All of Europe except Ireland and the UK are LHD. The car I'm driving in the video is a prototype so it's left hand drive but normally we have right hand drive here.
Saw one of these, and it's a shame that the boot because really tiny because of the battery pack. I'm guessing the Zoe will make more sense as it's built to be an electric car from the start...
@urbex2007 The Vauxhall uses electricity to drive the wheels exclusively. The petrol engine generates the electricty to charge the drive motors thus giving upto 175 miles per gallon.
@hbpeinado Sorry about that, completely my fault. I had spent so much time getting all the info together and then had to do all the bit to camera in one take I completely forgot about getting interior shots. Looks just the same as a normal Fluence if that helps
@dubbugs you may have a point there Dub, Renault have put one on the fleet for me to test over a week. I live 104kms from the pick up point (mostly motorway) so we'll see if it works on video. I wonder will I run out of fuel on the way home!
Hi guys, just so you EV fans know. Next week we are testing and filming the Fluence next week for a proper test, so if you have questions for the test post here and I'll answer them in the movie. Cheers guys!
@urbex2007 Good questions. Fast charging point = 80% in 30mins. 7-8 hours at home will get 100%. If you're a high millage person EG over 10,000 miles per year then Diesel is still the best option. If you're mostly on motorways then it's Diesel again...But If you make most of your journeys in city traffic or stop start type driving the EV's will be good for you.
I would never buy another Renault EV again. They now claim that the reduction of more then 50% of the battery capacity in two years is not covered by the "battery warranty". 160 to less then 70km just doesn't sound like a reasonable battery degradation to me!
@KStealed In Ireland the Renault ZE Fluence is going to the same price to buy as the Diesel version so you don't have to be rich to make these decisions
@oliver69cork Almost all of the car makers do an electric car now, it's only Renault that are really pushing for it as they have 4 cars. So there'll be lots more testing this year
@Smokerspack A question I've pondered about for electric cars, especially now that it's starting to be very cold in the mornings and during the days. Since these electric cars have no engine powered by fiery explosions, how do they produce heat to warm up the inside of the car to make it less of a fridge? It should draw power from the batteries ... but how does that affect the number of miles you can run before yer battery is dead? I'm guessing heating air on batterypower is quite ... consuming
Not really. The compressors that pump air into the vehicle run on electricity. It just converts energy from electricity to compressed air. There will be losses in that conversion, and the air vehicle will need electricity anyway to run its electronics.
@kwalliander GM never really pushed the car plus, they were on their own. The US at the time were very rich and wanted to show their wealth with big V8's and such. So there was no market for the EV1 and no market means no development. Now they are all developing these cars we might see an increase in range over the coming couple of years
@filthyearthworm it knocks about 3-5 miles off, but there are various remote cabin heating systems and heated seats in some models...the first true gneration so expect better improvements
@dubbugs 2/2 The thing is; contrary to fossile/nuclear energy, renewables are very easy to get. In other words very hard to control. Already prices for PVs are so cheap that most families can afford it, and they are getting better and cheaper each year. Did you know that over half of Germany's renewable energy are owned by citizens & farmers, NOT utility companies. Thats a HUGE shift in regards to empowering the people.
@dubbugs 1/2 There is a diffrence, oil/coal/gass ect is an extremely expensive way of getting electricity compared to renewable. And economics 101 says that if supply drops, as with all non-renewables eventually does, prices rise. With wind turbine ect you konw the resource is there forever. So even if the cenario you describe plays out, the end cost for us consumers will get much much lower. But I don't think that scenario is what will happen at all. Continue....
@Smokerspack The range is advertised as 180km(ish). I live and commute in and around Dublin, there's no reason why i would want to drive more than 180km. We have two cars, with one for long distance and the fluence for the city commute a new battery would be of no use....now consider you own the car for 5 years...you would pay the guts of 5 grand for what? an extra 20km that they probably could've given us at launch?? and don't get me started on the coincidental price (diesel price +govt grant)
You need a lot more energy to compress air than to charge a battery. Air is not very efficient. So it's probably not more environmently friendly than EVs. MDI tries (or make believe it tries), for more than 10 years in France, to develop an air-car.
