Mégane E-Tech breakdown: Renault comes out of its silence and offers advice

Renault has officially commented on the technical problem of the Mégane E-Tech without a heat pump. Procedures, advice and instructions: here is what the French brand sent to its customers.

At the beginning of August, more and more testimonies about a technical anomaly in the Renault Mégane E-Tech accumulated. The cause: the air conditioning compressor, which failed after a quick charge on an Ionity terminal or a Tesla Supercharger. Only non-heat pump models appeared to be affected.

In search of explanations, Frandroid contacted the French group. Vain. However, Renault came out of its silence by formulating an official response to its customers. Some of them published it on the Facebook group “RENAULT Megane E-Tech 100% electric”, a community area where several testimonials were shared.

“Low probability of decommissioning”

Renault France Customer Service initially recognizes the existence of a technical error but wants to reassure consumers. The chance of a breakdown would be minimal. “We have found a low probability that the air conditioning of your New Mégane E-Tech 100% electric (without heat pump) will be inoperative when using the battery fast charge“.

The tricolor company also ensures that a “The solution will be applied remotely in September without having to go to your Renault authorized workshop“. In other words, the manufacturer probably plans to provide a simple software update to correct the situation.

Renault gives some advice to avoid mishaps. “In the meantime, we recommend leaving the cabin air conditioning on during fast charging. To prevent it from turning off automatically», a specific procedure must be followed:

Connect the vehicle to the terminal;
Start loading from the terminal;
boarding the vehicle;
Make sure the front and rear doors are closed while charging;
Press for two seconds on the central multimedia screen;
Activate the air conditioning via the A/C button;
Check if the air conditioner light is green. Otherwise, press the A/C button.

The manufacturer insists on two points: do not lock the vehicle doors before charging, and leave the air conditioning active even during charging. At the end of the page there are some small hints that cannot be hidden.

Number of affected Mégane E-Tech: the mystery remains

In particular, Renault explains that opening and closing the doors before loading “causes the air conditioning and the central multimedia screen (necessary to activate the air conditioning, editor’s note) to stop after 60 seconds“.

Remember that models equipped with a heat pump are not affected by this phenomenon. This equipment is optionally available for 600 euros via the vehicle configurator. Also, Renault has not officially announced the number of affected units out of the 4,736 Mégane E-Tech sold since the beginning of the year.