Category Archives: ZOE

Renault Zoe leads 49% sales jump in EV sales in Europe during first quarter 2017

June 20, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE Z.E. 40Jo

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, alternative fuel vehicles (AFV’s) in the Europe Union are off to a very strong start in the first quarter of this year, increasing their numbers sold by 37.6% to 212,945 vehicles.

Hybrid vehicles (HEV) showed the biggest growth with 61.2% versus the same period last year, now counting 111,006 units. Electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV = BEV and plug-in hybrids) grew with 29.9% from 36,322 units sold in Q1, 2016 to 47,196 units in Q1, 2017. This includes 49% growth for “battery-only” (BEV’s) to 24,592 units sold and 13% growth for the plug-in hybrids (21,644 units). The U.S. market showed a similar growth of 49% for electric car sales to 40,700 units sold in the first quarter according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The American car market is about 16% larger.

All the major markets in the EU added many new AFV registrations over the first three months. Spain showed the largest increase (+87.4%) over the first quarter of 2017 followed by Germany (+67.5%), the UK (+29.9%), France (+24.8%) and Italy (17.2$). The growth in Italy is due in large part to the recovery in LPG-fuelled (natural gas) cars, but for the other markets, the growth is mostly the result of strong sales in electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV’s or BEV’s) and hybrid-electric (plug-in hybrids).

New passenger car registrations by alternative fuel type in the European Union during the first quarter of 2017.

Looking at electric- or battery-only car sales in Europe reported by the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, we see that the improved Renault Zoe is the number one seller by far, followed by the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Tesla Model S and X and the others.

After Record Surge In Q1, Renault ZOE Sales Slow In April Due To Brake Issue

June 19, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE Z.E. 40Jo

The introduction of a new longer-range Renault ZOE 40 Z.E. with 41 kWh battery and 300 km (186 miles) of real world range has translated into “higher highs” being set for sale…until this month.

April disappointed with just around 1,690 ZOE deliveries (a drop of 14.5% year-over-year).

In general, overall Renault electric car – mostly relied on ZOE – also decreased to 1,931 (down 18%).

Thankfully, sources indicate that April’s hiccup was not demand-related, but rather build-related.

And while we don’t ever wish for production flaws, or recalls, deliveries during the month where muted thanks to a defective part installed on cars produced before April 19th.

The repair (to do with locking the vehicle in parking mode using the handbrake) apparently isn’t the most simple fix, reportedly taking from 6-8 hours to rectify, and the company says it will likely take until the end of June to work all the issues out of the system.

New vehicles now coming of Renault’s Flins assembly line are not effected, but it may take another month to see sales rebound and return to previous trajectories.

With that said, and after four months, Renault has still sold nearly 12,000 electric cars (excluding Twizy), which is 29% more than year ago.

Source: Inside EVs

Watch Renault Zoe E-Sport Concept, Formula E Racer Cruise Paris

The Renault eDams team currently leads the Formula E standings and its racers Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Prost currently sit in first and third in the Driver’s Championship, respectively.

Since the next race of the season is in Paris on May 20, the crew is celebrating the strong performance in its home country by holding a parade of electric vehicles through the City of Light. The Renault eDams R.S. 16 race car and Zoe e-Sport Concept lead the procession in this video.

Renault Zoe Named A Game Changer At Awards

June 10, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE Z.E. 40Jo

The Renault ZOE has received the ‘Game Changer’ award by Autocar judges at the world’s oldest motoring magazine’s annual awards ceremony at Silverstone.

The Renault ZOE, fitted with the new 250-mile range (NEDC) Z.E.40 battery, has been recognised at the Autocar Awards 2017 as a true innovator in the ever-growing electric vehicle market. The Renault ZOE’s new Z.E.

40 battery delivers almost double the range of the previous battery, providing motorists with an electric vehicle option that is better suited to many lifestyles with the average daily commuting distance being well within the ZOE’s capabilities.

Renault, as Europe’s best-selling electric vehicle manufacturer, believes in giving the customer confidence in their use of electric vehicles by estimating ZOE’s real-world range as 186 miles.

Commenting on the decision to award the ZOE Autocar’s ‘Game Changer’ award, Mark Tisshaw, Editor, Autocar said:

“The new Renault ZOE is an important step in bringing affordable electric motoring to the masses. An already good car has been improved further, now coming with a real-world range that extends close to 200 miles to make it a more viable everyday proposition for more people. We commend Renault for that, and

An already good car has been improved further, now coming with a real-world range that extends close to 200 miles to make it a more viable everyday proposition for more people. We commend Renault for that, and recognise the ZOE as a trailblazer for electric cars.”

