DAILY: Renault Sets EV Roadmap For 2030, Nissan Micra and VW ID.3 Neo | 12 Mar 2026

Welcome back to EV news daily today Renault sets its EV road map for 2030 Nissan's micro and VW's ID 3 Neo plus stay tuned later in the show

I'll tell you why BYD is swaying entry into formula one and LeMond over on our spin-off podcast today EV news China

I call it a spin-off podcast although frankly the audience size is almost as big as the main pod here

People seem to be really interested like I am about what's happening over there and how we make sense of it for the global EV landscape

Thank you for listening to that by the way if you do any feedback always appreciated over there

We're talking about Neo finally turning a profit last quarter

Xiaomi's Su7 Ultra gets its hood fixed and the MG4X SUV

A car that will get a mention here on the main show

Let's get into it Renault Group has unveiled future ready

That's their new strategic plan that builds on the Renault Lucian program in 2021

Renault Lucian delivered 32 new models in five years

Future ready now sets the next target

Renault wants to become the benchmark European car maker on a global scale

Renault Group will launch 36 new models worldwide by 2030 of those

22 will be for Europe and 16 will be fully electric

Renault aims for 100% electrified sales by 2030 in Europe

Although that electrified word is doing a lot of heavy lifting there

It's not pure electric by the way and 50% electrified globally by 2030

It also plans to retain hybrid technology beyond 2030

Which suggests the all-electric end state still depends on where they're selling cars

Dacia's plan is a little more nuanced and more pragmatic

It targets two-thirds electrified sales

I wish they'd say plug-in because then we'd know what they mean

Do they just mean plug-ins? Do they mean e-revs as well?

Because that's technically a plug-in as long as you can add cheap green electricity to it

I don't know I'll try and find out

And plans to grow from its one EV, that's the Dacia Spring, to four EVs by 2030

It also plans to expand into the C segment where they will represent a third of total brand sales

And as for the sporty end Alpine will build its growth around the next gen A110

Also the A290 and A390 electric models and limited edition ones as well

We'll do a deep dive, give me about three minutes and we'll get to that news

The main technical news, it's under the bodywork though

Renault Group announcing their new fully electric platform called RGEV Medium 2

Catchy, it covers vehicles from the B segment to the D segment

Renault says it was specifically for the European market, 800 volt

Now we first heard of those with high-end Porsche Taycans and Audi's

Then the average person could go buy a Hyundai or a Kia with the 800 volt version of EGMP

And that was offering you 18 minutes to get an 80% charge

And now Renault are doing it with a B segment family car

No disrespect to Renault, Renault sell more on value

I'm not going to say cheap or affordable value than those other brands that I just mentioned

People often look at the monthly offers first for instance when they're cross shopping

And so they should, that's how everyone buys a car by the way, I'm not being sniffy about it

But what you're talking about here is a next generation 800 volt Google based software platform

On your average family car, that's the real deal, right?

Not just me, right? I'm not missing anything here am I? That's kind of huge

Like over on our bonus podcast today, we're talking Rivian, I won't get into it now

Because it's a 20 minute podcast, I won't bore you here

But Rivian are launching their latest, greatest amazing R2 today

And that's on a 400 volt platform, for many reasons

It's, you know, not bigger isn't necessarily better

But often bigger is better in terms of cutting the cabling required in cars

And high voltage vehicles charging quicker generally and efficiencies

And oh my goodness, Renault says the 800 volt setup enables a potential range of almost 500 miles

466 miles is their target, that's 750 kilometers on WLTP

So real world, well your mileage may vary

And they're going to look at range extender technology as well

Which if they've been listening to the spinoff podcast, EV News China

I highly doubt Renault listened to that

They will know very well, thanks to their business in China, how well E-Rove is doing there

But, big caveat, it's recently wobbled

And with the improvements of purebev technology

You have to ask the question, will the rest of the world go, oh, China's doing extended range EVs

We get to carry on making petrol engines, which we're really good at

And we can carry on using all of our factories that make engines and our supply chains

Let's sell that to people, whether the West will do that just as China goes

Oh, well that trend, that fad is over

Let's go purebev now, I don't know the answer by the way

But just in recent months we've seen E-Raves take a dip as purebev technology improves

I don't know, I'm just kind of shooting the breeze there with you

Okay, Renault McGahn is next in the news part of this announcement

The next generation Renault McGahn will come into forms fully electric and range extender

The E-Rave version will pair a small petrol engine and a battery for 870 miles of range

