I have left a weekend with the Renault 5. This is all that awaits who is bought a cheap electric car

He Renault 5 It has become one of the electric cars of the moment. The update of its classic lines has been so good that it has been attracting the eyes of those in a day -to -day basis following the current engine but, surprisingly, of those who are oblivious to it and only approach when they have to buy a car last eight, ten or twelve years.

In fact, I have already told that it is one of the cars with which I have felt more observed. I would not lie if I said that they have asked me more times about the car and more necks have turned with this car than driving authentic beasts of Lamborghini by northern Italy.

I have had the feeling that it is the first electric car in which people tell me that I would be willing to buy for being the car that is, regardless of whether or not it is electric.

But can you cover the needs as it did, for example, a Renault Twingo (which will also have electric reissue) or a Renault Clio? Can that car for almost exclusive city use but with which we can move no matter where or when?

Let’s analyze it.

A weekend with the Renault 5

Imagine, we are thinking of buying a Renault 5. We accept that it can be a bit more expensive than the competition because we like its aesthetics, we value how well finished it is inside and we want a car with a tact of direction and brake superior to its rivals.

We are very clear that the use we are going to give is to move through the city and its periphery on a day -to -day basis. But of course, we have a car at home and we want to leave a weekend With friends or children. Nor do we want to go very far, a two or three hours trip to get out of the routine and return on Sunday with recharged batteries.

In our case, we left Madrid. We have almost loaded batteries. We have been making some message first thing about the day but we have 90% battery. That is, of its 52 kWh capacity we have about 47 kWh. We arrive home, set up the bags and set up to our destination. In this case: Trujillo (Extremadura).

I have stayed with a couple of friends in the four wind subway. We will go three people, with our respective luggage. Soon we discover that a trunk is not left over but we put the luggage without much difficulty. Ahead we have 252 kilometers and we do not plan to make them 80 km/h with the air conditioning off.

Soon we go to the highway and as soon as we leave Móstoles behind, we put cruise control. Without exceeding we start eating kilometers. At 120 km/h, the travel computer tells us that we do not arrive, that we have to stop before.

And the calculations begin.

I look at consumption and the figure is immovable: 22 kWh/100 km.

Fast, the accounts.

If 22 kWh give us to do 100 kilometers … Indeed, we do not arrive. The 47 kWh that we have left in batteries should not let us make more than 225 kilometers. That is, we would have 25 kilometers ahead before arriving in Trujillo. But the browser tells us that we stop much before. About 150 kilometers after starting the march.

We start the mathematical game and take electromaps. Shortly before arriving in Trujillo there is a quick charger. But it is too close to Trujillo, it would be a lot to trust that we would arrive and it would be worth reducing the speed. Another option is in a town called Romangordo. But it forces us to deviate and the load is 50 kW. We discard.

Almaraz is at kilometer 200 and that convinces us more. In a service route next to the road there are loaders of Tesla and Zunder. Those of Tesla carry 150 kW and those of Zunder at 350 kW. Let’s ignore the second because the Renault 5 loads to a maximum of 100 kW. Using a plug superior to that power leads us to spend more money (the more powerful the charger, the more the rate the general rule) but we will continue loading a maximum of 100 kW.

We have done the calculations well and we had very little load on the battery. We arrived with 10% of it. We were calm because about 20 kilometers before arriving in Alamaraz there is another fast wene plug and two other fast plugs. We had a well covered network.

Aware that there is charger at the destination, the stop will be a little matter. In fact, we lengthened it. We stretch the legs a little, we take a soda and between hesitation and hesitant of “With my diesel I make a Bilbao-Tarifa without stopping” half an hour has spent. The car is 80% of the load. That is, we have about 42 kWh in the bedroom. We could about 170 kilometers ago.

We have 50 kilometers ahead but we can move with some ease through nearby peoples. In fact, the next day we will visit the Monfragüe National Park and there we will decide where to go. We have available a 50 kW charger in a couple of nearby towns and in Plasencia, a larger population, we have plugs of all kinds to load while we eat.

