Next-gen Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf will share a new platform

Renault and Nissan are teaming up once again to achieve economies of scale by agreeing to jointly develop a brand new common platform for electric cars. The next-gen Leaf and Zoe will make use of the new hardware, with the two EVs bound to share the underpinnings as well as the electric motors. The reveal was made by Arnaud Deboeuf, senior vice president of Renault-Nissan BV, which is a company formed in 2002 in the Netherlands responsible for the alliance's strategic management.

Deboeuf made an interesting statement by specifying the all-new Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe are going to compete in the same segment. That can only mean two things: either the new Leaf will be downsized to a city car, or the Zoe will grow to become a compact model. The first scenario seems unlikely and chances are it's the Zoe that will be transformed to become a C-segment electric hatchback.

Some of us had been hoping to see the next Leaf before the end of 2017, but Deboeuf mentioned the current model will solider on for a while and will receive a facelift in 2018. That means an all-new Leaf won't come before the second half of 2019 or early 2020, which is a bit of a disappointment taking into account the current car has been around for six years.

As for the Zoe, it currently received a new Z.E. 40 version with a larger 41-kWh battery providing enough juice for 250 miles (400 kilometers) in the overly optimistic New European Driving Cycle. What really matters is the real-world range, estimated at Renault to stand at 186 miles (300 km). That's a massive improvement over the 22-kWh version that can do 106 miles (170 km).

French media is saying the Zoe will actually be the first production car to use the new platform developed by the Renault-Nissan alliance, but it will not arrive before the end of the decade.