[sarahl]

Hi all, I’ve just ordered my Zoe GT Line r135 not only as my first EV but as my first ever car and because of this, definitely need some pointers. I’m also going against the grain and don’t have a wall charger at home due to being in a rented property😬! We do have lots of chargers nearby however.

What apps are completely essential? I’ve already got the Zap-Maps app and Polar.
Any thing I need to know that the car does that might cause a bit of confuse ion etc?

 

[Chris P.]

Great first car. Mine was a VW Beetle, £70. Lasted sixteen days. Long time ago and many cars since. Zoe for over three years now, still enjoying every drive. Find a few reliable rapid chargepoints and enjoy your car. Have you specced CCS?

 

[sarahl]

I hope mine lasts longer than 16 days! I have indeed and there’s a few rapid chargers less than 2 miles from my home which is quite useful.

 

[Chris P.]

Speed limiter highly recommended. I use mine in 20, 30 and 40 limits. Car so quiet and nippy, easy to get caught out.

 

[dk6780]

Take care of people using you as a cheap Taxi. The Zoë is an excellent car but like all small hatchbacks handles very differently with people in the back.

 

[Maffewem]

Best of luck, the Zoe always looks like quite a nippy car. Fingers crossed wherever you are around the country there isn't too many EV's! I too rely on public charging but have noticed increasingly there appears to be more people appearing, I also had someone tell me recently that there's likely to be an influx of an additional few thousand EV's in the next few months so hopefully it doesn't affect those reliant on public chargers too much!

 

[TJEV]

I’d be very concerned about having no home charging. Public chargers are notoriously unreliable and often unavailable.

I had a Zoe with no home charging for 6 months. It was fine - but a month or so after I got rid, both of the nearby chargers packed up and have not been repaired since, so I would have been screwed had I kept the car.

There are plenty of apartments etc being built with EV charging these days (it’s a requirement) - so consider moving, unless you can somehow trail a plug out of the window at home

 

[Mo1]

Be aware that local charging will be slow especially in winter as the battery pack needs a good few miles of fast driving to warm it up enough to get a decent charge rate.

 

[E7EV]

Hi all, I’ve just ordered my Zoe GT Line r135 not only as my first EV but as my first ever car and because of this, definitely need some pointers. I’m also going against the grain and don’t have a wall charger at home due to being in a rented property😬! We do have lots of chargers nearby however.

What apps are completely essential? I’ve already got the Zap-Maps app and Polar.
Any thing I need to know that the car does that might cause a bit of confuse ion etc?

Could you give us an idea of your weekly driving routine? How many miles do you do, and how often?

 

[idiotzoo]

Living without home charging can be absolutely fine, or a total nightmare, depending on the facilities nearby and your driving habits. General consensus is regular rapid charging should be avoided if possible.

Chatting to my brother’s neighbour, she has a leaf and on street parking, she uses a charge point at a local library a few mins walk away. Parks the car there for a few hours and nips back after tea. Also uses the free charging at Lidl, parks there for a couple of hours which is convenient to the city centre. Overall she’s doing about 450 miles most months and this has worked out pretty well.

 

[sarahl]

Could you give us an idea of your weekly driving routine? How many miles do you do, and how often?

This is my first car! So at the minute, my work place is only a 5 mile round trip and as I work shifts, there 3/4 days a weeks My parents live 60 miles away but at the minute won’t be visiting them anyway. I can’t see me doing me than 80 miles in any given week unless I go further afield but at the minute that’s not looking likely

 

[sarahl]

Living without home charging can be absolutely fine, or a total nightmare, depending on the facilities nearby and your driving habits. General consensus is regular rapid charging should be avoided if possible.

Chatting to my brother’s neighbour, she has a leaf and on street parking, she uses a charge point at a local library a few mins walk away. Parks the car there for a few hours and nips back after tea. Also uses the free charging at Lidl, parks there for a couple of hours which is convenient to the city centre. Overall she’s doing about 450 miles most months and this has worked out pretty well.

Thank you for this. Locally there’s an array of chargers of different speeds, and one which is at the local library which is less than a five minute walk away too! I’m presuming that might be one of my go tos!

 

[Padrino]

This is my first car! So at the minute, my work place is only a 5 mile round trip and as I work shifts, there 3/4 days a weeks My parents live 60 miles away but at the minute won’t be visiting them anyway. I can’t see me doing me than 80 miles in any given week unless I go further afield but at the minute that’s not looking likely

With 80 miles a week you should be more than sorted with the Zoe. Even if the weather goes very cold you should be OK for two weeks between charges, so if I was you, I wouldn't be worried about charging. I am sure that you will find a working charging point till you have a dinner or doing your shopping 😁😁
Bottom line: Enjoy the car and don't worry about the charging. Think of it in this way: If you drive 80/90 miles a week you need to "park" your car for charge every two weeks for about 2/3 hours on a fast charger. That's it 👍

 

[Chris P.]

Keeping your car charged between 40-80% topping up to around 80% when the opportunity arises and occasionally 100% to balance the batteries and ahead of longer trips should work quite well. It won't take long to get into a routine.

 

[cDy]

It's amazing the scare stories that circulate on even well-informed forums.

Rapid charging: The ZOE ZE50 rapid charges its batteries at well under 1 C (that is a max charge rate / battery capacity) and uses its AC to cool the battery when necessary. And the charge rate is reduced dramatically as the battery charge level increases. The evidence that I can find on battery research indicates that there is no problem with charging at such a low charge rate. If you want to cover a lot of miles you don't have much option. There are many EV taxis around the world that have done huge mileages and only ever been rapid charged.

If the OP wants to add 80 miles range each week to a ZE50, requiring about 20 to 25 kWh, it takes about 20 minutes to add that at a 50kWh CCS charger, going from, for example, 20% to 70% SOC. I don't think doing that once a week will have any significant effect on battery life.

Charging to 100%: Battery research shows little damage to EV batteries by charging to 100% and then using the car. We always charged our ZE40 to 100% over three years and lost about 1% SOH per year, which I think is typical. The technical advice is not to leave your car with the battery sitting at 100% (or less than say 20%) for long periods. The ZOE (and most other EVs) leave top and bottom buffers unused so that users don't have to worry about it. Here's a relatively old video on the subject from a research scientist, rather than a journalist:

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

You'll want the "My Renault" app to keep tabs on the car.

Android
Apple

It's a bit rubbish, but better than nothing.