Updated Renault Zoe on sale now, with 250-mile range

The new Renault Zoe is on sale now, priced from £13,995 for the entry-level Expression Nav. The basic car gets the old model’s 149-mile range, while all higher-spec trims get a bigger 41kWh battery with a boosted 250-mile range. Prices for the 41kWh car start from £17,845 including the government’s plug-in car grant.

Available to order today and in showrooms from January, the Renault Zoe also features a new Signature Nav trim - boasting previously unseen levels of kit on the all-electric supermini. These cars add heated leather seats, a Bose stereo, rear parking camera and 16-inch alloy wheels. It joins the familiar Expression Nav (£13,995) and Dynamique Nav (from £18,595) models, which – as the names suggest – both feature sat-nav as standard.

Also new for 2017 are a selection of fresh paint colours. Mars Red and Titanium Grey complement Zircon Blue, which was added to the range in 2016. A third – Ytrium Grey – is now available exclusively with the top-spec Signature Nav trim level.

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Renault revealed its newly updated Zoe at the Paris Motor Show in September. The EV sees its range nearly double, with Renault claiming a maximum range of 250 miles from a single charge. Cars with the bigger 41kWh battery also get a fast charge option. The ‘Q90’ quick charge feature costs £750, and will allow 80 per cent charge in just over an hour. Adding this option reduces maximum range to 230 miles.

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Alongside the NEDC figure, Renault has released its own range estimation. It thinks that in real-world conditions, the 41kWh Zoe will return 186 miles of range, where the old car would return 106 miles. That's still a significant range increase over the car's main rival, the Nissan Leaf. Renault now offers two new apps, which allow owners to locate public charge points across Europe, too. Z.E. Trip and Z.E. Pass are accessed from the car’s R-Link infotainment system.

Existing Zoe owners will be able to benefit from the new, improved battery fitted to the very latest version, too. However, that won’t they’ll be able to match the new car’s 250-mile range, as the latest model features a number of other upgrades that can’t be retro-fitted. The total range of an older model with the new battery hasn’t been confirmed, although it’s likely to be around 200 miles.

Renault continues to offer customers monthly battery lease rates from £49 to £110 per month – or indeed the option to buy the batteries outright. Options include 17-inch wheels (£310) and remote services (£150), which allow you to set your car’s air-con or heater from your smartphone.

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