Renault Emblème: a demonstrator of Ampere technologies for decarbonization – powered by electricity and hydrogen
Responding to the challenges raised by climate change and the conservation of resources, the automotive industry is engaged in a major transformation. Renault Group is establishing itself as a key player in low-carbon mobility, in line with its Corporate Purpose and Renaulution strategic plan. The Group is targeting carbon neutrality in Europe by 2040 and worldwide by 2050. With a target date of 2035 for this same objective, Ampere, its “pure player” entity and European specialist in intelligent electric vehicles, is spearheading the Group’s decarbonization drive.
Ampere is Renault Group’s unprecedented response to the transformation of the automotive industry. Because this challenge involves the company, its subsidiaries, its entities and their partners, it takes an ecosystemic approach. Ampere is convinced that technological innovation is the key to a sustainable future.
No single component of decarbonization can be treated in isolation. For a vehicle, this means working on its entire lifecycle (“from cradle to grave”) in five areas: eco-design, choice of resources, manufacture, use and end-of-life.
Renault Emblème demo car is the result of this approach. Revealed at the Mondial de l’Auto 2024, it reveals a little more today. A vision of a family vehicle, decarbonized “from head to toe”, it emits 90% less greenhouse gases (CO2e) over its entire life cycle than an equivalent vehicle produced today (see methodology section).
Through Emblème, Ampere and Renault are continuing the exploratory studies initiated with the Scénic Vision concept in 2022. Continuing to explore the field of possibilities, their goal is to create a working prototype of a family car – with a spacious, comfortable and high-tech design – while taking decarbonisation to new levels.
Every technical, technological and stylistic choice was dictated by efforts to take decarbonisation to the next level. Renault Emblème explores intelligent, credible and viable combinations, particularly in terms of resources, materials, production, use and end-of-life recovery.
With a 70% reduction in the carbon footprint of its components, 50% recycled materials and almost all of the materials used which can be recycled at the end of their life, Renault Emblème demonstrates the capacity of Ampere and its partners to innovate in order to maximise vehicle decarbonisation in the future.
Emblème is based on specifications implementing the principles of eco-design. Engineers and designers worked together to find the best solutions in terms of aerodynamics and efficiency. The result is stunning: an elegant shooting brake 4.80 metres long, placing equal emphasis on styling and interior space.
Renault Emblème is an invitation to travel with a cabin of contemporary, poetic design. The interior features innovative technologies including a new wide openR panorama screen spanning the length of the dashboard. The rear-mounted dual-energy electric powertrain is powered by electricity and hydrogen, an optimal combination for low-carbon driving over both short and long distances
Luca de Meo, CEO Renault Group, CEO Ampere
“Emblème embodies our ecosystem approach and the level of our ambition when it comes to building a sustainable future through technological innovation.
It is proof that automotive is still driving progress… keeping emotion in the equation! It embodies the future Design Language of the Renault brand, what we call « La Nouvelle Vague ». An average ICE car has a 50 tons footprint: for Emblème, it’s 5 tons, cradle to grave. It’s a masterpiece.”
A methodology based on the vehicle lifecycle analysis
Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a scientific method used to quantify a vehicle’s environmental impacts from cradle to grave. It factors in raw material extraction and component production, as well as vehicle assembly, transport, use, maintenance and recycling. It is the international, multi-criterion tool used by Renault Group. One of its main uses is to calculate the global warming potential associated with greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent (CO2 eq.) per vehicle. Note that Renault Group calculates the actual consumption of its vehicles over 200,000 km. Renault Group and Ampere also support the proposal made by the French automotive industry to measure the impact of the entire vehicle life cycle.
Renault Megane E-Tech electric, for example, the emits 24 tonnes of CO2 eq during its life cycle. That is practically half that of an equivalent model running on fossil fuels (50 tonnes of CO2 eq. in the case of a Captur with a petrol engine), showing that all-electric mobility is more virtuous in terms of CO2 eq. emissions. The goal for the Emblème project is just 5 tonnes of CO2 eq. from cradle to grave, i.e. a reduction of almost 90%!
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Renault Emblème: a demonstrator of Ampere technologies for decarbonization – powered by electricity and hydrogen, source
