– Everything has an end. After eight years of sales in Norway and with over 15,000 cars on the road, Zoe is now “history”. The latest new car is sold this month. This is confirmed by sales and PR director Roger Andersen in Renault Norway.
He says that from July they have all the focus on a new generation of electric cars. That is, Megane E-Tech Electric. It is a car that has a range of 458 kilometers and has achieved a full pot with five stars in Euro NCAP’s crash test.
Started badly
Little, cool Zoe came to Norway in 2013. It is one of the cars that helped start the Norwegian electric car adventure. However, Zoe did not have any immediate success. The range of the first cars was only 240 kilometers. It was according to the old, kind NEDC norm. Most owners probably experienced that the range was not more than 150 kilometers in winter conditions.
15,000 CARS: Zoe is one of the cars that helped start the Norwegian electric car adventure. In the beginning, it had some weaknesses that were corrected in a relatively short time. From there and in, it has been a success. Photo: Markus Pentikainen
sea view
In addition, it was not possible to charge the car from the usual socket at home. This came as a surprise to many owners, since the sellers were bad at telling about just that side of the car.
Most for the money
As the car was updated, it got a bigger battery pack and more equipment. At the same time, the price has been cut to around 240,000 kroner in recent years. Dagbladet has previously named Zoe the car that gives you the most range for the money.
Now Zoe gets 400 km range!
Last year, the car went on a starburst, when it received zero of five possible stars in EuroNCAP’s crash test. The reason was first and foremost the lack of modern safety equipment that will prevent a car from getting into accidents.
From five to zero stars
In a comment on Zoe’s poor result, Andersen at Renault Norway says that Zoe received five stars when it was first tested ten years ago. At the time of the test, it made the Zoe one of the safest small cars.
A COOL NEW: The new, small electric car that Renault is now developing will have clear similarities with the Renaul 5, which was a great success in the 1970s. Photo: Renault
sea view
– The safety technology in cars has developed tremendously in the last ten years. At the same time, Euro NCAP’s requirements for achieving stars have become much stricter. That Zoe this time achieved a much lower score in all four categories was therefore no surprise. It looks dramatic, compared to new cars produced on more modern platforms, but Zoe still satisfies all legal safety requirements and is not a less safe car now than it was before, says Andersen.
Test: New electric car favorite
New small car underway
Now it’s over anyway. Launched in July, the Megane E-Tech is a significantly larger car.
However, Renault has a new, small electric car under development. It is planned to be launched in two years and will have clear similarities with the old Renault 5 from 1972. It was a great success with sales of around eight million cars.
It is this success the factory hopes to repeat with the new electric car, which will be an affordable alternative such as the Zoe.
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