If there was ever a reason to buy a Renault...

It has to be this: http://www.renault-ze.com/uk/#/uk/home.html

I have to say I'm astounded that a large car manufacturer like Renault are doing this & all I can say is Bravo! :hurray: Aside from the environmental factors it should eventually force petrol companies to lower their prices in order to compete with a growing electric car market.

Just read the spec & it will have an acceleration equivalent to a 1.6 and it can be charged from a plug socket!

Sorry if you all already know about this but I'm just so impressed. I never thought I'd buy a Renault but this certainly isn't a bad reason to!

The info all sounds good and can only be a good thing if it lowers petrol prices but an electric car built by a company who cannot get the electrics right on their petrol/diesel models does sound a bit worrying:lol:

MGFmad;7742 wrote: The info all sounds good and can only be a good thing if it lowers petrol prices but an electric car built by a company who cannot get the electrics right on their petrol/diesel models does sound a bit worrying:lol:

Lol ok fair point... we'll let everyone else try it out first! :happy:

disturbing as it sounds, I'm strangely drawn to the fluence ZE and lets face it anything would be better that a Prius.

Bacchus;7749 wrote: disturbing as it sounds, I'm strangely drawn to the fluence ZE and lets face it anything would be better that a Prius.

Must admit I quite like the Zoe ZE.

MGFmad;7742 wrote: The info all sounds good and can only be a good thing if it lowers petrol prices but an electric car built by a company who cannot get the electrics right on their petrol/diesel models does sound a bit worrying:lol:

Have to agree, I have just had a host of electrical problems with SWMBO's Laguna 11.

Sorry I appear to disagree with some of you on here.... I bought a new Clio Diesel a couple of years ago... Fantastic vehicle, did 55+ to the gallon, £35 a year road tax, and at the time suited me perfectly. I had no electrical problems whatsoever, and the only problem I had, a faulty brake adjuster was dealt with straight away.

Compare it to VW Golf GTi's that my firm leased and I know which I would choose for build quality.

We can only speak as we find about cars. The more we want in the form of bells and whistles the more there is to go wrong.

it must be applauded and is ultimately the future of auto travel but will still take years for other manufacturers to compete.

supply and demand will dictate the speed of development.

indeed bravo or should that be brava?

The problem with electric cars is that they are cynically touted as a green alternative. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The manufacture and disposal of batteries produces large scale amounts of heavy metals and toxins. Batteries only have an finite life and will probably need replacing every 3 years, at quite a cost.

The electric cars themselves, at the moment, are stupidly expensive compared to petrol or diesel.

Also the electricity that charges the cars mostly comes from gas or coal fired power stations. All you are doing is moving the CO2, carbon etc etc from your exhaust pipe to the chimney of a power station. At the moment, if everyone switched to electric cars, the national grid would collapse when we plugged them in over night. You would still be charged a fortune for fuel as it is the same people providing the gas for the power stations as provides the petrol, and they would just boost the price up to silly figures. We are currently on a gas ballancing warning, which means we are using gas at an unprecendented level, to plug our cars in would probably cause the gas system to collapse too.

The worst thing is, at the moment it will be congestion charge free etc etc. That will only last until the majority of cars are electric and the government are not filling their pockets with duties on fuel, congestion etc, then they will find ways of taxing your electric car to make up the difference.

Unless you have a wind generator in your back garden, I'm afraid that the green credentials of the electric car are not what they seem.

Fuel cell is an interesting concept though.

Some reading for you. The first one is to do with an electric mini whos rage has dropped to a 55 mile round trip (with a 2 hour plug in midway) due to the cold weather. Quite topical at the moment.

http://green.autoblog.com/2009/12/29/mini-e-range-plummets-as-winter-hits-the-northeast/

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/01/08/study-battery-electric-vehicles-unlikely-to-be-cost-competitive/

Swerving;7761 wrote: Sorry I appear to disagree with some of you on here.... I bought a new Clio Diesel a couple of years ago... Fantastic vehicle, did 55+ to the gallon, £35 a year road tax, and at the time suited me perfectly. I had no electrical problems whatsoever, and the only problem I had, a faulty brake adjuster was dealt with straight away.

Compare it to VW Golf GTi's that my firm leased and I know which I would choose for build quality.

We can only speak as we find about cars. The more we want in the form of bells and whistles the more there is to go wrong.

The Clio does seem to be better than other Renaults - well based on my Sister-in-laws experiences with 2 Clios over the past 9 years:) but I have seen/heard of so many problems with the Megane and Laguna that its clear those models are not so good.

The Megane and Laguna are well known for ECU faults etc.

I have a Renault Kangoo van on a 55 and it isn't too bad. Saying that, the SRS light is permanently on and the heater control illumination only comes on if you bang the side of the dash.

CJJ;7764 wrote: The problem with electric cars is that they are cynically touted as a green alternative. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The manufacture and disposal of batteries produces large scale amounts of heavy metals and toxins. Batteries only have an finite life and will probably need replacing every 3 years, at quite a cost.

The electric cars themselves, at the moment, are stupidly expensive compared to petrol or diesel.

Also the electricity that charges the cars mostly comes from gas or coal fired power stations. All you are doing is moving the CO2, carbon etc etc from your exhaust pipe to the chimney of a power station. At the moment, if everyone switched to electric cars, the national grid would collapse when we plugged them in over night. You would still be charged a fortune for fuel as it is the same people providing the gas for the power stations as provides the petrol, and they would just boost the price up to silly figures. We are currently on a gas ballancing warning, which means we are using gas at an unprecendented level, to plug our cars in would probably cause the gas system to collapse too.

The worst thing is, at the moment it will be congestion charge free etc etc. That will only last until the majority of cars are electric and the government are not filling their pockets with duties on fuel, congestion etc, then they will find ways of taxing your electric car to make up the difference.

Unless you have a wind generator in your back garden, I'm afraid that the green credentials of the electric car are not what they seem.

Fuel cell is an interesting concept though.

Some reading for you. The first one is to do with an electric mini whos rage has dropped to a 55 mile round trip (with a 2 hour plug in midway) due to the cold weather. Quite topical at the moment.

http://green.autoblog.com/2009/12/29/mini-e-range-plummets-as-winter-hits-the-northeast/

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/01/08/study-battery-electric-vehicles-unlikely-to-be-cost-competitive/

an excellent point, i cant help but think this whole thing from renault is just a big advertising campaign... the car even looks like a concept... clearly ment to grab headlines

hydrogen seems to be the way forward if the infrastructure can be sorted out... again anything that will keep the oil lasting longer and costing less im for lol