In its second month with us, the Megane has racked up some serious time on the freeway, allowing me to really test out its range and efficiency, as well as become more accustomed to its various quirks.
I’ve also had it accompany me on some more spirited drives to test out its sport driving mode and get to the bottom of whether its front-wheel drive layout is really a bad thing and it’s been subjected to the kind of daily charging rigmarole full-time owners will be confronted with.
Has our Megane dealt with these challenges well or were there some frustrations along the way? Read on to find out.
Is the Megane E-Tech efficient on the freeway? What is its range?
Explore the 2025 Renault Megane E-Tech Range
If you’re out of the loop on electric vehicles they follow an inverse efficiency logic when compared to combustion models.
Where combustion vehicles are most fuel efficient on freeways where they can maintain a constant speed in the most efficient possible gear, electric vehicles are generally most efficient in stop-start traffic, as this is where they can recuperate the most energy via regenerative braking when slowing down.
As a result, some EVs which have excellent efficiency around town and meet their range numbers become comparatively range limited on the open road, forcing you to plan even more for the kind of inter-city journeys Australians are so accustomed to.
It’s certainly one of the reasons EV uptake here has been slower than the rest of the world.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
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Back on topic: Our Megane E-Tech proved in its first month to be one of the most energy efficient EVs I have ever driven. Over 700km of largely city driving, it returned an extremely impressive efficiency of 13.6kWh/100km, easily besting the my prior long-termer, the electric version of the Volvo XC40.
My theory on why this is the case is down to Renault managing to keep weight in this car to a minimum. As a result, it sports a relatively small battery which grants it a range of heavier cars, even in the same class, which use batteries up to 20kWh larger.
The downside is without the benefit of regenerative braking on its side, a small battery could be a big detriment on the open road.
My partner and I took several day trips out of Sydney and back, several hundred kilometres each time, quickly doubling my distance behind the wheel.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
On each trip, the E-Tech proved to be significantly less efficient than it had been around town, just as predicted.
Unlike its impressive stop-start traffic performance which often sits at around 13-14kWh/100km, the Megane’s average trip efficiency over a 400km round-trip was around 16.2kWh/100km.
It doesn’t sound like a lot more, but it adds up over distance, forcing charging upon you more often than I’m sure is ideal for many. As a result, our efficiency for the month jumped from 13.6kWh/100km to 14.4kWh/100km.
Would this be fixed by adding a larger battery and more overall range? I would argue this car strikes the right balance.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
Increasing battery capacity means extra weight (at current technology) which would make efficiency gains questionable and detract from an otherwise tidy drive experience.
The Megane is a great partner not just on the twisty stuff, but it proved to be comfortable on a four-hour drive, too. Yes, at times the range drains faster than you’d like, but unlike some previous-generation EVs like the Nissan Leaf or MG ZS EV (which I’ve taken on similar journeys) the rate of depletion is consistent, and the range remaining is relatively accurate once you level out to cruising speed.
Expect roughly 370-ish kilometres of range on the freeway in perfect conditions (a rudimentary calculation done by dividing the battery capacity by the efficiency).
In reality if you want a 20 per cent buffer you can expect around 296km of cruising range at 100km/h. Less than ideal, not less than your two-hour stop-revive-survive window. Whether this makes an inter-city drive seamless or not comes down to charging.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
What is the Megane E-Tech like to charge?
At times frustrating. At other times brilliant.
Why? This car has inside it an odd dichotomy. It is over-specified for fast charging. Its small 60kWh battery can take up to 125kW on a DC charging stack.
Lots of cars can charge faster than this, some even claim up to 350kW, but factoring in the size of the battery makes this Renault able to charge just as fast at more locations. Hopefully you can see why this car’s battery-to-vehicle ratio is emerging as one of its finest traits.
As a result, you can be back on the road in as little as 20 minutes, even from a more common 150kW stack (this blows out to thirty or forty minutes for many rivals).
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
On top of that, on the very common 50kW stack found in most urban locations, you’re back on the road in less than an hour (keeping in mind your 20 per cent buffer).
So, DC charging is great. I always return to the car impressed with how much range it has gained in such short periods of time.
AC charging? Not so much. For whatever reason, Renault’s local importer made the decision to cheap out on this car’s AC inverter, limiting it to a theoretical 7.2kW (in reality more like 6.8kW if my apps are to be believed).
The argument is most buyers are charging overnight at home. Why does this car need a good AC inverter if most charging will be done at around 2.0kW from a wall socket, anyway?
