REVIEW: Way to go Renault Zoe, but...
The 12 months between January and December 2014 saw 222 electric vehicles sold here - a substantial jump on the 51 sold in 2013, but still well below the 13,929 petrol cars and the 47,559 diesel cars sold in the same period.
The electric revolution, it would appear, is still in its infancy, despite considerable exchequer incentives aimed at boosting sales and a growing number of programmes - particularly in Cork where the Drive4Zero initiative is aimed at making the city Europe’s ‘Green Capital’.
The electric car programme initiated by the Renault/Nissan alliance is one of the strongest out there right now, particularly at the supermini end of the market. BMW may have made a bigger impact on the public consciousness with such as the i3 and the i8, but the Japanese/French combo are definitely further down the road than most competition in terms of potential popular appeal with such cars as the Nissan Leaf and the Renault Zoe, which we tried recently.
The biggest single issue with such cars remains their potential range and, as an electric only vehicle - i.e. no other form of propulsion - its ability to travel considerable distances is distinctly limited.
The Zoe is a very funky looking car and while not all of the colour schemes will appeal broadly (the duck egg blue of the test car was particularly hideous), the look is modern and appealing.
So too with the two-tone interior, which is quite similar to that of Zoe sibling, the Clio. the large centre console is attractive and easy to navigate. The 7” touchscreen housing the R-Link multi-media system is very intuitive and provides access to everything from the sat nav to the infotainment and climate controls.
The thin TFT colour display in front of the driver replaces conventional instrumentation and does an excellent job of providing all the information you need with regard to speed, mileage, battery life and range. It’s clever and visually appealing.
Seating is as comfortable and supportive as should be the case in a French car and interior roominess is impressive for a supermini.
On the road the electric engine outputs the equivalent of 87 bhp a reasonably peppy performance. Driving is simple - engage ‘D,’ press the accelerator and steer. There is little to quibble about in terms of about-town performance, although if you get on to a dual carriageway or motorway Zoe’s abilities are questionable.
That aside, the single biggest question about the Zoe’s worth is the range issue. Realistically it will do somewhere around 125 km on a full charge (Renault claim a potential of 210 km) and that makes it a town car only.
The other question is about the lease deal (€49 per month) on the battery front. You never own these and how that will suit the needs of a majority of drivers is very debatable. I bet there will be more ‘nays’ than ‘yeas’ on that one.
There is no doubt that the Zoe is as good a pure electric car as there is around right now, but quite how many people it will appeal to remains in question, particularly with the plethora of small capacity petrol and diesel units on offer right now.
Renault Zoe
from €17,490.
there isn’t one - not a conventional one anyway.
very good.
Not for high-milers.
