Renault Zoe

Renault’s new 52 kWh, 100 kW Zoe was announced in June with the additional 50 kW of DC charging, but we got the rare opportunity to check one out at Renault’s Paris HQ this week. What we saw was an impressive and important vehicle that will fit into many more Europeans’ lives.

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Renault is launching an updated version of the ZOE with some design changes and a bigger battery pack for more range, faster charging, and more power.

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A promising electric car-sharing program in a UK town only lasted a few months, as the EVs quickly became a target for vandals who caused “exceptional levels of damage” to the cars.

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The Renault Zoe is consistently one of the best-selling all-electric vehicles in many European markets but it’s about the get some serious competition.

In order to compete, the French automaker is reportedly about to significantly refresh the vehicle with longer range, faster charging, and more.

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With the success of the Zoe, Renault has become a leader in electric vehicles in Europe.

Now the French automaker wants to keep the momentum going with an investment of over 1 billion euros to accelerate electric vehicle production in France.

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When Renault started selling the all-electric Zoe in France, it had a controversial scheme that prevented buyers from owning the battery pack. They could either own the car and pay a monthly fee to lease the pack or lease the whole car.

While it is indeed a controversial scheme, it’s undoubtedly a successful one since under it, the Renault Zoe became the most popular all-electric vehicle in France.

But now the French automaker finally lets buyers also own the battery pack starting today.

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The Renault Zoe got its big model year update a year ago with an updated ~200 miles range on a 41 kWh battery pack.

This year it gets a smaller, but still welcomed update with a slightly more powerful electric motor.

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Renault and Nissan have a long-standing marketing partnership with Star Wars and with the release of the latest movie this week, Renault is unveiling a new limited edition ‘ZOE STAR WARS’ electric car, which they actually plan to sell.

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Renault has no problem selling its all-electric Zoe with a 49% sales jump in Europe earlier this year, but it’s about to deploy a bunch more in a single move through a new car-sharing service in Madrid.

The French automaker plans an initial fleet of 500 electric vehicles by October.

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Renault’s Zoe e-Sport RS Concept, a sexy sports version of its successful all-electric Zoe, has been well received since being unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

At first, it was just to showcase some of their racing tech developed for the Formula E and put into a more accessible vehicle, but now Renault is considering making it available.

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After Faraday Future’s FF91 beta prototype shattered the previous record for a “production electric car” at Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb last weekend, now several other new electric cars are taking to the hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

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A few weeks ago I wrote about the sales of EV’s in Europe, and one thing stood out like a sore thumb; the success of the Renault Zoe. Now in its second generation, the Zoe is the number one selling EV in Europe with a 14.7% market share. However, when you look at the sales in Renault’s home country, France, the Zoe is simply killing the competition with a 70.1% market share. The little Renault has enjoyed an oversized market share of at least 50% ever since she was first launched in 2013. What makes the Zoe so special and what else can explain its mega success. By coincidence, I happened to be in France last month, so I stopped by a local Renault dealer to get some background on these sales numbers and to have a quick test drive in this number one selling EV.

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As we recently noted when Mercedes-Benz launched its home battery pack, it seems that every other automaker, including Nissan and BMW, started leveraging their electric vehicle battery pack technology for residential energy storage since Tesla launched the Powerwall in 2015.

Now Renault is the latest automaker to do the same. The French automaker announced the new home battery pack system in partnership with Powervault today.

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With the ZOE, Renault pioneered the idea of selling electric vehicles while only leasing the battery pack for a monthly fee. The idea is controversial. While it significantly reduces the entry price, the vehicle is virtually useless without the battery pack and the fee can be expensive.

Nonetheless, the program proved popular since Renault announced that it recently signed its 100,000th battery lease and now those ZOE owners have an interesting opportunity. They can upgrade their battery pack to Renault ‘s new 41 kWh pack released last year.

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Renault was teasing an electric vehicle “surprise” coming to the Geneva Motor Show, which they unveiled today – the first day of the trade show.

The French automaker debuted a new all-electric sport concept built on the ZOE: The ZOE e-Sport Concept.

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Virtually all automakers are currently working on some form of driverless ride-sharing/taxi services. Whether it’s through investments in existing services, like GM with its acquisition and investment in Cruise Automation and Lyft respectively, or through direct development like Tesla with its Autopilot and ‘Tesla Network‘ programs.

Renault and Nissan are the latest automakers to follow with their own effort in the space. The Alliance announced today a partnership with Transdev to develop a public and on-demand transportation service using a self-driving electric car fleet.

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After collaborating on some development programs over their 18-year alliance, it looks like Renault and Nissan are ready for the most important collaboration yet: a common electric vehicle platform for the next generation Renault ZOE and Nissan LEAF.

While it has some interesting implications for mass production of the platform and lowering the price, you shouldn’t hold your breath since Arnaud Deboeuf, the executive in charge of the Renault-Nissan alliance, warned of a long product cycle and media reports suggest that the next generation – not to be confused with a design refresh – shouldn’t come to market until 2020.

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We reported earlier this month on rumours that Renault was about to unveil a new all-electric ZOE with a bigger battery pack equipped with cells by LG Chem for a significantly longer range. As it turns out, the rumours are true and the French automaker will include the new pack in its 2017 lineup for the ZOE going on sale next month.

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It is starting to look like the 2016 Paris Motor Show, which will start the first week of October, will be an important event for electric vehicles. Mercedes and Volkswagen are both expected to announce new vehicles and release details of their ambitious EV plans.

Now Renault is reportedly jumping on the EV announcement bandwagon in Paris. The French automaker part of the Renault-Nissan alliance is reportedly about to unveil a new all-electric Zoe with a range of ~220 miles – about twice its current range.

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France-based automaker Renault recently confirmed having signed a letter of intent with Utrecht City Council, ElaadNL and LomboXnet to develop a Franco-Dutch framework of smart solar charging solutions for electric vehicles.

Under the agreement, Renault would supply a fleet of 150 Renault ZOE models through 2017 to the Dutch city, while ElaadNL would manage the required infrastructures and the smart-charge standard, and LomboXnet would take care of the installation of the charging stations.

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