Renault, Mitsubishi to share next Nissan LEAF platform

Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi will share the cost of developing the next-generation pure-electric LEAF, according to a Japanese newspaper, in a bid to make the it more profitable.

Donating its platform, Nikkei newspaper says, the next LEAF architecture will be used for the Renault Zoe replacement and a forthcoming, but still unnamed, Mitsubishi following its recent purchase by the Renault-Nissan alliance.

As well as the underpinnings, all three cars are likely to share electric motors, inverters and lithium-ion batteries to drive costs down and finally make the pure-electric hatches as cheap to develop, purchase and profitable as a conventionally powered car.

As recently reported by motoring.com.au, the car industry has struggled for more than a decade to make electric cars profitable and will continue to do so until at least 2019.

It's thought the Nissan LEAF of the future will come with a real-world range of at least 500km and, thanks to new battery technology, will recharge in a fraction of the time it takes to recharge a pure-electric car today.