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
The thing is, I’m a member of a growing cohort which can’t charge at home. I live in a 1970s unit block which has no power to the garage, and as a result, I rely on the public network for charging.
The frustrating thing about limiting the AC charging is 6.8kW is only about 50km of range added per hour, where the full 11kW would be just shy of 100km in this car.
It almost makes it not worth plugging in down at the AC units at my local shops unless I’m in a pinch and really need to pick up a few km to make it through the week.
It’s a roaring shame, because cars with smallish battery packs are served really well by a well-specified AC charger. In some cases, cars with good AC charging can survive an entire week without needing to use the much more expensive DC pylons, a big cost-of-ownership benefit for those who can’t charge at home.
I hope Renault’s importer decides to go with a higher-spec AC charger for the incoming mid-cycle facelift.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
What are the best features of the Megane E-Tech?
I like this car’s off-kilter specification for Australia.
You see, we usually get ultra-high-spec versions of most European cars. One look over at Peugeot, for example, and you’ll see only bells-and-whistles grades which attract not only a discerning and premium buyer but also attractive profit margins.
In the interests of getting a leg up on the EV ladder, though, Renault in Australia has gone with a wonderfully odd trim level, perhaps allowing it to keep a keen price-tag of $54,990, before on-roads.
Where most rivals would get full leather seat trim, for example, our Megane E-Tech gets a pleasing blend of light grey cloth and black leather for its seats, which are shaped nicely (with angular side-bolster edges which look a little too close to the shape of Renault’s logo to be a coincidence) and are padded well for those long trips.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
Attention to detail is to the max, with subtle green piping to offset the black trims in the doors, and the light grey continues into the dash which forgoes hard plastic or synthetic leather in favour of a recycled cloth weave.
It’s a pleasing place to be, complete with its bizarre asymmetrical dash-layout and little floating platform sitting below the screen for your phone.
It’s functional, too. Underpinned by a new platform, the E-Tech scores a big empty floor space devoid of a raised console. There’s a huge storage tray between the front seats, with some clever divider bits which can slice it up into sections, or be put hard up together to form a second cupholder.
Additionally, there’s a single cupholder cut into the floor with variable edges. You also get a decently-sized centre console box with a sort of cable-managed tray area to keep the cabin free of entanglements.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
I haven’t spent much time in the back seat, nor have I had many passengers back there, so check into future chapters for more on this.
It also doesn’t get ‘luxury’ features which can arguably be annoying. Slowly adjusting electric seats? Nope, the Megane gets manual levers. A massive sunroof you can’t close which cooks the interior in Australian summer? Nope, the Megane gets a conventional roof with sporty dark headlining. How about an electric tailgate which takes too long to open or might crash into pipes or shelves in your garage? Nope, the Megane gets a simple strut-supported tailgate. Simple, to-the-point, priced surprisingly well.
It strikes me as a UK-spec vehicle which has simply been brought across to Australia. I really like the balance it achieves. More of this please if you’re listening, European automakers.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
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Is the Renault Megane E-Tech fun to drive?
Last month I gave a general overview of why this car tends to be a cut above most of its EV peers when it comes to driving.
Because it’s relatively lightweight, it’s a gem in the corners. Emulating hot hatches of old the E-Tech is chuckable, reactive… playful, even.
It’s not overwhelmingly powerful, and has sensible, grippy tyres, and while I said it’s not entirely entertaining in the last chapter, after some more investigation, it’s possible to have fun in it.
The torque is mostly sensibly applied, with a bit of a wind-on moment to prevent wheelspin, but the gloves come off when set to the ‘Sport’ driving mode, allowing the tyres to chirp when powering out of corners.
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2025 Renault Megane E-Tech (image: Tom White)
It’s also not as locked-down as some EVs. The Tesla Model 3, for example, is largely notable for its impressive performance, but underwhelming feedback, resulting in a technically fast but sanitized driving experience.
The E-Tech, at least in Sport mode, is decidedly more playful, lending it the feeling of real consequences for your driving antics. It beats out not just the Model 3 for feedback, but I’d argue the Cupra Born, too, which blends rear-wheel drive with more power but doughier suspension which it needs to wrangle its heavier battery.
The Megane proves the reports of the death of front-wheel drive in the electric era are greatly exaggerated and that’s not a bad thing.
Tune in next chapter for more on the back seats and clever packaging in the boot, a verdict on energy efficiency over the Christmas break and more analysis of how it compares to some of its more direct rivals I’ve recently driven (or am about to).
Acquired: October 2024
Distance travelled this month: 1101km
Odometer: 4629km
Average energy consumption this month: 14.4kWh/100km
