Month 3 running a Renault Zoe: the cure for range anxiety

It’s funny how your perceptions of things change through necessity. In a car burning dead dinosaurs I get a bit nervy when the fuel gauge reports that there’s less than 50 miles in the tank.

Now that I’m motoring like the Jetsons, if the Zoe’s range is anywhere above 20 I’m cruising along with barely a care in the world. Range anxiety? Not a chance. It shows that when you only have about 80 or so miles to play with, you soon recalibrate your idea of what is acceptable, not least because mileage in an electric car seems a much more precise figure. If there’s six miles left, you’ve got six miles and it seems to click down at a regular rate, whereas in a dinosaur car you might have six, or three suddenly, or 56.

Some of this certainty is down to Renault’s excellent range predictor, which learns the more you drive. So when I started it didn’t reckon much above 70 miles was possible, but the more time I spend in Eco mode, which limits the power of the air-con (which I switch off a lot anyway), slows the throttle response and doesn’t let you go above 60mph, the more optimistic it has become. My range is now up to 87 miles with a full charge.

Read more: Car Magazine