Patents
All-new Mégane E-TECH Electric: road-trip to the heart of innovations – Episode 1
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Join Jean-Baptiste Nicolet, host of the YouTube channel TheiCollection as he takes us on road-trip on board the All-new Renault Mégane E-TECH Electric, journeying through a selection of innovative features that gave rise to a number of patents. This first episode starts with an early morning departure from Paris, destination: Deauville.
When loading his bags in the boot, Jean-Baptiste can’t help but notice how light the rear hatch feels. A true advantage when it comes to extending the range of an electric vehicle. Curious to know more about the hidden innovation at play, he calls on Hervé Maine, plastic injection process specialist at the Production Engineering and Vehicle Prototypes Division. Hervé explains that a brand-new water injection assisted moulding process makes the plastic stiffer while also requiring fewer metals parts. Moreover, plastic carved out of the door can be reused to make a new hatch door, feeding back into a recycling loop that was also the subject of its own patent.
For the hatch door on the Mgane E-TECH Electric, we wanted to come up with a design that was as light weight as possible. We therefore had to reduce the number of parts used for the door and devise a new way of stiffening the structure: a hollow grooved carved out by water injection. We also added a new process to the production line to recover waste plastic that could then be reinjected into the following part being made. The idea being to waste as little as possible.
Now a little more knowledgeable, Jean-Baptiste takes to the road behind the wheel of the All-new Mégane E-TECH Electric, comfortable with the milage in store. Destination: Normandy!
Tune in to the next episode for more …