Following the announcement of the changes to the Government Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) and Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, Renault is to continue its customer offer of supplying a free fully-installed fast-charging wallbox to new ZOE customers.
Available to retail customers, the 7kW charging wallbox is supplied and installed by Renault’s partner, Chargemaster, at the customer’s domestic address as part of the price of the Renault ZOE. This offer is unique in the UK electric vehicle market place and tops-up the Government grant towards a domestic charger, saving the customer nearly £500.
As of 1st March 2016, the Office Low Emission Vehicles has revised the PiCG support for the three pre-existing categories 2 and now gives the greatest financial incentive to vehicles that emit 0g/km CO2 and have a zero emission range of 70 miles or over. ZOE is in category 1 as it exceeds these criteria and therefore attracts the maximum £4,500 support level. Vehicles in categories 2 and 3 now receive £2,500 – under the previous PiCG rules all categories received the same £5,000 amount.
The Chargemaster 7kW Homecharge unit allows ZOE owners to charge their vehicle from flat to full in 3-4 hours at their home. Using the My ZE [email protected] timer app customers are able to schedule the time that ZOE is charged and benefit from significantly lower off-peak electricity prices.
Renault ZOE is fitted with a patented Chameleon charger that, unlike other EVs, always allows ZOE to make the best use of whatever charging supply is available in order to speed up charging times. ZOE Dynamique Nav Rapid Charge can charge at up to 43kW, meaning that 0 to 80 per cent full can be achieved in as little as 30 minutes, depending on version. ZOE customers benefit from six months’ free membership to the POLAR Plus network, the UK’s largest public network offering access to over 4,000 charging points that span from 3kW-22kW. The ZOE is also able to make full use of nearly 600 rapid AC chargers installed at key nationwide locations, such as motorway service stations.
The ZOE is an all-electric, five-door supermini available in three trim levels that comes with a high level of standard specification, including items such as climate control and sat-nav. ZOE also has a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating and was recently awarded the title of What Car? ‘Best Electric Car for less than £20,000’ for the third consecutive year, and ‘Best Electric Vehicle’ in the Auto Express Driver Power 2015 survey.
The model’s official NEDC range is up to 149 miles – Renault estimates that in real-world driving conditions that this equates to around 106 miles in summer and 71 miles in winter.
ZOE is available to purchase in two ways. Firstly, under a battery hire scheme, where ZOE pricing starts at £13,945 after the Government Plug-in Car Grant with battery leasing from £45 per month. Benefits include a lifetime performance guarantee for the battery and 24/7 roadside assistance – even if you run out of charge.
You can also buy your ZOE outright. ZOE i ‘full purchase’ models start from £18,945 after the Government Plug-in Car Grant, giving the buyer full ownership of the car and battery and no monthly battery lease payment.
In the UK, 2015 ZOE sales more than doubled (up by 102 per cent) to 2,053 vehicles, significantly outpacing the UK electric vehicle market, which was up 48 per cent on 2014. ZOE is the second best-selling electric car in the UK representing one in five EVs sold.