A clear shift in Renault's approach to a small family car like the McGahn

They're going to rework the cabin software as well, developed with Google

And going further than simply integrating Google Assistant or Google Maps

Like set up in the Renault 4 and the Renault 5

Also, they say that they've cut costs by 40% compared to current Renault EVs

Which helps keep the McGahn competitively priced against its rivals

And finally, what about at the top end, the spotty end

Well, Alpine has been its brand, building the A110 sports car for many years

Since 2018 they've built their dealer network to 170 retailers globally

They sold 10,000 Alpines last year

The next generation A110 will launch as a Pure Bev model

The new A110 uses the Alpine performance platform

A bonded and riveted aluminium architecture

That Alpine says delivers the stiffness to weight balance needed for a small sports car

The platform also underpins the Renault 5 Turbo 3E

That's the ridiculously bonkers, die-performance, flared wheel arch

Throwback to the 1980 Renault 5 Turbo

The A110 takes a different route, though

It doesn't use the in-wheel motors of that Renault 5 Turbo 3E

It uses a new all-in-one dual-motor E-axle mounted at the rear

And a 800 volts electrical architecture

So two motors on the rear axle for sports car performance

But also high energy and high density battery packs

Which Alpine are positioning front and rear

This is not a skateboard design

We've seen some niche car makers move away from a skateboard design

But Alpine, again, Alpine's a niche car maker

But as being part of Renault, for Renault to say we're not doing skateboard

We're going to get the driver as low down to the floor as possible

We want your bum on the ground

OK, and then we're going to put all the batteries front and rear

So no frunk, no massive boot space

Use case of this car, it's going to be a sports car

And so that achieves what they want

They're also going for light weighting on this thing

They want under 1.5 tons curb weight and 400 miles of range

Using next-gen battery technology

Alpine will make the A110EV closer to a Lotus Elise, for instance

Rather than a shrunken down mini Porsche Taycan

And that helps explain the layout

So does the hardware around it

Silicon carbide inverters, sharpening the torque delivery and response

And the active torque vectoring, recalibrating the power distribution

Between the rear motors, every 10 milliseconds for high performance

Inside Alpine promises an F1 inspired driving position

Your bottom right on the floor

And then your legs straight out

If anything, your legs, the pedal box, elevated a little bit

And so a proper racing setup

Steering wheel, vertical, key controls, all buttons within reach

Love it, love this kind of niche edge EV stuff that we talk about

Now, that to me always tells me that the EV market is maturing

When we can get to the funky stuff at the fringes

Let's talk the Nissan Micra

There is a car that when I was taking my driving test in the 1990s

Chances are you're going to get put into a Nissan Micra

They were cheap and cheerful bubble cars

And you never, ever aspired to own a Nissan Micra

Because every 80-year-old granny, no disrespect to 80-year-old grannies

But the Nissan Micra was the granny car

And I'm pretty sure Nissan's going to hate me for saying that

Because they really, really don't want you to think the Nissan Micra is for grannies

And I can tell you, the new one certainly not

Because you've seen the Renault 5

And you've seen obviously the bonkers Alpine A290

With the dials on the steering wheel for like boost and overtake models

And reach, regen, recharge buttons

Yeah, it's that, but it's been Nissan

So the face is all smiley

And the steering wheel isn't crazy like the Alpine steering wheel

With all the racing rotary dials

It's just a nice little Nissan steering wheel

But it is essentially that car

Like the dashboard is the same

It's got a 52kWh battery pack

And the bones of that car are otherwise the same

And that's a really good thing

I mean, unless your 80-year-old granny wants to head to the shops

And go pick up a pension at double speed

Because this Nissan Micra's the real deal, I love it

It now gets the full UK grant, which is almost £4,000 off

And it gives Nissan a bit of a headache

Because it means the Nissan Micra 52kWh

And by the way, I spent ages on the configurator today

On the Nissan website, and I expect my perfect one, I love it

The colour choice is so cute, the inside, I love it

Honestly, I'm going to show it to my wife

Because she's like, she'll probably want it

And the Nissan Micra is cool all of a sudden

Like when did that happen? It's really cool

And so, I think it's got four seats

I couldn't spot a fifth seatbelt in the back

But I didn't look at the press release to triple check

It's got isofix points everywhere, so it's great for the kids

But I think it's a four-seater, I'll check

However, Nissan's got a real headache

Because the big battery one is just a smidge more than the 40kWh pack

So with the full UK grant, you can get the 40kWh one for £21,495

Or just get the big battery for £23,245

Well, yeah, you would, right?

