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Renault has been on a roll with the electric relaunches of the 4 and 5, now it’s the turn of the Renault Twingo city car for a comeback, as an EV with a range of up to 163 miles and a starting price below £20,000 when it goes on sale in 2027.
The Twingo E-Tech electric is powered by a compact 60 kW (82 hp) electric motor which helps to ensure it remains a lightweight city car: 1,200 kg in the case of the Evolution trim level.
A usable battery capacity of 27.5 kWh allows a range of up to 163 miles (WLTP). The Twingo E-Tech electric’s potential customer base drives 22 miles per day on average.
The Twingo E-Tech electric is a 5-door vehicle with four adult seats. Although it’s an A-segment vehicle in terms of its dimensions (just 3.79 metres long), footprint and agility, it offers the interior space of a B-segment vehicle and a boot capacity of up to 360 litres, with a 50-litre underfloor storage space, and over 1,000 litres with the rear seats folded.
Sliding rear seats are inherited from the first-generation Twingo; all versions of the Twingo E-Tech electric feature two independent rear seats, each of which slides forward and back by 17 cm allowing occupants to give preference to passenger space or boot capacity for the whole row, or for just one seat. The sliding mechanism works both from the rear and from the boot.
The Renault Twingo E-Tech electric will be available in a simplified range with two trim levels, Evolution and Techno. All versions feature a 7-inch digital instrument panel facing the driver for driving information and a 10-inch central multimedia screen.
With the techno trim, Twingo E-Tech electric gains the One Pedal function first introduced a few months ago on Renault 4 E-Tech electric and currently being deployed to the other models in the range. This fourth regenerative braking mode is activated by paddles on the steering wheel, like the first three. With the Evolution trim, the driver can choose to activate B mode via the gear lever to increase the level of regeneration.
The Twingo E-Tech electric is based on the AmpR Small platform, adapted for urban use and also to optimise costs. The front axle is identical to the Renault 5 and Renault 4 E-Tech electric.
The 27.5 kWh battery uses LFP (lithium iron phosphate) technology. Despite a lower energy density than NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) technology, LFP offers an ideal cost/range ratio for a city car. Cell-to-pack technology made it possible to optimise energy density in relation to the size and weight of the battery, to avoid compromising efficiency and also to reduce battery costs by 20%.
All versions of the Twingo E-Tech electric come with a 6.6 kW AC charger as standard. Accompanied by a 5-metre Mode 3 cable, ideal for wallbox outlets, it charges the battery from 10% to 100% in just 4 hours 15 minutes.
The Twingo E-Tech electric can also charge at 11kW AC and 50 kW DC, delivering a 10% to 80% charge in just 30 minutes.
As standard, Twingo E-Tech electric features an 11 kW AC bidirectional charger. This includes the V2L function (vehicle-to-load) for connecting a 220V appliance to the vehicle battery with up to 3,700W of power using a power-to-object adapter.
The Mobilize Power V2G service launched in France in October 2024. Operation requires a charging point that is also bidirectional. The Mobilize PowerBox Verso charging point delivers up to 22 kW of alternating current (AC). Communicating with Twingo E-Tech electric and the cloud, it charges the battery or feeds electricity back to the grid, depending on battery charge requirements, domestic needs and incentives from the energy market and public grid.
The Mobilize Charge Pass payment solution is available with Twingo E-Tech electric. This system gives users access to over one million public charging stations across Europe, while also offering preferential rates for many fast-charging networks with a monthly subscription.
From 1992, the Twingo established itself as an iconic city car and was a huge success, selling over 4.1 million units in 25 countries.
The Twingo E-Tech electric was designed to meet three major objectives:
• Making e-mobility affordable and more sustainable, with an entry-level price of less than £20,000.
• Cutting vehicle development times to two years: a first in Renault’s history, this achievement was part of a pilot project providing input for future projects within the company.
• Maintaining a competitive production base in Europe: the Twingo E-Tech electric is assembled in Slovenia.
The Twingo E-Tech electric features an LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery, a first for the Renault Group. This technology takes advantage of abundant and widely available natural resources such as iron and phosphate, while reducing dependence on critical metals such as cobalt and nickel. This strategy is fully in line with Renault’s approach to decarbonisation, and its aim of developing electric vehicles that are more sustainable and responsible, without compromising on safety or performance.
The LFP battery of Twingo E-Tech electric uses a cell-to-pack architecture that allows more cells to be packed into a given space, while also cutting the cost of the battery. Overall, the LFP and cell-to-pack architecture cuts battery costs by around 20%.
Due to motor efficiency and aerodynamics, making it possible to limit the size and weight of the battery, the Twingo E-Tech electric boasts exceptionally low energy consumption. The aim was for the carbon footprint of Twingo E-Tech electric to be 60% smaller than an ICE city car of a similar size.
Twingo E-Tech electric is the first vehicle in the “Leap 100” programme (“100” for one hundred weeks), whose purpose is to transform the entire vehicle development cycle. The Twingo E-Tech electric was developed faster than any other model in Renault’s history, designed and built in just one hundred weeks – twice as fast as previous electric models – while complying with the most recent Group quality standards.
To achieve this objective, Renault set up a unique organisation, combining know-how in Europe and innovation in China. Based on three pillars – Ampere, ACDC and the Novo Mesto assembly plant – this organisation paves the way for a new generation of vehicles based on a faster, simpler and more efficient design process. Renault has shaved a full year off the design time for a comparable vehicle, while reducing the investments required by half.
