I don’t know it if will work on the Zoe, but you can follow (after translation) the discussion on the French Zoe forum linked earlier in this thread.

The electronic locking should already prevent theft, a looping dashcam will indeed help.

Why not go for the new generation Leaf (coming out in June)? Same range as the Zoe, EVSE included, no battery lease constructions to worry about.

A couple of month ago I went to Hangzhou, where there are 9800 gasoline taxis and 200 EV Taxis. I was lucky enough to get EVs twice and once I went to the battery change depot (the local power company).

The car could only go 80km on a charge, and it took 5min to change the four batteries (very manual labor, where they physically pulled out each of the 60kg batteries). The EV drivers wish was a car with 200km range (they drive around 300km per day). Both drivers I spoke to told me  that the local government would replace all the 9800 gasoline taxis once they found such a car.

I think ZOE would be ideal (but might be a little too small in the back for passengers), with it’s range and potential to make quick charging while the drivers eat. Note that each car is driven 24hrs a day in two or three shifts, so there cannot be a long overnight charging.

To be successful in China, you need a local partner, that’s why Nissan partner up with DongFeng. Hopefully Renault can enter China later, the taxi market would be the first, then the charging network would be built and the consumers would join very fast.

The battery lease seems the best option because as the technology changes in the future at the end of your lease I’m sure they will be options to upgrade which must have a positive effect to the resale value of the vehicle. Still we will not know that until we buy and run the Zoe, its a chicken and egg and until EV’s start selling in serious numbers then we will see costs reduced.

I expect it will be 2017/2018 before we see a 200+ range on the Zoe.

Lets hope Reno’s batteries are better than Boeing 787’s.

Well I’ve gone to the ‘dark side’ and have ordered a Leaf, paid the deposit yesterday and done the paperwork over the phone.  Should be able to complete the purchase on Monday when they get a registration number for it, went into England to get it, found it on Autotrader with Chorley Group in Wigan.  Price worked out about £19,500(give or take), on a PCP deal Nissan are contributing £2700 off this also, which brings it down to a respectable £220 per month, it’s in Sky Blue and has the rear solar panel, which really only helps to recharge the 12v battery which I think works the lights and sat nav.  They also need to arrange delivery to me as well.

There’s no gap at all. The 2013 Leaf in Holland has been discounted 3000 euros, making the cheapest version 32.590 euro. The cheapest Zoe is 20.690 euro, zo still 11900 euro of difference. Of course the main reason is that you lease the battery with the Zoe, which is also the main benefit IMHO since you don’t have to worry about the write off.

The new Leaf has slightly better range, slightly more room as well. But it still is nearly 12000 euros more expensive, the Zoe is by far the cheapest EV car to buy.

David,

thanks for your comments. Interestiing that UK has single phase power supply…how do you drive your ovens?

Since this is a Zoe forum your comments may be misleading. The onboard Zoe charger is of course capable of both triphase loading as well as loading with power ratings up to 43 kW (22 and 43 kW will cost extra due to the high wear of the leased LiIon battery).

The thrilling question now is wheter the Zoe supports loading below 3 kW since we know that Renault will not sell an auxilliary loading cable with a standard plug.

I’m very sad about this decision because it will prevent a lot of people of buying the Zoe. Surely there will be problems with overheating wall plugs in the first time, but we have all learned to handle gasoline in the last 100 years (no smoking, no storing of large amounts a.s.o). We will learn to handle electricity as well. It’s just a matter of communication and education.

Regards
Umbi

130km range which is about 80 miles with real time range of about 65 mile if you’re lucky real time, and what would it be in the winter?

I like the car and the thought of it a decent price too, the Smart ED is also available now and although a two seater, has got decent storage space, is fun to drive, even better as an EV I would imagine, and it’s price including battery is something like £15395, although a rapid on board charger is another £2200 so depending on whats on offer on the E-Up! if it was comparable to that then they might get some business, but I suppose also in the long run it’s still alot of money compared to the Up! it’s basically anther £6/7000 thats alot of petrol for that small car.

The Blu-e-motion might be a different story but I think that will end up in Leaf price territory or even Ampera, eek!