Renault Zoe bows out in March 2024

Renault will cease production of its Zoe electric car on 30 March 2024. It was already clear that there would be no new Zoe generation, but now the date has been set for the end of production at the Flins plant.

The electric Renault pioneer is making room for a new generation of Renault electric cars, for which Zoe piloted vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, including the electric Renault 5. The R5 will be unveiled as a production model later this year and produced from 2024 onward in Douai in northern France rather than in Flins.

Twizy too

Renault also recently announced that the Twizy electric microcar production would end in September 2023, replaced by the Mobilize Duo and its cargo offshoot Bento. Those two new models will be fully integrated into operations at Flins with mechanisms of the circular economy and new approaches to the car as a revenue platform.

420 000 units

To date, around 420 000 units of the Zoe have been produced since production in 2012. Although relatively few B-segment electric cars are still on the market, customer interest in the Zoe has steadily declined.

According to French reports, 12 182 Zoes were sold last year, almost half the number sold in 2021. The competing Peugeot e-208 achieved sales of around 19 000.

Still, compared to other Renault models, Zoe does not fall too far behind its electric siblings. Twingo Electric sold 12 600 units; the larger Mégane E-Tech sold 15 580 vehicles in 2022. Renault has not yet communicated how many units it hopes to sell of the all-new R5.

V2G pioneer

Despite the extensive overhaul in 2019, the Zoe is now behind in critical data, such as the DC charging performance. But in this specific topic of charging, Zoe, at the end of its life, has paved the way for its successors. Renault’s Zoe featured in multiple vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot projects, and its new brother, the R5, will be V2G-capable, the first of its kind for Renault and a trailblazer in the industry in general.

To accompany the market launch of the Renault 5, Renault’s mobility branch is launching the so-called Mobilize V2G service, including a smartphone app that can be used to program bidirectional charging.

Criteria such as a desired battery level and the time the vehicle will next be used can be recorded there. According to Mobilize, the service will also be available for other Renault electric vehicles in the future, all thanks to Zoe.