Dacia allegedly wants to offer the next generation of its most popular small car as an electric model from 2027 or 2028. It could even become a BEV-only model, some British media report.

The new-generation Sandero is expected to be based on the CMF-BEV platform, which will also be used by the full-electric Renault 5, Renault 4, and the successor to the Nissan Micra.

The CMF-BEV architecture is a version of the CMF-B, the ‘Common Modular Family’ platform for the B-segment, optimized for electric drives. Since vehicles based on the CMF-B and CMF-BEV can be produced on one line, Dacia could offer internal combustion and electric drives with a Sandero body side by side.

In British media, Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot confirmed the premiere “in 2027 or 2028”, and, depending on the year the model is ultimately launched, this fourth-generation Sandero will “live on until 2034 or 2035”.

Price is important

As the ‘low-cost’ daughter of the Renault Group, Dacia has to keep its promise of a price setting as low as possible when building BEVs. It did so already with the  (Chinese-based and -built) Spring, the cheapest electric car available at the moment in Europe. Le Vot has not indicated yet where a possible electric Sandero would be manufactured.

The brand is currently investigating all possible battery chemistries for the electric Sandero. According to Le Vot, this includes sodium-ion batteries. Dacia will rely on the Renault Group’s know-how for the technology. At least for the Renault 5, the French have ruled out using LFP batteries. So it remains to be seen which battery technology Dacia will rely on: LFP, cheap NCM cells, or sodium-ion batteries?

Le Vot ruled out the possibility of an electric Dacia with a range of 600 kilometers and a charging time of 20 minutes in the foreseeable future. “Why? Because we have a social role here. Our job is accessible mobility, and that includes electricity. We brought out the Spring because of that,” the Dacia brand boss told Car Magazine.

He also pointed to the disadvantages of sodium-ion technology, such as energy density and weight. “We’ll find a way here with the range offered and between the density of energy and charging capacity to find something different,” he says. “The idea is that we want to be accessible with it. And we’ll have the answer in two years.”

Spring to learn from

Le Vot also declared that, if he had the chance, he would have done things differently with the Spring. “If we did Spring again, I would cut the battery in half,” he says. With 26,8 kWh, the Spring has a small battery by European standards, just enough for a WLTP range of 230 kilometers.

However, practice shows that the average Spring customer only drives 16 kilometers a day, which is why saving further on the battery would be possible. Nevertheless, Dacia has recently added a more upmarket version of its Spring, with a more potent motor, to attract another clientele.

The findings from using the Spring are to be incorporated into Dacia’s next-generation electric vehicles. Still, one must consider that the larger Sandero is used differently from the smaller Spring.

The reports from last year, according to which Dacia could replace the Spring as an entry-level electric model as early as 2024, are no longer referred to in the current articles on the electric Sandero. The Spring was something to learn from, but it will not return to its current form.

Since 2017, the Sandero has been the best-selling car bought by private owners. Since its appearance in 2008, 2,6 million cars have already been produced. Right now, two-thirds of the buyers opt for the somewhat more sturdy Stepway version. 42% of the new owners also drive on liquid natural gas.