It’s not a secret that the Q90 powertrain built by Continental for the Renault Zoe has low charge and discharge efficiency. While the low discharge efficiency results in lower range than we have with the R90 powertrain - designed and developed in-house by Renault -, the low charge efficiency results in wasted time and electricity/money.
Let’s compare the charging efficiency of the two Renault Zoe’s powertrains. To build the table below, I used the information available in Renault France website. The charge was set to 80 % for the ZE 40 (41 kWh) battery.
Charge rate | Renault Zoe R90 – ZE 40 battery | Renault Zoe Q90 – ZE 40 battery | ||
Charging time | Charging efficiency | Charging time | Charging efficiency | |
2,3 kW (10 A) | 20 h | 71 % | 24 h 20 m | 59 % |
3,2 kW (14 A) | 13 h | 79 % | 14 h 20 m | 72 % |
7,4 kW (32 A) | 5 h | 89 % | 6 h 20 m | 70 % (1) |
11 kW (3x16 A) | 3 h 20 m | 89 % | 3 h 20 m | 89 % |
22 kW (3x32 A) | 1 h 38 m | 91 % | 1 h 40 m | 89 % |
43 kW (3x62 A) | 1 h 38 m | 91 % | 1 h 5 m | (2) |
this figure doesn’t make much sense, since in the old Q210, the measured efficiency at 7,4 kW was roughly 90 %
the charging efficiency at 43 kW rate can’t be accurately calculated since it’s not maintained for the whole charging time
More than range, it’s the charging efficiency the main reason why I can’t recommend the Q90. Unless you have at home a powerful EVSE, you’ll waste much time and electricity/money charging a Renault Zoe Q90.
Having the Q90 and R90 powertrains is a mess that Renault could easily solve by adding a CCS socket - to support DC fast charging - in the Renault Zoe R90.
To sum up, whether you choose the R90 or the Q90, avoid charging at 10 A as much as you can. If you can, install a 11-22 kW EVSE at home to take advantage of the three-phase internal charger, it’ll be faster and more efficient.
If you ordered a Renault Zoe, which powertrain and EVSE did you choose?
More info:
https://www.renault.fr/vehicules/vehicules-electriques/zoe/batterie-et-recharge.html
http://renault-zoe.forumpro.fr/t1533-rendement-de-chargedecharge#23023
