Having just been through the process with buying our second Zoe (my wife loves mine so much we are swapping her car for one as well) here’s a few things I’ve learnt:

* The free servicing is now only available if you take Renault finance. I didn’t use Renault finance with mine last year but still get the free servicing so that’s an interesting change they’ve not shouted about.

* You cannot change from the £45 battery rental up to the £70 rental option. Apparently it is final and fixed and the only option would be to cancel early and start a new £70 rental (with associated early termination fee etc). If you are on the £70 option you can, of course, change your mileage any time up to 6 months before the end of your contract or something.

* The battery lease mileage and the PCP lease mileage don’t need to be the same. As they have different penalties and thresholds you can use this to your advantage!

Thanks 🙂

No formula for the other cars, I just calculate based on average power usage instead of speed. The slider changes from speed to usage. For the Zoe you can choose which method you want to use.

I should probably add some screens of that as well. The only difference between the other cars are the battery capacity sizes. I’ve added Zoe, Leaf, i3, the triplets, the VW cars, Kia soul and the Teslas

You can change the battery rental range/cost any time you like. But I’d wait until my *actual* mileage was over the contract mileage by 3,000km before asking (as it is cheaper to pay the extra 5c on that, rather than upping the monthly rate too early).

The battery contract says that if they believe your contract mileage is exceeding expectations by more than 20% they may increment your monthly rate to the next level, automatically. They monitor your mileage and charges via the ZE services.

As has been discovered by …?… here, some have already asked for an increase in mileage from RCI, who promptly told them that they didn’t know how to change it!! So for now they are getting the higher mileage allowance at the lower payment rate, ‘cos RCI are a bit useless! 🙂 I’m currently exceeding my contract by around 20% but will resist moving to another rate and just pay the extra if I carry on with the same mileage profile to the end. It is tempting to ask for the upgrade range rate just in the last month and see how that works out, but I just don’t trust them to do anything unusual so will not prod the beast on that particular issue.

Sorry, to clarify one thing – if you get a PCP, let’s say over two years to cover that scenario, and you are pretty certain you will end up at 17,500km/pa, then you say you want 17,500pa as the mileage for the car lease…. But you ask for the 12,500km battery rental for 3 years.

Don’t let them persuade you to go on a 2 year 17,500km rate just because that is the PCP term. The two are separate issues. You might equally buy the car at the end of two years so it is not for them to say how long your battery rental should be. Equally for the mileage, just because you want 17.5k in your PCP terms doesn’t mean you will necessarily do that many.

You pick the lowest price for the longest time. Irrespective of whatever you expect in the future. If you find your mileage has gone more than 3,000km greater than the next mileage band then swap to the next band, and then keep incrementing the mileage rate as you reach 3,000km past each of the successive mileage ranges. That way, you will pay the higher rate only for the months where you were over those mileages.

If you cut short the agreement after 12 months, you only pay up what the rental would have been had you originally started with an agreement of the shorter term, ie no loss over what you would’ve paid anyway.

So if you pick the lowest range for the longest time then your rates may go up if you do end up at higher mileages and shorter contract, but by no more than you actually need or would’ve paid in the first place. There is no penalty for underestimating your usage on the battery rental and paying the extra, but over estimate it and you will not be able to claw the money back.

One note – if you are also leasing the car on a PCP and intend to hand it back then you need to get that mileage right. Estimate low on your mileage and you *will* pay penalties, estimate high and you may pay through an increase in the PCP rate (as the GFV will be lower, thus the finance costs will be higher).

I can hand Zoe back as on lease and no worry or extend it if that’s the case re the battery for x months longer and then hand it back I guess.

What I’m struggling to understand is why Renault have set things up so that every charge takes the car to 100% if to do so is such a bad thing?

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Yes, this is my point as well. If Renault were worried about battery life they would have build in the same system as the Leaf (80% “long life mode”, 100% “long distance mode” or something like that).

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No-one here has suggested charging to 100% every time is ‘a bad thing’. It’s fine. And if you do that, everything will be fine….

….and I’m sure your battery’s longevity will meet the expectations you and Renault have of it.

But that’s got nothing to do with the OP and the follow up question.

The *reason* you would want to charge to 80% is because in the long run it means your battery will last *longer* than expected. If you are not bothered how long your battery lasts, then you are not bothered about keeping your charge to 80%. Fine. Your choice!

“As to what happens after 72 months? Who knows. I don’t think Renault have decided yet, and that’s fine. I don’t keep any car for ever either (no matter how much I like it).”

Yes but what private buyer in their right mind are going to buy your 3 year old Zoe with only 36 months of battery lease left to run and no instruction from Renault as to what they intend to do after the 72 months maximum battery lease period.

I am afraid that all of us will have to return our Zoe’s to Renault in the form of a part-ex or give away.

Yes, this is my point as well. If Renault were worried about battery life they would have build in the same system as the Leaf (80% “long life mode”, 100% “long distance mode” or something like that). Instead, they do battery rental.

If you have bought the Zoe in Norway the battery is included. Then, just like the Leaf, you will end up with a battery that will degrade. How fast, to what level, what can you do about it are all unknowns.

Renault have also stated that they may upgrade excisting Zoe’s with a new battery should it become available.

Just drive the car the way it was intended and don’t worry about the battery. Perhaps the 100% on the dash is really 80% and you have 20% reserve. I don’t know since I don’t have one yet 🙂