A small French electric car Renault Zoe is renewed. And, of course, the most important upgrade lies in the battery capacity, which affects the total range. And what an improvement this is. 2016 Renault Zoe with a new battery pack can theoretically travel 400 kilometers or 250 miles on a single charge. Compared to the old battery, the range is nearly doubled. In real traffic, this means about 300 kilometers / 190 miles on a single charge.

A huge step ahead for Renault Zoe with the new battery

Looks like the French have decisively entered on the path to massive electric mobility and challenged the car companies like Tesla Motors, Volkswagen and General Motors.

Renault Zoe is a four-meter long electric car, sent to market in 2012. The 2016 Zoe EV has got a bigger battery, which had so far a capacity of 22 kW. From now on, it has a capacity of 41 kilowatt hours. A new battery is 15 kilograms heavier compared with the previous one.

2016 Renault Zoe: But what remains for the big ones?

Do you remember the former slogan But what remains for the big ones? With it, Renault advertised Clio in the early nineties. Today, this slogan could be used again for the new Renault Zoe. Zoe is a car that, as the first, for a relatively affordable price breaks the practical and above all psychological limits of electro mobility.

With a new battery, 2016 Renault Zoe in fact doubles the range and becomes a “low” cost mass production car, well before the announced Tesla Model 3 and Volkswagen I.D. study. We don’t make any comparisons yet, the only factor in this thinking is the time component. And 2016 Renault Zoe is here, on the market, eagerly awaiting its customers.

Renault Zoe price

The price of Renault Zoe in the UK with Z.E. 40 battery starts at around 17,800 pounds (21,800 USD), while Zoe with a 22 kWh battery will cost you 3,800 pounds (4,650 USD) less.

In France, Renault Zoe 41 kWh will cost you at least 23,600 EUR (24,600 USD), minus government incentives, currently at 6,300 EUR, with the battery lease option.

In Norway, you can get 2016 Renault Zoe from 229,400 kroner (26,500 USD).

Renault Zoe available with two electric motors, R90 and Q90

2016 Renault Zoe is available in two versions, R90 and Q90. The latter has the option of fast charging and a few kilometers shorter range. The Renault Zoe electric motors have the power of 68 or 65 kilowatts. Renault Zoe Q90 with faster charging is namely around 700 euros more expensive, but on the other hand much more daily useful because of the fast charging. Significantly faster recharging certainly outweighs a few kilometers shorter range.

300 kilometers of total range destroys the greatest psychological barrier of an electric car

When thinking about buying an electric car, peoples biggest concern is for sure the total range of the vehicle. And the fear that because of a short range they will not be able to recharge the battery. We believe the capacity of the battery, which is directly linked to the EV’s total range, is definitely the largest obstacle to faster penetration of electric cars on the market.

In case of the new Renault Zoe, the range has now nearly doubled, from around 170 to 300 kilometers. With this achievement, the psychological barrier for the average driver is reached and exceeded.

In terms of the total range, the renewed 2016 Renault Zoe certainly set new standards. The new battery, made by LG Chem, has a capacity of 41 kilowatt hours. Dimensionally, the new battery is of approximately the same size and only 15 kilograms heavier than its predecessor with a capacity of 22 kilowatt hours.

The weight of the new Renault Zoe 41 kWh battery is 305 kilograms, compared to the previous 290 kg heavy 22 kWh battery.

2016 Renault Zoe (41 kWh) range in real traffic

The Renault Zoe real traffic total range on a single charge naturally depends on how and where you drive it. By driving mostly in the city and country roads, 300 kilometers on a single charge is easily accessible.

If we increase the share of driving on motorways and highways with high speed (by the way, the Renault Zoe top speed is limited to 135 kilometers per hour or 84 miles per hour), the number of kilometers on a single charge may drop to 200 – 250 kilometers.

Driving mostly on highways with the speed close to the maximum, Renault Zoe can handle around 200 kilometers without additional charging.

Faster charging on city charging stations

What we like about Renault Zoe is also the ability to take full potential of the 22 kW city charging stations. Compared to the most of the competitors that are able to use at most a third of their power. The Renault Zoe battery can therefore be recharged for around 75 kilometers of range in about 30 minutes.

Therefore Zoe is much less dependent on the motorway fast charging stations than the competition. The drivers will prefer to leave the highway and find a nearby city charging station, rather than gain electricity from the expensive highway fast chargers.

Two or three things to improve

It would be nice to include a better R-link infotainment system. The one in Renault Zoe is the small landscape oriented one. We all know Renault has much better and larger display for this purpose, like the ones in Megane, Scenic or Talisman.

We miss the possibility of driving mode with increased regeneration of kinetic brake energy, like the one in competitors Nissan Leaf or Volkswagen e-Golf. In this case, driving in the city or on the downhills might be even more energy efficient.

The next “awkward” thing is the information about the remaining power in the battery. This data is only displayed in the form of remaining distance available and not as a percentage of remaining battery.

We don’t like this because the available range is also a result of a driving style and road characteristics in the last few kilometers. Because of that, our opinion is that the information about the remaining range is not sufficiently precise compared with the remaining battery percentage info.

New Renault Zoe now also allows you to buy batteries, not only rent, but…

Renault had, until now, rather controversial way to purchase a car, in which the driver had to pay a monthly fee to lease the battery. Because the battery was not included in the retail price of the car. The new Renault Zoe now has the option to purchase the car with the battery included.

