Solid-state batteries and OTA maintenance are the promises for the Renault/Nissan/Mitsubishi Alliance.

The Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance has announced terrifically ambitious plans for its future electric vehicle portfolio.

Despite Nissan being in terribleshape financially, the Alliance believes it possesses the scale and diversity of engineering resources to confidently launch no fewer than 35 new EVs by 2035. As a caveat, this number includes a lot of duplication between the three Alliance partners, thanks to platform sharing.

And platforms are a central theme of the latest Alliance announcement. Recognising that ICE platform electrification is costly and compromised, the Alliance will create five new dedicated EV platforms to support 90% of all future Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi electric vehicle models. And the other 10%? Well, those could be the future EV bakkies from Nissan and Mitsubishi, which will require a different engineering approach and unique platform.

For Renault, the presence of five electric vehicle architectures is sensible. It has a negligible commercial vehicle and large SUV presence. But for Nissan and Mitsubishi, where business is very much bakkies and large SUVs, the dividend on any Alliance EV development might be less beneficial.

The investments required are significant, with the Alliance pledging R390bn in the next five years to establish its vision for the 2030 project deadline of 35 new EVs.

Among the technical details of the Alliance’s 2030 plan is a solid-state battery of its own, by 2028. Solid-state batteries have been the impossible goal for manufacturers who wish to transition their ICE models power,range and fast turnaround time, to EVs. Many promises but very few deliverables. Despite this, the Alliance is confident of creating and producing its own – at a large scale.

The fundamental benefits of a solid-state battery, compared to current lithium-ion, will be a doubling of energy density, with charging times reduced by two-thirds.

An interesting detail of the Alliance announcement concerns data, with a Google ecosystem scheduled to become standardised throughout Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi products in future. The Alliance is also working in its own electrical and electronic architecture IP, which should make it less reliant on suppliers and less exposed to technology leaps. Lifecycle over-the-air serviceable vehicles are due to become part of the Alliance product offering by 2025.

For South African followers of Nissan and Mitsubishi, the question will be how all these Alliance technology roadmaps, route around Navara and Triton.

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