Mark, that was my thought last year. John said it all very low centre of gravity putting battery packs into the floor creates even more space inside. If you plug in at home then generally you won’t have any issues charging. For me on long trips, I need to take breaks where 5 years ago I didn’t, just to get the legs and hips to move! so I don’t mind a 30-60minutes break for a coffee, breakfast while the car charges and the emerging tech will charge much faster in a year or two.
Hello John
Thought you might like to know that we still have our original Renault and still love it. We had to buy a new charging wire as the old one broke and our charging speed increased to a full charge in 4 hours. We don’t have a fancy fast charger at home. Surprisingly the batteries that came with the car 3 years ago are still working well. The cold weather does affect the range and speed of charging somewhat. My husband has been looking at the new cars out there to do the inevitable change from diesel in a couple of years but cost is our biggest restriction so I imagine we will stick with Renault. Not a bad thing when living in France . Our service which we do every 2 years cost 170 euros. I don’t think we will be rid of the old car ever as it is so practical for the job that we do.
The new Renaults do 350km and with a fast charge at 1 hour I think most trips are in reality not that complicated there seem to be very few towns without a charging point now in France. The key is to make sure you have the right connections as the wire and plugs are expensive . However not as expensive as a years worth of fuel. Our car saves us around 2000 euros a year at last calculation.
Maybe it is mindset that needs changing for most people and getting ourselves out of the rat race mentality where things should always be done as quickly as possible. After all is that not why we are in the position we are in now.
Happy driving.
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What attracts me to getting an electric Renault is the ability to lease not buy the battery packs. OK it’s a monthly outgoing but you are guaranteed to always have an efficient energy source and are not faced with the cost of replacing the batteries or the problems involved with disposing of them.
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Thanks Helen, brand loyalty is always good (sometimes) lol. I have similar feeling to Toyota but they have got it wrong at the moment and are being beaten hands down, having been very successful with the Prius. I believe Renault have now scrapped the rental for new contracts (cars)?
Hi David, As I said to Helen, I believe Renault have now stopped the rental of batteries, yes it was a good idea in an uncertain new tech but as has been proven the battery degradation just hasn’t happened. There is a taxi in the west country covered over 150,000 miles and still only 5% down on battery. The active battery management systems are so good at protecting the batteries whilst maximising output.
Some companies are experimenting with solid state batteries which have the potential to charge faster and last longer but again that’s new tech so in a year or two things could improve even more as battery cost reduces and production of easier to assemble electric cars improves. Biggest issue is ICE (internal combustion engine) car manufacturers are worried about making the full switch over as they have to retrain staff from fossil cars to electric also the commitment to new plant. Interesting times. The batteries are collected to be recycled, the materials inside which are still valuable.
Brand loyalty is a question of price for us. Who wouldn’t love a Tesla but at 79,000 euro second hand (we looked at one the other day) it is a little out of our price range ;)…I didn’t know about the battery rental, but yes apparrently there is a choice to buy the battery for the Zoe model but I can’t find anything for the other models. The cost of battery purchase is 8900 euros guaranteed for 8 years or 160,000 kilometres.
Can you be sure that everyone will not be thinking the same and how many charging points will there have to be at stops to ensure that you don’t have to wait for one to become available?
Thanks Helen, good to get real world input, I am only an observer at the moment and finding out from real owners like yourself and Jonathan is good for all of those reading this thread. It will be a while before there is any chance of a Tesla model 3 making it’s way to Europe with their slower than expected production issues, hopefully that will be more affordable but I guess still out my my price range. I am as I said before pegging my hopes on the Hyundai Kona or the Kia Niro EV’s due out later this year or early next. They seem to have a good range potential, practicality and of course price but have to wait and see. The EV sector is growing faster than any other motor sector so companies will up their game.
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Absolutely Jane, I think that is the key issue for people, it certainly is/was for me. There are lots of charging points around but some are very slow leading to long queues but they are being upgraded all the time and they need to if the EV revolution is going to happen. Tesla announced they are likely to allow other vehicles to use their charging network soon and their superchargers are definitely the ace in their company. As the power of the faster chargers evolves time to charge will definitely fall. A European network supported by some grand marques are hoping to roll out 300kw chargers for the cars that can take it which means 100kw for the newer models due out this year and next but still allowing the 43kw use for the std models around now.
Don’t forget slower overnight charging at home is possible, even better for those with solar panels, especially if they add a Tesla powerwall battery setup at home. I think for most people home charging will satisfy their normal range weekly trips, it’s the long journeys where the infrastructure must be able to support the owners, hence why a large battery pack is desirable.
We would need to use our car to drive to both UK and Germany, so we will have to wait until the infrastructure is more dependable.
Haha Jane, if i had a reasonable electric car at the moment (Hyudai ioniq for example) I would be happy to make the journey now, As Jonathan posted the chargemap app and website shows most of the chargers are unused most of the time and via IKEA and others I would be able to fast charge most of the time, these days I need to take more breaks than I did 5-10 years ago. When the Kia, Hyundai, Audi, and others arrive next year there will be a lot more cars wanting to use the charging points. I really hope they have been upgraded or sales of EV’s will falter, Governments are committed to making this work so I will keep posting news when I hear it and hope other interested parties will do likewise.
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I was in the 2CV/Mehari garage in Cassis a few months ago and they had their electric Mehari concept there.
Morgan also have an electric three wheeler in the pipeline
The old Var to Dublin run would be interesting in that.
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Diesel-Not dead yet?
See a split screen Morris Minor has been converted to leccy, article in the Telegraph 
Thanks for the link.
Big Bro’ has had two Morgans, one brand new, another he found in bits hanging on a wall, which he restored, the one off the wall was, by far the prettiest when it was finished
Yes I saw that, so let the race begin, I have to say I hope there is something left of the diesel industry to save and then attention will just pass to petrol and inevitably we will still go electric…
I seriously considered a conversion of the Scenic to electric. The donor car has electric air con. electric steering so not such a tricky conversion but as per normal where to put the batteries, so it would be range limited, or space limited. I like the “autonomous toys” as well so against all my usual caution I am hedging my bet on a Kia Nero. 