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Electric Kangoo Van
MP3C - 17/3/14 at 12:31 PM

Hi Guys,

My boss has just bought a electric van... (Renault Kangoo) for the painters. As they don't travel many miles per day and we have a charging station on the office it seems like a good idea. However we have to rent the batteries out from Renault. The contract we have to sign in pretty huge and I'm finding the time to go through it.

Just wondering if anybody else has gone through this process or know somebody who has and if they have encountered any problems or hidden problems in the contract? Or if there is anything major I need to look our for. I'm a building surveyor so going through contracts for battery rental for an electric vehicle is a bit new to me.

Thanks in advance.

MAtt


chrism - 17/3/14 at 01:18 PM

If they only do a few miles a day is it really worth it to get an electric vehicle.

Don't know about the kangoo but for the Renault Zoe I've heard it is £70 a month to lease the batteries on a 7000mile per year contract which to me seems a bit pointless as if you got a diesel doing 60mpg then you could get about 600+ miles for the same cost per month (Allowing for the extra tax per month), and then if you do less than that you save the difference, whereas with the electric car you still have to pay it and add the cost of electric on aswell.

From what I've heard about the leases you are stuck paying it unless you trade the car into a dealer, and if you fail to pay they can remotely disable the car from charging, also I'm guessing at the end of the lease contract you will have to start a new one or give the batteries back leaving the car not working.


MP3C - 17/3/14 at 02:32 PM

It's not so much about the money saving and fuel costs etc. Just looks good on the estates portfolio and we did work it out to save a small amount + we got the van for a good price so hopefully it will be a good purchase.

Thanks for the reply though.

Matt

Edit: Sorry didn't see the last bit on my phone. Yes that seems like a bit of a kick in the teeth, hopefully in 5 years time we would have either traded it in or battery prices would have dropped substantially to be affordable and economical to purchase outright.

[Edited on 17/3/14 by MP3C]


morcus - 17/3/14 at 05:11 PM

I thought the lease was because the life of the battery made owning them outright futile.

Lots of other business benefits to an electric van, especial in London and when more congestion/low emmission zones spring up.


MP3C - 17/3/14 at 06:17 PM

quote:
Originally posted by morcus
I thought the lease was because the life of the battery made owning them outright futile.

Lots of other business benefits to an electric van, especial in London and when more congestion/low emmission zones spring up.


Well our painters will just be traveling around the estates properties anyway so will be doing max 20 miles a day, should be appropriate for that and the battery lease is roughly around £70 a month for 5 years.