Angus drives a Renault Zoe 50kWh 2020.

This is Angus’s first electric car, he’s owned the Zoe less than 1 year and drives under 5,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 10,000-20,000 miles and he achieves 175 miles from a full charge.

Why did you choose the Renault Zoe?

Environmental support & cutting costs for a second car were the primary motivators to move to this EV.

Positives – List 3 or more reasons why you love this electric car

• Performance
• looks
• cost savings.

Negatives – List 3 or more things that you really don’t like about this electric car

• Ride is harsh – every bump…
• fit and fix is poor standard – had to install rubber strips on tailgate to stop a rattle on purchase!
• seats not as comfy as historical Renaults.

Have you experienced any faults with the car? If so, what have they been?

None at all, it’s so far extremely reliable.

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What are the standout technological features of the car?

B mode driving is excellent using regen to top up the battery and makes for a really easy drive. The auto lights are superb and work efficiently, especially at night. Corner highlight lamps using the dogs is really handy. The torque on moving off is amazing and it tackles hills without a blink of its motors.

Surprise us! Tell us something people wouldn’t readily know about this electric car 

You can pre-condition this car on schedule (using the app) if you needed it warm and toasty on a chilly day. You can also have it cooling for you on a hot day…

What electric car(s) are you interested in next and why?

Renault Mégane – it looks amazing and has a feature list as long as your arm. Just hope the build-quality is better.

Home charging unit – outline both positive & negative elements

Indra Smart Pro – this is a very neat unit selected for its smart features as we use solar for the majority of charging. It’s easy to use although the app is pretty poor as modern apps go. We’ve had two calls for support and both times things were resolved quickly and remotely which was excellent. Overall, we would recommend Indra as a quality product for home charging units.

Electricity supplier & tariff – outline both positive & negative elements

Octopus – they provide a wide range of tariffs that we are about to explore once we have a smart meter installed. All Octopus smart tariffs require a pre-installed smart meter that meets their specification.

What public charging networks would you recommend to others and why?

To date, we’ve had very few issues where we’ve used the ChargePlace Scotland network. Volumes of users are increasing and sometimes it’s more difficult to get a slot but there are plenty options. Sadly costs have recently doubled in most areas so we charge at home 🏠 as our first choice. All apps and even Google Maps are great resources for planning your journey. The key to owning an EV is your planning. You need to get used to thinking about your journeys and where you will top up on the go.

Please itemise where you’re saving money (or not) owning & running a Renault Zoe

Fuel and service costs are the biggest saving. Compared to a previous ICE we estimate we are saving 75% on fuel alone. The cost of buying the EV does mean that we will need to increase miles driven to make it cheaper per mile compared to the previous petrol car.