The Renault Zoé but not the R5, a DS too expensive... The strange list of models eligible for the new "battery bonus"

In a time of budgetary restrictions, this was a new purchasing aid that we didn't necessarily expect. Starting October 1st, a "battery bonus" will complement the ecological bonus , the government announced a few days ago.

Despite the savings currently to be made, there is a way to continue to support the transition of the vehicle fleet to electric vehicles, while encouraging the assembly of cars in Europe, but also the production of various components such as batteries.

The list of the first eligible models was published this Wednesday, September 17, by Ademe (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), with a few surprises.

For example, we find the Renault Zoé... a model that has been out of production since March 2024. However, this battery bonus, like the ecological bonus, only applies to new vehicles and not to used ones.

In reality, the Zoé appears in the search engine available on the Ademe website, but does not appear on the list that can be downloaded just below: "List of vehicles meeting the European production criteria required to benefit from the EEC supplementary bonus - updated on 09/17/2025".

The problem remains that it has not been produced for so long that it seems complicated to be able to buy a new copy which would still be in stock... and therefore even to benefit from the ecological bonus, noted recently .

But the "battery bonus" list does include another model that has been out of production for nearly a year and a half, the Smart Fortwo EQ, as noted by Numerama . The article also points out that many versions of other Volkswagen models are also included, even though they are no longer on the market.

The new R5 , the best-selling electric car in France since the beginning of the year and which replaced the Zoé in the Renault range, is not currently eligible for this battery bonus, with accumulators from Asia. Only the electric Scénic is currently eligible, with LG Chem cells produced in Poland.

As with the Zoé, the Ademe search engine could also suggest that the Tesla Model Y , number two on the French electric market this year, also benefited from this additional aid. But it is in reality only eligible for the ecological bonus, with production in Berlin, but batteries that were also to be produced there eventually, but still imported from Asia a priori.

Another oddity: the DS Number 8 , just launched by the French premium brand of the Stellantis group, is also eligible, even though its prices start at 57,000 euros. However, as with the ecological bonus, the battery aid does not apply to models sold for more than 47,000 euros. It seems difficult to negotiate a discount to reach this maximum level.

The Peugeot e-3008 falls just below this threshold, with a "230 hp 97 kWh battery Long Range" version, equipped with the same batteries as DS Numéro 8, which starts at 46,990 euros.

The battery bonus also applies to two relatively affordable cars that rank high in the sales rankings: the Citroën ë-C3 (from €23,300 excluding subsidies) and the Peugeot e-208 (€27,600). This makes them a little more accessible for French customers.