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Chat with Renault CS Re pack upgrade

4K views 37 replies 15 participants last post by  Jin 
#1 ·
Having heard that a RZOC member had asked their dealer about Pack upgrade to 41kW and been told they were in discussion with Renault I thought I would give Renault CS a call for a heads up.

I explained that a RZOC member's dealer was in discussion with Renault re battery upgrade and I was told ..... ' what we are going to offer existing Zoe owners is to trade in their car for a ZE40 for the same as it would cost to swap battery pack ' :cautious:

I mentioned I had seen figures of £3100 to swap pack and asked is that what I would pay to change cars and was told Yes.

I did not think at the time to ask if that was like for like car, ie Dynamique intens for Dynamique Nav Q90 or the basic Expression.


The advisor told me he would add me to the call back list for when the offer became available, I asked if he had any idea when and was told probably end of April or into May.

I must admit I am taking this with a pinch of salt as folk were told previously they were added to a call back list for pack upgrades, which so far has not happened.
 
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#5 ·
This sounds highly implausible and "too good to be true". If it happens, I'll be very pleasantly surprised!
Hence the pinch of salt ;)
 
#3 ·
I explained that a RZOC member's dealer was in discussion with Renault re battery upgrade and I was told ..... ' what we are going to offer existing Zoe owners is to trade in their car for a ZE40 for the same as it would cost to swap battery pack ' :cautious:
This sounds highly implausible and "too good to be true". If it happens, I'll be very pleasantly surprised!
 
#8 ·
Good to see you back on the Zoe threads BTW (y)
 
#10 ·
This offer seems plausible. R90s can be had for under £11k with battery lease, so add an extra £3.1k to deposit and GFV of just over £4k and you're financing less than £4k on PCP. This will come close enough to most current 22kWh Zoes PCP. The only thing putting me off doing this is no rapid charge or reversing camera, add these and the price rockets! 1st offer I get less than £200 pm inc. battery lease for what I consider like for like, i.e. Q90 with reversing camera will get my money.
 
#12 ·
Yeah, seems we are getting differing info from Renault CS re upgrade, as per my original post one of our members on RZOC is taking her car in to be "checked over" prior to pack upgrade, I'll report back on that one :unsure:
 
#14 ·
Yep, I too am skeptical, Renault CS should all be singing from the same hymn sheet and just tell all enquirers the same story which I assume is "we don't know yet"
 
#15 ·
The upgrading procedure from the 22kW battery pack to the new Z.E. 40kW battery pack is indeed now available, please could we request that you speak to your nearest Renault Z.E. specialist dealership for more information and costings. You can find your nearest dealer using our Find A Dealer search and filtering the search: Find a dealer | Renault UK

From the electric vehicles team on 20th April.
 
#19 · (Edited)
If that's true (Netherlands), I have bad news.
1) there is no "list" you can put yourself on, you can only try to push your dealer, who will all respond "dunno details";
2) latest rumour is end of year, maybe 2018 for it to be actually done;
3) another rumour is that there is shortage due to the ZE40 doing good in sales. It is said that only 80 packs are assigned to upgrade existing NL customers.

Let me stress that all the above is from the forum rumour mill. But "end of Q1, beginning of Q2" did come and go, and there has been, AFAIK, not a single order taken, contract signed let alone battery replaced.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Well I think that I am safe in saying that this so-called battery upgrade will not happen as Renault are selling as many ZE40 as they can kick/push out of the door so why should Renault do we early sufferers, sorry adopters a big favour? They don't care as Q1 has passed and Q2 is well under way with only a bag of "er, erm or dunno" and they are still taking the P.
Time to look elsewhere I think so maybe an ex-demo ZE40, a new IONIC or wait for the phantom leaf 2 proper in September perhaps?
 
#27 ·
Let me put it another way, why would you want to spend £7k more for a car with a bigger pack?

I think for the environment it is much better for a used 22Kwh EV to be sold to someone that only needs a short range car, and a new long range EV be sold to replace it. This results in two EVs on the road, a battery upgrade results in only have one EV on the road.
Really! You don't half spout a load of codswallop sometimes. If someone who owns a 22kw car upgrades their pack to a 41kwh one then they are extending the time to amortize the cost of their car, reducing the vehicles manufacturing impact on the environment and increasing the cars usability long term. Plus the 22kwh pack isn't just written off, Renault have a whole big plan on how to re-use these as grid storage units.
 
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#23 ·
Yes we have a Zoe-i and rumours ( yes still rumours) have it that Renault will require us to hand over just short of 9k this to upgrade a car (56 reg 6,800miles) that is worth less than 8k and that Renault will keep our one year "old" 22Kwh battery!

We have been on Renaults customer supports upgrade list since January and have heard absolutely nothing in regards to concrete information but this is Renault after all.

I think that we would have to be mad to go along with this "upgrade" and now drop our Zoe-i for a realistic deal that involves an alternative EV with better range.
 
#26 ·
@Buzzar please don't take this the wrong way, it is not intended at all as a personal stab.......

Renault has been pretty vocal since the announcement of the ZE40 that battery upgrading is probably not the best option for most 2x0 drivers. It seems to me many owners seem to "conveniently ignore" this. It is even more so for relatively new battery-leased cars. There is basically no business case for Renault to do this.

Here, word in the street is that the success of the ZE40 is slowly driving up the second hand market prices of the 2x0s, making trading it for a ZE40 even more compelling *) I'd say @Badger in Black 's statement (as well as @ringi 's, though I am not convinced Renault is VERY interested in the environment, but they are in having ZOEs on the road instead of batteries in a warehouse) underlines that.

*) If you need the range that is. If not, in my opinion anyone upgrading or trading is in the same madness league as you describe, as they'd get into a very fast depreciating car again, without financially enjoying the flat line.
 
#30 ·
Let me put it another way, why would you want to spend £7k more for a car with a bigger pack?
Well you are not are you! If you currently have it on a PCP then it is a monthly payment and if you own your current Zoe then you also have that as a deposit so you will not be paying £7K more. Lets say you own a 15 Plate Zoe with about 12K miles on, that is worth about £5K so you are looking at £5,990 to get into a Z.E 40, so only £2,890 more than the battery upgrade.

Is it worth £2,890 to get a new car, warranty etc... That is up to the buyer to decide.
 
#32 ·
Ah you're only basing this on those that rent via PCP. For those that own their car but hire their battery the upgrade can make sense.
 
#38 ·
Emailed Renault in Milan on Saturday (20th May) and was told that the battery upgrades should start rolling out in September 2017. I am assured that our R240 has been put on the list...

€3500 with battery rental and rental goes up €10 per month.

Will update if new dates appear.
 
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