Pricing details for battery pack upgrades to old Renault ZOE units — to be made available later this year — recently surfaced. Overall, the pricing is pretty steep. Though, not unsurprisingly so.
Upgrading to the new ZE 40 battery packs will apparently cost €9,900 for those who already own their battery packs, and upgrading a leased battery pack will apparently cost €3,500 (coupled with higher monthly fees and a new leasing contract).
So, again, definitely not cheap. Though, it’s very possibly worth it for those who are happy with their cars other than with regard to range.
Push EVs provides more:
Renault has a clear interest of delaying the battery upgrades and prioritize the selling of new ZOEs. As equally — or even more — important as the battery upgrade would be if Renault allowed its customers to simply outright purchase the batteries and end the lease if they wanted to.
Currently the only way to do it isn’t very straightforward. It consists in stop paying the monthly battery rental when the contract ends and fully pay what Renault Crédit International (RCI) considers to be the battery’s value. In both 22 kWh and 41 kWh batteries, RCI considers the value to be €7,000 (without VAT) when new, and they lose 10% of their value per year.
For example if you have been renting the battery for 3 years, you would have to pay €5,103 (€7,000 x 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.9) plus VAT to terminate the battery lease contract and keep the battery. I just wished that Renault would make this process simpler. However I’m sure that some friendlier Renault dealers already help you in this process if you need to.
At this point, it really is something of a mystery why Renault persists with its battery leasing system. It seems to be the preference of very few people (I’ve yet to meet someone who preferred the battery leasing system to outright purchase). So, why does Renault continue with it?
With regard to when exactly battery pack upgrades become available, no official date has been revealed yet.
For a bit more context, see our review of the Renault Zoe, our take on the “10 best” electric cars on the market, a look at the 20 fully electric cars on the market in North America and/or Europe, or all the plug-in electric cars on the market in these regions.
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