Zoe might have just become the most popular name in the tiny town of Appy in the Ariege region of France overnight, as Renault has just given every household an all-electric ZOE.
The French automaker has just created the first 100% electric town thanks to a three-year pioneering new scheme to prove electric mobility can be suitable for all.
All households will be provided with a home charger, just like all customers in the UK, and there will be a public charger for the town. When plugged into a DC charger, the New ZOE’s 52kWh battery can be charged to 90 miles of range in just 30 minutes.
The new EV owners will work closely with Renault for three years, sharing their impressions and experiences, in a first-time scheme that will likely inform and help understand the way customers interact with and use electric vehicles day to day.
The project has the goal of showing that if one of the most remote rural towns in France can do the switch to electric vehicles, so can the big metropolis.
The New ZOE has a range of up to 245 miles and will have the latest infotainment technology and DC fast-charging capability, which according to the company is the result of being at the forefront of the electric car market and innovation for the last eight years.
Appy residents, along with regular ZOE owners, will be benefitting from a range of advanced features. This includes recycled seat material on selected models, a 10-inch TFT Drivers Instrument Display, intuitive EasyLink touchscreen infotainment systems in a range of screen options up to 9.3 inches in size, and a suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to ensure driving a ZOE is as easy and safe as possible.
The ZOE has been a big hit since its launch in 2013 as there are already over 182,000 on the road and as we recently reported Renault has also added a van version to the range. Subscription service Onto also just added 1,100 more ZOEs to its stock.