Comments on: Renault Zoe EV Could Have 220-Mile Range & Low Price

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:58:00 +0000

Thanks to our forward looking President, we now have several battery plants operating in the United States.

Nissan is manufacturing the batteries for it’s Leaf EV in Smyrna, Tennessee.

We’re even gearing up to extract lithium from geothermal waste water at the Salton Sea. That’s California.

Americans working for our transportation future. An end to purchasing foreign oil.

By: Joe M. Wesson

Joe M. Wesson — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:47:00 +0000

leasing a battery is just like buying gasoline.
$125/month is almost what i pay for gas.
the only thing better is the sticker price.
not sure i’d go for that.
should i trade dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign batteries?
hmmm.

By: Amici

Amici — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:12:00 +0000

I think that when batteries become cheaper, with more capacity, all that will happen to Renault is that it will start leasing better batteries, able to do more miles and will rent them at $80 and not $125 monthly.
How is that bad to them or us? And – folks will already have a car, so the future already started for them, they just go and pick up better batteries.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:08:00 +0000

I agree. I think Bob is right that battery prices will fall. But in the meantime, this is a clever decision that could land the company a lot of sales. And this is the kind of thinking that we need more of.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:26:00 +0000

I doubt that. We’re seeing lots of messages that battery prices are soon to fall and capacities rise.

Leasing an expensive battery (or building cars for battery swapping as Renault is also doing) may give them short term market advantages, but those advantages go away with higher capacity, lower cost batteries.

By: Brandon Coakley

Brandon Coakley — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:03:00 +0000

“The secret is that, unlike Nissan and its Leaf, Renault leases the battery to customers, rather than sell the whole package, at a cost of €100, or about $125, per month,”

Businesses that make logical financial decisions, that also meet ethical goals.. Will speed by their competitors in the next half century.