Donald – the ZOE has no 80% option (I guess the Fluence does?). If you plug it in, it stops at 100%.

Rowley – there is a thread about this elsewhere on the forum. Anyway, I have plugged mine in virtually every day for 16 months, and driven nearly 20k miles, and use fast chargers a couple of times per month, and I haven’t noticed any degradation. It’s only a couple of months ago that I got 142 miles on a charge. So I just wouldn’t worry about it.

Plus, like the rest of us, it’s probably not your battery anyway.

I would recommend; charge it to 80% and recharge it back to 80% after it has dropped to 30 to 20%.

Every few weeks, just before a long run, charge fully to 100%. This will ‘level’ the cells and help keep their respective voltages within a range of tolerance.

‘In the real world’ you are unlikely to notice a difference between doing this and just charging up every day, but this is the most sympathetic to the physics of the battery so if you want an MO then it would seem best to stick with that approach.

Repetitive charging is not very ageing and certainly not as ageing as taking it to 100%, but ‘total number of charges’ does appear to be a factor in battery ageing albeit a minor one.

I have had my Zoe for 1 month now and charge when I need to and when it’s convenient to.

Someone on the battery industry told me to only charge to 100% when you are going to drive off but not if the car is going to sit around for hours on 100% charge because it isn’t good for the battery.

Slow charge also seems better for the battery than constant rapid charge.

I can’t explain the technical reasons for any of this…just what i have picked up and do.

Always better to ask for the 36 month battery rental. There are terms that say if you cut it short within 36 months you simply pay the difference as if you had paid from the start with the shorter period, i.e. if you close it after 24 months you simply make up the difference as if you’d started with a 24 month rental in the first place.

So far, one person has gone through a battery rental renewal that I am aware of on a Fluence. It was a new agreement and there was no concession on the monthly price though RCI did let him set up a 24 month rental for the lower 36 month rental price. So in a sort of way it was reduced, but rather the term length than the pm.

We all have yet to comprehend what Renault mean by not extending the rental after 6 months. They probably don’t know themselves anymore! Probably made sense to someone, sometime.

The battery hire agreement says that it can be extended up to a maximum of 6 years. When I spoke to Renault finance they said that you would have to start a new agreement after that time. The incentive for signing up for a longer period is cheaper battery hire rates. Take a look at the Renault web site for the current rates.

http://renault.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/zoe/zoe/z-e-battery.jsp

It sounds like the later cars are a bit more tolerant of different chargers but it’s not completely resolved. I’ve had my car for about 2 weeks and have only tried fast chargers away from home so far. I’ve had a 4 out of 4 success rate so far and no problems with my Chargemaster (Britsh Gas) home charging unit. I did notice that the Rapid charger connector at Winchester services north bound was a lot looser fit than my home charger connector.

Take a look at the government website for low emission vehicles

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ultra-low-emission-vehicles-in-the-uk-measures-to-support-use-and-development-2015-to-2020

It says the subsidy stays at £5000 max until 2017 or 50,000 vehicles so you should be ok for a while.

Hi Zoe drivers, and i hope the original poster won’t mind me adding to this discussion from their same point of view, that of being a prospective Zoe owner but having a few questions.

1. Can any one tell me what exactly happens after the rental period you sign up for? I’ve seen a few things about this, but even renault themselves seem to keep this under wraps?

Is it better to get the standard 36month deal or go for something different? a 12 month deal seems better overall doesn’t it? Does it roll-on after the time period or are you done in terms of battery costs?

2. Has there been any news on Renault looking like they might look into/fix the fairly common ‘Can not charge’ error issues? They did listen about the dashboard reflection on screen issue, but that is a fairly ‘cheap’ fix for them, they might be dragging their heels over a possible issue with their Chameleon charging system perhaps?

3. Do we know how long the subsidies are going to last, i think they have been cut a little already haven’t they? Is there an end-date for when you no longer get a subsidy for buying a pure EV car?

Thanks in advance for any replies and thanks also to those brave pioneer souls that have taken that step into EV ownership, you should be getting paid to be the guinea-pigs/beta testers imho!

When driving with the “Direct Consumption” display I am not aware of any increase in consumption when for example the heater is switched on.Is this do you think because any 12v battery consumption is not directly displayed?
On the smart phone/bluetooth issue I find that I would have to select “Make bluetooth visible” on the Galaxy 5 each time I get into the car, this is hopeless and I have just gone back to the mini jack aux i/p.

Just had my first “Key battery low” warning. When all else failed, I read the handbook,as you do.Having very carefully opened the key to reveal the battery compartment and a mechanical key. The 3v battery was easy to replace and no complicated pushing of buttons and codes required. This may be because I replaced the battery very quickly and nothing was lost? The book seems to say that the mechanical key will open the passenger door but no mention is made of how to start the car? The book says the battery is good for two years and that may be from the day the car was built. My two years from delivery not until next June. Might be worth carrying a battery spare in the car. I seldom press the key buttons but perhaps the key transmits when in range of Zoe? The small lithium cell is easy to pickup, even in Lidl for a few pence. A friend was recently quoted 20 pound for a similar battery from plumbing supplies for an oil tank transmitter,I wonder how much a Renault dealer would charge for the whole experience?

a few points:

make sure you pre heat the car using ‘pre-heat’ function while the car is plugged in each day. this saves valuable battery and ensures the car is warm before you set off

when u set off on your journey and u were unable to use the pre heat – i wud drive with ECO mode off until the car warms up then hit ECO mode on as in ECO mode the heat is restricted and does not warm up the car quick enough. also on motorways i also keep ECO on and cruise control on 62 (usual speed is around 58-60 depending on graidance)

regarding regen i find no obvious difference in enery recoup with ECO on or off.

I have had my Zoe now for 1.5 years, 30.000 km. No problem at all with the 12V battery. No problems with demisting either, but I do recognise the dirty screen problem from another car I had. This is the dash I have in my intens now. Depending on light fall it is different a bit, but I’m loving it since I don’t have those nasty reflections anymore: