I'm a big, big fan of our Robert Llewellyn. I've watched him in hundreds of videos and learned most that I know of EVs from the man. But for all the knowledge and insight gained, even after a Zoe test drive, I never felt compelled to commit to an EV purchase until I watched a handful of your videos. You tipped me over the edge! I've reached out to Renault Gloucester and if I can get a good deal you'll be receiving your £50. Thanks! Subscribed.
Having been in a LHD Zoe I've realised why the RHD glove box is a pathetic joke, they never moved the fuse box, the LHD Zoe has a nice normal (A4?) box.
Further, Ian to my last. When we moved house years ago now, I put the tumble dryer in the shed so we could use while the house was still in uproar, I told my wife she MUST uncoil the extension lead before using it for the dryer..............she did not uncoil it all, when I got home from work she told me the dryer was broken! I checked, NO! the wound -up extension was melted, I gave it to the fire station to use for demo's. Good of you to bring that up.
Hi Ian first started watching your programmes when I was in the throws of some serious mental health issues and had locked myself in my room for 2 years. I'm better now and back in work and I just want you to know your weirdo electric car journeys helped me a lot. Thanks dude
Great video again I'm starting to look at the Zoe now also nothing really to do with our video but what makes me smile is my sons electric ride on which is 12v takes 11 hours to fully charge so too charge a car from flat to full in less than 4 hours is amazing
Brilliant video! I loved my Zoe! I had the old one but was amazing! The 3 pin lead is fantastic. Used the 3pin lead loads at our caravan etc. It only draws 1.7kWh (I've measured it) I visited our cousins in Gloucester, which we wouldn't have been able to without the 3 pin lead. It opens up so many more possibilities. I think the Zoe is definitely the best value EV so far. Also think the the battery rental scheme is excellent. Renault were brilliant with me with the rental scheme. Think it works out cheaper than buying battery outright and also is like an infinite warranty which is excellent.
Ian Sampson You're welcome! I love EVs! Don't know if you'd be interested but I've now got a Model X if you ever fancy doing a video on it or going for a test ride.
No problem, thanks for watching! Hook yourself up with Ben at Renault Gloucester to get a really good deal, they are wanting to get people on the road with EV's
craig dobson if my commute was more than a 20 mile round trip, or I did more longer journeys, I'd go for the new model. I am a delighted 20 kWh owner - SO happy. The battery lease scheme, with the worry-free (perpetual-warranty) and the reduced CapEx, has made EVs accessible to not-rich me. See furrie.net/Renault_Zoe
Great video. I bet you can't wait to get your own car 😊I've also bought one of the latest Zoe's, I've had her two months so far, mainly for my 86 mile trip to London from Norfolk every day, then simply charge it at work on a 22 kW charger and drive back another 86 miles . Its been performing very well indeed, more than I could of hope for so far , I travel roughly at 60 to 65 mph and still have from 50-55% left on the battery sometimes more especially in the afternoon as its warmer, then regularly see 60% left. so I am rather chuffed, like yourself I also purchased the 'grainy lead', bought from eBay for £399, its the genuine article, but only used it once, to see if it worked, as I have heard stories about the aftermarket versions on the Zoe, that doesn't give one confidence! so purchased the Renault version instead. BTW I regularly see over 200 mile range on the 'guessohmeter' which by the way seems to be accurate.
Hey Ian, you have no idea how happy I feel because you like the Zoe (even though the doors sound van* like). Really good car, after 2 years I am still excited to drive it every morning! A few quick things: Regen: under 6 mph only friction breaks, above 6mph it uses regenerative braking (decoupled brakes). Unlike the Tesla or the Leaf, Zoe regenerates also when you press the brake pedal. Type2 plug is the most widespread standard Europe-wide and Zoe will get from 3.3 to 22/43kW; it's super flexible. I can't charge at home, I only charge in public and I chose the Zoe especially because of the Chameleon charger. Continental have created a AC/DC combined chameleon charger that I believe will make it on the Zoe in 2019 (google it). The guessometer is overly pessimistic. Mine shows about 120 miles, but I've done more in summer without fuss. Usually, over the last 10% of the battery capacity it sort of recalculates and gives you slightly more range. You can erase the guessometer's log by turning off the car, open driver door, press break+accelerator simultaneously and the two buttons on the wiper stalk for about 2 seconds. Heating: there's a sensor under your driver's door mirror. Whenever it's above 7-8C outside, you get no heating, only meh air. Under 7-8C outside you get hot-ish air (if you turn Eco mode off); under -2C you get toasted. No way around it apart from wearing a sweater every now and then. Highly recommend to watch alloam's videos (here's the latest: ua-cam.com/video/05_bAjy7XDw/v-deo.html) *Van doors: if this is really a bother, take out the panels put some foam/insulation. It will make the Zoe even more quieter and your doors will sound better than BMW's doors.
Thanks for watching! Leaf DOES put extra regen when you use the brake pedal - its a good way of getting a good 30kw regen (Wish the Zoe showed how much KW you are regenerating - live - like the Leaf display). Yeah Type 2 is awesome! Good tip with the GOM reset! Very odd about the heating! You would think they wouldnt even have the options of 21c, 22c, 24c etc on the car in the first place if this is the case! Ha ha, might have to fill them with foam (just need to watch the window mechanism).
Sorry for my ignorance about the Leaf's capability to recharge when braking. Zoe does show you how much kW you are regenerating or consuming. You need to toggle the screen display via the wind wiper stalk (two buttons on it, up and down) and it goes through: - average consumption and average speed for trip A - trip A length + total mileage - direct consumption (in white when you accelerate, in blue when you break*) - error message - if any to be displayed (such as tire sensors or go visit the dealer) - blank - information about trip B, but I don't remember now which. * I'm not certain about the max regen available, some say 40, some say 20kW. I never paid attention, really, but maybe it's time to do so. For the heating, you're right, it's kind of a weird thing. I know they just moved the stuff from Clio over to Zoe, in what I speculate to be a massive cost reduction attempt. Looking forward to your next video! :)
Yep, it shows live, refresh I think is every half second. I'll try to get a video today of both consumption and regen while I drive in to work and will post it here (don't expect high quality)
Glad to see you getting on well with the Zoe, the 41kW Zoe got put back on the list to replace our current Zoe after our trip to Northern Ireland last week, bigger battery would get us all the way to the in-laws (240miles-ish) with one or more likely two short top-ups. Surprised to see a 3rd party granny cable, I've the official one which is the same unit Nissan use but re-branded and a Type-2 plug.
Its really good, the size difference is not really apparent, think most of the small reduction is taken from the boot space (still fits Bruce in though!)
Ian Sampson Thanks for the clarification and the reply, Ian. So glad that Bruce is good to go in the back of the car. With GM’s announcement yesterday, I think the tipping point is here finally. It totally makes sense with a car like the Zoe. Long range super reliable transport is finally here.
Hi Ian. Been following your blogs, some great information given out showing how easy ownership of an Ev is. Had a first generation Leaf for 18 mths, it did have its short comings like the heating, range and guess O meter range, Currently have a 2016 Zoe which as your negotiated price shows, there are some real bargains out there, ours cost £12100 new, battery included i-expression in white, free 7kw 32amp charger (we opted for the fixed cable charger, only one end to fit at days end), type 2 charging cable and free car mats. We love it, quick off the mark, corners flat, 105 miles in summer and 75 in winter. home charger 7kw takes 3 hrs from empty and 43kw rapid takes 30 mins to 95%. we are just missing the extra 100 miles the ZE 40 would give. I would prefer the rapid charging Zoe Q40 over the slightly longer range R40 as a replacement. Your 400 mile trip to London would have been good to show what miles per Kwh the Zoe had used along with the Kwh's used with the miles travelled, you could then have shown the cost of journey using say 0.15p per Kw for the cost of electricity. On our first service last may our local Renault dealer updated several hardware components with newer software which ironed out a few minor problems as well as restoring the full range. Our Zoe was reporting a State of Health for the battery of 90%, after the updates the State of Health was back to the100% so car would show and use the the full available range again. (i believe the software was calculating battery health at lowest battery cell and not calculating each cell separately). Keep up the great work looking forward to more from you.
Thanks for watching! Glad you are enjoying your Zoe! The 41kw version is a blast, and also a BARGAIN! Stick it along side a Tesla 60/75 and in terms of range its simply a brilliant buy.
Thanks Ian. So the real-life range on a run, with no mollycoddling is around 160 miles. That's about the same range as an old Metro on a tank of dinosaur juice. That new Zöe is what people have been waiting for. Did you query the heater issue? It might have had a fault. The slow charger is ideal for folk who don't have a dedicated home charger; it's safe enough and well worth the money. Can't wait until January!
Yeah its that sort of range yes! Heater - apparently it monitors outside air temperature and decides what to do itself lol. Although you can over ride this by putting it on max to get it toasty.
You can leave the key in your pocket and drive the car. Putting the key in the hole will start the electronics so you can open windows and have the heating on. Auto is your best bet for achieving the heat you want. You might need to have it 1 degree higher or lower than the temp you want. I've found having AC Off (like you appeared to have done) will not keep the heat on.
Tried Auto on, auto off, on 26c and nothing got it hot - it was genuinely like it wasn't working. The only thing that worked was turning it fully to the right for always on heat. Almost like it was 10c out all the time. We survived though lol
Ian Sampson that's annoying. Hopefully it won't be the case on yours. Ours in this temp (10-14 degrees) isn't very committed to picking a temp. Fine in winter and fine in hot temps. But always have to compensate a little at other times.
@Ian Sampson As a side note, I have noticed when driving the Zoe in ECO mode that the HVAC system operates as little as possible, so I usually drive with ECO mode turned off, not sure what you were using. Also, I noticed a little warmer is best in the Zoe, 23 degrees celsius and I usually set the fan speed manually. Always leave the A/C on as it dehumidifies the air, which is especially useful when it is raining. The Zoe has a heat-pump so both cooling and heating is much more efficient than in your leaf.
Thanks for the Heads up on the extension lead charging! I've got the current leaf next week for four days in preparation for the next generation coming soon and would have left the extension lead wound up!
Ian Sampson wonder if that third party Zoe charger would be more suitable for the leafs test drives? Ps at what point can I get the government and dealer subsidised home wall charger installed? As I want it before I take delivery? Any idea would be great
I'd imagine that the leaf is more air tight... I live in the desert in Utah and its very dry here and mine steams up too, quickly. If I open the vents from outside it clears up quickly but the leaf does weird things with the heating. Got a mod from Thor. Works a treat now.
Hi again. I think it started charging at 7:35 after you opened the door, it was still stuck at ''checks'' might have been because door wasn't all the way shut or something (bugged). In NL they will provide a european granny charger at purchase of the 41kWh Zoe. (I also have the official french 2014 version for my Zoe, it can do 230v 10Amp/14amp) I think you will also get one with the car included. You can also shut off the charge display in the middle-menu if you don't want other people to see it at public chargers, same for the automatic wipers. You can even change the Renault ZE Voice which makes a artificial pedestrian noise up to 30 km/h, hold the button next to steering wheel that can turn the sound off.
It was because the car was locked when the charger was connected, just unlocked and it started charging. Noticed the 'Dashboard' off option in the menu which is pretty neat, as at night that dash is really bright when its sat there charging!
We've just taken delivery of a Zoe ZE40 and whilst we got a type2 - type2 cable (which I quickly discovered can't act as an extension lead to the Renault installed tethered ChargeMaster charger on the house) we didn't get a Granny cable. I'd asked the dealer about before we ordered and he said they were available, then told us that "those cables explode" and then told us what the price of the Renault option was (additional extra in the UK). We didn't order one at the time, but I'm thinking of getting a third party one soon.
Another great vid! The Zoe does indeed look appealing (although the inefficient heater is a little worrying) and it is great to see more competition at this end of the market, this can only be good in the long run. Just wait till the Chinese come out with their 1Mwh battery pack :).. Re 3 pin charging and chargers:- The 'charger' of course technically is not a charger but EVSE so the only mains dropping going on inside the box is only to power the control circuitry - the actual charge current to the car is provided direct 240v so I would not expect the charger to get hot... That said if there were a poor connection with 240v at 10amps passing through it that could well overheat and arc (pose a fire risk), also as the charger ages the cable may be twisted or even 'nicked' both of which have the potential to cause weak spots prone to heating or ultimately overheating... The subject of extension leads is an interesting one for exactly the same reason... I suspect I am not alone in using a coiled extension lead on occasion, it did work but for sure the lead was warm, so certainly is not safe... I suspect many extension leads use inferior cable not really rated at their supposed 13amps or if they are it is only for 'burst' usage not continuous... Probably a good reason why that mains cables on the LEAF granny charger are considerably chunkier than say your electric kettle or iron. I did actually make up a 13amp extension (with a weatherproof inline RCD) of about 4m using 2.5mm cable and waterproof 13a socket simply so that I could put the granny charger under the car for a little rain protection for those outside occasions... Works well and does not get warm like my coiled extension cable... I suspect if I needed to use that coiled extension cable it would be better to unwind the whole thing and loosely coil the excess on the ground to allow it to keep cool... But perhaps I will keep that just for the lawnmower!
Yeah Mike charges at work with extension lead, fully unwound and it does not get warm. The Zoe has no onboard charger, do the power travels directly through that granny charger (which is 10amps). Works well to be fair, I would rather get a proper charger, but this trip showed what is possible and with the slowest charging available!
The box on the lead does not perform any power conversion so it won't get hot, it's simply a device to give the car something to handshake with and understand what charging current it can pull. If anything is going to get hot it's going to be the plug and socket within the house. If the house is wired properly there won't be an issue.
I reckon 200 miles on a charge at truck speed. The heater works well (I got mine 01 March) so hopefully yours will but I did have a condensation problem even with the air con on (put gel packs under the seats to help with that). The car's range also seems to have improved over the last six months (weather maybe but it seems to have kept improving all summer). The best journey so far was Farnborough to Bournemouth and back (160 miles) with 30 miles range left when I got home. I am amazed that other EVs have such low range (Golf etc) because the Zoe is so much better range wise. I do suspect that a lot of manufacturers are hoping to push plug in hybrids by keeping their EV products at a low range (they will still keep the service centres busy having a ICE on board). There is a lot of brand loyalty so they may get away with it.
The Zoe has a heat pump which works really well and doesn't seem to use up much range. I have noticed that driving at night in the recent colder weather (0 degrees c) the range has been more like 150 miles but I haven't been driving it that slowly either.
Robert thanks for the advice . The missus is looking to replace her Peugeot 208 diesel , and we looked at the Leaf 2.Zero . I guess at this point the Zoe is plan B if it doesn't work out . Like most women , being warm and toasty is more important than all the other bells and whistles .
Ian Great video. I should be getting my Q40 Signature Zoe this month....been waiting three months as I ordered it June. Good to see that your range was roughly 4 miles per kwh at motorway speeds. I was really concerned after watching James and Katie's Zoe video where they said you'd get 107 miles maximum at 75 mph, I intend to use to travel from Glasgow to Manchester on a fortnightly basis. On the three pin plug front I'm intending to fast/rapid charge to 80% and then just top up with the domestic socket to 100% when needed. I'm using an RCD outside socket to charge Peugeot Ion just now. Any shorts or fire and it'll just cut out. And it never has, even on all night charge. Using the correct cable is key. Every extension lead I initially tried just would not even start with the 10a EVSE brick. Cheers Dave
Stick at around 70, and all things being equal you should see what we saw. Of course the slower you go the more you get! Rain has an impact as does outside temp, so as winter comes the less it will travel. 3 pin is such a great emergency thing, its like having a spare wheel to get you home!
Great channel, new sub here. Just catching up on previous vlogs. Thanks for the heads up about Choco Bons - they're amazing! Currently £1 at Tesco too, so stocked up and got 5 packs. Looking forward to future updates about the 7 seater.
Wow sounds like you really like it. Makes me jealous that they are not available in the US. Looking forward to your updates when you get yours. PS I like the somewhat shorter video length. You may have found the sweet spot.
Chaz, thanks for watching. Re video length - its a split world, the longer it is the more details...and most people like details, so I dont tend to cut much out, as this leads to just even more questions in the comments and more time answering them (And if its not answered in the video..the same questions gets asked over and over...meaning replying over and over). So the longer the better to get the most information out there. - worth taking a look at some of the questions - they get repeated over and over if it wasnt in the video lol. Top position is 'Why didnt you go for the new leaf'....so need to add that to a video at some point :)
Been watching a couple of years now, top job. EV advice and practical experience of using them without the eco sermonising and politicking. With the 3 pin plug theres a a few additional places to check for elevated temps - the plug top itself, the fixed wiring behind the socket outlet and the wiring in the consumer unit for the MCB under load. Reason being the most likely fire hazard under long term high loading is any deficiencies in the individual wiring connections - screw terminals in both sockets and consumer units are OK but not 100% reliable, they need to be nice and tight with full coverage of the conductor, if not sizeable current is passing through a smaller section of copper at the termination which causes heat and possible overheating/fire. New regs now stipulate metal clad consumer units as a lot of sub standard switch/control gear in consumer units causing house fires which easily spread from plastic clad CU's.
Thanks for watching and interesting to hear possible fail points. The plug both sides was A OK in terms of warmth after a nights charging, doesnt seem to be much stress on the little 10amp granny charger from what I could tell.
Yeah, Ian Heating works best if left on auto. Choose a temperature and leave it there, switching will only make you colder. Eco turns the heating off so try to avoid using Eco if you can. Better to drive a little more carefully than to use Eco.
Andrew Wareham, not really, the air is first cooled and then heated. This makes the air drier. You should always leave the A/C on since it acts as a dehumidifier. I suspect that he had ECO mode enabled, which only allows the HVAC system work the bare minimum.
liking your videos mate, keep up the good work! However, as an electrician and OLEV approved installer of EVCPs I would not recommend using the mode 2 (13A socket) method to charge the car for prolonged periods anyway. The reason for this is socket circuits and 13A sockets aren't really designed to run at that amount of power continously for hours on end. Always better to get a dedicated mode 3 charging unit which are of course OLEV approved and available under the homecharge scheme grant. Anyhow I am looking forward to buying an electric van for work but still waiting for something with a bigger range than 80 miles! It's still a bit low really especially loaded full of tools and materials.
Thanks for watching. The cable used is a 10amp and as always with a granny cable is for emergencies only. Although that being said, Mike has used his Leaf one for 3 years with no issues, probably because it's running at 10amps maybe! The ENV200 is being released in Jan with 40kwh battery - so that should give you 130-150miles of range per charge :)
My Zoe : I got it on jan. 8th. One thing about heating : It works fine when eco mode is switched off. However, when on, the heating does save energy by switching off the fan. Then it takes ages to heat the wole cabin.
I have chosen the Zen version (so named in France, which is the middle range) with rear radar option. To me this is just a city car. I would not drive more than 100km away from my city. For long range travels I have a wonderful beloved British car.
Yeah same here - mid of the range - Dynamique its called here. In summer 175 on the motorway means to me I would contemplate now going almost anywhere in the UK.
Thanks for watching! Re new Leaf: 1. It doesnt exist in real life yet 2. Change - just fancied something different to try 3. Range on the Zoe is brilliant compared to others in the same price range. 4. Price (£16k all in super duper deal)
I must admit, I was surprised the dealer gave you a third party granny charger. Renault don't recommend you use them (shocker). £300 is better than their £500 though! :)
Oh I also forgot. Renault put out a software update at Spring start and Autumn start. Rumour has it that it changes the heating from Winter to Summer mode and vice versa. (that is heat to air con in spring and air con to heat in autumn).
It is one of the dum quirks of Zoe but you get used to it and the heater will keep you warm. It's an over the internet update, you get notifications when you enrol to the app. You download the R-link updater and then you'll be asked to put in your SD card to have the update put on it and the transfer it back to Zoe and R-link gets updated. Make sure your dealer gives you your code for the app.
The Zoe is very, very picky when it comes to granny cable charging. Socket needs a good earth resistance for safety or it will not charge. It's one of the reasons I don't have one as lots of sockets in Ireland cause nothing but issues..
The same is true of the LEAF portable EVSE that comes with the car. Must have a good earth or it won't play ball. It's estimated that upwards of 50% of sockets in the US do not have a reliable earth. Amazing that houses don't burn down more often than they do. I have adapters for mine which allows me to plug into a variety of outlets, both 120v or 240v. I use it infrequently but when I do it's a life saver.
Presumably a lot of rural properties being above ground pole fed (TT supply) and relying on ground spikes for earth - which are never as low resistance earth from ground cable sheathing. If TT, small garage consumer unit and local ground spike might provide a solution.
Agree the purpose of earth's is a fail safe feature to prevent electrocution. A faulty earth is however indicative that the wiring does has faults and could be dodgy. Ian gave the example when he asked for a charge in exchange for wine/chocolates that only the third outlet would work. I'd say that property probably has dodgy wiring. EVSE manufacturers know that the high current draw for extended periods can cause wires to get hot. So one does want to be sure the wiring meets all safety standards before using it.
ddlovetts A few hours?! I thought it was Wednesday at 1.30ish am UK time? I have a feeling they will show off a 41kwh. The Nissan/Renault alliance will mean I doubt a 60kwh will be announced yet. The Zoe and Leaf will probably get a bounce up around the same time around the Model 3 release date
iKaGe01 It is just a few hours compared to the literally years that we have been waiting. I'm so excited I am starting to smell like a chair in an old folks home.
Really exiting for the reveil. Could be one of the best sellers next to the Model 3. They have sold 270.000 Leaf already, so they have some experience.
Keen to switch to an electric car when my pcp runs out in a year or so, but the charging still seems to be a big issue. So it doesn’t do fast chargers in 30 mins and the 3 prong plugs take about 20 hours to fully charge? Seems like a massive inconvenience.
Great video. My girlfriend has just got her ZE40 and is loving it. One question about the 13A granny cable though: you said the dealer acquired it but that it wasn't the official Renault one. Do you have details of what brand/supplier/cost it was? Our ZE40 wasn't shipped with a granny cable, so I've been looking at getting a third party one, and lots of them explicitly say "not suitable for use with the Zoe".I'm assuming this is because they have a default 6A low start, which the Zoe will take as a bad charger (it needs 10A from what I've read). The dealer said that there was a Renault one but "those cables explode" which sort of put us off ordering it!
If you want to maximise battery life (and capacity throughout the life as well) then yes with the current lithium chemistry keeping the battery working within a charging band is well worth it. Not practical so much with sub 100mile batteries but with the range and capacity increasing and say only local usage then definitely worth considering as a strategy for pretty much having a battery for the useful life of the car without compromising its usefulness. Even more applicable if in a mild climate as battery stressing due to high/low temps is not so much of a battery killer either.
Mark, in my personal experience rather than what is on paper, having the car charged 1000's of times to 100% it has made no difference to the battery's health. Which is odd, but even Nissan removed the charge to 80% only option on the newer Leaf. I hammered my Leaf battery over 4 years and 55,000 miles (will be 60,000 ish once I had it back...unless Zoe arrives early). Has given me massive confidence in what these things are capable of (Hence I am now purchasing the car rather than leasing).
Thanks for the reply. I would buy a 22kw Zoe with a battery lease as most times I travel under 20 miles a day so would not be a problem it's just living in a flat and the nearest charger a 10 miles round trip, it would not be practical for me. I'm going to need to wait for a more affordable second hand 41 kw Zoe before I can get one as even 16k is way out of my budget sadly!
That sound good. Just wish Renault would allow an outright battery purchase on the second hand 22kw models so more people could get one now! Also do you know If there are any grants in place to enable councils to fit these new lamppost EV chargers I have seen?
How does the range on the 41Kwh Zoe compare to the hyundai ioniq? The Ioniq seems to get better range than a 30kwh nissan leaf from what i read mainly because of aerodynamics people think.. but find that hard to believe. As it looks like a bigger car. but it seems to cost the same as a Zoe to lease and is a bigger car with loads more kit on it. Trying to decide.
Dont think it comes close (as in the same) to the Zoe 41kw version (How can it, it has a 28kw battery and is a large car!). Zoe in city will give 200 miles of range. Mixed driving easily 150, but from all the comments seems to sit around 170-180 miles per charge with mixed driving.
The range is brilliant but when I took one out on a 24hr test drive the build quality for the price concerned me. What do you make of the things like the charging flap and the rear door handles? I'm not honing in on either the Kia Soul EV but will see what the Nissan new Leaf looks like tomorrow.
Build quality is 'different' compared to the Leaf. The switches and levers all seem good quality, its more the panelling that is plasticy. But for me its going to get knocked about inside any way with 4 kids and a dog, so this side actually, as it turns out is a plus!
but anybody know to get a adapter for charcing at a DC charge station, its very diffecault to find any AC power these days. SCC2 to Type2. the Zoe do NOT have DC charge.
Hi Ian, You mention in your video that you're using a 3'rd party granny cable to charge, could you provide a link (or just the name of the company / model of the granny cable) I'm interested in picking one up.
I'm curious as to why you didn't use your Level 2 charger at home to charge the car, instead of the slow Level 1 charger? I really wish we could get this car here in Canada.
Impressive video of what seems to be an outstanding EV. As a newbie can I ask if the display be turned off during charging Ian? looks like it stays on all the time, or have I got that wrong? Thought I'd ask the expert. We have to choose between the Zoe or the E Golf for SWMBO soon to replace her BMW 1 series, surprisingly she didn't like the i3
True, thats the case but also apparently it also goes by outside temp, need to find out more, but have been told if its more than 8c outside its not as powerful or something?
I've since read that there's a small resistive heater that assists the heat pump. I imagine that one or the other wasn't working in your test Zoe as poor heater performance seems to be a fairly common gripe on the Facebook owners group.
2017 is not enough range at ~120 miles per charge 2018 is not £16k its ~£10,000 more 2018 leaf only does ~150 miles per charge So a combination of those 3
Great video as always!I'd be curious to know what motivated you to go for a Zoe as opposed to a (2018 model) Leaf?Do you think that the increased charging time of the R90 version will be an issue?Giving some thought to going the same route myself.
1. It doesnt exist in real life yet 2. Change - just fancied something different to try 3. Range on the Zoe is brilliant compared to others in the same price range. 4. Price (£16k all in super duper deal) ^ this was the list prior to the launch, and pretty much applies still. The new Leaf range is less than the Zoe, so still very happy with the Zoe order - especially linked with the above points! Now the 60kw Leaf (Price dependent) is a different story!
A question if I may sir. For how long you own the renault zoe? what is your current mileage today? and how much battery degradation did your car battery suffer so far. also, last but not the least, do you enjoy the car? ..and.. how much money would you save compared to ICE car, say like toyota corolla compared to Zoe in terms of gasoline savings? thank you kindly dear sir :D
Ian Sampson 150+miles quoted I'm really excited about everything about it ;) Glyn Hopkins take my deposit haha I'm hoping to take delivery before Easter if possible, japan gets it on 2nd October
$30,000 so likely to be min £25,000 more likely £27,950 base model. Also - 150 miles range doesnt do it for me. Glad I purchased the Zoe 41kwh even more now!
This was the same car as my last video when I borrowed it, its the 'R'. So faster on public chargers / at home but slower on the Rapid (0-100% is around 2hrs 30 I think)
You had the a/c turned off hence.no warm air. To charge, power must be available when you plug in to the car, otherwise she will get bored waiting and go to sleep.
Tried it in auto (puts AC on) tried it off, tried manually adjusting the settings to different ones, simply not anything than mildly warm. If it wasnt or the fact if it was turned fully right to max setting it work I would have thought it was broken! We survived though ha ha Interesting about it going to sleep! Wonder what the time out period is. (I was not more than 5 mins feeding cable through window and plugging it in again).
I find with mine that the heater is a little quirky exactly around that kind of ambient temperature. When the ambient is down into low single digits it pumps out nice warm air with the temp set at 20 or 21 C. But when ambient is 12-16 C then it is less than impressive. I am thinking it must be related somehow to heat pump efficiencies with smaller temperature differentials, but I am no thermodynamicist! Great to see you enjoying the Zoe. I had fun in a 41kWh one at the weekend. Very tempting to upgrade... must resist, must resist...
It was a 10amp 3 pin charger, so max it could be is 10 x 240 = 2600watts (for the granny cable / EVSE I used in this video). As for any other charger - the Zoe does not have an onboard charger - it just draws the max amount available from the post / home charge point. You can get a 7kw (32amp) home charger fitted (comes free when buying the Zoe - renault fund it), and out and about it will draw as much as it can.
Let me review: this car in Europe, a Renault/Nissan product, gets almost 250 miles on a 41 kw battery but the new Leaf for US, same 40 kw battery is good for 150 miles? I am not getting the why as to difference. Anyone?
This is in part due to the fact the Zoe doesn't do 250 miles. It does 200 MAX if inner city (driving around 20-25mph for the entire charge). Mixed driving it does 160-170 at around 15c. As for the new Leaf, well no one in the real world has had chance to give it a real life test, but would suspect it will be just slightly less than the Zoe as its a heavier car with more power output.
No idea, but probably not as the car us designed around that 3 pin as its way to charge. The Leaf and Zoe are designed around Rapid and 7kw public / at home chargers...rather than solely relying on the 3 pin.
Renault provided a 7kw charger with the car. That would give a 100% charge in 6 hours but in reality I plug in for 3-4 hours a week. I am getting over 300km on a charge so even if you drove fast it would do your journey very easily.
100km easily yeah, I mean we did 120 odd motorway speeds and then still had 20 left. Inner city driving you will get 180-200 miles of range. Mixed driving certainly 150.
Type 2 Charging. Accepts up to 43kw on a quick/Rapid Charger. For the Q version of the 41kwh Zoe its 1:30 on a rapid and for the R version its 2:40 (0-100%). This demo model is the R. The one I am getting is the Q. Handy link here: www.renault.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/zoe-250/battery-and-charging.html
Cost is prohibitive for us, gain would be minimal for the size of the system we could have as well. Calculated it would take at least 10 years to break even sadly!
paul ward ok, so you would need to charge at worst every other day, possibly every 3 days. There are quiet a lot of chargers around you area - checkout www.zap-map.com/live (would also be awesome if you could blag charging at work!)
Ian Sampson hi Ian the thing is I'd have to finish work then go to a charger stay there until it's charged hopefully one day I can afford to rent a house then I'd def get a ev I really like the idea no chance at work no sockets ect were the cars are parked
Also - worth checking out www.plugshare.com < people allow other ev drivers to charge at their house, usually offroad charging. Might be someone near by that would let you charge if you cover the cost of electric (might be a neighbour for instance!). As EV's get longer longer range getting a charge becomes less and less of a problem - eventually it will be one charge once a week ;) With the Zoe Q90 an hour parked up in town on a rapid will give you 100% charge.
But why do you have to wait almost FIVE months for your Zoe ? This isn't a criticism of the dealership in Gloucester - but of car and EV manufacturers in general. Can you please tell us - by contrast - how long you'd have to wait for a gasoline-powered Renault ? A Captur..a Megane etc ? Delivered in a fortnight ? A week ? Yesterday ? Could you ask the Glos dealer ? These ludicrous delivery delays are just one more inexcusable way that carmakers deter most people from switching to EVs. Paul G (EVUK)
Yeah its a long time for sure...mind you enables me to try and sort some finances out...not only that, couldn't have it earlier as my Leaf Lease does not run out until January, so personally for me - perfect timing!
Where about are you located? UK? Gen1 or 2 Leaf? Viewer Duncan commented on this issue as well at said: "I'd imagine that the leaf is more air tight... I live in the desert in Utah and its very dry here and mine steams up too, quickly. If I open the vents from outside it clears up quickly but the leaf does weird things with the heating. Got a mod from Thor. Works a treat now."
The Zoe 41kw is a mid range car, not a long range EV. The Chevy Bolt on the other hand is a long range EV. See Eric Lundgrens video comparing his home built BMW EV, the Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf and a Tesla
I would argue that the Bolt is not a long-range car, but a medium-range EV. It only charges around 45 kW max in the real world, so it takes over an hour to get to 80% charge, making it impractical for journeys with over 200 miles one-way. However, if that is all you need, then it is great. It is really disappointing that they did not fit faster charging capability to an EV with such a large battery. Rumor has it that the new Leaf will support 150 kW, we shall see...
Long range is dependent on what you compare it to. I am comparing it to a EV which doesn't cost £120,000, but more sub £20k new. So thats really the Gen1, 2 and 2.5 Leaf as well as the 22kw Zoe. Compared to those its extremely long range. The list will continually change and the brackets at which you can determine something as long range will also change. All the cars you mention will become short range evs for instance if the upper range of any said EV was 700+ Miles in the future. PS - Chevy Bolt is not even available in the UK so that cannot be included in MY comparison as if its not attainable there is no point in comparing it. lol, so much fun with all these available on the market now, it used to be pretty much the Leaf and that was it!
Scrap that, my bad; apple laptops reduce the volume after a phone call using the laptop, turning up the laptop volume to max doesn't work, and you have to restart the laptop to reset the volume - progress, eh! Really useful vid, thanks a bunch.
lol no problem, only found this out the other day in the office with an imac we bought....thought, 'darn, we recorded all this footage and obviously didnt sound check, what the! We are going to have to redo it all!'........then restarted machine and all good ;)
Glad it happens to the best of us. Something I'm really scratching my head about, which you may be able to help with, is that there are secondhand Zoes like yours for sale right now which cost more than you paid for your brand new one a year ago. I checked the new list price and it's lower than your car's list price at the time. Any thoughts? I'm looking to ship a UK car down here to New Zealand as they're more expensive here and very rare. Thanks mate.
No it has some design flaws; 1. To open the back doors you need to open the front doors. 2. Unlike almost all 5 door cars on the market it only has 4 seats for some reason. As such it was a no go, otherwise it looks awesome.
Time is the crucial component for failure of the extension. People have accidentally (before they watched this video in some cases!) charged with no issues, but it should NEVER be left on. Some of these cars take over 24hrs from empty! So much easier to just unwind - education is key. Would recommend NOT ever using an extension at all, and only really well built electrical systems to plug into.
I'm a big, big fan of our Robert Llewellyn. I've watched him in hundreds of videos and learned most that I know of EVs from the man. But for all the knowledge and insight gained, even after a Zoe test drive, I never felt compelled to commit to an EV purchase until I watched a handful of your videos. You tipped me over the edge! I've reached out to Renault Gloucester and if I can get a good deal you'll be receiving your £50. Thanks! Subscribed.
The Zoe seems to set a new standard for affordable longer range EV driving. Good to see, thanks for making this video.
Ben, no problem. Its a very good car with good range.
Having been in a LHD Zoe I've realised why the RHD glove box is a pathetic joke, they never moved the fuse box, the LHD Zoe has a nice normal (A4?) box.
Further, Ian to my last. When we moved house years ago now, I put the tumble dryer in the shed so we could use while the house was still in uproar, I told my wife she MUST uncoil the extension lead before using it for the dryer..............she did not uncoil it all, when I got home from work she told me the dryer was broken! I checked, NO! the wound -up extension was melted, I gave it to the fire station to use for demo's. Good of you to bring that up.
Should have framed it and put it in your living room as a constant reminder ;)
Hi Ian first started watching your programmes when I was in the throws of some serious mental health issues and had locked myself in my room for 2 years. I'm better now and back in work and I just want you to know your weirdo electric car journeys helped me a lot. Thanks dude
The 3 pin plus is useful. I once ran out of charge in Worthing and plugged in at a Fish and Chips shop.
Lol, did it cost you a round of fish and chips or like me some wine and chocolates ;)
Another informative video. Looking forward to watching when yours arrives. Thanks for sharing your trip to London in a Zoe.
Thanks for watching!
Great video again I'm starting to look at the Zoe now also nothing really to do with our video but what makes me smile is my sons electric ride on which is 12v takes 11 hours to fully charge so too charge a car from flat to full in less than 4 hours is amazing
Lol, that is true! In terms of kids toys / drones etc they seem epically quick.
Brilliant video! I loved my Zoe! I had the old one but was amazing!
The 3 pin lead is fantastic. Used the 3pin lead loads at our caravan etc. It only draws 1.7kWh (I've measured it) I visited our cousins in Gloucester, which we wouldn't have been able to without the 3 pin lead. It opens up so many more possibilities.
I think the Zoe is definitely the best value EV so far.
Also think the the battery rental scheme is excellent. Renault were brilliant with me with the rental scheme. Think it works out cheaper than buying battery outright and also is like an infinite warranty which is excellent.
Thanks for watching!
Ian Sampson You're welcome! I love EVs! Don't know if you'd be interested but I've now got a Model X if you ever fancy doing a video on it or going for a test ride.
Cheers. Sounds interesting, possible to borrow it for a day?
Ian Sampson I guess so! Will just have to look into insurance. I think you'll love it 👍⚡️🚗
Ian Sampson How do you best contact me?
100% considering a Zoë when my Leaf PCP is up. Thanks for the video.
No problem, thanks for watching! Hook yourself up with Ben at Renault Gloucester to get a really good deal, they are wanting to get people on the road with EV's
craig dobson if my commute was more than a 20 mile round trip, or I did more longer journeys, I'd go for the new model. I am a delighted 20 kWh owner - SO happy. The battery lease scheme, with the worry-free (perpetual-warranty) and the reduced CapEx, has made EVs accessible to not-rich me. See furrie.net/Renault_Zoe
Great video.
I bet you can't wait to get your own car 😊I've also bought one of the latest Zoe's, I've had her two months so far, mainly for my 86 mile trip to London from Norfolk every day,
then simply charge it at work on a 22 kW charger and drive back another 86 miles .
Its been performing very well indeed, more than I could of hope for so far , I travel roughly at 60 to 65 mph and still have from 50-55% left on the battery sometimes more especially in the afternoon as its warmer, then regularly see 60% left.
so I am rather chuffed,
like yourself I also purchased the 'grainy lead', bought from eBay for £399, its the genuine article, but only used it once, to see if it worked, as I have heard stories about the aftermarket versions on the Zoe, that doesn't give one confidence!
so purchased the Renault version instead.
BTW I regularly see over 200 mile range on the 'guessohmeter' which by the way seems to be accurate.
Awesome news, so glad its working out for you as well!
Hey Ian, you have no idea how happy I feel because you like the Zoe (even though the doors sound van* like). Really good car, after 2 years I am still excited to drive it every morning!
A few quick things:
Regen: under 6 mph only friction breaks, above 6mph it uses regenerative braking (decoupled brakes). Unlike the Tesla or the Leaf, Zoe regenerates also when you press the brake pedal.
Type2 plug is the most widespread standard Europe-wide and Zoe will get from 3.3 to 22/43kW; it's super flexible. I can't charge at home, I only charge in public and I chose the Zoe especially because of the Chameleon charger. Continental have created a AC/DC combined chameleon charger that I believe will make it on the Zoe in 2019 (google it).
The guessometer is overly pessimistic. Mine shows about 120 miles, but I've done more in summer without fuss. Usually, over the last 10% of the battery capacity it sort of recalculates and gives you slightly more range. You can erase the guessometer's log by turning off the car, open driver door, press break+accelerator simultaneously and the two buttons on the wiper stalk for about 2 seconds.
Heating: there's a sensor under your driver's door mirror. Whenever it's above 7-8C outside, you get no heating, only meh air. Under 7-8C outside you get hot-ish air (if you turn Eco mode off); under -2C you get toasted. No way around it apart from wearing a sweater every now and then.
Highly recommend to watch alloam's videos (here's the latest: ua-cam.com/video/05_bAjy7XDw/v-deo.html)
*Van doors: if this is really a bother, take out the panels put some foam/insulation. It will make the Zoe even more quieter and your doors will sound better than BMW's doors.
Thanks for watching!
Leaf DOES put extra regen when you use the brake pedal - its a good way of getting a good 30kw regen (Wish the Zoe showed how much KW you are regenerating - live - like the Leaf display).
Yeah Type 2 is awesome!
Good tip with the GOM reset!
Very odd about the heating! You would think they wouldnt even have the options of 21c, 22c, 24c etc on the car in the first place if this is the case!
Ha ha, might have to fill them with foam (just need to watch the window mechanism).
Sorry for my ignorance about the Leaf's capability to recharge when braking. Zoe does show you how much kW you are regenerating or consuming. You need to toggle the screen display via the wind wiper stalk (two buttons on it, up and down) and it goes through:
- average consumption and average speed for trip A
- trip A length + total mileage
- direct consumption (in white when you accelerate, in blue when you break*)
- error message - if any to be displayed (such as tire sensors or go visit the dealer)
- blank
- information about trip B, but I don't remember now which.
* I'm not certain about the max regen available, some say 40, some say 20kW. I never paid attention, really, but maybe it's time to do so.
For the heating, you're right, it's kind of a weird thing. I know they just moved the stuff from Clio over to Zoe, in what I speculate to be a massive cost reduction attempt.
Looking forward to your next video! :)
No problem!
"Zoe does show you how much kW you are regenerating or consuming" < is it live? as in when you let off the break it shows?
Yep, it shows live, refresh I think is every half second. I'll try to get a video today of both consumption and regen while I drive in to work and will post it here (don't expect high quality)
There you go Ian: ua-cam.com/video/TM1CgNiXE5o/v-deo.html (excuse the russian, german etc. accent and the grammar mistakes; i was nervous lol)
Hi another very good vid good advert for Renault hope you did not big row from garage all the best hope everybody still enjoying the big ev.
Richard, thanks for watching! They were really good about it, felt bad though :(
Thanks Ian once again, great review, you have given me much to think about when look for better range than my LEAF :-)
No problem Brian, glad it helped. Yeah the extra range is a great feeling!
I am very impressed so far Ian. Great video, thanks.
Thanks David!
Glad to see you getting on well with the Zoe, the 41kW Zoe got put back on the list to replace our current Zoe after our trip to Northern Ireland last week, bigger battery would get us all the way to the in-laws (240miles-ish) with one or more likely two short top-ups. Surprised to see a 3rd party granny cable, I've the official one which is the same unit Nissan use but re-branded and a Type-2 plug.
Thanks for watching. Glad its given you some confidence in it. Cant wait to get mine. 3rd part cable - much cheaper at around £300
Just a quick note to say thanks for your videos on the Zoe, picked ours up couple of weeks ago and loving it!
This car seems to be awesome. Of course it’s a little small, but as a commuter car to and from work it’s a perfect solution.
Its really good, the size difference is not really apparent, think most of the small reduction is taken from the boot space (still fits Bruce in though!)
Ian Sampson Thanks for the clarification and the reply, Ian. So glad that Bruce is good to go in the back of the car. With GM’s announcement yesterday, I think the tipping point is here finally. It totally makes sense with a car like the Zoe. Long range super reliable transport is finally here.
Plus, the UK has so many charging stations all around the country now. It’s a great thing.
Hi Ian. Been following your blogs, some great information given out showing how easy ownership of an Ev is.
Had a first generation Leaf for 18 mths, it did have its short comings like the heating, range and guess O meter range, Currently have a 2016 Zoe which as your negotiated price shows, there are some real bargains out there, ours cost £12100 new, battery included i-expression in white, free 7kw 32amp charger (we opted for the fixed cable charger, only one end to fit at days end), type 2 charging cable and free car mats. We love it, quick off the mark, corners flat, 105 miles in summer and 75 in winter. home charger 7kw takes 3 hrs from empty and 43kw rapid takes 30 mins to 95%. we are just missing the extra 100 miles the ZE 40 would give. I would prefer the rapid charging Zoe Q40 over the slightly longer range R40 as a replacement. Your 400 mile trip to London would have been good to show what miles per Kwh the Zoe had used along with the Kwh's used with the miles travelled, you could then have shown the cost of journey using say 0.15p per Kw for the cost of electricity. On our first service last may our local Renault dealer updated several hardware components with newer software which ironed out a few minor problems as well as restoring the full range. Our Zoe was reporting a State of Health for the battery of 90%, after the updates the State of Health was back to the100% so car would show and use the the full available range again. (i believe the software was calculating battery health at lowest battery cell and not calculating each cell separately). Keep up the great work looking forward to more from you.
Thanks for watching! Glad you are enjoying your Zoe! The 41kw version is a blast, and also a BARGAIN! Stick it along side a Tesla 60/75 and in terms of range its simply a brilliant buy.
Thanks Ian. So the real-life range on a run, with no mollycoddling is around 160 miles. That's about the same range as an old Metro on a tank of dinosaur juice. That new Zöe is what people have been waiting for. Did you query the heater issue? It might have had a fault. The slow charger is ideal for folk who don't have a dedicated home charger; it's safe enough and well worth the money. Can't wait until January!
Yeah its that sort of range yes! Heater - apparently it monitors outside air temperature and decides what to do itself lol. Although you can over ride this by putting it on max to get it toasty.
You can leave the key in your pocket and drive the car. Putting the key in the hole will start the electronics so you can open windows and have the heating on. Auto is your best bet for achieving the heat you want. You might need to have it 1 degree higher or lower than the temp you want. I've found having AC Off (like you appeared to have done) will not keep the heat on.
Tried Auto on, auto off, on 26c and nothing got it hot - it was genuinely like it wasn't working. The only thing that worked was turning it fully to the right for always on heat. Almost like it was 10c out all the time. We survived though lol
Ian Sampson that's annoying. Hopefully it won't be the case on yours. Ours in this temp (10-14 degrees) isn't very committed to picking a temp. Fine in winter and fine in hot temps. But always have to compensate a little at other times.
@Ian Sampson As a side note, I have noticed when driving the Zoe in ECO mode that the HVAC system operates as little as possible, so I usually drive with ECO mode turned off, not sure what you were using. Also, I noticed a little warmer is best in the Zoe, 23 degrees celsius and I usually set the fan speed manually. Always leave the A/C on as it dehumidifies the air, which is especially useful when it is raining. The Zoe has a heat-pump so both cooling and heating is much more efficient than in your leaf.
Thanks for the Heads up on the extension lead charging! I've got the current leaf next week for four days in preparation for the next generation coming soon and would have left the extension lead wound up!
Phew! No problem glad I mentioned it now - saved your house burning down lol
Ian Sampson wonder if that third party Zoe charger would be more suitable for the leafs test drives? Ps at what point can I get the government and dealer subsidised home wall charger installed? As I want it before I take delivery? Any idea would be great
I'd imagine that the leaf is more air tight... I live in the desert in Utah and its very dry here and mine steams up too, quickly. If I open the vents from outside it clears up quickly but the leaf does weird things with the heating. Got a mod from Thor. Works a treat now.
Hi again. I think it started charging at 7:35 after you opened the door, it was still stuck at ''checks'' might have been because door wasn't all the way shut or something (bugged).
In NL they will provide a european granny charger at purchase of the 41kWh Zoe. (I also have the official french 2014 version for my Zoe, it can do 230v 10Amp/14amp) I think you will also get one with the car included.
You can also shut off the charge display in the middle-menu if you don't want other people to see it at public chargers, same for the automatic wipers. You can even change the Renault ZE Voice which makes a artificial pedestrian noise up to 30 km/h, hold the button next to steering wheel that can turn the sound off.
It was because the car was locked when the charger was connected, just unlocked and it started charging. Noticed the 'Dashboard' off option in the menu which is pretty neat, as at night that dash is really bright when its sat there charging!
We've just taken delivery of a Zoe ZE40 and whilst we got a type2 - type2 cable (which I quickly discovered can't act as an extension lead to the Renault installed tethered ChargeMaster charger on the house) we didn't get a Granny cable. I'd asked the dealer about before we ordered and he said they were available, then told us that "those cables explode" and then told us what the price of the Renault option was (additional extra in the UK). We didn't order one at the time, but I'm thinking of getting a third party one soon.
Another great vid! The Zoe does indeed look appealing (although the inefficient heater is a little worrying) and it is great to see more competition at this end of the market, this can only be good in the long run. Just wait till the Chinese come out with their 1Mwh battery pack :).. Re 3 pin charging and chargers:-
The 'charger' of course technically is not a charger but EVSE so the only mains dropping going on inside the box is only to power the control circuitry - the actual charge current to the car is provided direct 240v so I would not expect the charger to get hot... That said if there were a poor connection with 240v at 10amps passing through it that could well overheat and arc (pose a fire risk), also as the charger ages the cable may be twisted or even 'nicked' both of which have the potential to cause weak spots prone to heating or ultimately overheating... The subject of extension leads is an interesting one for exactly the same reason... I suspect I am not alone in using a coiled extension lead on occasion, it did work but for sure the lead was warm, so certainly is not safe... I suspect many extension leads use inferior cable not really rated at their supposed 13amps or if they are it is only for 'burst' usage not continuous... Probably a good reason why that mains cables on the LEAF granny charger are considerably chunkier than say your electric kettle or iron. I did actually make up a 13amp extension (with a weatherproof inline RCD) of about 4m using 2.5mm cable and waterproof 13a socket simply so that I could put the granny charger under the car for a little rain protection for those outside occasions... Works well and does not get warm like my coiled extension cable... I suspect if I needed to use that coiled extension cable it would be better to unwind the whole thing and loosely coil the excess on the ground to allow it to keep cool... But perhaps I will keep that just for the lawnmower!
Yeah Mike charges at work with extension lead, fully unwound and it does not get warm. The Zoe has no onboard charger, do the power travels directly through that granny charger (which is 10amps). Works well to be fair, I would rather get a proper charger, but this trip showed what is possible and with the slowest charging available!
The box on the lead does not perform any power conversion so it won't get hot, it's simply a device to give the car something to handshake with and understand what charging current it can pull. If anything is going to get hot it's going to be the plug and socket within the house. If the house is wired properly there won't be an issue.
I reckon 200 miles on a charge at truck speed. The heater works well (I got mine 01 March) so hopefully yours will but I did have a condensation problem even with the air con on (put gel packs under the seats to help with that). The car's range also seems to have improved over the last six months (weather maybe but it seems to have kept improving all summer). The best journey so far was Farnborough to Bournemouth and back (160 miles) with 30 miles range left when I got home. I am amazed that other EVs have such low range (Golf etc) because the Zoe is so much better range wise. I do suspect that a lot of manufacturers are hoping to push plug in hybrids by keeping their EV products at a low range (they will still keep the service centres busy having a ICE on board). There is a lot of brand loyalty so they may get away with it.
Thanks for watching! Yeah sure the heater will be fine in mine ;)
Gary Less; people aren't idiots and won't fall for it. But I think you nailed it.
Hi Robert , hope you can advise me . Does your vehicle come with heat pump or conventional resistive heater ?
The Zoe has a heat pump which works really well and doesn't seem to use up much range. I have noticed that driving at night in the recent colder weather (0 degrees c) the range has been more like 150 miles but I haven't been driving it that slowly either.
Robert thanks for the advice . The missus is looking to replace her Peugeot 208 diesel , and we looked at the Leaf 2.Zero . I guess at this point the Zoe is plan B if it doesn't work out . Like most women , being warm and toasty is more important than all the other bells and whistles .
Ian
Great video. I should be getting my Q40 Signature Zoe this month....been waiting three months as I ordered it June. Good to see that your range was roughly 4 miles per kwh at motorway speeds. I was really concerned after watching James and Katie's Zoe video where they said you'd get 107 miles maximum at 75 mph, I intend to use to travel from Glasgow to Manchester on a fortnightly basis.
On the three pin plug front I'm intending to fast/rapid charge to 80% and then just top up with the domestic socket to 100% when needed. I'm using an RCD outside socket to charge Peugeot Ion just now. Any shorts or fire and it'll just cut out. And it never has, even on all night charge. Using the correct cable is key. Every extension lead I initially tried just would not even start with the 10a EVSE brick.
Cheers
Dave
Stick at around 70, and all things being equal you should see what we saw. Of course the slower you go the more you get! Rain has an impact as does outside temp, so as winter comes the less it will travel.
3 pin is such a great emergency thing, its like having a spare wheel to get you home!
please please do some videos with john!!, your great together... you make a great double act!..could watch you both forever!
Lol!
Subtle number plate - VO17 HPY - "Volt Happy".
ha ha
Great channel, new sub here. Just catching up on previous vlogs. Thanks for the heads up about Choco Bons - they're amazing! Currently £1 at Tesco too, so stocked up and got 5 packs.
Looking forward to future updates about the 7 seater.
Lol, no problem. Thanks for watching!
Wow sounds like you really like it. Makes me jealous that they are not available in the US. Looking forward to your updates when you get yours. PS I like the somewhat shorter video length. You may have found the sweet spot.
Chaz, thanks for watching. Re video length - its a split world, the longer it is the more details...and most people like details, so I dont tend to cut much out, as this leads to just even more questions in the comments and more time answering them (And if its not answered in the video..the same questions gets asked over and over...meaning replying over and over). So the longer the better to get the most information out there. - worth taking a look at some of the questions - they get repeated over and over if it wasnt in the video lol. Top position is 'Why didnt you go for the new leaf'....so need to add that to a video at some point :)
I'm sorry but your level of happiness about doing 70 mph on the motorway is rather funny 😂
Its a massive relief after 4 years of having to walk on egg shells when travelling on the motor way
Been watching a couple of years now, top job. EV advice and practical experience of using them without the eco sermonising and politicking. With the 3 pin plug theres a a few additional places to check for elevated temps - the plug top itself, the fixed wiring behind the socket outlet and the wiring in the consumer unit for the MCB under load. Reason being the most likely fire hazard under long term high loading is any deficiencies in the individual wiring connections - screw terminals in both sockets and consumer units are OK but not 100% reliable, they need to be nice and tight with full coverage of the conductor, if not sizeable current is passing through a smaller section of copper at the termination which causes heat and possible overheating/fire. New regs now stipulate metal clad consumer units as a lot of sub standard switch/control gear in consumer units causing house fires which easily spread from plastic clad CU's.
Thanks for watching and interesting to hear possible fail points. The plug both sides was A OK in terms of warmth after a nights charging, doesnt seem to be much stress on the little 10amp granny charger from what I could tell.
Yeah, Ian Heating works best if left on auto. Choose a temperature and leave it there, switching will only make you colder. Eco turns the heating off so try to avoid using Eco if you can. Better to drive a little more carefully than to use Eco.
Using Auto also switches the aircon on, so this could also have a slight cooling edict into the cabin along with using more of the main battery.
The computer decides how much air con to use and when in Auto mode. I guess that is a possible reason for the updates.
Andrew Wareham, not really, the air is first cooled and then heated. This makes the air drier. You should always leave the A/C on since it acts as a dehumidifier. I suspect that he had ECO mode enabled, which only allows the HVAC system work the bare minimum.
Awesome video thank you Ian as always thank you.
Thanks, and thanks for watching!
@11:50 the heater isnt hot probably because the car is on ECO. you have to take it off eco to get the heat.
liking your videos mate, keep up the good work! However, as an electrician and OLEV approved installer of EVCPs I would not recommend using the mode 2 (13A socket) method to charge the car for prolonged periods anyway. The reason for this is socket circuits and 13A sockets aren't really designed to run at that amount of power continously for hours on end. Always better to get a dedicated mode 3 charging unit which are of course OLEV approved and available under the homecharge scheme grant. Anyhow I am looking forward to buying an electric van for work but still waiting for something with a bigger range than 80 miles! It's still a bit low really especially loaded full of tools and materials.
Thanks for watching. The cable used is a 10amp and as always with a granny cable is for emergencies only. Although that being said, Mike has used his Leaf one for 3 years with no issues, probably because it's running at 10amps maybe!
The ENV200 is being released in Jan with 40kwh battery - so that should give you 130-150miles of range per charge :)
My Zoe : I got it on jan. 8th.
One thing about heating : It works fine when eco mode is switched off. However, when on, the heating does save energy by switching off the fan. Then it takes ages to heat the wole cabin.
Congrats on you Zoe! Which version did you go for?
I have chosen the Zen version (so named in France, which is the middle range) with rear radar option. To me this is just a city car. I would not drive more than 100km away from my city. For long range travels I have a wonderful beloved British car.
Yeah same here - mid of the range - Dynamique its called here. In summer 175 on the motorway means to me I would contemplate now going almost anywhere in the UK.
I wish I had seen these before I decided to buy. Some good tips here!!
Ah, welcome along Jonathan ;)
LOVE my Zoe, but surprised you didn't wait for the new Leaf Ian :-P
Thanks for watching!
Re new Leaf:
1. It doesnt exist in real life yet
2. Change - just fancied something different to try
3. Range on the Zoe is brilliant compared to others in the same price range.
4. Price (£16k all in super duper deal)
I must admit, I was surprised the dealer gave you a third party granny charger. Renault don't recommend you use them (shocker). £300 is better than their £500 though! :)
yeah miles better and it worked a treat (and being 3rd party you can have different cable lengths at point of order!)
Oh I also forgot. Renault put out a software update at Spring start and Autumn start. Rumour has it that it changes the heating from Winter to Summer mode and vice versa. (that is heat to air con in spring and air con to heat in autumn).
Interesting, would be nice if it gave you the option as well to adjust as needed. Is that over the air update?
It is one of the dum quirks of Zoe but you get used to it and the heater will keep you warm. It's an over the internet update, you get notifications when you enrol to the app. You download the R-link updater and then you'll be asked to put in your SD card to have the update put on it and the transfer it back to Zoe and R-link gets updated. Make sure your dealer gives you your code for the app.
The Zoe is very, very picky when it comes to granny cable charging. Socket needs a good earth resistance for safety or it will not charge.
It's one of the reasons I don't have one as lots of sockets in Ireland cause nothing but issues..
The same is true of the LEAF portable EVSE that comes with the car. Must have a good earth or it won't play ball. It's estimated that upwards of 50% of sockets in the US do not have a reliable earth. Amazing that houses don't burn down more often than they do. I have adapters for mine which allows me to plug into a variety of outlets, both 120v or 240v. I use it infrequently but when I do it's a life saver.
Presumably a lot of rural properties being above ground pole fed (TT supply) and relying on ground spikes for earth - which are never as low resistance earth from ground cable sheathing. If TT, small garage consumer unit and local ground spike might provide a solution.
Earth is really about protecting against electrocution, it does little to help with thermal overloads that burn properties.
Agree the purpose of earth's is a fail safe feature to prevent electrocution. A faulty earth is however indicative that the wiring does has faults and could be dodgy. Ian gave the example when he asked for a charge in exchange for wine/chocolates that only the third outlet would work. I'd say that property probably has dodgy wiring.
EVSE manufacturers know that the high current draw for extended periods can cause wires to get hot. So one does want to be sure the wiring meets all safety standards before using it.
I think the misting up is just aircon cars my son's Renault Clio was the same but it's quite common in a lot of air con cars
Great vlog, thanks!
God I hope new leaf has at least 41kwh. We shall see in just a few hours.
If it doesn't I will cry, I really want the next one to be astounding and give people who are dubious real life range.
ddlovetts A few hours?! I thought it was Wednesday at 1.30ish am UK time?
I have a feeling they will show off a 41kwh. The Nissan/Renault alliance will mean I doubt a 60kwh will be announced yet.
The Zoe and Leaf will probably get a bounce up around the same time around the Model 3 release date
iKaGe01 It is just a few hours compared to the literally years that we have been waiting.
I'm so excited I am starting to smell like a chair in an old folks home.
ddlovetts HAHAHA Just hope the hype is worth it
Really exiting for the reveil. Could be one of the best sellers next to the Model 3. They have sold 270.000 Leaf already, so they have some experience.
Found on my Leaf that the estimated charge time that the car gives you is always way longer than it actually takes for some reason
Well thats a plus!
Maybe I skipped this information - isn't it possible to charge the Leaf just as fast as the Zoe from a wall socket?
Good review!
Keen to switch to an electric car when my pcp runs out in a year or so, but the charging still seems to be a big issue. So it doesn’t do fast chargers in 30 mins and the 3 prong plugs take about 20 hours to fully charge? Seems like a massive inconvenience.
Great video. My girlfriend has just got her ZE40 and is loving it. One question about the 13A granny cable though: you said the dealer acquired it but that it wasn't the official Renault one. Do you have details of what brand/supplier/cost it was? Our ZE40 wasn't shipped with a granny cable, so I've been looking at getting a third party one, and lots of them explicitly say "not suitable for use with the Zoe".I'm assuming this is because they have a default 6A low start, which the Zoe will take as a bad charger (it needs 10A from what I've read). The dealer said that there was a Renault one but "those cables explode" which sort of put us off ordering it!
Lol, explode. See: www.evchargersdirect.co.uk/matrix-page
Thanks Ian, for another great video! I have heard some reports that the Zoe feels underpowered compared to the Leaf. What is your impression?
Could be smidge maybe, found its 30+ acceleration to feel a smidge quicker.
I guess the ZOE was in "deep sleep" when you connected the charger, and only actually started to charge when you opened the door. :)
Seems that way yes!
Is it not best to keep the battery between 30 and 80% or it will reduce the life of it?
Mark Reed following
If you want to maximise battery life (and capacity throughout the life as well) then yes with the current lithium chemistry keeping the battery working within a charging band is well worth it. Not practical so much with sub 100mile batteries but with the range and capacity increasing and say only local usage then definitely worth considering as a strategy for pretty much having a battery for the useful life of the car without compromising its usefulness. Even more applicable if in a mild climate as battery stressing due to high/low temps is not so much of a battery killer either.
Mark, in my personal experience rather than what is on paper, having the car charged 1000's of times to 100% it has made no difference to the battery's health. Which is odd, but even Nissan removed the charge to 80% only option on the newer Leaf. I hammered my Leaf battery over 4 years and 55,000 miles (will be 60,000 ish once I had it back...unless Zoe arrives early). Has given me massive confidence in what these things are capable of (Hence I am now purchasing the car rather than leasing).
Thanks for the reply. I would buy a 22kw Zoe with a battery lease as most times I travel under 20 miles a day so would not be a problem it's just living in a flat and the nearest charger a 10 miles round trip, it would not be practical for me. I'm going to need to wait for a more affordable second hand 41 kw Zoe before I can get one as even 16k is way out of my budget sadly!
That sound good. Just wish Renault would allow an outright battery purchase on the second hand 22kw models so more people could get one now! Also do you know If there are any grants in place to enable councils to fit these new lamppost EV chargers I have seen?
How does the range on the 41Kwh Zoe compare to the hyundai ioniq? The Ioniq seems to get better range than a 30kwh nissan leaf from what i read mainly because of aerodynamics people think.. but find that hard to believe. As it looks like a bigger car. but it seems to cost the same as a Zoe to lease and is a bigger car with loads more kit on it. Trying to decide.
Dont think it comes close (as in the same) to the Zoe 41kw version (How can it, it has a 28kw battery and is a large car!). Zoe in city will give 200 miles of range. Mixed driving easily 150, but from all the comments seems to sit around 170-180 miles per charge with mixed driving.
By the time you take delivery of your next Beverly it will have double that range!
The range is brilliant but when I took one out on a 24hr test drive the build quality for the price concerned me. What do you make of the things like the charging flap and the rear door handles? I'm not honing in on either the Kia Soul EV but will see what the Nissan new Leaf looks like tomorrow.
Build quality is 'different' compared to the Leaf. The switches and levers all seem good quality, its more the panelling that is plasticy. But for me its going to get knocked about inside any way with 4 kids and a dog, so this side actually, as it turns out is a plus!
but anybody know to get a adapter for charcing at a DC charge station, its very diffecault to find any AC power these days. SCC2 to Type2. the Zoe do NOT have DC charge.
Hi Ian, You mention in your video that you're using a 3'rd party granny cable to charge, could you provide a link (or just the name of the company / model of the granny cable) I'm interested in picking one up.
Check it out! www.speedyfeet.co.uk/products/electric-car-type-2-10amp-240v-evse-charing-device
I'm curious as to why you didn't use your Level 2 charger at home to charge the car, instead of the slow Level 1 charger?
I really wish we could get this car here in Canada.
Home charger is Type 1 connector, the Zoe uses the more widely used Type 2.
Impressive video of what seems to be an outstanding EV. As a newbie can I ask if the display be turned off during charging Ian? looks like it stays on all the time, or have I got that wrong? Thought I'd ask the expert. We have to choose between the Zoe or the E Golf for SWMBO soon to replace her BMW 1 series, surprisingly she didn't like the i3
Thanks for watching! Yes the 'Dashboard' can be turned off in the menu when its charging.
OK Thank You for the prompt reply Ian.
Did you get to the bottom of the problems with the heater? I read somewhere that the heating is subdued if you are in eco mode.
True, thats the case but also apparently it also goes by outside temp, need to find out more, but have been told if its more than 8c outside its not as powerful or something?
I've since read that there's a small resistive heater that assists the heat pump. I imagine that one or the other wasn't working in your test Zoe as poor heater performance seems to be a fairly common gripe on the Facebook owners group.
Ian, I wonder why you didn't get a Leaf again, either the 2017 or 2018, I am surprised because you love the LEAF.
2017 is not enough range at ~120 miles per charge
2018 is not £16k its ~£10,000 more
2018 leaf only does ~150 miles per charge
So a combination of those 3
Great video as always!I'd be curious to know what motivated you to go for a Zoe as opposed to a (2018 model) Leaf?Do you think that the increased charging time of the R90 version will be an issue?Giving some thought to going the same route myself.
1. It doesnt exist in real life yet
2. Change - just fancied something different to try
3. Range on the Zoe is brilliant compared to others in the same price range.
4. Price (£16k all in super duper deal)
^ this was the list prior to the launch, and pretty much applies still. The new Leaf range is less than the Zoe, so still very happy with the Zoe order - especially linked with the above points!
Now the 60kw Leaf (Price dependent) is a different story!
I wish they would sell this car in USA! However, I guess with a new Leaf on the horizon, we should get a longer range affordable EV here as well.
Yes they would sell loads! New Leaf will be interesting!
Can the new Zoe tow a small trailer with trials bike on?
A question if I may sir.
For how long you own the renault zoe?
what is your current mileage today? and how much battery degradation did your car battery suffer so far.
also, last but not the least, do you enjoy the car? ..and.. how much money would you save compared to ICE car, say like toyota corolla compared to Zoe in terms of gasoline savings?
thank you kindly dear sir :D
Did you have to fork any money out for the alloy damage? I'd have been gutted too :(
No they were really good about it.
How warn did the 3 pin plug get (the part that plugs into the receptacle)?
Slightly, but hardly noticeable after 12 hours or so of being on.
Oh mate I think you should have waited for the new leaf it's amazing!
£16k? 248miles range, did they give clue if this was real life range do you know? Just started to watch the presentation.
Ian Sampson 150+miles quoted I'm really excited about everything about it ;) Glyn Hopkins take my deposit haha I'm hoping to take delivery before Easter if possible, japan gets it on 2nd October
Have you got a UK price yet?
Ian Sampson apparently the uk pricing is to be announced later this year :(
$30,000 so likely to be min £25,000 more likely £27,950 base model. Also - 150 miles range doesnt do it for me. Glad I purchased the Zoe 41kwh even more now!
So did that car have the fast charge option ? what would a 30 min fast charger give you.
This was the same car as my last video when I borrowed it, its the 'R'. So faster on public chargers / at home but slower on the Rapid (0-100% is around 2hrs 30 I think)
you15690 80% be 1:30 hour mate on the r90 on the 40kwh battery
No, not on this model.
Much is the 3 pin charger, original Renault home 3 pin charger was 450 quid
Around £270
You had the a/c turned off hence.no warm air. To charge, power must be available when you plug in to the car, otherwise she will get bored waiting and go to sleep.
Tried it in auto (puts AC on) tried it off, tried manually adjusting the settings to different ones, simply not anything than mildly warm. If it wasnt or the fact if it was turned fully right to max setting it work I would have thought it was broken! We survived though ha ha
Interesting about it going to sleep! Wonder what the time out period is. (I was not more than 5 mins feeding cable through window and plugging it in again).
Ian Sampson Essentially, if it doesn't start charging before the doors lock, it will not try to charge. 5 minutes later it goes to sleep.
I find with mine that the heater is a little quirky exactly around that kind of ambient temperature. When the ambient is down into low single digits it pumps out nice warm air with the temp set at 20 or 21 C. But when ambient is 12-16 C then it is less than impressive. I am thinking it must be related somehow to heat pump efficiencies with smaller temperature differentials, but I am no thermodynamicist!
Great to see you enjoying the Zoe. I had fun in a 41kWh one at the weekend. Very tempting to upgrade... must resist, must resist...
How do you find the noise levels and ride compared to your leaf?
No difference!
Can I ask for the link to the 3 plug charger you had ?
Yes the three pin
Our leaf mist up too. Its normal
My leaf used to be really bad at that.
A week ago I also managed to scratch a rented EV car. I wouldn't worry about it :)
How does the acceleration compare to the leaf?
About the same all round.
And this Zoe's poor heater issue ? Has that been sorted ? Was it just a fault with this test vehicle ?
Apparently it relies on outside temp, and only kicks in fully when it gets below 7/8c outside (Unless you crank it up onto full, then it gets toasty)
Still sounds like a silly deficiency that could so easily have been avoided by Renault.
The zoe would look lovely in purple!
Great video Ian! Like your test drive Zoe. Does that charger charge the carat 220v / 32A / 3.3kwh? Do they have a 6.6hwh home charger?
It was a 10amp 3 pin charger, so max it could be is 10 x 240 = 2600watts (for the granny cable / EVSE I used in this video).
As for any other charger - the Zoe does not have an onboard charger - it just draws the max amount available from the post / home charge point. You can get a 7kw (32amp) home charger fitted (comes free when buying the Zoe - renault fund it), and out and about it will draw as much as it can.
Let me review: this car in Europe, a Renault/Nissan product, gets almost 250 miles on a 41 kw battery but the new Leaf for US, same 40 kw battery is good for 150 miles? I am not getting the why as to difference. Anyone?
This is in part due to the fact the Zoe doesn't do 250 miles. It does 200 MAX if inner city (driving around 20-25mph for the entire charge). Mixed driving it does 160-170 at around 15c.
As for the new Leaf, well no one in the real world has had chance to give it a real life test, but would suspect it will be just slightly less than the Zoe as its a heavier car with more power output.
Wonder if Renault are so twitchy about charging a Twizzy from a 3 pin socket as that's all it has.
No idea, but probably not as the car us designed around that 3 pin as its way to charge. The Leaf and Zoe are designed around Rapid and 7kw public / at home chargers...rather than solely relying on the 3 pin.
So you reckon I could get 100km a day just by charging off the wall for eight hours a night? Because that would be awesome.
Renault provided a 7kw charger with the car. That would give a 100% charge in 6 hours but in reality I plug in for 3-4 hours a week. I am getting over 300km on a charge so even if you drove fast it would do your journey very easily.
100km easily yeah, I mean we did 120 odd motorway speeds and then still had 20 left. Inner city driving you will get 180-200 miles of range. Mixed driving certainly 150.
How fast can it charge? Does it accept ccs 50kw?
Type 2 Charging. Accepts up to 43kw on a quick/Rapid Charger. For the Q version of the 41kwh Zoe its 1:30 on a rapid and for the R version its 2:40 (0-100%). This demo model is the R. The one I am getting is the Q. Handy link here: www.renault.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/zoe-250/battery-and-charging.html
Sorry if I missed it but is this the Q90 or R90 version?
R90
My smart meter says 1.6 KW when plugged in
Using the 3 pin?
Ian Sampson I suggest you both buy a better charger as you should get 3 kilowatts out of that type socket so could charge nearly twice as fast
Restricted intentionally as far as I know.
We both have 7KW home chargers
Heating on 22kw ?, air con ok
So, when are you getting solar and a Tesla battery pack to "play" with?
Cost is prohibitive for us, gain would be minimal for the size of the system we could have as well. Calculated it would take at least 10 years to break even sadly!
Good video. What model Is the a Zoe?
Cheers, it was a ZE40
I'd like an ev but I live in a block of flats no chance of plugging in at home so I would not get one
paul ward which city are you in? And how many miles do you do a day?
Ian Sampson hi ian I live in southampton I do just to work is about 50 a day
paul ward ok, so you would need to charge at worst every other day, possibly every 3 days. There are quiet a lot of chargers around you area - checkout www.zap-map.com/live (would also be awesome if you could blag charging at work!)
Ian Sampson hi Ian the thing is I'd have to finish work then go to a charger stay there until it's charged hopefully one day I can afford to rent a house then I'd def get a ev I really like the idea no chance at work no sockets ect were the cars are parked
Also - worth checking out www.plugshare.com < people allow other ev drivers to charge at their house, usually offroad charging. Might be someone near by that would let you charge if you cover the cost of electric (might be a neighbour for instance!).
As EV's get longer longer range getting a charge becomes less and less of a problem - eventually it will be one charge once a week ;) With the Zoe Q90 an hour parked up in town on a rapid will give you 100% charge.
But why do you have to wait almost FIVE months for your Zoe ?
This isn't a criticism of the dealership in Gloucester - but of car and EV manufacturers in general.
Can you please tell us - by contrast - how long you'd have to wait for a gasoline-powered Renault ? A Captur..a Megane etc ? Delivered in a fortnight ? A week ? Yesterday ? Could you ask the Glos dealer ?
These ludicrous delivery delays are just one more inexcusable way that carmakers deter most people from switching to EVs.
Paul G (EVUK)
Yeah its a long time for sure...mind you enables me to try and sort some finances out...not only that, couldn't have it earlier as my Leaf Lease does not run out until January, so personally for me - perfect timing!
Maybe you lot got a bad batch of leafs my leaf doesn't mist up.
Where about are you located? UK? Gen1 or 2 Leaf? Viewer Duncan commented on this issue as well at said:
"I'd imagine that the leaf is more air tight... I live in the desert in Utah and its very dry here and mine steams up too, quickly. If I open the vents from outside it clears up quickly but the leaf does weird things with the heating. Got a mod from Thor. Works a treat now."
At 16:24
It was nice if that guy to take up 2 parking spaces
Hi Ian, If you want the title of your video to make sense, you should correct it to: 41kWh.
I think people know what it means, was just thinking of putting 41, a dropped h should be ok.
I give you a thumbs up if you change it to "kWh".
you should try the Hyundai Ioniq EV ;)
The wait list is really long 6-9 months I think due to supply issues. Wouldnt mind test driving one at some point though!
The Zoe 41kw is a mid range car, not a long range EV.
The Chevy Bolt on the other hand is a long range EV.
See Eric Lundgrens video comparing his home built BMW EV, the Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf and a Tesla
Eric Lundgren home built BMW EV normal driving (750 miles)
ua-cam.com/video/tweyTsIOpY8/v-deo.html
Real world test @ 70mph
Nissan Leaf 81 miles
Tesla P90D 238 miles
Chevy Bolt 271 miles
ua-cam.com/video/InWSsghejdE/v-deo.html
I would argue that the Bolt is not a long-range car, but a medium-range EV. It only charges around 45 kW max in the real world, so it takes over an hour to get to 80% charge, making it impractical for journeys with over 200 miles one-way. However, if that is all you need, then it is great. It is really disappointing that they did not fit faster charging capability to an EV with such a large battery. Rumor has it that the new Leaf will support 150 kW, we shall see...
Long range is dependent on what you compare it to. I am comparing it to a EV which doesn't cost £120,000, but more sub £20k new. So thats really the Gen1, 2 and 2.5 Leaf as well as the 22kw Zoe. Compared to those its extremely long range.
The list will continually change and the brackets at which you can determine something as long range will also change. All the cars you mention will become short range evs for instance if the upper range of any said EV was 700+ Miles in the future.
PS - Chevy Bolt is not even available in the UK so that cannot be included in MY comparison as if its not attainable there is no point in comparing it.
lol, so much fun with all these available on the market now, it used to be pretty much the Leaf and that was it!
Actually there are several Chevy Bolts in the UK, lord only knows what the import duty was!
Please record at a higher level; I have my laptop and youtube volumes fully up and can barely hear you.
Scrap that, my bad; apple laptops reduce the volume after a phone call using the laptop, turning up the laptop volume to max doesn't work, and you have to restart the laptop to reset the volume - progress, eh! Really useful vid, thanks a bunch.
lol no problem, only found this out the other day in the office with an imac we bought....thought, 'darn, we recorded all this footage and obviously didnt sound check, what the! We are going to have to redo it all!'........then restarted machine and all good ;)
Glad it happens to the best of us. Something I'm really scratching my head about, which you may be able to help with, is that there are secondhand Zoes like yours for sale right now which cost more than you paid for your brand new one a year ago. I checked the new list price and it's lower than your car's list price at the time. Any thoughts? I'm looking to ship a UK car down here to New Zealand as they're more expensive here and very rare. Thanks mate.
I got a bargain basically. Cant get anything closer to that - all 19-20k now (and you can no longer get the Q version - so no quick charge)
Did you ever try Bmw i3???
No it has some design flaws;
1. To open the back doors you need to open the front doors.
2. Unlike almost all 5 door cars on the market it only has 4 seats for some reason.
As such it was a no go, otherwise it looks awesome.
Sent an email to Renault Gloucester for Hire Purchase. Fingers crossed.
Ankit Patel Awesome, and did you reference Mr Ian Sampson? Ha ha
Ian Sampson yes I did 😀. Thank you
Ankit Patel ha ha, brilliant!
There is no probably about it, at 3kW for an extended time a reel of cable will melt if you don't unwind it.
Time is the crucial component for failure of the extension. People have accidentally (before they watched this video in some cases!) charged with no issues, but it should NEVER be left on. Some of these cars take over 24hrs from empty! So much easier to just unwind - education is key. Would recommend NOT ever using an extension at all, and only really well built electrical systems to plug into.