Renault ZOE ZE40 UK EV Road Trip: 848 Miles in an All-Electric Rental

One from the archives this week, as we anticipate the brighter upcoming months of 2020 with a trip back to summer 2019 and a UK EV road trip in a rental Renault ZOE ZE40.

Over the course of a week we cover 848 miles in the ZOE, traveling from the Northwest of England, across the Peak District to Chesterfield for a family wedding, and down to the outskirts of London via historic gardens and the EV Experience Centre in Milton Keynes. The latter is something of a utopia for electric vehicles, with charge stations everywhere and various electric cars available to test for UK residents who are "EV-curious".

An important point to note is that we weren't able to take our regular equipment or camera mounts, so there's no real "travel" footage and some of what we were able to capture was incomplete. Even so, hopefully this is informative for North American viewers who don't see much of the Renault ZOE, as well as offering a look at the state of UK charging infrastructure and how easy it is to get around the country, even in an EV with a 41 kWh battery pack and limited charging capabilities. Indeed, the Renault ZOE is one of the best-selling EVs in the world, with more than a quarter-million sold to date and the new ZE50 model with the larger pack and CCS charging getting a lot of attention.

We'll have a mix of EV topics with 'Coffee + Kilowatts' and some final 2017 vs. 2020 Bolt EV comparisons coming up in the weeks ahead, but this trip shows the potential for EV rental businesses and the enjoyment of testing out a new all-electric model (even one that's been around for years in Europe!) Thank you to EVision Electric Car Hire for the rental (and thanks from the kids for locating it at Diggerland!) If you're in the UK and want to zip around in anything from a Tesla to an i3 or an I-PACE, definitely check them out: https://www.evrent.co.uk/

Model Specs:
RENAULT ZOE Q90 ZE40
Battery Pack: 41 kWh
Charging: Type 2 "Mennekes" Connector - 22kW AC / 2-3 kW on UK 3-pin plug

Range: 190 miles (WLTP) | 170-180 miles (real world, summer) | 120-130 miles (real world, winter)
Top Speed: 84 or 87 mph (thought I read and achieved the latter, but could be wrong...)
0-60mph: 10.5-11.5 seconds
Power: 66kW / 162 lb-ft

Front-wheel drive | Five seats | Hatchback


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