12v battery is always a likely culprit for any bad behaviour. It's a service item that's supposed to be replaced every 3 years. If it is due for replacement I would just replace it as these cars are buggers for playing up when the 12v isn't perfect. My ZE40 started doing weird things a few months before 12v was due to be replaced so I'd always risk wasting £100 on a new battery rather than battling daft issues.

If it's got a traction battery lease then the traction battery is warrantied and I think the ZE40 might have had a 5 year motor warranty but Renault are swines for trying to get out of warranty claims.

Renault constantly messed around with warranties on the whole car, motor etc. You need to find the warranty document for your particular age car and check what it says in that. Battery lease warranties might have had extended motor warranties but again it can depend on exactly which model you have.

Waybackmachine is very handy for finding old versions of things if you can't find them via google any more.

What traction battery percentage was it on when it went wrong first? If it was quite low then the 12v isn't charged up any more. Can send a Zoe quite mad when it happens.

If it's in warranty then you need to press Renault to fix the fault.

If it's definitely out of warranty then contact Cleevely EV in Cheltenham for best advice as they are likely to be able to fix it for a lot less than a Renault dealer but it's only worth using them if it's definitely out of warranty.

 

12v battery is always a likely culprit for any bad behaviour. It's a service item that's supposed to be replaced every 3 years. If it is due for replacement I would just replace it as these cars are buggers for playing up when the 12v isn't perfect. My ZE40 started doing weird things a few months before 12v was due to be replaced so I'd always risk wasting £100 on a new battery rather than battling daft issues.

If it's got a traction battery lease then the traction battery is warrantied and I think the ZE40 might have had a 5 year motor warranty but Renault are swines for trying to get out of warranty claims.

Renault constantly messed around with warranties on the whole car, motor etc. You need to find the warranty document for your particular age car and check what it says in that. Battery lease warranties might have had extended motor warranties but again it can depend on exactly which model you have.

Waybackmachine is very handy for finding old versions of things if you can't find them via google any more.

What traction battery percentage was it on when it went wrong first? If it was quite low then the 12v isn't charged up any more. Can send a Zoe quite mad when it happens.

If it's in warranty then you need to press Renault to fix the fault.

If it's definitely out of warranty then contact Cleevely EV in Cheltenham for best advice as they are likely to be able to fix it for a lot less than a Renault dealer but it's only worth using them if it's definitely out of warranty.

Thanks so much for the reply. I had it serviced earlier this year at a Renault approved garage and although the 12V was on the advised 'things to service in a vehicle this age' they tested it and said it was fine and not to waste money on replacing it and to consider a fresh one at the next service. That was back in April/May time. Since then, that garage has closed shop and is no longer there- so not like I can argue anything with them. Unfortunate timing. On the warranty, you're absolutely right... Renault messed around with all the warranties of vehicles of mine's age. I think the vehicles registered shortly before and after ours had much longer warranties. I need to look into it further, but I'm almost 100% sure we aren't within the warranty period for any of the major vehicle components. I say it is a 2019 Zoe, but I believe it was registered towards the back end of 2018. In any case, I think when I looked before the warranty for the bits that were important had already passed. Strangely not even Renault were able to tell me earlier when I spoke to them what was/wasn't under warranty.
Thanks for the tip re Cleevely. I'd heard about them already so good to have another recommendation. We are based in West Sussex so not particularly local but am struggling to find anyone who can help.
If I stand any chance of arguing with Renault, I think my course of action will be to get it to a Renault approved garage to at least diagnose what the issue is. Then I can hunt around for quotes depending on how expensive the bill is. I have also heard success stories of them contribution to repair costs when a vehicle is recently out of warranty.
Will cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I will go ahead and get a new 12V and keep everything crossed.

 

Weird, the test results seem to be for an ice? But a 12v battery fault is indicated yet the voltage seems ok? But 12v batteries can account for untold issues!

 

Thanks for the reply! I noticed that too, but assumed I had interpreted the results incorrectly... I think its worth a new battery. I had it serviced earlier this year, prob about April/May, and it was 'due one' according to Renault's suggested timeline of service. But the garage (a Renault approved one) tested it and said it was fine and not to rush replacing it and to consider it at the next service.

 

Get yourself a 12v trickle charger, IIWY, and put it on overnight once a month. I don't think you'll have any more trouble.

 

The advice to put a charger on the 12v battery is sound. The type to buy is the electronic type that cleans the electrodes/plates. Aldi sometimes have them at a bargain price under £20. I maintained a battery on a diesel Astra for 16 years! Sold it on with the original battery and 70k miles!

 

BTW, you may need to disconnect the 12v while trickle charging, so that the car 'forgets' thinking there is something wrong with the motor.

 

Yes disconecting the 12v battery is like switching off a computer to switch it back on so to clear faults!

