Advert
The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric is enjoyable to drive, with good performance, a comfortable ride, and an agile chassis – along with its concept car looks.
Renault was a leader with electric cars. The ZOE appeared in 2013 and is still on sale today – having had a few updates over that time including in the area of battery sizes and driving range. However Renault hasn’t had a larger EV on sale, until now – enter the ‘Megane E-Tech 100% Electric’.
The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric is a larger car than the ZOE, but only just: it’s 4,200mm long compared to 4,087mm for the ZOE, with a boot size of 440 litres compared to 338 litres for the ZOE (the Megane’s boot is deep – with an additional storage space underneath it for the charging cables – but it’s not particularly long from the tailgate opening to the rear seats).
The Megane E-Tech 100% Electric has crossover concept car looks, thanks in part to its large 20-inch alloy wheels, and a stance that is reminiscent of a Jaguar I-PACE from certain angles (although the rear end has similarities with a Mercedes-Benz EQA). There are also flush-fitting door handles to aid the appearance and aerodynamics.
The Megane has a 60kWh battery (usable capacity), a 220 hp electric motor, and it’s front-wheel drive.
The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric offers an enjoyable driving experience overall. The 300Nm of torque helps to deliver impressive acceleration, and this is combined with very comfortable ride quality on most road surfaces (despite the large 20-inch wheels and low profile tyres). And of course, like most EVs, the Megane is quiet and refined. Compared to some EVs, the chassis offers some agility in the handling department (the 1,636kg kerb weight, which is relatively light for an EV, is likely to play a part in this).
The Megane is easy to drive, with steering that is relatively light. The car was on test in November, with roads that were cold and wet, when the front-wheel drive powertrain often struggled for grip under acceleration.
The gear selector is on the right-hand side of the steering column – as per Mercedes or Tesla – and it feels very close to the wiper stalk. There’s no ‘B’ setting, but there are steering wheel-mounted paddles for adjusting the level of brake regeneration.
Also on the steering wheel is a button for ‘Multi-Sense’ which offers different driving modes: Eco, Comfort, Sport and ‘Perso’.
Locating the gear selector on the steering column frees up space between the two front seats where the gear lever is traditionally located, providing lots of knee space for drivers with long legs.
The Megane features the latest technology, with a central 9-inch touchscreen (an “openR link system with Google built in”), and a larger 12.3-inch driver information display cluster. Both screens show a map, with the larger map in front of the driver, but strangely only the map on the central screen shows traffic jams.
There are separate heating and ventilation controls under the central screen, with real buttons, which makes it much easier to control functions such as cabin temperature and ventilation than EVs that have these controls buried in the touchscreen. There are also shortcut buttons on the touchscreen for the main infotainment functions.
In typical Renault style, the media volume controls are hidden behind the bottom right-hand side of the steering wheel; cruise control buttons are more visible on the steering wheel. The lane departure warning system didn’t interfere during our entire week with the car, which is very rare and very good.
Clicking the seat belt into place seemed to be a challenge, due to the very tight space between the wide central armrest and the driver’s seat.
Overall the Megane is a very likeable car, but one aspect would drive us crazy – every time you start the car you have to wait seven seconds for ‘vehicle checks’ before you can select a gear (and even then it sometimes appeared to be a challenge to select a gear). We can’t think of another car that makes you wait this length of time before you can drive off; it’s very frustrating, especially if other cars are waiting for you to move. The Megane is not a good car choice for bank robbers who need a quick getaway.
Another issue we had with the car was its real-world driving range. The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric WLTP official combined driving range is 280 miles. The car was on test in November when the weather was cold, but even taking this into account, the real-world driving range was disappointing, averaging just 170 miles – despite the Megane E-Tech 100% Electric having a system that automatically regulates battery temperature.
The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric’s maximum rapid charging rate is 130 kW. Renault claims that this could allow up to 186 miles of charge to be added in 30 minutes at a 130 kW DC charger. A 7.4kW home wall box should provide a 0% to 100% charge in 9 hours 15 minutes.
Electric cars do not charge at their maximum charge rate for an entire charging session – their charge rate typically starts off high with a battery with a low state of charge, then the charge rate decreases as the battery charge increases. See the charge curve for the Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric from Fastned:
The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric Techno costs £38,495. The price of our test car was £39,445. Trim levels are Equilibre (from £36,995), Techno and Launch Edition.
The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric offers good performance, a comfortable ride and handling agility, with the latest in-car technology and decent levels of interior space within a compact footprint on the road. Having to wait seven seconds between starting the car and being able to select a gear isn’t ideal, and our real-world range was disappointing, even allowing for the cold November weather. The Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
Drive an EV for less than you think with Select Car Leasing 
Save 20-50% on an EV through salary sacrifice with The Electric Car Scheme 
ClearWatt supports buyers, sellers and owners of EVs with app-based battery health testing and detailed EV data insights available for every used EV in the UK. Take the stress out of buying a used EV with ClearWatt and save 10% on all their products with promo code “GCG10”. 
Zapmap: UK's No.1 EV charging points app 2025. Zapmap helps EV drivers search for EV chargers, plan longer journeys and pay for charging. 
Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
