Renault leased battery “capacity guarantee” is a joke

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255880#Comment_118255880

Problem is there's no fast charging, only 22kW, and they are removing fast AC.

You need a brand new one with CCS.

yoke

slave1 - good idea about NI, but again unfortunately I’d need to hire a flatbed or something to get it up there - the car has only 50 km range in current weather, with no fast charging option.

Flinty997 - my original plan was for my wife to use the car as a short range runabout, but unfortunately she wasn’t a huge fan of the car (didn’t like the length of a saloon or the visibility out the sides/back, she prefers an suv style car), so I ended up driving it myself instead as I like saloon cars and I mostly do short range driving myself anyway.

unkel- the battery lease costs €50 a month, and it hasn’t decreased in the 2 years I’ve had the car. Is/was your lease the same amount?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255938#Comment_118255938

No everyone will need fast charging, if they are home charging 99% of the time.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118257763#Comment_118257763

Ah, forgot about range.

Unkel's Fluence does not have a battery lease

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254845#Comment_118254845

Have you spoken to him? If not I'd suggest to try at least start the discussion.

I may have his email address if you'd prefer that. Drop me a PM if so.

daheff

@yoke did you get any documentation from the dealer after the test? Like a report which had the battery % in writing?

If so, thats all you need to go to the Lease company and invoke the fix.

If not, I'd suggest a GDPR data request to have the dealer provide all information in writing in regards to the test & your car.

Aren't there strategies to balance the batteries like for a Leaf although as it never charged with Chademo it shouldn't be out of balance to the same extent as a Leaf. It'd help eek out a couple more kilometres.

Bjorn Nyland has two videos on balancing the batteries in the Leaf. You could try it. It doesn't improve the battery capacity but it makes the battery management system behave better resulting in extra few KM of range. Without leafspy you'd have to do the balancing blind.

400quid could get you lower rolling resistance tyres. ...Straws...clutching.

yoke

silver_sky - can’t seem to send you a PM, says your profile is private. If you’re talking about the same person I’m dealing with at RCI - I have his email address, but he’s already aware of what’s going on so I’m not sure what I should be asking him exactly.

daheff unfortunately not, but the gdpr data request sounds like a good idea. Any idea what email address I should send the request to? Renault Airton road don’t seem to have any public contact email address, and I’m not sure they’d even bother emailing me the data if I asked for it over phone. Last week when their foreman gave me a courtesy call to tell me they wanted another €325, I asked him to email me what he was saying, he took down my email address but no email so far.

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118265040#Comment_118265040

Ask him how RCI is going to remedy the issue as you do not believe that they are upholding their part of the agreement, while you have followed your part (making payments, and have had the battery tested at a "ZE" garage). It's up to Renault (and RCI) to ensure that their approved garages are capable. I personally don't think they are but that's a whole other matter. RRG Belgard is owned by Renault so less chance for them to pass the buck.

If you want to go down the data protection route or even just escalating it further, you need to speak with Customer Services.

daheff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118265040#Comment_118265040

If they don't have an obvious email address send a registered letter to their office for the attention of the Data Processor or to their General Manager.

unkel

And what, antagonise them? Do you think that will help his case in any way? I see it all the time, usually pompous requests to small businesses demanding to hand over all data they have on them. In my view GDPR request are plain bullying.

kennethsmyth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118268495#Comment_118268495

Its not to antagonise them, if the OP has a piece of paper already I'd be making a claim against RCI, if he hasn't he needs one showing the 69% so he can proceed - he paid the 108eur he's entitled to the report end of.

yoke

At this point I don’t really care about antagonising them anymore, sure they’ve already effectively given me the 2 fingers, and that’s after 5 months of me waiting patiently and being super polite etc. Made no difference.

I don’t plan on dealing with them anymore (ever again) apart from this matter anyway.

Kat1170

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118268495#Comment_118268495

If you ever have to use a FOI request to get some vital information you need you may very well change your mind.

I'm sure there are plenty who abuse it but when it's your last resort you'll be glad of the fact that's it's now possible.

yoke

I asked my RCI banque contact if it was possible for me to buy out the battery (at this stage the battery is pretty bad, it’s giving around 50km range in current weather conditions), and I have to say RCI banque finally redeemed themselves on this one - my RCI Banque contact allowed me to buy out the battery lease for €1.

extremely happy with this outcome tbh!

cheers to everyone who gave advice here (especially those who suggested I offer to buy the battery off them) 🙂 it’s much appreciated

unkel

Nice one @yoke ! Without the monthly battery lease payment, any EV - even with a very limited range - suddenly has got another lease of life. Perfect as a second car that only does local mileage. Just like my (also battery owned) 2012 Fluence Z.E.

ted1

Suppose it’s cheaper than replacing the battery

unkel

Nobody in their right mind will ever pay to replace their EV's battery. If it costs x, then after the replacement the car is worth less than the pre-job value + x. Probably several thousand less. The rational thing to do is to dump / sell / scrap the car, rather than pay for a battery replacement.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646621#Comment_118646621

Isn’t the point that the leasing company should have replaced it

yoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646984#Comment_118646984

To be honest I’m very happy with this outcome, as it’s an almost 10 year old car anyway and so I’d rather have a battery that does 50km and save €600 a year on the lease, rather than pay €600 and have a battery that does about 80km 🙂

silver_sky

Probably the best outcome you could expect from them! good to hear you got sorted. Did you ring or email them regarding the buyout? I need to get on to them regarding my Zoe.

yoke

I emailed the person who deals with my lease at RCI banque

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118649902#Comment_118649902

That's it exactly. We are very happy with our Renault Fluence Z.E. which is also almost 10 years old. Yes it has a poor range, but this car literally costs just pennies to own. And the range really isn't terrible either. I'd say with a light foot in summer around Dublin (that what we use this car for) I could possibly get 100km. The GOM is fairly pessimistic too once the car is half empty. You get more than it shows.