Renault ZOE range & charging
Hard to fault here, given that the Renault ZOE has the best range in class, although standard CCS charging would be welcome
| Range | Battery size | Wallbox charge time | Rapid charge time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 240-245 miles | 52kWh | 8hrs 30mins (0-100%, 7.4kW) | 1hr (0-80%, 45kW) |
The Renault ZOE’s official range of 245 miles (240 for the R135) is seriously impressive, and betters all rivals, including the Peugeot e-208, Vauxhall Corsa-e and even the larger and more expensive Nissan Leaf.
Renault also states real-world ranges of 233 miles in the summer and 149 miles in the winter, which seems feasible to us, even if we’ll have to wait for a more extensive test in the UK before we can give you our own real-world range experience.
It’s a shame that you have to pay £750 extra for CCS fast charging, and that it’s only offered on the R135 model, but the fact that it’s there at all is a great bonus.
Renault ZOE range
The ZOE’s official ranges of 245 miles for the R110 or 240 miles for the R135 are seriously impressive – especially as that translates to efficiency of some 4.7 miles per kWh – one of the best figures we’ve seen from an electric car tested under the latest WLTP procedure. Renault’s stated real-world ranges of 233 miles in summer and 149 in winter also seem achievable.
Charge time
As standard, the ZOE comes with a Type 2 socket and cable that will allow you to plug into the vast majority of public slow and rapid chargers that you often find in town centres, supermarkets and shopping centres.
The fastest charge you’ll get is 22kW (the maximum charge speed is dictated by the car, not the charger, so if you plug into a 43kW Type 2 charger on the motorway services you’ll still charge at 22kW in the ZOE), which works out at a top-up of some 40 miles per 30 minutes. A 7.4kW home wallbox will do a full top-up in under nine hours, and even better is that Renault will install yours for free, provided you’ve got the necessary off-road parking and electrical supply. The ZOE also comes with a three-pin cable that allows you to plug into a standard socket at home, which will charge the car up at a rate of 2.3kW. It’ll take some 24 hours to deliver a full charge at that rate, but it’s still a useful backup if it’s your only option when visiting family or staying away. Add CCS fast charging for £750 and the socket in the ZOE’s nose gets two extra pins. This allows you to plug into CCS fast chargers of the type commonly found on motorways, and don’t worry – you don’t need another cable for that. The cables for fast and rapid chargers are always tethered to the charging points, so you just turn up, activate the charge and plug in using the cable attached to the station.
Battery warranty
Choose the 52kWh battery (badged ‘ZOE i’) and it comes with an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty, plus a promise to replace or refurbish the battery if range drops below 66% of its as-new performance.
