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

[@SpacePodCommander]

Thanks for the vid - small point of correction: There’s no need to interrupt charge in order to use Zoe’s R-Link for SatNav programming, music listening etc. However there IS a need to press the power button / volume control knob, as R-Link shuts down after 5 minutes if you don’t ‘interact’ with it - as had happened to you. Presumably designed to minimise parasite drain on the 12v (albeit during recharge) it’s an annoying feature when you want to stay in the car with the radio on but it powers down every 5 minutes during a 40 minute recharge.

[@plugandplayEV]

Thanks for the pro-tip! Pinned so that others considering the ZOE can note that functionality.

[@wozza59]

I really enjoyed the vid - loved the music as well.

[@plugandplayEV]

Excellent, thanks for the feedback! 👍

[@tommckinney1489]

Nice to see how the "other half" lives. I had to laugh at the granny cable comment. Never heard it expressed that way but I like it.

[@plugandplayEV]

Yes, it's a phrase I might throw around here and there in the States to look worldly...! 🧐 Looking back at the older stations shown in the video makes me appreciate the future-proofed Electrify America stations all the more. To be fair, I didn't have a chance to check out any newer Ionity or FastNed stations over there, which are much faster and sleeker-looking, but those motorway ecotricity sites definitely looked a bit worse for wear.

[@eltzrothm1]

At around 11:00 I just just got this image in my head of those kids going to a gas station for the first time and having their minds blown by the speed of it lol. 'Wait, you don't *have* to sit around for an hour every time you stop?!' I'm sure they're not that naïve, but the idea tickled me.

[@plugandplayEV]

Or watching the gas pump tick past the £30 mark for a single tank, in this case, and marvel at how the electric car they took last time could do an entire road trip for that. Or wonder why, as they see their neighbors taking time out every week to stop at a local gas station, they don't just fill up in their driveway overnight for a fraction of the cost.

[@eltzrothm1]

@@plugandplayEV Oh I understand the pros and cons. I just picture it would just be like seeing a kid have fast food for the first time. Not great for you but still mind blowing. And this is not the *best* time for the money argument (at least for road trip pricing in the States lol). Given that gas is like a dollar a gallon here in flyover country.

[@plugandplayEV]

Yeah, it's an odd moment, with gas unfathomably cheap for the time being and the (non-Tesla) EVs that can charge in 15-20 minutes not yet in the $35k or below bracket. Moving quickly, but I agree kids will see things very differently depending on when they look!

[@jamescorrigan7999]

Interesting. With high fuel prices in the UK and the Continent, an EV seems like a good idea for a rental. The Renault Zoe seems smaller than the Bolt, and has a lower range. I thought that GM had been selling the Bolt EV in Europe branded as an Opel Ampera - but they seem to have pulled out of the Euromarket. Trying to re-schedule a trip to Ireland, next year. But I will need something larger than a Zoe. I wonder if Tesla rentals are available.

[@plugandplayEV]

The Bolt was sold as the Ampera-e there briefly, but GM sold Opel to France's PSA that same year (2017) so not many got out there. Shame, as the short length but roomy interior makes it an ideal Euro car. It should be relatively easy to find aTesla rental, although prices vary a lot. Turo is in the UK and Ireland and the app has a dedicated electric section, so that would be one to try. UFODrive is another.

[@jamescorrigan7999]

@@plugandplayEV Thanks. I see that Plugshare also has a lot of chargers listed in both the UK and Ireland. Before my last trip fell apart, I had been trying to rent a car in Belfast, and drop it off at Shannon Airport.( no luck ) Would be nice if I could rent a couple of Teslas, if I can put the trip back together in 2021.

[@plugandplayEV]

@@jamescorrigan7999 Sounds like a great trip to do in a Tesla and obviously the car does a lot of the planning for you then too, in terms of finding Superchargers. For the rest, I found Zap Map to be the best resource in England, and that seems to extend to Ireland as well. I went to Plugshare out of habit and did find listings, but the Brits seem to leave more feedback on Zap Map.

[@Lynyrd_Evnyrd]

Plug and Play EV The other nice thing about Euro Model 3’s is they use CCS natively, so they can charge on almost any DC Fast Charger without fussing with adapters.

[@plugandplayEV]

Great point, thanks for the reminder. 👍

[@patwill2120]

I was slightly scared for you when I started to watch this video and you said I must remember to drive on the left. The Zoe must have seemed tiny to you. I will say that the Infotainment system could be started whilst charging. I wonder if any test cars during design were started and driven with the cable locked in? We humans need to be stoppd from doing damage to things. I see you went to the EV Experience Centre in Milton Keynes and the new Zoe was pictured opposite the model you were driving. Did you look at the new Zoe? The new polar chargepoint was a Rapid. The overstay fee means that people have to move on after getting a charge leaving it free for the next person. Unfortunately only a few Rapids can deliver AC and DC at the same time, so it can be frustrating to arrive to see a car not charging but plugged in. Glad you chose a smaller car to rent and showed how easy it was to drive electric.👏👏👏

[@plugandplayEV]

Ha, yes, it took me a few miles to reacclimatise but once it clicked, everything went smoothly. I'm origjnally from England though, so the size of car and streets was familiar enough. In terms of shape and maneuvering, the Zoe isn't too different from our Bolt EV. The Bolt does offer a lot more rear legroom and nippier performance, but the Zoe met our needs very well. The other option was a Kia e-Niro, which would have been interesting but cost about 3x more to rent at this point. Hopefully that will come down as they become more common. I think the Zoe in the Experience Center at that point was still an older model, perhaps a 2018? The new ZE50 looks great and I'm excited to see UK owners posting their experiences with it soon. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to do a full run through of the ZE40 and failed to dive deeper into things like the infotainment and design, but I'm glad to have driven it and got a small flavor of the UK drive electric experience 👍

[@patwill2120]

@@plugandplayEV I was confused by your accent and the back in the states comment. This was the first of your videos I've seen. The motorway chargepoints are showing their age but we can only hope that upgrades and other networks appear as EV take up increases. I've have had an EV for the last 3.5 years and would not go back. Glad you are enjoying the Bolt EV, it does look like a very capable car. Stay safe.

[@thelifeofbatteries2603]

Ah The Ashton Ikea - 5 mins from me. Try Instavolt on your next trip, they're putting them in everywhere and all contactless, all Mcdonalds will have at least 2

[@plugandplayEV]

Hoping top get back again this year (to the UK, not specifically to Ashton Ikea!). Instavolt were busy adding a lot of locations at Booths when I was last over but only a few were lit up at that point. Great to hear they're more widespread now, as those CPE250 stations are really nice and very reliable.

[@adithyaramachandran7427]

Will you be doing a video with the Kona or Niro ? I want to know what you think of those EV's.

[@plugandplayEV]

I'd love to, it's just a matter of getting access to new cars really. I keep an eye on Turo for opportunities but it's almost all Teslas... as the channel grows, it will hopefully be more compelling for dealers to make media cars available. We actually almost went for the Niro EV (e-Niro in Europe) on this trip, but it would have been 3x the cost and I knew we could only do the Zoe over there.

[@tspielman1]

How did you get the ecotricity app to work? It wouldn’t let me sign up if I didn’t have a U.K. post code

[@plugandplayEV]

My parents live in the UK, so we used their address.

[@plugandplayEV]

On a second point, this speaks to a topic we just discussed in the most recent video: Plug&Charge. If the car handles the billing and payment, it would make rentals like this even easier.