Interest in our fleet of electric vehicles at TEDGlobal 2013 in Edinburgh is running high. The short breaks between conference sessions see the Nissan LEAF, Renault Zoe and Renault Twizy out on the streets of the city giving attendees test drives and rides.
And there’s an equal amount of interest in the cutaway Zoe model at our booth inside the International Conference Centre, where TEDGlobal is being held. As attendees come to our Recharge Station to boost the batteries in their mobile phones for free, they usually start asking technical questions about Zoe.
Thankfully we have just the man to answer them: Simon Luque, Zoe Project Director. He says: “Most of the questions that people are asking concern the battery, its range and how quickly it can be recharged.
“Zoe is built around the advanced Chameleon Charger which can handle power inputs from 3kW, which takes 8-9 hours to recharge, to 43kW, which will recharge the battery in just 20 minutes.
“The car has a range of 150kms, which is a real advance and reflects the work we have done on the heating pump which is much more efficient than previous pumps. In fact, it is also now used in New LEAF. We have also improved the braking and power regeneration systems so that they are far more efficient.”
There’s one more significant question that the Alliance team is being asked here at TEDGlobal: when does Zoe go on sale? The answer is it already is. “Sales started in France sometime ago and in the UK they started this week,” said Simon. “Then I tell them they must stop asking questions and go to drive the car!”
Simon Luque at TEDGlobal
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