196 miles on the small battery, 257 on the big one

Well, I think the finance was 40kWh a month different

Which, that's real, that is real, but still

It's a bigger battery

Anyway, moving on, no, let's take a break

I've chatted too much, I'll be back in a moment

Alright, I'm back, less fanboying about a Nissan Micra

I never thought I'd say that, words never to come out of my mouth

I'd love a Nissan Micra, I really would

Now, Volkswagen are going to rename the ID3

And they're going to call it the ID3 NEO

The car will make its world premiere mid-April

We don't know anything else, but we do know that the new ID4, ID5, ID7

Now come with the brand's new software

And that's also going to show up in the ID3 NEO

As it's now called, with the new steering wheel, with the physical buttons

Gone are the silly high gloss things on the steering wheel

And the same as the new Cupra Born

Which I've told you about last week

A great revision

So, Volkswagen names their smaller EVs that are coming up soon

The ID Polo, the ID Cross, the ID Polo GTI

And honestly, I love the fact that Volkswagen went so early and spent so big

But, I've said many times, you've heard the spiel before

Throwing out names like Golf and Tiguan and Passat and Polo was daft

And I know why they did it

But they're just some of the strongest name plates in the book

So, ID3 NEO

Alright, okay, well that's what it's called

I mean, ID Golf, sounds nice

You know what sounds even better? Golf

Volkswagen Golf

Oh, is it electric? Does it matter?

It's the Volkswagen Golf

And you can get it in, I don't know, plug-in hybrid

Purebev

It doesn't matter

It's the Golf

That's what I would do

But that's why I'm an idiot podcaster

Not the CEO of Volkswagen

What do I know? Nothing

The latest software adds traffic light detection

Travel assist, one pedal driving

And vehicle to load as well, 3.6 kilowatts

You can pull from it

Vehicle to load works through a 230 volt socket inside the car

An adapter that you can pull from the exterior socket as well

Volkswagen Group itself

Will cut 50,000 jobs by 2030

A 43% deeper cut than they were planning

Following a sharp drop in earnings

Profits are being hit by tariffs in the United States

And software spending on Cariad

Their subsidiary of 13 billion

Dollars, that's 12 billion euros

They've since started to scale back Cariad

Which has been an absolute money pit

Not delivered, really, as much as they would have hoped

So that's why they're working with X-Pang in China

And Rivian in America

And just outsourcing their software

Or joint venturing their software, I should say

That's unfair

Kia has unfailed the new Nero

And it's hybrid only

That means the Nero EV is gone

The refreshed model is only the hybrid

And Kia CEO, Jung Won Jung

Confirming that Kia has ended the Nero EV

For many people, maybe even you

Listening in the audience, maybe you owned a Nero

I went Kona, not Nero

But otherwise a very, very similar car

Not the same, but similar

Kia's first step towards their EV future

Back in the day in 2016

When eco-friendly cars were unfamiliar

And all a bit weird

And then the Nero went electric

And it had witchcraft efficiency

That thing would just go and go and go, wouldn't it?

Same as the Kona

Although the Nero was a bigger car as well

This owed 1.2 million over its lifespan

And now, farewell

To the Nero EV

We shall miss ye

However, they've got the Kia EV3

Kia EV4, Kia EV5

Kia EV6, Kia EV9

You get the idea

And so, they've got some cars

Which go in its place

Couple of MG stories before we go

MG's opened up UK ordering of a new

3-row, 7-seat plug-in hybrid called the S9

Its largest ever model, by the way

And by the way, this starts at 34,000 pounds

Man, MG's pricing is so competitive

Although we don't have tariffs on Chinese cars

Here, since Brexit

And so, the S9 plug-in hybrid

7-seat, 62 miles of all-electric range

And that puts it in its 9% company car tax

It's called BIC

Benefit in kind, BIK BIC tax

So, if you have a company car

And you need 7 seats

And you want a 3-row

And Volvo EX90

Is going to be a big old tax bill

Well, this would be less of a tax bill

Of course, the lowest tax bill

Is to drive a Pure EV

What is it now? 1% or 2%?

I'll ask my accountant

But, um, 9%

Of the MSRP

Or the retail price on that

As part of your tax

For having a company car

Not too bad

It's also a lot less than a Cherry Tigo 9

By the way, that's 43,000 pounds

Under the bonnet

Same plug-in hybrid system

Is the MGHS

So, 1.5-litre engine

25 kilowatt-hour battery

And AC charging at 7 kilowatts

No DC charging on this

Also interesting

I very, very rarely do

A similar story on both the main pod here

And EV News China

But this is one of those rare occasions

Because SAIC, who own MG

Obviously have a lot of China stuff

That I talk about on the spinoff show

And also, they have a lot of cars

That they sell overseas outside of China

So, I'll mention it briefly here

The MG4X

That's a new name

And it's a new body shape as well

It brings the MG4 line

Into crossover SUV

And so every trim line

Of the new MG4X

Which is coming to Europe

Gets a semi-solid state battery

And that's only been available

On the top-end MG4

Which even top-end in China

Costs the equivalent of 14,000 US

It's 103,000 RMB

The standard LFP pack in the MG4

Is just over 9,000 US

And so it's a very cheap car there

Those MG4 variants

Either 43 or 54 kilowatt-hour pack

The semi-solid state pack is 54 kilowatt-hours

It swaps to a manganese-based lithium-ion chemistry

Now, what's not...

