Comments on: Renault Zoe Deliveries Begin, Sales Strategy Changes

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:35:00 +0000

The average US driver would find themselves range limited only 11 days a year. That tells us that there are a lot of people who might need to rent a long distance car or use public transportation less than five days a year.

By: energyman

energyman — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:04:00 +0000

At 14000 Euro plus 100 Euro a month for the battery pack this is starting to hit the right spot financially as a second car. It is a real car too (not some glorified trike with bodywork made out of recycled egg crates) and passes real car safety standards and with a real world 60mile+ range would make a good commuter/school run/shopping car. But you will still need a real car to go away and see granny at the week end and so on. Plus it costs Renault lots more than 20,000 Euro to make one! Residuals should be rock solid though if they get the build quality right and it should last more or less forever – there is almost nothing to wear out – I might even buy one…Problem is apparently it doesn’t fit the standard charging connection so you have to buy a home charger and you cant top it up in the car park while you are at work.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:25:00 +0000

We need to get the price of EVs down to where everyone is motivated to buy one in order to save money. When we get there oil will be done.

Right now a lot of people are in your situation, range is adequate. Especially if the household has a couple of vehicles and/or public transportation for long trips is good.

The best way to get prices down is for more people to stretch a little an buy an EV. Get sales and manufacture numbers up.

By: Rui

Rui — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:51:00 +0000

I’m writing from Europe and from my point of view the EV sucess is dependent of oil prices. Every week oil prices go up. The times when you could drive around and enjoy nice roads and so forth are over with ICE. Even with the modern diesel engines that allow 5L/100km it’s expensive to drive. I drive about 100km per day and an EV with this range would be ok for me. I could charge it during the night (220V) like I do with my cell phone. However, the EV offer is very limited and some auto makers want to sell the car (which are still more expensive that similar ICE ones) and charge a monthly fee for the batteries use. This sales model sucks. All the considerations about emissions are in my view secondary from the consumer point of view. Why would I care about emissions if at the same time US and China are burning oil and coal at an incredible rate? So, my motivation would be to save money eliminating the need of buying gas or diesel.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:17:00 +0000

I know — that struck me as very odd. Hence my response:

“Yes, of course, as I just noted in my previous article, automobile traffic is a serious and costly problem. Nonetheless, as long as there is strong customer demand for medium to large cars (and weak government transportation policies), we will have cars on the roads and in our cities. And at least EVs do address the pollution problem.”

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0000

Yeah, odd comment. I almost left it out, but decided to include it and just respond to it: “Yes, of course, as I just noted in my previous article, automobile
traffic is a serious and costly problem. Nonetheless, as long as there is strong customer demand for medium to large cars (and weak government transportation policies), we will have cars on the roads and in our cities. And at least EVs do address the pollution problem.”

By: Just_Chris

Just_Chris — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:05:00 +0000

To demonstrate the fast charging Renault drove a Zoe just over 1000 miles in 24hrs around a race track. Tesla are doing something similar in CA where they have installed fast chargers between San Francisco and LA which is about 400 miles.

ZOE
http://www.nextgreencar.com/news-item.php?Renault-ZOE-breaks-EV-distance-record

Tesla
http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/11/28/road-tripping-on-teslas-electric-highway/

All very irritating with the Volt, model S and the Zoe it is becoming harder and harder for me to crack jokes about how stupid the French and Americans. Still there is always the media and politicians.

By: Just_Chris

Just_Chris — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:56:00 +0000

“But the truth is it only addresses the local pollution issue” WTF? the WHO estimate globally 1.3 million people a year die from urban pollution. If France takes it’s fair share that’s 12,200 people a year not to mention the thousands of people a year who just get sick and don’t die. That comment ranks along side with my all time hated comment relating urban pollution and the WHO’s figures that I heard on the news a few years back, I wish I’d written down who said it and when but it went along the lines of “..of course these figures look bad but in reality urban pollution only really effects people who are already in vulnerable groups like the very young or the very old..”. Well that’s ok then, as long as it is only affecting babies and the elderly who cares. When did parking and sitting traffic become more important than peoples health? And another thing the Zoe is not going to displace 500kg petrol vehicles it’s going to displace regular cars so you go from a regular car that needs perhaps 60 kWh/100km (that’s 6 litres of petrol)/100km which isn’t bad for city driving) to the Zoe which needs less than 10 kWh/100km for urban driving. This of course is before you even get into the other benefits of electric cars like grid balancing, using domestically produced energy vs imported energy, better handling, reduced infrastructure (think about it, petrol station vs plug socket), etc..

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:29:00 +0000

“A
lot of people think the EV is the perfect car for the city. But the
truth is it only addresses the local pollution issue; it neither
addresses the congestion problems nor the parking issue most cities face
today”

What a funny thing to say. The ZOE is a car, targeted at the consumers that feel that such a device suits their needs. If you want to solve congestion, you have to switch to biking/public transport. But Renault is not in these businesses. It is a car company.

And the worst is that he is not even right. This so-called expert is handing out half truths, handily ignoring the Twizy, which DOES address congestion, road safety and
parking issues, and the Car2go services, mostly based on ELECTRIC cars.

Does the EV have to take the world on its shoulders and solve all environmental problems and at the same time bring world peace and prevent my sandwiches from landing peanut-butter-down?

The EV is just a step in the right direction. People bashing the EV for not being a panacea usually have an agenda.

By: Ronald Brak

Ronald Brak — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:24:00 +0000

Presumably with fast chargers. Of course, for the most part, European drivers simply don’t go on many long-haul international drives. They take the train instead.

By: Anton

Anton — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:21:00 +0000

I’m curious to find out how one recharges the vehicle on long-haul international drives?