Category Archives: Renault

News and reviews of Renault electric cars (including plug-in hybrids).

The ten best-selling used electric cars in the UK

March 1, 2023Electric Cars, Leaf, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan, Renault, ZOERepost

The number of electric cars on the roads of the UK are rising rapidly – and in turn sales of used EVs are also soaring.

A record 71,071 used battery electric cars were sold in the UK last year, a rise of 37.5 per cent on 2021. But which models were most popular with used car buyers? Well, since you asked… here are the ten best-selling used electric cars in the UK in 2022.

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Transaction figures have been provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), while all estimated pricing details are taken from our sister brand What Car?’s Used Car classifieds (which are powered by Auto Trader).

If you’re thinking of trying to bag a bargain, make sure you read our Used Electric Car Buying Guide.

1 Nissan Leaf (17,270 transactions)

It’s no surprise that the Nissan Leaf dominates sales of used EVs: the hatch has now been on sale for more than a decade, and spans two generations.

That also means that there are lots of options spanning a wide range of prices available. Early first generation models featured a 24kWh or 30kWh battery, with a 30kWh version arriving in 2016. They could be charged at speeds of up to 44kW.

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Renault Zoe will not be replaced for another generation

November 7, 2022Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOERepost

The Renault Zoe, first released in 2012, will not be replaced, Renault boss Fabrice Cambolive has confirmed, ending its life as one of the best-selling electric cars in its home country.

Instead, the Renault Clio and Renault Captur will continue so they can supplement Renault’s new electric compact car line-up, headed by the Renault 4 and 5 – both arriving by 2025.

Cambolive described this to Autocar as a dual approach where its hybrid and electric models co-exist for the foreseeable future.

He said: “It depends on the market. If a market is fully electric, okay, but most markets will have pure electric for the compact segment, and until 2035, if needed, we will have Clio and Captur too. They will have hybrid technology because that’s our solution, the technological choice we made to replace the normal of the combustion engine.”

The decision to cull the Zoe brings to an end a lifespan of more than a decade, during which it was the top-selling EV in Europe for two years running (2015-16) and achieved more than 100,000 sales in France alone.

A final date for the end of its production has yet to be confirmed.

Talking about the broader range, which will gain the new Renault Mégane and Renault Scenic imminently, Cambolive believes the perfect line-up in the European market is four electric and four hybrid models. Within those models, there should be a maximum of one engine and two or three equipment levels, he said.

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Renault ZOE hatchback review

August 22, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Uncategorized, ZOERepost

“The Renault ZOE is a stylish electric supermini that’s affordable and has a decent range, making it very convincing”

Renault prides itself on being at the forefront of electric car development and the ZOE is the first electric car to offer a real zero-emissions alternative to regular family superminis. This is thanks to its relatively low purchase price and packaging that broadly matches the Renault Clio for practicality.

The introduction of the latest ZOE in 2019 brought a welcome increase in power, along with styling changes, a simplified range structure and updated infotainment system, improving what was already a quite appealing electric-car proposition. Its low-mounted battery pack has the dual advantages of increasing interior space and lowering the ZOE’s centre of gravity; the car is rewarding to drive around town as a result.

ZOE line-up was revised with the battery leasing option being discontinued. Now every ZOE comes with the battery pack included, putting it on a level playing field with new rivals like the Peugeot e-208, Vauxhall Corsa-e, Honda e and MINI Electric.

Its 52kWh battery offers a claimed range of up to 239 miles of range on a charge and can be charged from 0-80% in around an hour and ten minutes using a 50kW charger – although this is only feasible on version with the R135 Rapid Charge powertrain that have the CCS fast-charging capability. The quoted range is more likely in good conditions, and this new model shouldn’t drop as much range in winter as the old version.

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Renault e-trucks to pick up dirty linen in a move to decarbonise

August 19, 2022Electric Vans, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Renault, UncategorizedRepost

French company Elis has acquired eleven electric trucks from Renault Trucks. The textile service will use the new EVs for night-time delivery and collection of linen from Elis customers in the hotel and catering sector in Paris and Clermont-Ferrand.

Elis reasons that low-emission zones in Paris and Clermont-Ferrand have made this a necessary step in line with its CSR commitments. The eleven electric trucks of type E-Tech DE will travel more than 100 km daily and serve around 700 customers weekly. Elis has installed AC charging infrastructure at its laundry centres.

The company committed to decarbonising by 2025. Accordingly, the new Renault EVs follow purchases Ellis made for another three sites in France, where they acquired ten new light electric vehicles. The company would not disclose details but added that another eight Renault Zoe cars were also in operation.

As for the new Renault electric trucks, the manufacturer offers lithium-ion batteries from 200 to 400 kWh to enable ranges of up to 400 kilometres. The 16-ton vehicles have a 185 kW electric motor (maximum output), and Renault specifies the continuous line at 130 kW. The maximum torque is 425 Nm. The payload is up to 11 tons.

Renault is also accelerating the decarbonisation of its operations and aims to make electric vehicles the new standard. The company targets realising half of its sales volume electrically by 2030.

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The best used electric cars to buy right now

August 17, 2022Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Uncategorized, ZOERepost

Suddenly feeling the urge to go green? It needn’t be as boring as you think…

Up to £15,000 – Renault Zoe

Hard to think that Renault’s electric runabout has been around for well over 15 years, if you count the original Zoe City Car concept. It’s undergone a fair number of changes over the years and yet it still manages to keep up with the ever changing – and ever expanding – EV market.

The Zoe proved that you didn’t need to spend Tesla money, or buy a Reeva G-Wiz, to live the affordable EV life. It launched with a 22kWh lithium-ion battery pack that, admittedly, offered a relatively underwhelming 130 miles of range under the, er, optimistic NEDC standards. This was later updated in 2016 to a 41kWh pack with a far more respectable range of 250 miles. These are now available for under £15,000 and are arguably the sweet spot if you’re hunting for a cheap-yet-dependable EV.

For £14,200, you can grab this 41kWh Zoe Dynamic Nav, which comes loaded with kit such as a 7.0-inch touchscreen, sat nav and climate control (just be careful how you use it). Bear in mind it’s a battery lease vehicle, meaning you’ll have to pay a monthly fee (starting from £49pm) to use the thing, but in the grand scheme of things it’ll work out cheaper for most over those where the battery was bought outright. It’s a similar story with the Nissan Leaf, which can be had for comparable money to the Zoe, but you’ll be looking at one of the older models with a smaller range. For cheap EV ownership, nothing beats a Zoe.

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Renault CEO Pushes On With Electric Split As Russia Bill Looms – Report

April 25, 2022Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, RenaultRepost

Renault chief Luca de Meo wants to press ahead with plans to create separate divisions for electric (EV) and combustion engine vehicles despite potentially costly uncertainty over its interests in Russia

Renault chief Luca de Meo wants to press ahead with plans to create separate divisions for electric (EV) and combustion engine vehicles despite potentially costly uncertainty over its interests in Russia, three sources told Reuters.

Playing catch-up with rivals like Tesla and Volkswagen, the French automaker first outlined its strategy shift in February, days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying its turnaround plan was ahead of schedule.

An internal assessment on progress will be made in three months, two of the sources said. The Renault group’s top selling EVs are the Dacia Spring and the Renault Zoe – long a market leader but becoming an ageing model.

“Despite the Russian x-factor, Luca de Meo wants to move quickly on the creation of the two entities,” one of the sources told Reuters.

Several working groups are actively working on the creation of two separate legal structures, codenamed “Ampere” for the electric and “Horse” for the thermal and hybrid assets, two of the three sources said.

Renault declined to comment.

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RENAULT MÉGANE E-TECH ELECTRIC 2022 REVIEW: FUNCTION, FORM AND EFFICIENCY

March 29, 2022Buying/Leasing, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, RenaultRepost

Renault has produced a diamond

With six billion kilometres (3.7bn miles) covered by its more than 400,000 electric cars sold to date, it’s fair to say that Renault has some experience with electric vehicles. However, for most of the last 10 years the French brand has only had one main model — the Zoe — to showcase its EV expertise.

All that changes later this year with the arrival of the Mégane E-Tech Electric (quite a mouthful, isn’t it?). As familiar as the Mégane name is, this is an all-new and electric-only model that targets a segment led by the Nissan Leaf, Kia e-Niro and Volkswagen ID.3.

Renault electric SUV (Image: Auto Express/Playback)

Renault will offer buyers a choice of two battery sizes and two power outputs, with the most efficient capable of up to 292 miles between charges. The crossover-influenced design, upmarket interior and one of the most capable onboard charging systems on the market are all sure to make it a desirable choice and give its competitors a headache.

Exterior design and rivals

Just like a concept car you might see at a motor show (remember those?), the Mégane E-Tech Electric has striking proportions that make it look larger than it actually is. Measuring 4.2 metres long, it’s actually slightly shorter than a Ford Focus, but with up to 20in wheels pushed out to the Mégane’s extremities, it has the presence of a bigger car.

Nonetheless, as Renault has managed to produce a battery that is only 110mm thick, the Mégane isn’t that tall; its roofline is lower than the Zoe’s.

