Renault Rafale 4x4 PHEV long term review

Renault Rafale PHEV long term report 2: plug-in hybrid charging and range

Key details

Spec: Renault Rafale E-Tech plug-in hybrid 300 atelier Alpine | Price: from £49,965 (£51,665 as tested) | Mileage: 3958 | Test MPG: 113.2 | Report date: 23rd June 2025

Plug-in hybrid cars bring a whole new array of complexity and mental arithmetic over petrol, ‘self-charging’ hybrid and fully electric alternatives – and the Renault Rafale PHEV is no different.

How long will it travel on its battery before the petrol engine kicks in? When, where and how long do I need to charge it? Should I even charge it at all, or is it more cost effective to run the engine than use public charging?

After nearly 2000 miles at the wheel of the Rafale, from regular commuting to UK holidays, we feel educated enough to answer all these queries in two questions:

How long is the EV range in the Renault Rafale PHEV?

There are many variables here, but we’ve seen anything from 40 to 55 miles of real-world range of the Rafale’s 22kWh battery pack so far – competitive for a big, higher-powered PHEV.

The lower figure is a worst-case scenario, running at 70mph on our Bristol to Newbury M4 motorway commute in rainy and blustery conditions. 45 to 50 miles is achieved in clear Spring weather, while we’ve been able to beat that on slower roads and with town use allowing regenerative braking to replenish some lost energy.

That’s a little down on the official 65-mile range figure, but it’s worth noting that we’ve never needed to ‘fully’ charge the Rafale’s battery – it always leaves around 8% charge in reserve even when the range calculator is at zero, meaning anything up to 20kW of charge will brim it back up.

Why is that? Well, the ‘full hybrid’ element of the Rafale’s PHEV’s powertrain is the same as the cheaper, 200hp non plug-in version.

It runs the engine independently of the wheels at specific RPMs to act as a generator, quickly topping up the battery before allowing a few miles of electric-only running. This reserve enables that – and the Rafale always reverses in electric power too.

What does charging a plug-in hybrid cost in the UK?

In our experience and with this particular model, you’re far better off not using most of the public charging network to charge a PHEV.

This is simply down to EV public charging costs. Leading charging app ZapMap estimates the average cost of ‘slow’ AC public chargers at 52p per kWh – more than double a standard fixed-rate home electricity tariff.

Do the sums based on a 50-mile range from the Rafale and you’ll get 28.43 MPGe: in simple terms, charging at that average price and running in electric mode is more expensive than running a BMW M4 Competition on its official fuel economy figure. Yes, really.

Given the Rafale will manage between 45-50mpg unplugged and using the petrol engine, we’ve only charged away from home and work on a couple of occasions: once when lucky enough to get access to a free charger when visiting Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury, and another when a generous East Sussex AirBnB owner let us fill up for nothing on holiday.

Things make more sense when commuting. I currently have to charge the Rafale using its domestic three-pin plug cable via my parents' garage down the road from my flat, while the workplace chargers at the RAC’s office are a much more reasonable 30p per kWh – and the MyRenault smartphone app lets you easily keep tabs on charging.

Combine this with my parents’ regular energy price cap tariff and running the Renault on EV-mode our Rafale manages the equivalent of 53.4mpg, based on current petrol prices via RAC Fuel Watch. That’s good by the standards of 300hp, four-wheel drive large SUVs, but really you want your own driveway and a home wallbox for this plug-in hybrid to make sense.

That’s where companies such as Octopus Energy come in. Their off-peak smart tariff gives you an electricity rate of just 7p per kWh overnight, and charging the Rafale PHEV this way gives you a wallet-pleasing fuel economy equivalent of 210 miles per gallon. Nice.

All of this is ignoring the positive environment impact of driving without a petrol engine engaged. It also ignores that the Rafale is much nicer to drive with charge in the battery – much smoother and quieter, primarily because the engine can sometimes becomes vocal when running at its optimum battery charging revs. 

