The Renault ZOE sets a new world record, traveling 1,618 km in 24 hours

The Renault ZOE sets a new world record, traveling 1,618 km in 24 hours

If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times: range-anxiety is one of the biggest hurdles facing electric car manufacturers. If consumers don't believe that an electric car is going to get them from Point A to Point B (without a time-consuming battery recharge), vehicle sales will stall.

Thankfully for EV automakers, there's good news to crow about today: the Renault ZOE has just destroyed the record for distance traveled in 24 hours by an electric car.

Until recently, the farthest that an electric vehicle had driven in a 24-hour perior was 1,280 km, or about 795 miles.

But on June 1, two Renault ZOEs quietly slipped onto a test track in Normandy, France. All day and all night, a team of 15 drivers took turns at the wheels of the two electric cars, and 24 hours later, they'd traveled 1,618 km and 1,506 km, respectively, or about 1,005 miles and 935 miles. That's an improvement of about 25% over the previous record. 

How was this possible? Most of the credit goes to the car's Caméléon charger, which makes the ZOE compatible with any socket and any power level. That allowed the Renault team to recharge the ZOE at 43 kW, restoring an 80% charge in less than 30 minutes. All told, the ZOE that traveled 1,168 km was fast-charged 18 times in the space of 24 hours, or about once every hour and 20 minutes.  

The Renault ZOE rolls into European showrooms later this year. If it proves popular, we'd love to think that Nissan could cajole a version from Renault for the American market, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

No matter which side of the Atlantic you call home, you can learn more about the Renault ZOE in Nikki's very intriguing preview.