Recent content by Jin Kazama

The ZoE (the current one, not this concept) uses the AC compressor to cool the battery. It is air cooled but air conditioned. It handles 43kW charging pretty well for such a small battery (22kWh). It does look like Renault takes care of its batteries (most Renault ZoE batteries are rented, for...

I'm not sure it's a problem with road debris this time. They talk (in French) about a possible single cell failure (the loud noise) propagating to the other cells... It might be some kind of rare catastrophic cell failure, given the number of cells in such a car and the number of teslas on the...

Most new cars come with telematics (at least, it is a requirement in the E.U.). A "professional" who wants to steal a car would have a $15 LoRa/GSM/3G/4G jammer which would get him plenty of time to disappear and disconnect the battery. There is no demand for Teslas at the moment but wait for...

La personne qui cherche à acheter d'occasion est la personne qui typiquement ne prendre pas ces options; elle cherche d'occasion pour limiter les couts. Elle fera donc la comparaison avec le modèle de base. Il suffit de regarder l'occaz des modèles BM pour voir que les options (hors de prix :))...

Le marché de l'occasion est trop peu fourni (tout du moins en France) et les vehicules sont bien trop chers. La pluspart des véhicules en vente sont des modèles bourrés d'options (qui font grimper le prix) et qui sont souvent vendus à un tarif superieur au même modèle sans les options. De plus...

Someone wanted your RAV4EV because there were no new EVs produced for about 10 years and they were very rare, the minute the leaf came out, used EV price dropped. The model S is going to depreciate in a similar way equivalent ICE car are depreciating, or even more if the battery life is known to...

A hint to get parts on your own: As Model S are now sold abroad, they are markets where they are required by law to provide any parts to anyone for a minimum specified amount of time (at least 10 years). I can tell you that in France at least, if they refuse to sell/quote you anything, they'll...

I don't think leasing batteries is the answer. If you look at what Renault/Nissan did, you'll find out that : - Renault EV sold to business with leased batteries are selling well (Renault Kangoo Z.E.) - Renault EV sold to individuals with leased batteries are not selling so well (Renault ZoE...

I ordered mine over there on the 3rd, they told me they were happy they sold around 60 (in 3 days). I guess we'll have better sale figures when it'll be available to buy anywhere (at the moment, it's only on the show). In France, 1st deliveries are on the 25th of february, mine will be on the...

If you bring your car temporarly in France, you don't have to pay taxes or anything else - but temporarly means less than 6 month... If you want to import it definitly, you'll have to pay 19.6% VAT and 10% import fee (vehicule not made in the EU) - that's a 30% increase in price! If I were...

With Renault EVs, the battery is on lease (no choice - you can't buy the battery). If there is ever a problem with the payment, and the problem is not solved, they remotely brick your car until you pay... I'm waiting for aftermarket batteries to replace the leased one - the battery is 22kWh...

I just placed a pre-order on a Renault Zoe and it's equipped, as many electric cars, with a cellular connection (2.75G though, not 3G) and constantly linked to Renault. While some people might think it's great, I don't. I don't wanna be tracked, I don't want anyone to know my habits "because...

About fast charge networks, I think the reason they were not widely deployed (not at all in some parts of Europe) is the price. If a fast charge point costs around EUR 10 000 (as it's the case with Chademo), don't expect to see them every few kms... Fast DC charging is technically interesting...

Sure :) - The same way you turn off cell phone that keep using the battery when off (ask the FBI :D)

The thing is, you can leave the cell phone home/off (I mean, battery removed) if you want to... I feel that telematics will soon be kind of mandatory (there's already an EU law: All cars sold from 2015 must have emergency cellular service - for your safety of course...) - and you can be pretty...