Moving Towards Electrification, The New (and very cute) Renault ZOE Takes Centrestage

Well it looks like the tide is finally changing but slowly for fossil fuelled cars. The Renault ZOE joins the Hyundai Ioniq Electric as one of the more affordable Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) cars available, priced a shade below $140,000.

Launched at the Green Mobility Initiative at HortPark on 9 May, 2018, Renault’s local distributor, Wearnes is just one of the few distributers in Singapore to make a commitment for a greener city state.

Back to the ZOE, with an approximate $9.08 per full charge, and its innovative Z.E. 40 battery providing a very practical maximum range of 367km (let us assume that the same distance would cost the average compact car about $70 in petrol cost) the sums do make plenty of sense.

The ZOE compact hatch sports a pretty face with Renault’s “Diamond Tip” emblem forming a “nose”, which hides its Type 2 charging port. The ZOE is just marginally longer than the Cleo, at 4,085mm, and hits 100km/h in a rather relaxed 13.2 seconds on full “buzz”. But where it shines is in its smooth acceleration to 50km/h from standstill in just four seconds, meaning that drivers would easily find themselves ahead of most traffic in the city.

Cool features like preconditioning the car, allowing the cabin to be just the right temperature (21 degrees Celsius) when the driver enters the car is also a plus, especially in our tropical climate.

And since the ZOE is built as a dedicated electric car, its chassis, steering and suspension have been specially tailored for this purpose.

According to Emmanuel Bouvier, Marketing Director for Renault Asia Pacific, electric cars offer a pleasant experience, with instantaneous acceleration from standstill. Reliability is also another virtue, since there are significantly fewer moving parts as compared to a car with an internal combustion engine.

BEVs will eventually be even more affordable in the future, with ramped-up production and more players in the market will also provide buyers variety.

While the main concern to most buyers would be that of “range anxiety”, a fear of running out of juice before being able to plug-in, a term mentioned always in the same breath as the electric car itself; the size of our nation is unsurprisingly ideal for the adoption of the BEV.

Singapore now has a handful of service providers like Greenlots, Red Dot Power, Schneider Electric, nuTonomy and BlueSG, working on efforts to have a workable network of public-access charging stations available.

According to BlueSG, Singapore’s first electric-car sharing service, there should ideally be charging points every 300 meters across the island, and stations in all HDB carparks to make owning a BEV feasible.

How long this would take is still an open question, and since most home owners live in HBD estates, switching a considerable number of car owners over to owning a BEV would co-relate to how accessible charging stations will be at the HDB carparks.

But we cannot deny that the tide is (very) slowly turning.

With lower running costs as its key attraction, the Renault Kangoo Z.E., the first 100% electric commercial van was also launched at the event. Costing approximately just $7.33 per full “battery tank”, the Kangoo Z.E. can travel up to 264km on a single charge, and according to Renault, achieve 200km in real world conditions.

Being able to handle a payload of up to 650kg, the Kangoo Z.E. is able to step up to the plate like its diesel and petrol powered siblings.

And for those who may worry about the lack of range on our small island, the on-board 7kW charger complements the Kangoo’s range by allowing the van an additional 35km per hour of charging.

The SP Group which itself, operates 30 previous model Kangoo Z.E. vehicles, and without a single breakdown in their fleet, will be expanding its range to 300.

With the eventual ramping up of the number of charging points, the BEV and even PHEV will hardly be seen as a head turner in the near-future, as they take over from traditional fossil fuel burning cars in facilitating the normality of our day-to-day activities; while leaving much less of a carbon footprint.

At the same event, Wearnes also donated two Renault Twizy vehicles to NParks to aid in their efforts for a greener nation. The vehicles will be used in their day-to-day running of their parks, and we bet you will see them soon when taking a walk in the park.

Unfortunately, the car/bike is not up for registration as LTA, Singapore’s authority for land transport still does not know what to make of it.

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