Buy an electric Renault and get a year’s free charging – sort of…

• Credit equivalent to one year’s free home charging
• Applies to Renault Megane E-Tech and Scenic E-Tech customers
• Expires December 16th 2024

Renault has teamed up with Octopus Energy to give UK customers “a year’s free charging” with every new electric E-Tech model purchased before December 16th 2024. 

The deal applies to both electric models that Renault sells – the Megane E-Tech and the Scenic E-Tech. You might remember that Renault has two new EVs on the horizon, but neither the 5 hatchback or the 4 SUV will be on sale by the time this deal expires.

What are the details?

Like any of today’s EV incentives, it’s worth reading the fine print to work out what the deal really involves. Firstly, the free charging only applies to home charging, and you’ll need a home charger and smart metre already installed. There’s no free use of public chargers here, unlike the Supercharger deal for Tesla’s initial customers a decade ago.

It’s only valid for new and existing Octopus Energy customers, too, and you’ll need to be on the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff. This gives you access to its cheaper off-peak energy prices, which make charging an EV overnight at home much more affordable. Motability customers are excluded from the deal, and you have to be over the age of 18.

So how does it work? Well, when you purchase a new electric Renault and have your Octopus Go tariff set up, you’ll receive a one-off credit to your energy account, which Renault claims is enough to cover a year of home charging. Nice.

The credit is slightly different depending on which model you go for – Renault Megane E-Tech customers will receive £150 of credit, while Scenic E-Tech customers will get about £160.

Is there a catch?

I guess the more important question is: is that one-off credit really enough to cover a year of driving? Well, that depends on how you plan to drive your shiny new Renault, and when you choose to charge it.

The credit is calculated by assuming you’ll achieve the manufacturer-quoted EV range over an annual mileage of 10,000 miles. From our testing, we know that many EVs struggle to hit those range figures in the real world, especially when driven at motorway speeds. So you may find you have to charge more often than Renault has assumed, using up your credit faster. On the other hand, if you stick to urban driving and cover fewer than 10,000 miles a year, your credit could last longer than a year.

It’s also worth noting that the credit is calculated using the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff’s off-peak pricing. Charging outside of these hours – currently 11:30pm to 5:00am – will cost you more. Handily, Renault customers can set up a charging schedule using the Mobilize Smart Charge app.

Either way, free charging credit is free charging credit, no matter whether it lasts you the whole year or not.

There’s a new deal for electric Cupras, too – find out how it works…