manufacturer has accelerated development times. Twingo, for example, will be finalized in less than two years. Ampere should, from 2026, in a record time of eighteen months maximum, integrate LPF chemistry (lithium, iron, phosphate) into the batteries of its cars. The advantages of the technological platform have already convinced the Alpine brands (for the A290 and the A390), Nissan for two electric models and Mitsubishi for its next electric SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) which will be produced in Douai in from 2025. According to Ampere management, the Renault subsidiary will also be ready, by 2028, to integrate cobalt-free batteries which will offer recharge times of less than fifteen minutes.