We return to Trujillo On Saturday night and we have 20% battery. We take the opportunity to see the city. We leave the car loading and take a walk. Now the goal is to load it completely to resume the way back to Madrid with full battery.

Aware that we have hours ahead, we put the car to load in an 11 kW plug. It is cheaper and we are going to spend that morning or yes away from the car, the same gives us. The car takes to load about four hours. We arrived at the plug with about 10 kWh available and we had ahead of about 42 kWh to fill.

Return to Madrid we already knew what awaited us, so we decided to stop a little earlier. This time we stopped for about 150 kilometers. We knew we had to stop at some point before arriving with that consumption of 22 kWh/100 km. If we proposed it, we should arrive at the four wind station in Madrid exactly with the exhausted battery but it was nonsense to play it.

Better stop 15 minutes in a plug of Iberdrola that could deliver 150 kW. Loading to the maximum of 100 kW that supports the car, in 10-15 minutes we recover almost 25 kWh of autonomy. That left us the car again at 80% capacity. As from there we were going to load more slowly, unplug and reach our destination with a 38% autonomy since in the remaining 100 kilometers we spend a little less than the recharged.

That is, we leave the car with an autonomy of about 80 kilometers. More than enough to get home and leave the car plugged back for the next day.

What a jaleo

Well, not really.

I thought it was interesting to count this experience with the Renault 5 because a car can be extrapolated with some car with a about 50 kWh battery. That is, a car designed by and to be used in the city but that might interest us if our weekend getaways are few throughout the year and, above all, do not exceed 300 kilometers or so.

If you make a very long trip, 800 kilometers, you should think about whether this car (or anyone with this battery capacity) is or not for you. Because in that case the first stop will make it at 200-220 kilometers but, then you will shorten the stops and you will be detained every 150-170 kilometers, depending on how many chargers you have nearby.

This may be a slab too big and you are not willing to extend on the road two days of your vacation (one of the first trip and another the return). Who are we to judge.

Or you can see it from another prism. If you have ease to load the car at 0.10 euros/kWh at home, work or where you go to your daily routine and move through the city, you will be spending around 1.5o or 1.60 euros per 100 kilometers Tours, since the consumption will be very similar to 15-16 kWh/100 km.

That, compared to a hybrid that consumes about 5 liters/100 km, we talk about a day -to -day difference of about 5.50 euros every hundred kilometers if we assume that gasoline is 1.50 euros/liter and, therefore, we will spend 7.50 euros with that consumption of 5 liters/100 km.

Is it worth it?

It depends.

It depends on the money you want to spend and, above all, the time you are willing to consume on specific days.

If you bet on the first and we do about 50 kilometers a day, we are talking about a saving of about 13-14 euros every five days, putting that we are going to work from Monday to Friday and we do not move the car again, we are already talking about between 60 and 65 euros, at least, a month.

Greater savings will be if we get a specific rate to load the car (There are 0.03 euros if we do it at night). In that case it is possible to shoot the savings up to 7 euros per 100 km. That is, a weekly savings of about 17.50 euros. A month, we talk about 72 euros.

All without counting benefits Prosecutors when paying circulation tax, benefits when parking in an area of ​​low emissions or savings in maintenance. Or if we have a second residence that we reach without making an intermediate stop and we can load there at a low price.

Does that saving convince you and are you willing to sacrifice some discomfort if you save at least 720 and 900 euros only in fuel? Again, it will depend on the peculiarities of each.

There will be those who need money and prefer to buy an electric car with a similar battery and venture. There will be those who do not need money and prefer to move more freely and, above all, disregard applications or calculate how many kilometers the next stop has to make.

It is not a matter in this case of convincing anyone, it is a matter of putting the numbers on the table and that each one value.

Photos | Xataka

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