Potential EV Owner

EV Chat ⚡️💬
#1

Hi,

I’m currently driving a 2010 Kia Cee’d CRDi Econdynamics which is just coming to the end of it’s warranty, so I’m looking around for a replacement. I became interested in an EV when I saw our local Renault dealer had a 2013 Zoe Dynamique Intens for sale with 15,500 on the clock for £6500.

We recently bought a decent car for my wife to use at work, so we have one fossil burner for long journeys, so an electric vehicle for local runs, costing a couple of pence per mile, was attractive.

I went around to the dealer and took it for a test drive. Absolutely loved driving it. The trouble is the dealer was not very knowledgeable about the car or, in particular, the cost of renting the battery, meaning I had to try to find out the information by myself.

A bit of calculation showed that the battery rental alone would cost more per month than I pay to put fuel in the Cee’d, which rather put me off, but may be still worth it if diesel prices rise or the Government decides to punish all us filthy diesel owners (after they promoted them as “green” and encouraged us to buy them).

Anyway, that piqued my interest, so I have been looking around:

Quite like the idea of a Leaf. A lot of low milage examples for around the £10k price I’m looking at with owned battery.

I do like the Zoe, but the battery rental is offputting, and what happens if you can no longer afford the payments (eg I lose my job)? Renault head office didn’t seem to have an answer.

The Twizy is also a consideration. I’d only really be using it to get to work (about 10 miles each way on rural roads), but that battery lease, again. Not much cheaper than the Zoe lease for a battery that is about a quarter of its capacity.

#2

Welcome.
Why not have a look at the Citroen C-Zero/Mitsubishi I-Miev/Peugeot Ion trio. Perfect for your use. A proper car with battery owned for around the £5K region.

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#3

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I have looked at the cars you suggest, but was rather put off by a number of factors, not least the fact that the worst cars I have ever owned were Peugeots and Citroens. They have fairly poor performance compared to the Zoe or Leaf, and are also rather spartan looking inside. I know it seems odd to say that when I was looking at a Twizy, but I’d be looking at a Twizy in the £3k range and it is rather quirky and different.

After some consideration, I think I will probably go for a Leaf. There far more of these available than any of the others, and plenty of them are very low milage. Got my eye of 4 or 5 in the local vicinity. Another thing I like about the leaf is the battery condition monitor. With the others you just have to go on the milage as an estimate of the battery condition (assuming the indicator is reliable).

Is there anything in particular I should look for in a Leaf (apart from the battery condition)?