Renault Zoe; battery owned vs battery leased

unkel

Well wear! Hope you got it really, really cheaply and that you plan to keep it until it dies.

I will be in the market for a cheap EV within a year and I would prefer the looks and the size of a Zoe, even though it can't fast charge and has very basic spec. But it is hard to beat a car like the 2012 Nissan Leaf top spec that just sold for less than €3.7k. No battery rental, can fast charge at 45kW and pretty much no depreciation. Total cost of ownership per month about the same as just the battery rental on a Zoe. And if it dies, just scrap it after removing the battery modules and selling them for easily €2.5k

Andy From Sligo

unkel wrote: »

Well wear! Hope you got it really, really cheaply and that you plan to keep it until it dies.

I will be in the market for a cheap EV within a year and I would prefer the looks and the size of a Zoe, even though it can't fast charge and has very basic spec. But it is hard to beat a car like the 2012 Nissan Leaf top spec that just sold for less than €3.7k. No battery rental, can fast charge at 45kW and pretty much no depreciation. Total cost of ownership per month about the same as just the battery rental on a Zoe. And if it dies, just scrap it after removing the battery modules and selling them for easily €2.5k

yep - if you know what your doing like you do that most probably best bet.
got to be honest, never have liked the shape of the early LEAF especially that big arse - horrible!

The wife has a 2016 clio and i enjoyed driving that and its gadetry (cruise control and other gadgets ) that the zoe was so familiar to me , driving the zoe on a test drive today was like driving her car but without no engine noise in it. Plus I have been modding her ECU's since she has had it with renault software that can enable and disable things through the OBD port and I can use the same software on the Zoe too I think when I get it

yeah when I take over battery rental it will be 60eur p/m which is a pain - so 60eur P/M + €30 hp per week - ah well sure on the bright side no petrol to pay for and cheaper vehicle tax

FaIIcon

I don't see how you need any of the "benefits" of the battery rental, the guarantee on the battery degradation? I mean it's been shown that aside from early Leaf generations the degradation is minimal.

Also you are hardly gonna use more than the breakdown assist on your comp insurance. Surely it's better to buy the battery outright for peace of mind, if you keep the car long enough its worth more than the rental as you will have a better value car to sell on too.

Andy From Sligo

FaIIcon wrote: »

I don't see how you need any of the "benefits" of the battery rental, the guarantee on the battery degradation? I mean it's been shown that aside from early Leaf generations the degradation is minimal.

Also you are hardly gonna use more than the breakdown assist on your comp insurance. Surely it's better to buy the battery outright for peace of mind, if you keep the car long enough its worth more than the rental as you will have a better value car to sell on too.

oh yeah , it was my initial budget though as well I had to take into account. when seraching on done deal there was only one Zoe battery owned near my budget I could get from CU and that was from a private seller around 8grand ... the other B/O renaults were going for much more 11grand, 15grand - out of my budget. of course in an ideal world I would have gone down the B/O way if I could have afforded it.

Is it true with the B/O anyway the Zoe has an 8 year warranty on the battery anyways? - but as you say now that Nissan and Renault EV's have been out a while now they have found that the batteries dont degrade as much as when they first thought , thats why renault scrapped the battery rental altogether on new vehicles

Have I it right because i find it a bit confusing and should brush up on it I suppose - is the minimum you enter into a Zoe battery rental is 3years at €47 plus VAT? (i think thats what the salesman said) ... so if god forbid you crash the car in that 3 years or scrap it for some reason do you still carry on paying the battery rental til the 3 years is up?

Andy From Sligo

when I had a quick look at the battery rental agreement (havent signed it yet) - it said something on the front like 'Non-Consumer' or some words like that ... I just wondered does anyone know what that means?

unkel

You can't stop paying the battery lease at the end of the 3 year contract, unless you hand the car back to Renault (for free). And pay the fine for the battery recycling. Or find someone else willing to pay the monthly lease for the next 3 years (you won't, unless perhaps if you literally give them the car for free or nearly free)

You haven't signed it yet, that means it's not too late to back out. I would seriously consider that. And either buy a battery owned Zoe, or another EV.

Andy From Sligo

unkel wrote: »

You can't stop paying the battery lease at the end of the 3 year contract, unless you hand the car back to Renault (for free). And pay the fine for the battery recycling. Or find someone else willing to pay the monthly lease for the next 3 years (you won't, unless perhaps if you literally give them the car for free or nearly free)

You haven't signed it yet, that means it's not too late to back out. I would seriously consider that. And either buy a battery owned Zoe, or another EV.

ah right thanks for that - so even the battery rental doesnt even cover the fine for battery recycling either then no?

and when do you stop paying then? - only if you sell the car on again? , I cannot find any info on that part on the internet - lets say, that they say the life of the Zoe is 8 years or the actual battery guarantee if it was battery owned (which i dont think you can get on a 2013 zoe can you?) from the date of manufacture so on a 2013 zoe that would be 2021 ?

Andy From Sligo

Renault seem to be on a good thing with this battery rental thing though arent they? - I have just been working out how much over the years the battery rental amounts up on a battery hired Zoe.

Taking into account its 2013 Zoe, and it may have cost maybe €20,000 when new and take payments of say €60 per month (this is just a rough guess and my figures could be well out) so I worked it over to just over €5,000 to date that renault have got already in battery hire for the car - and today you could get a battery owned 2019 (or maybe 2020?) Zoe for €26,000