CAP call on Renault to include battery in Zoe price – when it would cost £25k

CAP has called on Renault to include the battery cost in the list price of the Renault Zoe EV, otherwise it won’t be able to set residual values.

We reported recently on the price of the Renault Zoe EV – which starts at £18k – and were surprised to find that Renault weren’t including battery costs in the purchase price but charging and extra £70-93 a month for leasing them.

That leads to a completely misleading headline price for the Zoe and, as used car price experts CAP say, is akin to Ford removing the engine costs from their cars to reduce list price.

But it gets more complicated than that, as the mix of ‘purchase’ and ‘lease’ costs for the Zoe EV will play havoc with BIK rates and payments, especially in a couple of years when EVs start to be charged at 5 per cent.

CAP are refusing to offer residual values for the Zoe as long as Renault continues with their daft pricing policy, and they warn that HMRC will count the battery side of things as the lease of an asset and charge for it. And with a cost of £7,392 attached to the battery (which would make the Zoe EV list at £25k) the Zoe becomes a complicated, and expensive, prospect for companies.

CAP’s relationship manager, Martin ward, said:

HMRC’s decision to base the BIK on the total is only fair, otherwise Ford, for example, could deflate the P11D value of a Mondeo by excluding the engine.

Until Renault removes the unnecessary layer of complexity caused by treating the battery as a separate entity to the car CAP will be unable to forecast its used values so fleets can work out competitive lease rates.

But we all know why Renault hasn’t included the Zoe’s battery in the price: It’s because it would then list at £25k, three times the price of the entry-level 2013 Renault Clio on which it’s based.

By Cars UK