The Renault group’s new electric motor manufactured near Rouen
A new assembly line was shut down in early July 2022 at the Renault plant in Cléon (Seine-Maritime). An industrial site which, after decades of thermal power, went electric in 2015. A new engine, which will equip the Mégane, will be produced on a large scale.
All mechanics know the name “Cléon”. Since 1958, the Renault factory located in Cléon, near Elbeuf (Seine-Maritime) has been manufacturing gearboxes and engines for many models of cars from the diamond brand.
But after decades of “thermal”, the industrial site located south of Rouen began its transformation in 2015 with the arrival of the first production lines of “R240”, the electric motor of the Zoé.
The inauguration, on July 5, 2022, of a production line for the new “EPT 160 KW” electric motor confirms the development of the Cléon industrial site and its adaptation to thea progressive and announced end of thermal cars in the coming years.
Confirmed in its role as an engine supplier for the Renault group, the Cléon site has therefore begun its transformation. The 3,200 employees of the factory will contribute to the manufacture of electric motors.
Objective: to produce more than one million by 2024!
But to switch from thermal to electric, a major training and know-how transfer operation has been implemented, as explained to our journalist Marie Benoist, the director of Renault Cléon, Thomas Denis:
“Finally, the transition is going well because in fact, we have machining skills, and these are skills that we can already reuse. Machining is a job that adapts very well. For example , on the somewhat specific processes of the winding workshops, a machinist evokes this profession very very well.”
Thomas Denis also cites the example of casings, a part found on heat engines, but also on electric motors and which will therefore still be manufactured.
As for the ongoing transition and the retraining of certain employees, he wants to be confident: “We have everything we need to do in Cléon (…) We consider that to triple the production of electricity in 3 years, we have all the educational and training achievements and technical skills to meet this challenge without too much problems. I’m quite confident.”
video length: 01min 51
VIDEO – July 2022: a new electric motor integrated into the Renault plant in Cléon (Seine-Maritime)
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©France Televisions
Despite the announcement of the recruitment of around a hundred new employees by the end of 2022, the Renault Cléon unions are concerned about the constant decline in the workforce on permanent contracts, a decline accentuated, since 2021, by a departure within the Renault group. With fewer employees, union representatives point to new working conditions and wages deemed insufficient.
The new electric motor produces 160 kilowatts of power in Cléon and gives 220 horsepower to the new Mégane.
Lighter than that of the Zoé, this new engine is cooled by oil.
An even more powerful model (220 KW) must in turn be manufactured by 2027 in Cléon. An innovative engine without “rare earths” resulting from a partnership between Renault and Valéo and Valéo-Siemens-eAutomotive.