What's the news?
Renault has partnered with car-sharing service GoCar to introduce more electric shared cars to Dublin's streets. GoCar has taken delivery of five all-electric Renault Zoe 4.0s, which have an official one-charge range of 400km (and a more realistic claim of 300km on a warm summer day and 200km on a chilly winter one). Both GoCar and Renault say that's enough to ward off the worst of 'range anxiety.'
GoCar first introduced electric cars to its 'GoElectric' fleet in 2016, and since then 800 customers have hired one out.
The Zoe is designed to be especially good at city driving, with 255Nm of torque and a 0-50km/h acceleration time of four seconds. Of course, it's zero-emissions at the point of use, and GoCar claims that each of its cars effectively replaces as many as 15 private cars: "reducing car ownership and car dependency, congestion, noise and air pollution, and freeing up land traditionally used for parking spaces."
Each GoElectric Zoe will cost €10 per hour to rent, with 50km included. There's also a sign-up fee for joining GoCar, and additional mileage costs extra.
Patrick Magee, Country Operations Director, Renault Group Ireland, commented: "The success of electric vehicles is very much down to building awareness amongst the general public of the benefits, infrastructure, incentives and getting commitment from Government and manufacturers to really highlight what electric cars are all about. Renault Group is very committed to the electric vehicle in Ireland and in Europe where our models are the best sellers, with Zoe still Europe's best-selling electric vehicle. We are delighted to work with GoCar again, this time with EVs, and look forward to seeing the uptake on drives in Dublin. It's a great awareness building exercise and will bring EV driving and its benefits to an audience who don't own a vehicle yet like the option of having one when they need it. Zoe is the ideal urban car, but with an exceptional range that can allow the driver to move out of the city and drive much further afield, if they so wish."
Colm Brady, Managing Director, GoCar said: "GoCar is delighted to expand our electric vehicle offering with the addition of the Renault Zoe. EVs have been extremely popular with our members since their introduction, with over 800 GoCar members driving an electric car since we first introduced them in October 2016. GoCar's mission is to provide a convenient, cost effective, and sustainable alternative to car ownership, and the expansion of our EV offering with the Renault Zoe is another great improvement to that alternative. It is clear from the popularity of the GoElectric range that electric vehicle carsharing is the ideal opportunity to give both individuals and organisations access to EVs without having to own one. Due to the ease of accessibility and low cost, carsharing is the most cost effective method to allow people the experience of driving and living with an electric vehicle, carrying out every day errands and adventures. Once they've experience both the GoCar service & Renault Zoe together, we're sure they'll be impressed."