 

And just by chance I came across this:

 

That's an impressive list of DTCs/fault codes/diagnostic trouble codes. I'd agree that a fairly likely cause is a weak 12V battery, and I like the video @Brian G's linked to. It's reasonably likely that disconnecting the 12V battery, either charging it overnight or replacing it, then clearing the DTCs, will have the car working properly again. But not certain -- and my advice may be worth much less than you have paid me for it.

The one bit I'd not necessarily agree with in the video is about the exact replacement battery model. It's a DIN code L1 or British code 012 battery, as used in a lot of small petrol cars and many EVs including the Nissan Leaf/e-NV200 as well as the Zoe. Any standard or EFB type 012 battery should work: Tayna has a selection, and of course other suppliers also sell them. The exact rating in CCA hardly matters for an EV; the capacity range from 45 to 55 Ah is also well within the car's battery maintenance parameters.

(The CCA rating matters directly for operating a starter motor, but no EV has one of those. Because it's what the garage's battery tester can check, it's useful to know what it was when the battery was new, to show when the battery's reaching the end of its useful service life, but an EV doesn't draw anywhere near that current. The capacity in ampere-hours is directly relevant, and for this, more is better, except that the EV's battery charging controls might not detect when to switch charging modes if the capacity were hugely more than it was designed for. The chemical engineering design and build quality of the battery make the biggest difference to the 12V battery working life, bigger than the nominal capacity.)

 

Cleevly do a mobile service, so they can come to you and it's worth a look at the HEVERA website to find a local non franchies EV gargae in your area.

 

Looking at your DTC's, several unrelated systems seem to have been firing up error codes simultaneously.

So it's very possible, even likely that it's a bad 12V battery. Also your usage pattern suggests that you don't use your car daily, as per your "charged to 80% so I can top it up later" comment.
12V batteries (temporarily) lose capacity in cold weather and many EV's are pretty bad at looking after them.
A sudden surge in demand such as lights or wipers or windows being operated could have taken the 12V over the edge. It could also be a short somewhere in your 12V system.

Replacing a 12V battery is not rocket science, just go to an autoparts store, get a battery with the same specs by showing pictures of whatever stickers are on your battery, remove the old battery noting well how it was installed and put the new battery in. It's a 5 minute job.

If that doesn't work or only works for a while and it happens again, the next suspect is the DC-DC converter, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's start with the 12V battery.

I wouldn't waste my time over it, just do it quickly, it will spare you a lot of anxiety and inconvenience from having the car immobilised.

Keep in mind that in some cases, even if you remove the fault, ie 12V battery replacement fixes the core issue, DTC's (the ones you posted that the RAC diagnostic showed) may need to be cleared to reactivate the car, otherwise the car will refuse to start, especially when the DTC relates to vital systems such as the motors, the battery or the brain of the car (in this case showing up as "central electronic unit", they each have a different name for it)
This will require you to hook up a 20£ diagnostic tool, and I believe that you can also do it with the CANZE app on the ZOE by hooking up a Bluetooth OBDII reader.
The easiest is to buy a diagnostic tool online, most autoparts shop don't have them or charge you an arm and a leg for them if they do, because they could sit on their shelves for years. I'll let you do the research on which one they recommend for the Zoe.

 

As above advice, replace the 12V battery as it’s a no brainer.
So intrigued to know if you have done so and if it’s cured the issue.
Awaiting your next post.

 

The car needs proper diagnosis and Renault charge a fortune for basic diagnostics. What area are you in? Is there a local Hevra garage that can check? HEVRA- Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Repair Alliance

I work on loads of Zoes, based in essex. Cheers

 

Hi all, sorry for the delay but thought I'd come back on here and give an update. Very long story is we tried a 12V with no luck. Got it towed to a Renault dealer who then took a few weeks to look at it. There is only 1 Renault garage for miles, the other went out of business recently, and only has one person who works on EVs so was a bit of a queue. Turns out it was a motor failure after all. I was only ever able to speak to the person on reception so only got vague answers and am still chasing copies of invoicing/paperwork for my own records... but something to do with a bearing which failed and they can't replace (or don't produce) only that part so had to have a whole new motor. What is stranger is that we were convinced we were out of warranty and would have to foot the bill, but the garage had already got agreement from Renault to pay for it all. Still to this day I am struggling to get hold of the warranty paperwork that covers our vehicle- it is missing from Renault's warranty page online and I've called and spoken to a couple of people at Renault who couldn't help. Don't want to argue too much but will pursue this.
Point is, we are very fortunate not to have to pay the £5k or whatever it would be (the dealer said the motor invoice alone was £3.5k plus a couple of days labour). The garage said the motor could take several weeks to arrive from France and then a few more weeks before they could do the repair. But in the end the part arrived within about 10 days and they did the repair shortly after and the car is now back home! Again feeling lucky as I know other people have waited 3 or 4 months plus and we only had 2 months vehicle-less.
Still wondering if it played into our favor that we took the vehicle to Renault about 9 months ago complaining of a buzzing noise and they said it was perfectly normal-on reflection it was the motor whining after all. The car is now completely silent.
Anyway, thanks again to everyone who helped and offered suggestions. It was really appreciated. Glad the car is home and feeling like we had a lucky escape

 

@jbuzzing425 It's a good result. I think with it still being under 5 there is some extra drivetrain warranty on those. Renault beggered about with the warranties a lot. It's also pretty poor for an under 5 year old car to have a failed motor so they should be doing replacements for nothing anyway.