Vincent Tourette, Managing Director, Renault UK, said of the result:

“The Renault ZOE has always excelled at providing motorists with a stylish, comfortable and practical electric car at an affordable price tag. The 2017 ZOE with the Z.E.40 battery, as well as interior and exterior upgrades, builds on this success and now delivers the longest range of any mainstream electric vehicle.”

Cheapest Electric Car UK

June 9, 2017Blog, Electric Cars, Leaf, Leaf 30kWh, Nissan, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Trevor Larkum

Cheapest Electric Car in the UK

A lot of people are searching for ‘cheapest electric car UK’ at the moment. We can help with that, though it can be difficult to say what’s the cheapest electric car in the UK because it depends on what you mean by ‘cheapest’. Let’s dig a bit deeper.

The most popular electric cars, are as follows:

Cheapest Electric Car UK (Image: Fuel Included) — Cheapest Electric Car in the UK (Image: Fuel Included)

Cheapest Electric Car UK: Monthly Cost

Of these the cheapest on a monthly basis are consistently the Nissan Leaf and the Renault ZOE. Typical starting prices are as follows (June 2017):

Nissan Leaf: £999 deposit plus £227 per month for 3 years. That’s a monthly equivalent cost of £255 (if we consider the deposit). That includes 10,000 miles of free charging.
Renault ZOE: £999 deposit plus £281 per month for 3 years. That’s a monthly equivalent cost of £309. Again it includes 10,000 miles of free charging.

Those are great prices considering they include fuel (charging) plus with an electric car road tax is free, congestion charging is free, parking is often free, and servicing is cheap.

Clearly, though, this provides an answer to the original question. The Cheapest Electric Car UK (on monthly cost) is the Nissan Leaf.

Cheapest Electric Car UK: Cost Per Mile of Range

However, that’s not the end of the story. Electric cars are better than conventional cars in virtually every respect (performance, noise, smoothness, pollution, etc.). They do, however, typically have shorter ranges. Therefore it is usual to pay a premium for longer range electric cars (the Tesla being a well-known example, though it’s out of the reach of most people).

Let’s consider the question of range then. We’ll use the official NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) ranges, though we’d be the first to say these should be taken with a pinch of salt. In the real world you’ll only get about 75% of the NEDC range. However, they do give us a consistent metric for comparison purposes.

The NEDC ranges are as follows:

Nissan Leaf (30kWh battery): 155 miles
Renault ZOE (44kWh battery): 250 miles

If we take these into account we can work out the monthly cost per mile of range:

Nissan Leaf (30kWh battery): 155 miles for £255 = £1.65 per month per mile of range
Renault ZOE (44kWh battery): 250 miles for £309 = £1.24 per month mile of range

And so we have a new answer to the original question. The Cheapest Electric Car UK (cost per mile of range) is the Renault ZOE. And it’s that unprecedented range in a small, affordable and stylish electric car that explains why it’s so popular. See our Renault ZOE prices here.

To see how much an electric car could save you, use our total cost of ownership calculator.

To find out which electric car would suit you best, just ask.

Why The Renault ZOE Is Europe’s Killer EV Right Now — And Could Stay That Way Too

Forget about the Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, or Tesla Model 3. Renault’s unassuming ZOE electric hatchback is currently undergoing a massive rise in sales across Europe, making it the most popular plug-in car across the continent for the first quarter of this year.

Despite being nearly as old as the Nissan LEAF in terms of its design, the Renault ZOE recently gained a massive battery pack upgrade, going from 24 kilowatt-hours of capacity to a whopping 40 kilowatt-hours.

And that, as we explain in the video above, has changed things forever for the four-seat plug-in.

Source: Transport Evolved

Renault ZOE Car Sharing in Padua

June 2, 2017Blog, Electric Cars, Renault, ZOETrevor Larkum

During my recent trip to the Veneto region of Italy (Venice/Padua/Verona) I stayed in a hotel near Venice, in Mestre on the mainland. Most of Venice, of course, has no cars – just a lot of polluting boats.

Renault ZOE Car Sharing poster in Padua (Image: T. Larkum)

The mainland, however, is packed with cars like any European region. It was very disappointing, therefore, not to see a single electric car in the time we were there.

There was a single bright spot, during a day trip to Padua (Padova). I have previously reported on the Car Sharing Padova organisation there and its use of Renault ZOE electric cars.

I’m pleased to say that it’s still up and running. I saw an encouraging poster in Padua for Car Sharing Padova at an upcoming trade fair.