It's a semi-solid state

And so it cuts the liquid electrolyte

It's still got liquid electrolyte

Because you want it to flow

Between cathode and anode

And its content

Its liquid content is down to 5%

Which is incredibly low

That really reduces any kind of combustion risk

In a really bad accident

It also extends the cycle life

What it doesn't do

Is give you the benefits of true solid state

And there's a lot of...

A lot of talk around that in the next 18 months

So the range of this is 330 miles

On the China cycle

Which could be 210, 220

When it's WLCP or EPA

But it's a 54 kilowatt-hour pack

So not the biggest pack

But also not really big range

Even though it's semi-solid state

But they say it's taller

More upright, body shape

Than the MG4 hatchback

Targeting an audience

Who want exactly that kind of segment car

And finally, BYD

Is thinking about going into Formula One or Le Mans

Bloomberg reported the interest

Citing people familiar with the matter

BYD is considering building its own team

Or acquiring an existing team

No decision has been reached

BYD could abandon the plan, says Bloomberg

Which would spare it a rather large bill

A competitive motorsport program

Says Bloomberg

Can cost from $500 million a year

Upwards

Formula One and Le Mans

Are shifting towards hybrid

This year in Formula One

It's a 50-50 split

Between battery and combustion engine

Many long-time listeners know

Before I gave up my day job

And took a massive leap of faith

Into the Patreon-funded world

Of paying my bills with you guys

When I had a real job

Although I know what you're thinking

Podcasting's not a real job

Don't try to pretend

Before that, I might have put 20 years

In the radio industry

But then when I left radio

I went to Formula One podcasting

Because I'm a huge fan of Formula One

And so I did the Formula One podcast

For many, many years

And so this is absolutely

My wheelhouse

And let me tell you, Bloomberg

I love your report here

The BYD are thinking about going into Formula One

They're absolutely not

Because there's a new team

This year in Formula One

And that's Cadillac

And they secured an entry

By fighting tooth and nail

You see, the money in Formula One

Is given out at the end of the year

And you get more money

If you finish higher up

And since Netflix and Drive to Survive

And the popularity of the sport has gone up

Those franchises, those slots on the grid

Can be worth over a billion

For a team and more

And so for Cadillac

As the new team to get an entry

An American entry

They've been fighting for years

Because it's worth such a lot of money

You can't just walk into Formula One

Because the existing teams

Then have to divvy up

What they were going to get

Because the slice of the pie

Their slice gets smaller

And so they all have a vote

And they go, uh, no

Which is what happens for years

And so since the last rule set

A long time ago there were more teams

But so it's not that easy

You can buy a Formula One team

But again, since the Netflix Drive to Survive

Apple Movie stuff

The sport's become so big in the last five years

That's not cheap to do

That mean they could go and buy

BYD could go and buy a team

One of the smaller teams

They could buy an Alpine

Because Renault were really trying to stop

Spending money on Formula One

They haven't got Renault engines anymore

In Alpines

They actually got a Mercedes engine

In the Alpine

Because they're like

Just shut down the engine program

And so, yeah, BYD could buy an Alpine

They could buy a Haas

I think Haas are not selling

They could buy, ooh

They could buy Red Bull's second team

If Red Bull are a little less interested these days

But look, either way

I don't think it's true

Lemons are different

I won't get into it now

But I'm also a big fan of Lemons

So, um, there's more opportunities there

Hey, it's an expensive thing to do

But when you've got the Yang Wang brand performance

Only launched two years ago

But that's up against Ferrari and Porsche

In China

It lapped the Nürburgring

In six minutes, 59

The U9 Extreme did 308.34 miles an hour

That's 496 kph

At Germany's automotive testing

Papenburg track

Beating a Bugatti Chiron

Speed record

So, yeah, BYD got some

Really interesting performance brands

They might want to go racing with

But, I don't know

Not sure that Bloomberg report is

Entirely accurate

But, uh, we'll wait and see

Thanks for listening to the podcast today

Thanks to our premium partners

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Have a good one

See you tomorrow

And remember, there's no such thing

As a self-charging hybrid

DAILY: Renault Sets EV Roadmap For 2030, Nissan Micra and VW ID.3 Neo | 12 Mar 2026

Xiaomi SU7

Dacia Spring

Alpine A110

Alpine A290

Porsche Taycan

Rivian R2

Renault 4

5 Renault 5

Renault 5 Turbo 3E

Lotus Elise

Nissan Micra

Volkswagen Id3

Volkswagen Id4

Volkswagen Id5

Volkswagen Id7

Cupra Born

Volkswagen Golf

Volkswagen Tiguan

Volkswagen Passat

Hyundai Kona

Kia EV3

Kia EV4

Kia EV5

Kia EV6

Kia EV9

Volvo EX90

About this episode

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