But that gave me the opportunity to get down and do some basic comparative calculations, albeit with a fair degree of guesswork mixed in.
And my quick and dirty answer is that, on a piece of paper viewed through a good old crystal ball, running a Fluence ZE will cost you more than running a bog standard diesel version.
The electric version could also leave you with anxieties more than just about the daily range of the car.
So, with the caveat that I could be totally off the wall in the maths, here's how I see the deal.
First, the comparison is based on an annual travel distance of 15,000kms, because that's the point where you start attracting extra charges on the ZE package. It is also based on a 4-year ownership. I'm not taking into account any trade-in or financing charges on either base car, and I've allowed a 60 percent depreciation for both vehicles over the period.
No servicing costs are included, as two visits to your Renault dealer are likely to work out the same cost for either car.
Renault Ireland says they'll sell the ZE without battery, taking into account current tax rebates for EVs, for €21,620. For the battery, they'll charge €79+VAT on a monthly lease, or €1,147 annually to a private buyer not registered for VAT. Electric 'fuel' costs can be estimated at around €200 a year. Road Tax at the moment is €104, same as for the diesel Fluence.
Total cost, including depreciation, I figure to be €40,396 over the four years.
The diesel Fluence retails for €20,300 without any special deals. Fuel costs over 15,000kms are around €837 per year. Total cost over four years, probably €36,244.
The diesel Fluence is cheaper overall by €4,152 over the four-year ownership. OK, not a big difference, a tad over €20 a week.
But this is where we head into the zone just before the Twilight one, Speculation & Puzzlement.
For instance, the allowance of 15,000kms a year before the Fluence ZE owner starts attracting excess usage charges works out at just 58kms a day, if the car is used five days a week. OK if the car is just used for the average suburban commute to work, but not leaving any leeway for family trips at the weekend.
The diesel Fluence, on the other hand, just needs fuel to go further, and the spare €20 a week as noted above would take the family a long, long way.
Then there's the matter of going in to change the car after four years, with a short-range electric car and the seller not even owning the battery. Renault Ireland's MD Eric Basset says that's no problem, as the lease on the battery will simply be taken up by a second owner. And Renault's 'one stop shop' for handling all the details of selling, servicing, and battery leasing will make that simple.
Fine, unless you want to change your Fluence ZE for a Ford Focus diesel? I'm not sure that the Ford dealer will be much interested in taking a trade-in of a competitor's model only applicable to about 5 percent of the market in 2016, and which will require more paperwork to sell on.
Sure, the Renault dealer will be quite happy to change you to a new Renault. But perhaps you simply want a change of brand?
Renault Ireland is known to be mooting some kind of guaranteed residual value at the end of the four years. Will they also offer to give you the cash equivalent if you want to move to the brand next door? If they don't, then the real residual value of the Fluence ZE will die on the showroom floor of your Renault dealer.
Eric Basset says there's going to be a major shift in how dealerships handle the potential buyer of an electric car. Basically, they will be required to make sure that the needs of the buyer can be properly met by an EV, or they simply will not be allowed sell. It's going to be a funny old world when a car salesman tells you 'no, I cannot allow you to buy this car'.
Basset also said that he believes women will be the prime movers in the changeover to EVs, because they are likely to be more concerned about the environment than their menfolk. I'm not sure if he understands women that well, because they're the ones more likely to worry about whether they have enough juice in the battery for all the running around that a 'mom taxi' service does. They're really much more comfortable knowing that they have plenty of fuel sloshing around under the back seat. For them, a plug-in Prius or hybrid Peugeot 3008 is probably a more attractive compromise between environmental concern and the need not to be anxious about family transport requirements.
The potential positives in the argument for a Fluence EV do exist. It's a real car and, within the range limitations, will work fine. There are likely to be fringe benefits available when it goes on sale, such as free parking and exemption from any congestion charges. Perhaps EVs might even be exempt from all these new tolls that could make Dublin a financially 'locked in' city?
The ESB is committed to providing a full national EV charging system network in short order, and is well on the way to fulfilling its promise here.
Battery technology and costs will improve fairly rapidly over the next five years, making the next generation of EVs a significantly more attractive proposition. Renault will likely replace the batteries of trade-ins with the newer ones, making their residual value chances rather better.
Fossil fuel prices will inexorably rise, as much to do with greater demand for oil from developing economies as from the reserves not getting any greater. If we in Ireland can shift our electricity production from fossil dependence to renewable sources, the real CO2 emissions will be significantly lower, and electricity prices might at least be stabilised.
And finally, let me give you a mobile phone analogy. Twenty years ago the Motorola 'brick' had a massive battery that required to be charged twice a day, worked only in two cities in Ireland, and calls cost 36p a minute. Today's mobiles offer a quantum more in facilities, use tiny batteries, and even if they still cost far too much to use in Ireland, are still in real terms substantially cheaper to own, and work absolutely everywhere because the infrastructure is in place.
It's probably not going to take anything like that time frame to see similar improvements on the EV scene.