But our example proves that – for private car buyers at least – getting the best out of a plug-in hybrid can mean firing up a calculator more than you think.

Renault Rafale PHEV long term report 1: living with a French Flagship

Key details

Spec: Renault Rafale E-Tech plug-in hybrid 300 atelier Alpine | Price: from £49,965 (£51,665 as tested) | Mileage: 2,059 (at start of test) | Test MPG: 169.5 | Report date: 20th May 2025

Flagship, large cars from French carmakers have often been rather unusual, left-field options. Many were cars you’d only choose over the mainstream (typically German) competition if you were determined to be different.

Cast your mind back to the quirky Citroen CX, XM and C6 models – cars that didn’t exactly fly out of showrooms back in the day but now have a significant enthusiast following. Peugeot has had a few, too, but Renault’s back catalogue of big posh models is larger.

It all kicked off with the Renault 25, progressing through models like the unloved Safrane, the bizarre, tall ‘executive hatchback’ Vel Satis and the even weirder Avantime. Renault’s last effort was the Latitude, a forgettable saloon not sold in the UK that went out of production nearly a decade ago.

But the big, range-topping Renault is back in the form of this: the Rafale. And this is the range-topper of the range-topper: the bells-and-whistles ‘atelier Alpine’ model with the 300hp E-Tech plug-in hybrid powertrain – including a 22kWh battery and promised range of up to 65 miles. We’ll be running it for the next six months to see if that all delivers in the real world.  

The Rafale adopts the increasingly popular coupe-SUV bodystyle instead of trying to create its own niche, like the old Avantime. It’s the sixth SUV in Renault’s UK lineup alone (seventh if you count the recently departed Arkana) but it’s by some distance the largest in the range.

It’s also the most luxurious, particularly in this atelier Alpine trim. As the name suggests, it’s been worked on by Alpine engineers, with standard-fit ‘4Control’ four-wheel steering, uprated tyres and (unique to this spec) adaptive suspension that uses a camera to read the road ahead and decide whether to soften or firm up the ride.

That’s alongside a massive tally of standard equipment, including heated seats, a heated steering wheel, matrix LED headlights, a 12-speaker Harmon Kardon sound system, Renault’s ‘Solarbay’ opacifying panoramic glass roof, a gesture controlled electric tailgate and sports seats with neat backlit Alpine logos on them. Ventilated seats for the incoming summer aside, I don't want for anything else. 

Our car also gets striking matte ‘Summit Blue’ paintwork, adding an extra £1,700 and pushing the price well over £51,000. That’s a lot for a Renault in theory, but not necessarily too much for a fully-loaded, 300hp, four-wheel drive SUV with premium intent. For reference, a top-rung V6 Renault Vel Satis in 2002 was the equivalent of over £57,000 today.

In more modern terms it’s pretty much exactly what you’ll pay for the slightly smaller Cupra Terramar PHEV First Edition, which is similarly kitted out but comes with a less powerful, front-wheel drive powertrain. It’s also nearly £15k less than the cheapest Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 e – and Renault’s lease deals on the Rafale are extremely keen at the time of writing, too.

Those all-important initial impressions are good. I’ve never been sold on the whole coupe-SUV genre (personally I think it’s home to some of the ugliest new cars money can buy) but the Rafale is at least smartly proportioned. It also benefits from that stand-out paint and the 21-inch ‘Chicane’ alloys – the best wheels offered on the Rafale, in my opinion.

The Rafale also uses its considerable size effectively by being very roomy inside. Renault’s latest interiors are arguably its best yet, too, There’s no shortage of tech to play with, but the dash layout is intuitive, while I’ve enjoyed the combination of comfort, agility and strong fuel economy during my first commutes in the car (more on that in future reports).

So, is this a compelling flagship offering a taste of luxury for a lower price than premium brands? Or a confusing curio that isn’t worth the extra over Renault’s Austral family SUV? We’ll pile on the miles and hope to discover that over the next six months.