@sugelanren There is another way of looking at the monthly charge. You buy a Fluence now with a range of 130kms and two years for now the Fluence comes out with a 200kms range. Where does that leave yours with trade in values and the like? With the monthly charge the battery will just be swapped for the better one at no extra charge.
It Is 2024 and there are no problem regarding the recycle of batteries of ev , 98% are used for other use (like solar storage battery where high density energy is not needed ) and the other are remade in raw materiale and reuse for making new batteries or other products ❤
Kanst due dieses Renault Elektro Autos in Deutschland kaufen? In Australien, Renault hat gesagt dass verleicht Kangoo ZE kommt zu Australien, verleicht nicht. Kein Entscheidung :-(
I'm afraid that is not completely accurate. Notting in life comes for free. Specially in a Capitalist Economic Society. If a new battery comes into market they will ask you, if you would like to maintain the previous contract of 79 euros or upgrade it "for just as symbolic amount" of 10 euros and have that extra juice. Pretty soon you'll be paying 89 €. The interesting part of this sick economic model is that the cost of fabricating a battery will decrease, but your monthly charge never will.
Europeans must be quite fed up with Americans in denial of AGW. What's the word on the street in Ireland regarding this problem, since Americans are the worst emitters of carbon per capita?
Taillights looks like the Subaru Impreza Hatchback, nearly identical infact. But what's with all the elecritc cars again? They have nowhere near the range or power of electric cars of the 90's/early 00's. I say - Don't buy into the hype, wait till they are drastically imrpoved in terms of performance and economy.
Unforunately half the world's power is derived from coal. So getting away from disgusting polluting oil will pull more power from disgusting polluting coal. The bright side to that thuogh is at least pollution controls are easier to implement on a stationary power plant rather than millions of mobile vehicles.
...but....our wise overlords, busy saving the planet will - of course - remain in their Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Cadillacs and other luxurious cars. Of course.
€79 a month kills any money i'd save on pertol...they should be wearing a mask and riding a horse, the robbing bar stewards. Why should we pay in case their battery is crap. i wont buy till they give up the monthly lease.
for all the car makers..u ask yourself why ppl dount buy your electric cars???becouse u put elecrtic motors only on ugly and small cars..why u dount put electric motors on all the modles u have,the same how u chose a gazoline or a diesel motor,u need to have the possibility to chose an electric motor on the car model u want to buy,and up the autonomy on that cars.at least 400km ,u can do that..so do it ..and then ppl will buy the electric cars,..ps.sorry for my bad english ...
All of Europe except Ireland and the UK are LHD. The car I'm driving in the video is a prototype so it's left hand drive but normally we have right hand drive here.
You'd have to check with a dealer over there as the prices vary in every country
This is a very true comment...now we just need cars that run on air!
Saw one of these, and it's a shame that the boot because really tiny because of the battery pack. I'm guessing the Zoe will make more sense as it's built to be an electric car from the start...
@urbex2007 The Vauxhall uses electricity to drive the wheels exclusively. The petrol engine generates the electricty to charge the drive motors thus giving upto 175 miles per gallon.
@hbpeinado Sorry about that, completely my fault. I had spent so much time getting all the info together and then had to do all the bit to camera in one take I completely forgot about getting interior shots. Looks just the same as a normal Fluence if that helps
@dubbugs you may have a point there Dub, Renault have put one on the fleet for me to test over a week. I live 104kms from the pick up point (mostly motorway) so we'll see if it works on video. I wonder will I run out of fuel on the way home!
Hi guys, just so you EV fans know. Next week we are testing and filming the Fluence next week for a proper test, so if you have questions for the test post here and I'll answer them in the movie.
Cheers guys!
