Renault says its new Fluence Z.E will be the cheapest electric car on sale in the UK when it reaches showrooms in 2012. It will cost from £17,850, undercutting the Nissan LEAF considerably.
Cars such as Renault's own Twizy and the G-Wiz are not classed as cars. Instead they are classed as 'quadricycles', which makes the Fluence Z.E the cheapest when the government's £5,000 Plug-in Car Grant is included to drop the price to £17,850.
The four-door, five-seat Fluence Z.E will come with 16-inch alloy wheels, cruise control, climate control, satellite navigation and an ecoMeter. The latter tells the driver how much charge is left in the battery and when the car is being driven in the greenest fashion.
There are charging sockets on both front wings of the Fluence Z.E for easy charging of the battery that powers a 95bhp motor. Renault says the Fluence Z.E has a range of up to 115 miles on a full charge.
Owners of the Fluence Z.E will also have to factor in the cost of the battery, which has a separate lease contract with Renault. This costs £75 per month on top of the price of buying the car and is based on an annual mileage of 6,000 miles per year for three years. Longer mileage contracts will be available closer to the Renault Fluence Z.E going on sale in 2012.
Alisdair Suttie - 29 Jun 2011