A high bonnet and beltline provide crossover styling cues, as do the black wheel arch surrounds and sills. The front door handles retract to sit flush with the bodywork while the rear handles are integrated into the door frame.

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Renault’s Mégane E-Tech: a seductive bet on the EV future

March 15, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, UncategorizedRepost

Renault’s new 100%-electric Mégane E-Tech is the French company’s non-hedged bet it can convince drivers they’ve nothing to lose in swapping their traditional ICE rides for modern a EV – and gain considerable performance, cost, and flair advantages in the bargain. A day test driving the car on the roads of southern Spain suggests the company stands a good chance of winning that wager and setting some standards for European EV development as it does.

Renault is in no way a newcomer to electric vehicles, having sold over 400,000 EVs since the 2012 rollout of its Zoe e-compact. Yet the Mégane E-Tech represents a veritable milestone in several ways. For starters, it’s the first battery-powered vehicle built using the firm’s common module family (CMF) platform, meaning it will inevitably influence later models. And while Renault is adamant the car is positioned to enter Europe’s C-segment at the top of the family hatchback class, its design, spaciousness, and operating chops may well convince some cross-over and the occasional SUV shoppers to reconsider their plans.

Indeed, as Renault staffers acknowledged when asked, the Mégane E-Tech is playing to several kinds of drivers and expectations at once. Conceived to provide the sound, solid, and powerful performance of a German-engineered car – rival Volkswagen ID.4, for example – Renault’s showcase EV is also an unabashed demonstration of French seductive flair. Its innovative design, stylish flourishes, myriad creature comforts, and various features play as much to the eye and heart as its emissions-free, sustainable, efficiently manufactured hardware and tech appeal to pragmatic buyer demands.

And it does so under the name of Renault’s most popular and recognizable Mégane model – but with everything in, on, or about it completely new and different.

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Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi outline £19bn EV plan

February 21, 2022News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan, RenaultRepost

Alliance will sell 35 pure-electric cars on five new platforms by 2030

The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance has confirmed a €23 billion (£19bn) investment in electrification over the next five years as it seeks to strengthen the partnership between the three brands.

The money will be spent on expanding the common electric platforms available to brands within the Alliance from four to five after the introduction of a small EV platform for use from 2024 for European models such as the forthcoming Renault R5 and newly announced replacement for the Nissan Micra. Both cars will be engineered by Renault and built in its ElectriCity network of plants in northern France.

The new CMF-BEV platform was described as a “game-changer” by Renault CEO Luca de Meo, who said it reduces costs by 33% compared with the platform currently used by the Renault Zoe. “It will be the key to democratise electric cars,” he said. “For the very first time, EVs will be able to compete with internal combustion engines in this segment.”

Renault said more than 60% of components will be carried over from the CMF-B platform, which underpins cars such as the Renault Clio and Nissan Juke.

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The platform will underpin five cars from Nissan, Renault, Alpine and Dacia and volumes will reach 250,000 cars a year, de Meo said. The relatively low volumes suggest it will be a Europe-only platform.

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Warsaw. City Cleaning Authority rented 4 electric Renault Zoes

February 18, 2022Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOERepost

Four zero-emission Renault ZOE E-Tech vehicles were leased for a period of 36 months. The first electrics in the ZOM fleet are to cover 100,000 km per year, which means that each vehicle should cover no less than 25,000 km per year.

Thanks to the signed contract for the lease of Renault ZOE E-Tech, the Warsaw-based ZOM will meet the requirements of the Electromobility Act, which requires public entities to have 10% of zero-emission vehicles in their fleets.

The tender for car rental was won by Arval Service Lease Polska from the BNP Paribas Group. It is one of the first companies to join the leasing path of the government program “My Electrician” of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.

Thanks to this subsidy, the Municipal Cleaning Authority will save almost PLN 110,000 gross, i.

e. the equivalent of one of the electricians rented. Monthly, this translates into a lower rental installment by over PLN 600 per month for each of the rented cars.

The new electricians will be driven by ZOM inspectors who monitor the streets of the capital city for cleanliness 24 hours a day and verify how cleaning companies fulfill their tasks.

In addition, in the winter, employees at Renault ZOE will control road conditions in order to decide whether to send snow spreaders to the capital’s streets.

The zero-emission car is equipped with a 52 kWh battery. According to the manufacturer’s declaration, Renault ZOE E-Tech is to allow driving up to 395 km according to the WLTP cycle (Worldwide Harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure), which covers 57 percent of distance driving around the city, in 25 percent. suburban driving and 18 percent. moving around the highway.

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