@urbex2007 Good questions. Fast charging point = 80% in 30mins. 7-8 hours at home will get 100%.
If you're a high millage person EG over 10,000 miles per year then Diesel is still the best option. If you're mostly on motorways then it's Diesel again...But
If you make most of your journeys in city traffic or stop start type driving the EV's will be good for you.
Bob, nice video, but I was expecting to have some internal views... You said there is no gearbox, I would like to see it.. :-)
Cheers
@eagle003 sounds even better when you're in the car
Have driven the fluence, feels like a full sedan car.
is it the free upgrade of the batteries included in the T&Cs of the leasing of the batteries ? or is it just your thought ?
I would never buy another Renault EV again. They now claim that the reduction of more then 50% of the battery capacity in two years is not covered by the "battery warranty". 160 to less then 70km just doesn't sound like a reasonable battery degradation to me!
@KStealed In Ireland the Renault ZE Fluence is going to the same price to buy as the Diesel version so you don't have to be rich to make these decisions
@oliver69cork Almost all of the car makers do an electric car now, it's only Renault that are really pushing for it as they have 4 cars. So there'll be lots more testing this year
@Smokerspack A question I've pondered about for electric cars, especially now that it's starting to be very cold in the mornings and during the days. Since these electric cars have no engine powered by fiery explosions, how do they produce heat to warm up the inside of the car to make it less of a fridge? It should draw power from the batteries ... but how does that affect the number of miles you can run before yer battery is dead? I'm guessing heating air on batterypower is quite ... consuming
Not really. The compressors that pump air into the vehicle run on electricity. It just converts energy from electricity to compressed air. There will be losses in that conversion, and the air vehicle will need electricity anyway to run its electronics.
Good looking car too. Compared to many of the EVs out there, this one is nice to look at.
So how is the chemicals in the batteries delt with after its use?
@kwalliander GM never really pushed the car plus, they were on their own. The US at the time were very rich and wanted to show their wealth with big V8's and such. So there was no market for the EV1 and no market means no development.
Now they are all developing these cars we might see an increase in range over the coming couple of years
@filthyearthworm it knocks about 3-5 miles off, but there are various remote cabin heating systems and heated seats in some models...the first true gneration so expect better improvements
@dubbugs 2/2
The thing is; contrary to fossile/nuclear energy, renewables are very easy to get. In other words very hard to control. Already prices for PVs are so cheap that most families can afford it, and they are getting better and cheaper each year.
Did you know that over half of Germany's renewable energy are owned by citizens & farmers, NOT utility companies. Thats a HUGE shift in regards to empowering the people.
@YS3Caero The same way they recycle nearly 95% of lead acid today, 5-10K batteries still with 60-80% charge left aren't going to be wasted
Ahh I see Renault aren't in the US I must ask if there's any plans to return there
nice. I like electric vehicles. i think i'll buy this renault model. It's very nice
@dubbugs 1/2
There is a diffrence, oil/coal/gass ect is an extremely expensive way of getting electricity compared to renewable. And economics 101 says that if supply drops, as with all non-renewables eventually does, prices rise. With wind turbine ect you konw the resource is there forever. So even if the cenario you describe plays out, the end cost for us consumers will get much much lower. But I don't think that scenario is what will happen at all. Continue....
@Smokerspack The range is advertised as 180km(ish). I live and commute in and around Dublin, there's no reason why i would want to drive more than 180km. We have two cars, with one for long distance and the fluence for the city commute a new battery would be of no use....now consider you own the car for 5 years...you would pay the guts of 5 grand for what? an extra 20km that they probably could've given us at launch?? and don't get me started on the coincidental price (diesel price +govt grant)
Do the Irish have left hand drive cars?
Leasing the battery pack takes much of the worry out of owning an EV.
You need a lot more energy to compress air than to charge a battery.
Air is not very efficient. So it's probably not more environmently friendly than EVs.
MDI tries (or make believe it tries), for more than 10 years in France, to develop an air-car.
Very exciting and hopefully other manufacturers will start lauching and end our dependance on polluting disgusting oil
@sugelanren There is another way of looking at the monthly charge. You buy a Fluence now with a range of 130kms and two years for now the Fluence comes out with a 200kms range. Where does that leave yours with trade in values and the like?
With the monthly charge the battery will just be swapped for the better one at no extra charge.
More than the top speed, the range or the durability, I want to listen the manufacturers explaining how will they recycle so many batteries in 2025.
It Is 2024 and there are no problem regarding the recycle of batteries of ev , 98% are used for other use (like solar storage battery where high density energy is not needed ) and the other are remade in raw materiale and reuse for making new batteries or other products ❤
Kanst due dieses Renault Elektro Autos in Deutschland kaufen? In Australien, Renault hat gesagt dass verleicht Kangoo ZE kommt zu Australien, verleicht nicht. Kein Entscheidung :-(
Used Batteries are raw materials not waste!
@dubbugs But if you want to make your own power and become your own energy supplier you can...no one has a petrol pump in their house
Actually, electric engine generate more torque then fuel engine, and generate it immediately.
The tech was sold to an oil company I heard.
Honeslty...cars that run on air are more enviromently friendly then Ev's
Renault is set to be the biggest recycler of batteries in the world, so most of the stuff in the batteries will go on to other batteries.
Renault? In America?
Renault forwarded the LAUNCH of ZE series in Italy ! Shame on you Renault !
They will be converted. The cars I mean.
haha, Moscow maybe!
The French seem to be on top of it
Yes. Convertibles. =D
I'm afraid that is not completely accurate.
Notting in life comes for free. Specially in a Capitalist Economic Society.
If a new battery comes into market they will ask you, if you would like to maintain the previous contract of 79 euros or upgrade it "for just as symbolic amount" of 10 euros and have that extra juice.
Pretty soon you'll be paying 89 €. The interesting part of this sick economic model is that the cost of fabricating a battery will decrease, but your monthly charge never will.
Europeans must be quite fed up with Americans in denial of AGW. What's the word on the street in Ireland regarding this problem, since Americans are the worst emitters of carbon per capita?
Taillights looks like the Subaru Impreza Hatchback, nearly identical infact. But what's with all the elecritc cars again? They have nowhere near the range or power of electric cars of the 90's/early 00's. I say - Don't buy into the hype, wait till they are drastically imrpoved in terms of performance and economy.
me want one
I like my 1985 Renault alliance dl convertible. Too bad it is not electric.
Several guns and burgers worth.
Unforunately half the world's power is derived from coal. So getting away from disgusting polluting oil will pull more power from disgusting polluting coal. The bright side to that thuogh is at least pollution controls are easier to implement on a stationary power plant rather than millions of mobile vehicles.
...but....our wise overlords, busy saving the planet will - of course - remain in their Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Cadillacs and other luxurious cars. Of course.
Wouldn't the perfect car for Ireland run on an overly abundant fuel like hangover vomit.
EV cars aren't slower, I've driven and overtaken on Motorways.
@Smokerspack
€79 a month kills any money i'd save on pertol...they should be wearing a mask and riding a horse, the robbing bar stewards. Why should we pay in case their battery is crap. i wont buy till they give up the monthly lease.
@Mrchifftre
Dense.
lol
could also work for russia !!!
recycling chemicals...never heard of it, good for them if its true. Air cars are still superior
for all the car makers..u ask yourself why ppl dount buy your electric cars???becouse u put elecrtic motors only on ugly and small cars..why u dount put electric motors on all the modles u have,the same how u chose a gazoline or a diesel motor,u need to have the possibility to chose an electric motor on the car model u want to buy,and up the autonomy on that cars.at least 400km ,u can do that..so do it
..and then ppl will buy the electric cars,..ps.sorry for my bad english ...
Nothing new about batteries in a car. We've been disposing of car batteries for a century.
auto dont smoke but man well. time to quit