But, Renault Zoe with included battery is around 8,500 euros more expensive. And the battery rental pricing is between 70 and 120 euros (approximately), depending on the annual mileage.

Renting the batteries also brings advantages. When the battery capacity drops below 75 percent, Renault will replace the old battery with the new one free of charge. This also makes the sale of used Renault Zoe easier.

Z.E. trip and Z.E. pass – charging stations integrated into the navigation

There are currently more than 80 thousand public charging stations all over Europe. Renault Zoe’s infotainment system R-Link  has an application called Z.E. trip, where the driver can pre-determine the location of the new Renault Zoe energy supply.

Moreover, they provide another application Z.E. pass, which will enable a simple, unified access to energy at public charging stations. This free app will be able to compare prices between individual charging stations and allow payment of energy with the smartphone.

What about Renault Zoe luggage compartment?

Smaller electric vehicles usually have the problem. Because the batteries are still quite spatially voluminous, some sacrifices must be made. Renault did quite a good trick with Zoe. They installed the batteries under the passenger compartment and raised the platform of the cabin. It is true that the overall height of the car is bigger, but they did not interfere with the passenger and luggage compartment volume.

Therefore, Renault Zoe can actually offer a bigger luggage compartment that Renault Clio, for example. Its basic volume is 338 litres, 38 litres more that in Clio. With rear seats folded, the volume increases to 1,225 litres. The surface is not flat, but the space you get is still useful.

Renault Zoe possible competition and rivals

• BMW i3 (video comparison below)
• Chevrolet Bolt (video comparison below)
• Hyundai Ioniq
• Nissan Leaf
• Opel Ampera
• Tesla Model 3
• Toyota Prius
• Volkswagen e-Golf

Renault Zoe vs. Nissan Leaf

Not quite comparable in size, but anyway. The comparison shows that Zoe can offer similar performance and  much longer total range for a smaller price. For a 2017 model year Nissan promised a better battery capacity but that was unfortunately not the case.

BMW i3 (94 Ah) vs. Renault Zoe 40 EV

It is true that these two cars are both electric, but with very different character. Zoe appears to be more of a city driver for a broad audience, mostly because of its price and incredible total range. On the other hand, BMW i3 is more of a racer, with powerful engine and fast acceleration.

Renault Zoe 40 EV vs. Chevy Bolt EV

From the outside, Renault Zoe and Chevy Bolt look quite similar, but under the hood they have electric motors with very different character and performance. Both cars can offer very decent total electric range. See for yourself in the video below.

Hyundai Ioniq electric vs. Renault Zoe 40

If you are looking for an affordable electric vehicle with a long total range, then Renault Zoe is the one for you. But if you need more space in your EV, then Ioniq can be one of the best options currently available.

The difference between Renault Zoe new 41 kWh battery and old 22 kWh battery

NEDC driving range:

Zoe R90 with 41 kWh: 403 km (250 miles)
Zoe R90 with 22 kWh: 240 km (149 miles)

Battery weight:

Zoe R90 with 41 kWh: 305 kg
Zoe R90 with 22 kWh: 290 kg

Slowest charging time (home socket):

Zoe R90 with 41 kWh: 25 hours
Zoe R90 with 22 kWh: 13 hours and 30 minutes

Fastest charging time (43kW (three-phase 63A charge point)):

Zoe R90 with 41 kWh: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Zoe R90 with 22 kWh: 1 hour

2016 Renault Zoe technical details

Dimensions and weight

• Length: 4,084 mm (160.8 in)
• Width: 1,730 mm (68.1 in)
• Height: 1,562 mm (61.5 in)
• Wheelbase: 2,588 mm (101.9 in)
• Ground clearance: 120 mm
• Luggage compartment / boot space: 338 litres / 1,225 litres with folded rear bench seat
• Turning circle between kerbs (m): 10.56
• Unladen kerb weight: 1,480 kg
• Unladen kerb weight on front / rear: 872 kg / 608 kg
• Max. gross vehicle weight (GVW): 1,966 kg
• Max. braked / unbraked towing weight: not allowed

Engine

• Electric motor technology: Synchronous with rotor coil
• Maximum power: 92 hp (R90), 88 hp (Q90)
• Peak torque (Nm): 225 (R90), 220 (Q90)

Gearbox

• Gearbox type: Gearbox with single-speed reduction gear bar
• Number of forward ratios: 1

Performance

• Top speed: 135 km/h (electronically limited)
• Acceleration:
  • 0-50 km/h (s): 4.1 seconds
  • 0-80 km/h (s): 8.6 seconds
  • 0-100 km/h (s): 13.2seconds

Battery

• On-board power: 41 kWh
• Technology: Lithium-ion
• Total voltage: 400
• Number of modules / cells: 12 / 192
• Battery weight: 305 kg

Driving range

• NEDC driving range with 15″ or 16″ tyres (km): 403 km (R90), 370 km (Q90)
• Real average range in summer (km): 300 km (R90), 280 km (Q90)
• Real average range in winter (km): 200 km (R90), 180 km (Q90)
• NEDC range with 17″ tyres (km): 367 km (R90), 350 km (Q90)

Charge time

• Home socket: 25 – 30 hours
• 11kW (three-phase 16A charge point): 4 hours 30 minutes
• 22kW (three-phase 32A charge point): 2 hours 40 minutes
• 43kW (three-phase 63A charge point): 1 hour 40 minutes (R90), 65 minutes (Q90)

Image credit: Renault