It did seem, however, like a small oasis in an electric car desert.

People are really starting to embrace electric cars

May 28, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOEJo

Sales of green vehicles in the US and Europe are spiking.

As with any new transportation technology, it’s not as simple as building your first vehicle and expecting the whole world to change. And yet, it appears as if the world is finally cottoning on to this whole electric cars are better and cheaper to run thing.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association has revealed that EV sales in the first quarter of 2017 are spiking. Overall, sales of so-called “Alternative Fuel Vehicles” have increased by an overall 37.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016.

Those figures seem to mirror Bloomberg’s research into the state of the US electric market, which has seen demand trend northward. In the same period, American sales of electric vehicles jumped 49 percent, with sales totaling 40,700.

As heartwarming as the stats are, it’s worth noting that the law of small numbers makes them sound a little more impressive than they actually are. For instance, Germany’s 117 percent rise in EV sales reflects a jump from 2,332 cars in Q1 2016 to 5,060 now.

Around a quarter of European greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, as well as it being the primary cause of air pollution in cities. So there’s something of an imperative to get on with getting everyone to make the switch, which should be helped by cheaper, newer EVs, like the Renault Zoe.

Source: Engadget

In Q1 2017 Renault ZOE Sales Were Up 57%, Looking For 40K By Year’s End

May 24, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Jo

Renault opens 2017 with an electric car sales surge, as the new ZOE is selling like proverbial hotcakes.

The first quarter of 2017 ended with some 9,220 ZOE sales, which is 57% more than year ago (around 5,900).

Most of the sales comes via France – 56% (5,191) where ZOE holds an astounding 70% of all electric passenger car registrations, and notes growth of 60% year-over-year.

“Against the backdrop of a particularly vibrant and rapidly growing (up 22.9%) electric passenger vehicle market, the ZOE with its increased range of 400km NEDC has seen its sales figures climb close to 60%, and it alone accounts for 70% of the market with 5,191 units registered.”

Sales also hit new high in March – around 3,800 (41% of the total first quarter), which gives us hopes that ZOE may be able to reach up to 40,000 sales for the year (in 2016 it was around 22,000)!

Source: Inside EVs

Cheap Car Lease

May 23, 2017Blog, BMW, Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, FAQ, Hyundai, i3, i3 94Ah, IONIQ Electric, Leaf, Leaf 30kWh, Leasing a new car, Nissan, Renault, Sales, ZOE Z.E. 40Trevor Larkum

Cheap Car Lease

Many people are in the market for a cheap car lease, and that’s something we can help with. We source our cars from around the UK and have negotiated some great deals, so talk to us.

We provide all of our cars on a monthly contract so it’s much like a mobile phone tariff. These contracts take two different forms and it’s worth outlining them:

Personal Contract Hire (PCH) or Business Contract Hire (BCH). These are straight leases, also known as contract hire. Essentially they are a form of long term rental, and are becoming increasingly popular.
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP): this is like a lease. However it has the benefit that at the end of the lease you can choose to keep the car. This is done by making a large one-off or ‘balloon’ payment. A PCP is now the most popular way for people to buy their new car.

Cheap Car Lease – Electric Car

We specialise in selling electric cars. With an electric car you get a new car at a low monthly cost, and it’s also especially cheap to run. The technology of electric cars is developing very fast with new models coming out all the time with longer range and greater performance. Our advice, therefore, is always to expect that you will give the car back at the end of the contract. Then you can upgrade to a new and better model.

Most popular electric cars on cheap car leases (Image: Fuel Included)

Essentially you don’t want to be in a situation like someone paying off an iPhone 4 contract when everyone else is upgrading to an iPhone 8. That’s why for our purposes you can consider leases and PCP to be equivalent. They are just finance contracts where you get a new car with an initial upfront payment plus a regular monthly payment. The key thing is what the car is costing you per month.

The beauty of electric cars, of course, is that you can save a lot of money each month on fuel and road tax. This can virtually pay for the car, i.e. you can get a new car for free. It’s because of the low ‘fuel’ costs (i.e. charging with electricity) that many of our cars are offered with free charging. Specifically we provide the first 10,000 miles of charging at home for free. This, along with email and telephone support, is the Fuel Included service.

Cheap Car Lease – Saving Money

If you’d like us to work out how much money you can save with a cheap car lease on an electric car, try out the Fuel Included ‘total cost of ownership’ service.

If you just want to see how much an electric car would cost check out our most popular deals below. We provide both fully electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV):