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In reply to: Zoe R240
Of course I’m anxious about getting the choice right Indi – this is the wife’s car! Get it wrong and I can’t escape hearing about it.
But, since I raised the question about R240 availability etc. she has made her decision, so “old” model it will be. She values £89/month (£159 with battery hire) more than latest tech, and doubts the R240 will be available on that deal, expecting it to go back up to the April figure of £159/month (£209, or possibly £229 if battery remains at £70/month, with battery hire). That is a saving of £1800 over 3 years in monthly payments according the figures I’ve been given.
Still, its another 24 hrs before we have to confirm with the dealer, so who knows?
Thanks for the comments.
Fred
In reply to: Charging every day..
It’s worth noting that Lithium ion batteries deteriorate at their fastest rate when they are fully charged. With that in mind, don’t recharge if you don’t have to just to ensure you have a full battery and try to avoid leaving the car with a fully charged battery for long periods.
You rent the battery and Renault will replace it if it’s capacity drops to 75% but why reduce your range if you can avoid it.
I mean shady if the battery is 22kWh, but the % calculation uses a lower total, so that it stays on 100% longer to hide the first bit of loss (eg. if my 96% was 96% of 20, not 22).
I’m sure someone at Renault could explain this; but it’s knowing who that person is and whether they’re contactable! ;(
My guess has always been that it’s charging “over 100%” or rather, “100%” is less than the original capacity of the battery, to hide some of the capacity loss. Suspect it’s a bit shady :/
None of the numbers add up (over 15 miles at 4.9mpkWh is not 2 kWh used!), so I don’t really have much faith in the accuracy, though at least they’re “roughly right”. Probably.
I don’t think the range is any better, since it’s driven by the amount of power the car thinks it has. It will get more accurate as you get to lower numbers, so hopefully not a big deal!
In reply to: Holding Charge
I think its a leisure type battery – can’t turn over an engine, and there’s a warning in the manual to not use it jump start an ICE car, but it can take a deep discharge.
Perhaps a new battery in ideal conditions can be charged by 7kw can charge to 110% full (like a Spinal Tap amplifier), but only show a max of 100%. As the 22kwh will have to be an almost worst case scenario so the 98th percentile will still hold minimum 22kwh.
As long as the range is accurate I’m not that fussed.
As Renault are promising to replace batteries that hit 75% charge capacity of 22 kWh you can be sure Renault will be slightly conservative about total capacity.In reply to: Holding Charge
I thought the 12v battery in the ZOE was the same size as conventional cars? Haven’t poked around under the bonnet of ZOE, but I did pop the bonnet in the Leaf, and I’m sure it looked the same.
In reply to: Holding Charge
Ah that’s a fair point, however I’m sure a ICE car will have a significantly larger 12v battery, so perhaps after a few weeks the car will require slave key unlock & keycard in slot & sit with engine running for a few minutes as there will be no alternator to run the 12 v accessories.
Ok, if you weren’t convinced before; today I got new numbers. I drove 15 miles and when I returned to the car it was on <string>96%. There is no way in hell this is accurate.
- Set off with 100%
- Drove 15.4 miles, eco meter said 4.9mpkWh, 2kWh consumed (these don’t quite add up, surely should be ove 3kWh?)
- Car said 90% remaining
- Car was parked for the day
- Returned to car, car saids 96% remaining
- Drove another 15.4 miles, eco meter said 4.4mpkWh, 5kWh consumed (this is total for both journeys)
- Car says 75% remaining
Conditions must’ve been reasonable for me to get 4.9mpkWh on the way there (I rarely see above 4, and don’t think I’ve ever had this), so increasing temperature doesn’t seem to explain it. In any case, there’s just no way I can have 96% of the battery left after doing 15.4 miles (driven normally; including a period on the motorway).
Conclusion: The % shown in the car is bullshit.
In reply to: Holding Charge
The 12V battery is charged by the traction battery. I have a volt meter plugged into the cigarette lighter socket (which is powered from the moment you open the door). As soon as you press the start button the voltage on the 12V battery rises as it’s being charged. The voltage holds up when you have the headlights on and the heated rear screen so the charger must be able to deliver plenty of amps. There have been a few reports of flat 12v batteries but these must have been caused by a fault. I would have thought that the power usage when the car is off would be similar to an ICE car.
