Renault Zoe ZE

[VolkerP]

Wow. The Zoe is a tiny starter snack of what legacy car makers can do if they throw their resources at the electric vehicle. Renault (Ghosn) decided that back in 2008 and now the cars arrive. Renault will make minced meat out of their competition in that segment.

 

[dpeilow]

Yep - Renault's 110 years of car making really shows with the design and build of this car. The controls look to be well thought out, it feels solid but is still obviously designed to a price. The design team certainly exceded their goals.

They've never been afraid to try new ideas and even whole new market segments (espace, scenic, twingo, etc), so it is great they got behind EVs.

My first car was a Renault 5, which was a lot of fun, and Zoe really brings back all those memories.

 

[clea]

Do we know if/when they will sell the zoe in north america? this looks to be perfect for my wife who will be looking for an EV when her lease is up at the end of 2013.

 

[AnOutsider]

Hmm, forgive my ignorance, but we don't have Renault in the states, would it fly under the Nissan flag here?

 

[stopcrazypp]

Hmm, forgive my ignorance, but we don't have Renault in the states, would it fly under the Nissan flag here?

Even if a rebadged version gets here, I doubt it will be under the same terms, since Nissan has indicated they don't plan to try out battery leasing here in the US:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/artic...ses-for-leaf-says-nissan.-reserve-a-car-soon/

 

[dpeilow]

We can but put forward that suggestion. Many of us here know senior personel in Renault

 

[clea]

Hmm, forgive my ignorance, but we don't have Renault in the states, would it fly under the Nissan flag here?

hmmm you are probably right, i have seen some here in Quebec but maybe those are just imports brought in by the french expats.
so then the i guess the question becomes one of how much of the zoe would be retained if it was rebadged by nissan in north america?

 

[EVNow]

I don't think Zoe will come here rebadged as a Nissan. It would be nice if it did ...

 

[mgemmell]

Yep - Renault's 110 years of car making really shows with the design and build of this car. The controls look to be well thought out, it feels solid but is still obviously designed to a price. The design team certainly exceded their goals.

Agreed, and thanks David for switching us on to the Zoe. We got the full tour on Saturday (and a look under the hood). If the price is under or near 20k this is going to be the EV to launch the switch-over. It looks great, is really well integrated with the smartphone and the GPS, would seem to be nippy and with enough range, and competitive on price (if the fuel saving on the car's lifetime is taken into account).

We're getting one too big man.

 

[AnOutsider]

I think this is the most enthusiasm I've seen for a non-Tesla EV on these boards. Clearly they've done their job.

 

[VolkerP]

Do we know if/when they will sell the zoe in north america? this looks to be perfect for my wife who will be looking for an EV when her lease is up at the end of 2013.

You'd need domestic 3 phase to make full use of the 43kW Chamaeleon charger :biggrin:

 

[GSP]

The charger is capable of 43kW, but with a 22kWh battery, that would be charging at a 2C rate. If it was my car, I wouldn't use more than 1C when fast charging, and I would rarely need even that at home. Roadster owners seem to be charging with 10 kW or less at home, even if they paid to install a 19kW HPC. Based on that experience, I wouldn't pay for installing more than 10kW (40A, 240v, single phase where I live) in my home.

I wonder what the max single phase power is for the Zoe.

GSP

 

[mgemmell]

I think this is the most enthusiasm I've seen for a non-Tesla EV on these boards. Clearly they've done their job.

I expected them to do something good... With Carlos Ghosn at the helm and only the Leaf and Fluence to show so far, they just *had* to be doing something better.

Voltaire was French so that says it all

 

[widodh]

The charger is capable of 43kW, but with a 22kWh battery, that would be charging at a 2C rate. If it was my car, I wouldn't use more than 1C when fast charging, and I would rarely need even that at home. Roadster owners seem to be charging with 10 kW or less at home, even if they paid to install a 19kW HPC. Based on that experience, I wouldn't pay for installing more than 10kW (40A, 240v, single phase where I live) in my home.

I wonder what the max single phase power is for the Zoe.

GSP

I wouldn't be surprised if the ZOE would do 16A single-phase at max.

The battery however is leased from Renault, so if you brake it, they give you a new one

 

[AnOutsider]

I expected them to do something good... With Carlos Ghosn at the helm and only the Leaf and Fluence to show so far, they just *had* to be doing something better.

Voltaire was French so that says it all

I confess that other than hearing a lot of "Renault-Nissan" chatter, I'd never heard of them so was quite (pleasantly) surprised. Not the car for me, but definitely a win for the EV community.

 

[doug]

Even if a rebadged version gets here, I doubt it will be under the same terms, since Nissan has indicated they don't plan to try out battery leasing here in the US:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/artic...ses-for-leaf-says-nissan.-reserve-a-car-soon/

I believe part of the reason they haven't done the battery lease here is because it's not favored by the tax incentives.

 

[GSP]

.....Voltaire was French so that says it all

Voltaire was French, and he was famous, but he was not a scientist. You are probability thinking of the inventor of the battery. He was an Italian physicist:

Alessandro Volta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have made this same mistake myself, so you are not alone.....

GSP

 

[dpeilow]

Not a scientist, but he did like revolutions...

 

[stopcrazypp]

Voltaire was French, and he was famous, but he was not a scientist. You are probability thinking of the inventor of the battery. He was an Italian physicist:

Alessandro Volta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have made this same mistake myself, so you are not alone.....

GSP

This is off topic, but that reminded me of this concept car:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_concept_vehicles,_2000%E2%80%932009#Alessandro_Volta

 

[JRP3]

Great price, great job deferring battery cost with the lease

I don't get this, since most people will finance or lease the car what is the benefit with a separte battery lease? From the numbers I've seen the Zoe will end up costing about the same as the larger LEAF after about 5 years, and will cost more than the LEAF after that.

This seems like it'll really compete for the market with the 40kwh Model S unless the buyer wants the size of a Model S.

And the performance, looks, luxury....they really aren't in the same market segment at all.