This blog is to document my experiences running a Renault Zoe electric car in the UK.
The Zoe is 100% electric, or BEV (Battery Electrical Vehicle) in the jargon. It has no petrol or diesel tank or engine, just a battery rated at 22 kWh. Renault lease the battery to reduce the capital cost of the car and to overcome any worries about long term life / reliability of the battery.
I bought my Zoe second hand in 2018 after 33 years of running diesel cars - Peugeot, Citroen, Ford, Rover, Renault, Seat and Skoda. My first diesel car was a Peugeot 205 GRD registered in November 1985, at that time forecourt diesel pumps were not common and you often had to use the high capacity pumps for HGVs (trucks) round the back of filling stations. I even had a fuel card and could use a pump at my local oil depot on an industrial estate. This turns out to be good preparation for the 2018 UK electric car scene, where it can also be difficult to find a charging point.
My current car use is mainly a daily commute to work, 20 miles each way, I'm no longer the 20,000-30,000 mile per year driver I used to be. When my Skoda Octavia turned 17 and passed 150,000 miles I decided to look into the zero tax subsidised world of the electric car......
