Dexter1979: Out of curiosity, will you be getting 2 home chargers? If so, are they both 7kW or will you get 2 3kW chargers? Reason I am asking is that ESB in Ireland does not want to install 7kW chargers. They are worried about supply problems. You have to list how many electric showers you have in your house before they even install just 1 3kW charger.

We’re planning on having two, just to avoid any issues if we both need to charge overnight for the morning (though since the wife will likely only charge every fortnight, it’s unlikely). Nobody has contacted us yet (so whether they’ll be concerned about putting two in, I’m not sure) and since people mentioned British Gas charging to upgrade them, we’ll likely just go with the standard (3kw?) ones. There’s a rapid charger only a mile or so from here (Chester Services, M56) so if we do somehow end up needing to charge in the middle of the day in a rush, we can use that. I get the impression 3kw might be quieter too – the 22kw at the Renault garage is pretty loud!

Trevor: DanTup – congratulations! I think you’re our first dual ZOE owner, maybe the first in the UK?!

Hadn’t thought about that; I guess it’s possible! The salesmen at both dealers we spoke to thought Christmas had come early given poor performance towards their Renault EV targets! 😀

It made perfect sense to us (once I’d shown the wife that electric car does not mean a Twizzy!)… We both wanted to ditch our ageing cars and get something covered by a warranty and in 2015 it just seems crazy with our mileage to get dinosaur cars! We can count the number of > 100mi trips we do in a year on our fingers!

Dr Steel: I call in Liverpool Renault to charge some times if I am working there but they always give the impression they are not that interested in the Zoe so I can see why they have not sold many

Yeah; the new sales manager had never driven a Zoe until the day we came in. When we heard we were ordering two, he went out for a spin to see what the fuss was all about.

To be honest, I don’t think it’s entirely their fault… I suspect few people are interested in them; people seem to still have this idea that they do 11 miles at 15mph and you can’t get around the country. Even my friends/family that I’ve “educated” a little based on their comments thing we’re crazy. I think it’s going to take many years for people to realise they’re not that bad; but I think adoption will start to snowball as they do 🙂

Dr Steel: Ikea 910 Europa Boulevard, Westbrook, Warrington WA5 7TY is a very good place for you to learn how to charge the Zoe so order you Eccotricity car ASAP

Already ordered 😀 But I didn’t realise until yesterday Ecotricity owned the Ikea ones too, so that’s an added little bonus 🙂

Ecotricity said we can put our existing car reg’s in so we can get the cards now ready (and get them to update them once we get the cars/reg details). We haven’t ordered any other cards yet, as most seem to cost and I think the chances of us needing to use one that’s not Ecotricity or a Renault garage are relatively small. ChargeYourCar will let us register via the app and use our phones, so they’re probably usable in an emergency too =)

There are a couple of journeys we sometimes make that might involve charging up away from home (Trafford Centre, Horwich, Ikea) and some possible short breaks + a wedding in Hampshire + Gloucester next year; so it’ll be interesting to see how we go. Of course, I expect it all to be fine; but my colleagues and friends would have you believe we’ll be stranded every week at the side of the road!

I don’t think it’s worth paying extra for our use. If the difference between a 4hr and 8hr charge is important, we could drive the 5 minutes to M56 services, or stop at a rapid charger on the way where we’re going (almost everywhere from here involves going on the M6, and there are many). Having two might also complicate things based on Dexter1979’s comment!