Review: Renault Zoe electric car

A nice review for once, better than the usual anti-eco ranting from the Register.

And it looks like a practical car if you don't need to travel long distances all the time. I can imagine getting one, it would cope with 95% of what we use a car for and hiring something for when it can't seems to me to be better than using something that's usually far too big all the time.

As for the deniers, with their attitude we would still be using the horse and cart, "What's the point in getting one of these new motor cars? They keep on breaking down, they run on petrol! My horses use the hay I grow for myself - and they produce more horses!"

75 miles? hahahahahahahaha

75 miles is not by any stretch of the matter even remotely practical. That's a toy, not a car. City dwellers need to visit people outside cities too.

I can easily go 100 miles without thinking about it, and that's just fairly local (10-25 miles away) locations. Two trips in a day and the car is unusable.

Wake me up when the range is at least 200 miles. Preferably 300. It might then be viable assuming an overnight charge.

Also, more than 800 quid a year in battery rental? Surely they jest..

Ugly, but nice

Looks like the hideous offspring of some disturbing Fiesta-Fiat 500-Mazda three-way.

But I'd have one.

Range vs Temperature?

75 miles on a charge, but what was the ambient temperature during the test drive?

Driving one today, when it's currently -1 would surely impact on the range the battery can put out...

Back seats... need room for two kids, since the most common use for a 4 door is school run.....

Looks like there is barely room for two toddlers

Getting closer..

Looks perfectly good for a runabout, nice design, upfront cost not terrible..

But £70/month is very steep for what is effectively nothing.

You could far, far further by buying the same amount of diesel, and bear in mind that £70/month of course is just the battery lease, not to mention your power costs on top!

The range of course still isn't good enough, but that's to be expected. I'd need my car to pull AT LEAST a 260 mile round trip (at motorway speeds) to be viable, because I have a specific journey (to and from Stansted airport) that isn't possible by public transport at certain hours (unless I want to spend more on a hotel overnight, or mope around in the terminal through the night), and on the way back, with two people, the cost of trains would no doubt be higher than that of diesel in my current car.

Basically this makes no economic sense, but is just about good enough for someone with disposable cash living in a city with a second car (probably a Range Rover) to use as their everyday runabout.. and to avoid congestion charging.

I don't live in a city, and have no desire to do so.

Nicole?

Papa?!

Charging in public areas

Obviously just a generalisation based on the photograph, but I wouldn't want to leave my car unattended while charging judging by the graff on the walls of that car park. Who's to say nefarious characters aren't going to arse about with the power cable for a laugh?

Despite the hyperbole in the review, I have to say I'm not convinced.

The problems of the e-car are not the ones that are being addressed here.

A range of 75 miles? I'd need to charge it every day and if I go see my parents after work, I'm looking at a mid-day charge too. I'd need to fit a charger to my house or drive it to somewhere and park it for several hours while I pay to charge it up - 3KW might be an option if I have no other choice but I'm guessing the 45KW option is the real one you need and that's an external, waterproof, RCD'd, 180A power supply on the side of your house - my consumer unit won't even go past 100A, like most households, and not every electrician could even fit those for you.

I'd need to pay for the electricity to charge it, whatever way, and that's not free and not going to get any cheaper either. I'd need to £70pm to lease a battery as well? Really? That's a week's petrol.

I'd have to suffer lower engine performance. The car I drive is 15 years old and 85KW (and the spec sheet says it does 0-60 in 12s). Now, that's now the be-end-and-end-all, and I'm no boy-racer, but I'm losing "something" compared to driving my old banger. The tax, etc. might be cheaper but that's an annual cost and basically lost in the error margins of driving expenses.

This is tiny and I can fit an 8-foot shed in my car at the moment. I had a kiln in it the other week and drove 300 miles with it in the back and didn't even notice. The seats in that thing are RIDICULOUSLY close and most of the people I know would be uncomfortable in the back for more than a quick dropping off at the station. I can stick four more people in my car than myself and never have to plan to do so. They just get in and off we can go to Cornwall or Scotland on a single tank.

I do a lot of driving, more than just about everyone else I talk to about it, more than anyone I work with - 450 miles a week if I'm working. I've happily driven several thousand miles through Europe in a few days. I do it all in an OLD car. Ancient, in fact. Tyre places keep telling me they have trouble getting my tyre sizes any more.

I pay £75 a week in petrol to do all that. I fill up once and I'm done for the week. If my car falls apart, it cost me £350 (proof: My last car cost me £350. After 4 years of MOT passes, it fell apart last week - would probably cost about £500 to get it back on the road. I bought a newer replacement of the exact same model with better options for £350. I'm back on the road).

The problem with my car is - if you like - the CO2, use of petrol etc. It has no functional downsides.

The problem with the e-car is that it has a multitude of functional downsides, and can't compete on them.

And when you consider that for the price of the battery lease alone, I can get a petrol car leased to me, hire a a car, or for £15,000 I can buy an equivalent sized car and a few years worth of petrol, it's just not practical - yet again.

There's nothing stopping it being practical either. People would pay for a larger, smarter electric car with a longer range, especially if it means no more trips to the petrol station. There's no reason to have that thing as tiny as it is. There's no reason to skimp on the engine power. There's no reason not to put a larger battery in it.

Gimme an electric car that can do 450 miles. One that can seat 4 people comfortably. I don't care if it barely inches its way up to 70 so long as its legal. One that can recharge in a sensible time from a sensible adaptor without yet-more-costs shoved off to other budgets (quite how much would it cost to fit a new consumer unit + the charger + the leads etc. necessary by a certified electrical installer in, say, an old, ordinary house? What about people who live in flats/apartments/away from their private car park?). Take all that online junk off it and give me a basic car. Can you do it for less than a petrol car, or somewhere even remotely comparable?

Until you do, it's all just toys. I can drive a moped to work if I'm that worried about the CO2 I give off. It's the LEAST of everyone's worries when they buy a car.