 

@jbuzzing425 The same happened to me yesterday and I got towed to local dealer. My car is same year, same plate and the same has been happening. Are you able to tell me which dealer you were at which helped you get the replacement motor free? I fear my local dealer will not be so helpfu.

 

Sorry to hear you’re having a similar issue. Did you try putting a new 12V in already? That’s what everyone recommended to us as it is a fairly common issue… but unfortunately ours turned out to be motor failure. Where abouts are you based? We took ours to Dinnages in Hayward’s Heath (confusingly it is mostly branded as a Ford dealer but is also a Renault dealer). The only thing I’d say is, we took the vehicle to them not having a clue what was wrong with it and fully expecting to have to pay the bill at the end. Which for us would’ve meant having to write the car off. I didn’t even have to argue with them to cover the cost, the dealership liased with Renault, got agreement to do the work, did the work, and then the dealership invoice Renault after. They said it was in some sort of warranty (but still to this day I can’t get hold of a document or similar which lists what is covered and for how long, so I remain in the dark. I’ve chased and contacted Renault several times and given up now). I guess what I mean is, if the vehicle is still in some sort of warranty then I wouldn’t necessarily avoid going to your local dealer as it is Renault who foot the bill, not the dealer. But of course up to you. Dinnages did sort the car but be prepared for vague timelines and limited communication. They only have 1 EV person and ramp so how long it takes depends on how long everyone else’s issues take. Let us know how you get on

 

Only happened yesterday and I needed to get towed somewhere so had no option but to go to main dealer really. It says "electric motor failure" and I hope it is a battery problem, but because I've had the whirring sound am already resigned it to being the motor/engine. The dealer will hopefully plug it in tomorrow and let me know the situation. I've had the car 5 years and a couple of months - if the motor needs replacing, which will be super expensive, and the dealer can't/won't help me - I might give your dealer a ring and ask them how they managed to help you guys out.

 

Forgot to say, am near Trowbridge, Wiltshire and also, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

 

The exact same thing happened to my Megane EV 3 months ago (I've written about that on a reddit thread) and again today. 12V battery has been tested and it's as perfect as new (the car is 10 months old and under warranty).

Currently, we suspect it is a software problem because after getting an error, parking the car, locking it, "let it rest for 10 minutes", and turning it back on, completely removes the error.

 

" if the motor needs replacing, which will be super expensive, and the dealer can't/won't help me "

If it's not covered by the warranty, it's quite possible to get just the motor bearing replaced as long as there is no damage to the motor internals.
You could also get a motor from a written off car for a lot less than Renault would charge.

 

I have a 2016 Zoe with 66,000 on the clock and just had it in a local Renault dealership for diagnostics on a similar issue. It occasionally stops while driving showing ‘electric motor failure’ alert and makes a whirring sound. I park, leave and lock and it then shuts down after 10-15 mins at which point I can restart it.
The garage said replace 12v battery which I’ve just done, but it’s happened again after a hour or so driving today. So obviously a risk still to drive. I plan to book it into another Renault garage nearby to see if they can identify anything the first garage didn’t. 😕

 

I have a 2016 Zoe with 66,000 on the clock and just had it in a local Renault dealership for diagnostics on a similar issue. It occasionally stops while driving showing ‘electric motor failure’ alert and makes a whirring sound. I park, leave and lock and it then shuts down after 10-15 mins at which point I can restart it.
The garage said replace 12v battery which I’ve just done, but it’s happened again after a hour or so driving today. So obviously a risk still to drive. I plan to book it into another Renault garage nearby to see if they can identify anything the first garage didn’t. 😕

Hi,

likely play in the motor bearings causing issues with the rotor position sensor. Have fixed that numerous times.
cheers

 

My Dec 2022 32,000 mile ZE50 threw up "electric motor failure" 250 miles into a 400 mile journey. I decided to carry on and reached home without charging. Everything in the car but cruise control and speed limit work, D and B work as normal.
It has charged at home OK, so the car works but as soon as I open the door it bongs and displays the big red warning continuously.
Car is in warranty, I'll post once I've got more to add.

 

Let us know what happens, if it ends up being stupid repair quotes then i should be able to find you a better garage to take it on. There are some EV specialist independents about. Cheers