French automaker Renault has teamed up with compatriot R-FIT to offer, in 2023, electric retrofit kits for its iconic R4, R5, and later also for the first generation of the Twingo. A complete retrofit kit for the Renault 4 costs €11 900, VAT, and installation included. And the government is willing to subsidize it from €2 500 up to €6 000, depending on one’s income.

The retrofitted vintage cars will be displayed at the Renault booth on the upcoming vintage car show Rétromobile, from 1 to 5 February 2023 in Paris. The electric retrofit kit for the Renault 4 will also be on sale online from that date on, the rest following later.

Fully certificated

The Renault 4 was introduced in 1961 as the French brand’s first fore-wheel drive car and a late answer to the Citroën 2 CV, which was launched 13 years earlier. It is manufactured in many different versions until 1994. The first broadly commercialized versions featured an 845 cc four-cylinder engine producing 30 hp and consuming on average 6,9 l/100 km.

According to Renault, the retrofit kits have passed the various certification tests at UTAC (the French car, motorcycle, and bicycle-technical union), ensuring that this conversion offers a level of safety that meets market standards.

With the kit comes a brushless synchronous 48 kW electric motor to replace the old combustion engine while the original mechanical transmission remains untouched.

The package includes a 105 V battery pack with a capacity of 10,7 kWh to feed the motor, promising a range of 80 km. On average, charging can be done at a regular 220 V plug at home in three and a half hours. By retrofitting, the weight distribution of the vehicle is unchanged. And the installation comes with a two-year warranty.

Vital elements checked first

Before any electrical conversion, R-FIT performs a systematic check of the vital elements of the vehicle to be converted, like the state of conservation of the chassis and body in particular. Besides the Renault vintage cars, R-FIT offers a kit for the Citroën 2 CV for 8 900 euros, all included.

Vehicles with an approved electrical conversion kit are automatically approved in France (and Europe) as long as an approved specialist has carried out this operation. A certificate of approval for your R–FIT kit is given to you upon delivery of the vehicle. It gets a new registration certificate indicating the mode of electric propulsion.

The comeback of Renault Espace

Another iconic Renault car is dusted off with the comeback of its large MPV, the Espace. Little to no details of this sixth generation of the popular MPV are known, except that it will be ‘modernized’ to today’s fashion trend as an SUV with five up to seven seats.

The official unveiling is planned for 28 March 2023, some 40 years after the very first prototype of the Espace was shown in 1983. From 1984 on, the then ground-breaking concept of the Renault Espace was built by Matra initially. It was offered to Peugeot first, but being in trouble financial waters at that time, that carmaker didn’t want to venture with a risky concept.