Renault Kangoo ZE Review

Electrifying.com score

7/10

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Price: £24,163 - £27,427

The Kangoo is a useful and affordable small van for businesses who don’t need to carry huge loads or go long distances.


  • Battery size: 33kWh
  • Miles per kWh: 4.42
  • E-Rating™: B

    Click here to find out more about our electric car Efficiency Rating.

  • Max charge rate: 7.4 kW
  • Range: 143 miles
  • Battery size: 33kWh
  • Miles per kWh: 4.42
  • E-Rating™: B

    Click here to find out more about our electric car Efficiency Rating.

  • Max charge rate: 7.4 kW
  • Range: 143 miles
  • Electrifying.com E-Rating B

Ginny Says

“The range isn't great and you need to bear in mind that this will drop once it’s fully loaded, but it’s a good option if you’re not travelling long distances and as with all vans, comes with good tax breaks for business drivers.”

Tom Says

“Excellently practical box-shape from Renault. This borrows the motor and battery from the Renault Zoe and works as a very practical take on an battery electric van. Now, if they ever do a 4x4 Kangoo with two motors, things would get really interesting…”


The 33kWh battery in the Kangoo provides a decent enough range for urban deliveries, but there’s no rapid charge option for longer journeys.

  • Range:143 miles (WLTP official)
  • Battery:33kWh
  • Home/Public charger (7kW):6 hrs
  • Fast charging 20-80% (50kW):N/A
  • Ultra Fast Charging (Supercharging) 20-80% (150kW):N/A
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Range

The bigger battery fitted to the latest version of the Kangoo ZE gives it a surprisingly long range of 143 miles according to the official WLTP tests. But this isn’t realistic and even Renault suggests that the real figure will be between 75 and 125 miles, depending on the load and road.

Drive with a light cargo in towns where the traffic is slow and the regenerative braking has a chance to put power back into the battery and the range will be nearer the top of that estimate. Speed up the motorway with 600kg in the back and it will shrink rapidly. 

Weather also plays a big part – batteries don’t like the cold and using the heater saps energy too.

Battery

In terms of capacity, the 33kWh battery fitted to the latest Kangoo ZE is to the smaller end of average for a modern electric car – in fact it’s a cast off from the last model of the Zoe hatchback. 

The big news is that Renault has dropped its battery lease plans for the Kangoo ZE. In the past, owners could buy the van at a reduced cost, but had to sign up to a monthly lease payment scheme for the battery. This had some advantages in terms of guarantee, but owners and used van traders generally hated it as the paperwork was confusing and off-putting. Now, every new Kangoo ZE has the battery sold outright with the van. 

The only downside of this is the warranty – the Kangoo’s power pack has cover of only five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. This is stingy by the standards of other EVs and Renault’s electric car range.

Charging

Renault has kept the charging options simple on the Kangoo ZE – there is one socket under the badge at the front of the car, into which you can plug an AC supply of up to 7kW. That’s the feed you’ll get from most dedicated car chargers at home, work or roadside posts in towns. It takes just over six hours to get from totally empty to 100%, and topping up during a lunch hour should add another 20ish miles to the range. 

Unfortunately, there is no rapid charge option with the Kangoo ZE - not even if you pay extra, as with the Zoe hatchback. So, if you need to do a longer journey you’ll have to find a public AC charger and take a good book.

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