Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
Prices for the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric have not been confirmed yet, but the entry-level version is expected to cost around the same as the Volkswagen ID.3 (if not a little less). Naturally, the fact that the Megane E-Tech Electric is, well, electric means that it’ll make a lot of sense for company car owners who want to keep their benefit-in-kind (BIK) car tax rate down.
Charging tops out at 130kW, which equates to a 10-80% battery top-up in around 30 minutes on the 60kWh Megane when plugged into a powerful enough rapid charger. A full charge from a 7kW home wallbox will take around nine hours (or seven hours for the smaller battery). That’s comparable with the 58kWh ID.3, but not as fast as the Tesla Model 3 can charge using the brilliant and highly reliable Tesla Supercharger network.
Top-tier Launch Edition adds an upgraded Harman Kardon sound system, hands-free park assist, a surround-view 3D camera and a smart rear-view mirror. Of course, that could change and official spec lists will appear closer to the car’s launch.
Due to it being so new, the Megane E-Tech Electric didn’t feature in the 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey but Renault as a manufacturer claimed 16th place out of the 30 included brands. That puts them above VW (20th) and Nissan (joint 27th) but below rivals Kia (9th) and Tesla (15th).
Even so, added peace of mind comes in the form of a five-year warranty, with unlimited mileage for the first 24 months and then 100,000 miles. Compared with rival offerings, that’s pretty good but can’t match Kia’s class-leading seven-year warranty.
Euro NCAP has awarded the Megane E-Tech Electric five stars out of five for safety and every version gets plenty of safety tech as standard. That includes lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear automatic emergency braking (to stop your car during reversing if you’re going to hit something) and a system that warns you if you open the door into the path of a moving vehicle.
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