Renault readies sub-£7000 e-car for Blighty

Rip-off britain or math-error?

Either crossing the channel has got more expensive recently, or those rental figures are off.

From Renault: "The monthly subscription is €45 inclusive of taxes for an annual distance travelled of 7,500km"

So the 4500 miles is per year, not over three years.

Still not convinced I want a 4-wheeled scooter...

The problem with EVs

I have said all along the problem with electric vehicles is batteries are crap and expensive.

Here we have a demonstration, 32p a mile for a battery crap enough to take an overgrown roller skate 60 miles.

Expensive

So £12000 (including government subsidy) for an electric cart - without batteries. Considering that, without the batteries, the rest of an electric car is cheaper and simpler mechanically then an internal combustion one, and that the rest of the electronics/controls are not that expensive in the bigger picture, this is an heck of an expensive car. You can get plenty of larger petrol (and even some diesel) cars (including from Renault themselves) for less then £12000. What the devils are they thinking?

False Economies and Marketing...

Seems they're trying to make the lack of doors - which you just simply need - to be an advantage. Where ever you take the thing, assuming it's too big to pick up and put in your pocket, you'll want to close, lock and secure it.

Surely for car purchases people aren't daft enough to just see the headline price and can see the real cost of it.

Even if they are doing battery rental and taking that hassle away from the consumer, which is welcome, they should be including a years battery rental in the price.

Umm...

...isn't that just a battery-powered C1 with 4 wheels? Think I'd rather have a C1 to be honest (and repeal the stupid helmet laws for such a machine).

3 years of 4500 miles

4500 miles = ~30 miles per week over three years. That would mean I'd be able to get to work one day per week and have to walk back that day and both ways the rest of the week to avoid added charges.

This sounds like the motoring equivalent of a low budget airline.

Well done Renault

Makes my Clio Campus look not quite so crap.

Still too much

Doesn't make much sense for me. Firstly the battery rental cost, what are the chances that Renault decide to hike that charge at any point?

Then there's the electricity usage and with a 15% - 25% hike on the way it will get more expensive. Then you have to buy the damn thing as well.

At it stands I'm better off running my diesel estate, it has enough room for a fridge freezer in the back. 5 people with the seats up and my monthly fuel spend is only around £80-100.

three-year period and 4500 miles

They're having a Le Laugh at us.

1500Miles a YEAR....after paying 7k for the car and £40 a month...if you only do 1500Miles a year wouldn't it almost be cheaper to rent a car everytime you use it? considering depriciation, yes it would.

2 seats?

Are those pictures of a different vehicule then?

No doors - not as bad as you might think

I like the look of it but think it will not catch on even if the batteries were free - people are too set in their ways as the comments above sadly show - we're all doomed anyway.

However, as someone who owned Mini Moke outside and inside London for 15 years - believe it or not, with no doors (I never used mine - they stayed wrapped up in the loft) you stay surprising dry even in the heaviest of rain - it was only when there were severe side gusts did I get a bit damp but with a decent coat and gloves I was rarely cold even through winter.

Saying that, I still don't want one.

runk?

It reminds me of the version one terminators from T3. Well maybe the T1 robots simple half brother.

Sadly, the model for hiring and whatnot just doesn't add up. 30 odd pence per mile is more than I get from my Ka and I've done over 1500 miles in the past month. Sadly it would work out super expensive and far too restrictive.

Plus, I couldn't keep an emergency jacket in the back as it'd get nicked.

Fail all round then.

Scooter

It's basically a four wheeled scooter and think of all the scooter you could get for seven grand. But it doesn't have the advantages of a scooter, but has many of the disadvantages such as getting wet and little crash safety.

The people selling vehicles homologated as quadricycles don't exactly advertise the fact that quadracycles don't have to pass crash safety tests. For a manufacturer or retailler this is a big advantage because the vehicles are cheaper to build because they don't have to build in all the impact protection, they are also cheaper because they homologation process is cheaper. The trouble is that buyers often don't know that these vehicles may be incredibly dangerous in even a low speed accident because they don't have to pass crash tests.

Also the rear accomodation looks incredibly cramped from the photographs, I'd be more inclined to call it a 1+1 than a true two seater.

If you don't want to burn fossil fuels I understand Suzuki have a fuel cell version of the Burgman Scooter on the way. 220 mile range and a fair bit faster than this weird looking thing.

Electric bike a better prospect

This is a commuter vehicle, by the sounds of it, for short journeys inside cities. For this purpose, an electric push-bike (which I own) or an electric scooter is a far better choice! With the push bike, there is no insurance, a backup power system if you run out of charge and it is about 5 times cheaper to get a decent bike + battery. I'd love an electric car, but this won't be the one.

The Sinclair X1 is better looking

So if I bought the X1 for £600 can I get that £5000 grant too?

Neither seem to be cars as such yet its only Renault that is taking our government for a ride.

Nice Golf Cart

Pretty cool but where are you supposed to put the golf clubs?