Used Renault Zoe Experiment
Discussion
lost in espace said:
Quick question, when you agreed to the battery rental do you say then how many miles you are going to do and give them a ring if you find yourself doing more miles? Or does the car report it back to HQ?
The owner informs them, RCi never actually know until they make an effort to find out. 
6,000 miles in now so another couple of points to note.
1. Driving in winter. Not the EV tyres in the snow and ice, they drive pretty much like any other similar tyre (and cost twice the amount, I've had to replace the fronts). No, the problem is the heater. If you don't get the chance to use the pre-conditioner, on a cold morning the heater just isn't powerful enough and the fan is way too loud - Renault have clearly spent about 50p on it. With no heated seats or any other way of staying warm, you end up being deafened AND shivering. Furthermore, this has a significant impact on battery usage, alongside all the other winter necessities like lights, wipers, etc. In summer the car was up to 4.2MpKwh but at the moment we're down to 2.9MpKwh and the range on a full charge has been as low as 48 miles, Gulp.
2. R-LINK. Given that this is the center of the dashboard and such a major part of the interior of the car, you would have thought Renault would have put a bit more effort into it. On the latest software release, it crashes regularly. It keeps forgetting all the songs on the USB stick and I've long since given up trying to keep track of all the somewhat baffling service expiry notices that keep popping up. Major problems are generally solved by turning it off and on but it is SO flaky.
Other than that, the car remains an excellent choice as a second vehicle in town, especially remembering that it was a £6k second hand purchase (with only 12k miles on the clock and just 2 1/2 years old). Initial acceleration impresses everyone who gets in it and it is still the easiest, quietest car to drive (unless you need the heater on). My local Renault dealer have been excellent in solving any issues with it, almost all under warranty - and the annual service was the cheapest I've ever serviced a car for.
We plan to keep it for the foreseeable future - although a BMW i3 is starting to look tempting. We'll see.
1. Driving in winter. Not the EV tyres in the snow and ice, they drive pretty much like any other similar tyre (and cost twice the amount, I've had to replace the fronts). No, the problem is the heater. If you don't get the chance to use the pre-conditioner, on a cold morning the heater just isn't powerful enough and the fan is way too loud - Renault have clearly spent about 50p on it. With no heated seats or any other way of staying warm, you end up being deafened AND shivering. Furthermore, this has a significant impact on battery usage, alongside all the other winter necessities like lights, wipers, etc. In summer the car was up to 4.2MpKwh but at the moment we're down to 2.9MpKwh and the range on a full charge has been as low as 48 miles, Gulp.
2. R-LINK. Given that this is the center of the dashboard and such a major part of the interior of the car, you would have thought Renault would have put a bit more effort into it. On the latest software release, it crashes regularly. It keeps forgetting all the songs on the USB stick and I've long since given up trying to keep track of all the somewhat baffling service expiry notices that keep popping up. Major problems are generally solved by turning it off and on but it is SO flaky.
Other than that, the car remains an excellent choice as a second vehicle in town, especially remembering that it was a £6k second hand purchase (with only 12k miles on the clock and just 2 1/2 years old). Initial acceleration impresses everyone who gets in it and it is still the easiest, quietest car to drive (unless you need the heater on). My local Renault dealer have been excellent in solving any issues with it, almost all under warranty - and the annual service was the cheapest I've ever serviced a car for.
We plan to keep it for the foreseeable future - although a BMW i3 is starting to look tempting. We'll see.
We're a year into ownership of our Zoe and it's a great little town car.
Yes the range isn't great in the winter, and the heater is crap. We've never tried using the R Link bit of the software, so perhaps we've been lucky.
Ours came with winter tyres on it and was perfectly happy in what little snow we did have.
Yes the range isn't great in the winter, and the heater is crap. We've never tried using the R Link bit of the software, so perhaps we've been lucky.
Ours came with winter tyres on it and was perfectly happy in what little snow we did have.
Sa Calobra said:
I don't 'get' EV vehicles still. They need more development especially with lack of range and palaver over monthly subscription etc.
A Aygo would do it better.
I have done 31k miles in 1 year in my Zoe, the total cost of electricity, servicing and tyres for that has been around £900.00, I don’t think an Argo could have done that and it would have been too small for my needs.A Aygo would do it better.
As for range I have done 185 miles on a single charge which I think is pretty good and charging it has been very little palaver.
I have owned two Renault Fluence's and had two Zoe's - one owned and one as a company pool car.
The first Zoe was the 21KW with a range of around 60 miles in summer, knocking down to 45 in the depth of winter. It is a go-cart commuter only vehicle so it was flat out everywhere (fun) and covered mostly motorway miles of a 40 mile round trip. I had it on a 2 year PCP deal with 10800 miles on car and similar on battery lease.
During the two years I clocked up 20,800 miles. It had two new front tyres and two dealer services a small and a larger one.. they opted to change the brake fluid for the latter.. why I don't know as they car has regenerative braking. With most charging done at work and a bit of weekend charging at home with solar, the servicing and general running costs were £335 for two years. I initially acquired the car to replace my Jaguar XJ360 TDVi diesel that was still munching up £240 pm in diesel plus £25 in VED. Not to mention the Jaguar servicing which was the tipping point the year before with a £3k service.
To buy the Zoe was £195 deposit and £145 per month including battery lease. These deals are not out there anymore since EV's have become popular. The 60KW Sport Zoe is coming out next year and this may be a contender for me, although I'm sure I will commit to either the Model 3 or Polestar 2.
The issue that I have had with ALL my EV Renault's is electrical issues. All cars have displayed "Danger Electrical Failure" and "Battery Charging Impossible". These fault codes can only be cleared by Renault Clip software (main dealer). My current Fluence is still in Renault West London where it has been since December 2018! "Master tech is still evaluating the fault"..
The first Zoe was the 21KW with a range of around 60 miles in summer, knocking down to 45 in the depth of winter. It is a go-cart commuter only vehicle so it was flat out everywhere (fun) and covered mostly motorway miles of a 40 mile round trip. I had it on a 2 year PCP deal with 10800 miles on car and similar on battery lease.
During the two years I clocked up 20,800 miles. It had two new front tyres and two dealer services a small and a larger one.. they opted to change the brake fluid for the latter.. why I don't know as they car has regenerative braking. With most charging done at work and a bit of weekend charging at home with solar, the servicing and general running costs were £335 for two years. I initially acquired the car to replace my Jaguar XJ360 TDVi diesel that was still munching up £240 pm in diesel plus £25 in VED. Not to mention the Jaguar servicing which was the tipping point the year before with a £3k service.
To buy the Zoe was £195 deposit and £145 per month including battery lease. These deals are not out there anymore since EV's have become popular. The 60KW Sport Zoe is coming out next year and this may be a contender for me, although I'm sure I will commit to either the Model 3 or Polestar 2.
The issue that I have had with ALL my EV Renault's is electrical issues. All cars have displayed "Danger Electrical Failure" and "Battery Charging Impossible". These fault codes can only be cleared by Renault Clip software (main dealer). My current Fluence is still in Renault West London where it has been since December 2018! "Master tech is still evaluating the fault"..
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