Renault Zoe review: Electrical engineering

It’s been a typical complaint of the modern electric car that – from the perspective of asking price – most are simply too expensive to make sense. As one of the leaders in the electric-mobility revolution, Renault has sought to challenge that notion with the new Zoe.

Almost exactly the same size as the firm’s class-leading Clio supermini, the Zoe is a 5-door, 80-mile range battery-powered car which asks few compromises of its owner.

The boot is large, square and comparable with the Clio. The centre stack, screen and main controls are the same as Nicole and Papa’s car too. There’s space for five people on board – you can get a baby seat in the back quite easily (as we did, during our week with it) – and the Zoe looks normal, even appealing, with its fluid, sensual surface treatment.

Sure, the blue hue to some of the details and the plastering of printed circuit board graphics are a bit cheap and give the electric game away, but generally, the uninformed onlooker would be none the wiser as to this car’s powertrain. So is the Zoe the way to go electric?