Electric vans

[bigspark17]

Any body have or thinking about getting an electric van?

im considering the vivaro e. The 50kw battery will do 143 miles which is more than enough for me. With the goverment grant of 20% off zero emmisions vans up to £8000 its coming out at onlu a few grand more than a new vivaro diesel. British made and also a good usefor the BBL. any views?

 

[Bob Geldoff1234]

What sort of price are we talking? so how much is the Vivaro electric after the grant and how much is a diesel one?
I have just test drove a Ford Kuga plug in hybrid on a 24 hour test drive and was very impressed so would consider something like the Vivaro.

 

[bigspark17]

Roughly diesel start at around £25k
Electric start £36 with a grant of 20% brings it under £29k. Obviously before any extras.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Have a look at leasing rather than buying, may be a better option.

 

[UNG]

Any body have or thinking about getting an electric van?

im considering the vivaro e. The 50kw battery will do 143 miles which is more than enough for me. With the goverment grant of 20% off zero emmisions vans up to £8000 its coming out at onlu a few grand more than a new vivaro diesel. British made and also a good usefor the BBL. any views?

Is the 143 miles real world use or the maximum expected under perfect ideal world conditions
Finding out that the range drops to less than half that when fully loaded driving into a headwind while it's raining and -5ͦc outside after you have bought it could be an expensive mistake
I think I would want a demonstrator vehicle on loan for a few days or even a week to test if it is a viable choice before jumping in and buying one.

 

[ian.settle1]

Does the 143 miles also take into account during the winter when you will have the heater on full, wipers going etc

 

[MJPD29]

I wouldn't even consider purchasing one due to the mileage. Is that figure real world driving also?

 

[Mike Johnson]

Buddy of mine has just changed his electric Toyota to a Kia, this is purported to achieve 250miles on one charge?

The Toyota was supposed to achieve 120miles, but in reality only 80.

 

[pc1966]

The 50kw battery will do 143 miles which is more than enough for me.

What is your typical daily mileage? As other have said you could fine the marketing figure is almost double the real-world results.

Generally electrics do will in built up areas as a lot of the braking is regenerative (not just heating the disks) and you are not battling wind resistance at motorway speeds. But things like heating / demisting / air-con (if fitted!) etc will soak up quite a bit.

Eventually a lot of sites will have charging options, but given a lot of sites you visit for work might well be under construction you can't depend on that!

I live in a Victorian era block of flats (4+4 with common entrance) and sod-all chance of charging in the street so for me it is a total no-go for the foreseeable future.

 

[Mike Johnson]

With the amount of pushing the electric car is getting I am just concerned that our infrastructure will not be able to keep up, no matter how many monstrous wind farms are used to blight the landscape, I understand from a post on here somewhere that Bristol already has a problem.

Just to add insult to injury, Eurotunnel has priority parking and free fuelling points for electric cars, I have asked where I can fill up my conventional car for nothing, hmmm still waiting for an answer.

 

[nicebutdim]

What I can not reconcile, and none of the experts seem keen to address, is the horrendous cost that would be associated with battery replacement. I imagine the protection circuitry will allow for individual cells coming to the end of their life, but at some point batteries will need to be replaced and I can not help seeing this as rendering EVs beyond economical repair - as such there is likely to be a collapse in resale values of EVs over a certain age.

To be fair to Tesla, they do seem to take this into account and seem keen to rent or lease vehicles, with the manufacturer retaining ownership and therefore responsibility for the battery.

While there will be an economic argument for many EV owners - no congestion charge etc - for many others an EV may well become something of a burden after several years of ownership. With the resourses required for their production and legacy issues likely to stem from short battery/vehicle lifespan, I can not help thinking that we'll soon look back at EVs as a horrendous mistake and ask why so much money was thrown at them, to the detriment of more realistic technologies.

 

[UNG]

With the amount of pushing the electric car is getting I am just concerned that our infrastructure will not be able to keep up, no matter how many monstrous wind farms are used to blight the landscape, I understand from a post on here somewhere that Bristol already has a problem.

Just to add insult to injury, Eurotunnel has priority parking and free fuelling points for electric cars, I have asked where I can fill up my conventional car for nothing, hmmm still waiting for an answer.

The biggest infrastructure problem is the DNO cables in the ground. Without a major network upgrade I don't see how it can stand a massive increase in load that EV charging will present. Most of the network was installed between the 1930's and 50's and is mainly 16mm² and 25mm² 4c cable, it's interesting looking at the DNO network plans to see how many properties are served off one 16mm² cable along a street and diversity if you can call it that is certainly pushed beyond limits and EV charging will probably be the straw that breaks it's back

 

[Zerax]

I can not help thinking that we'll soon look back at EVs as a horrendous mistake and ask why so much money was thrown at them, to the detriment of more realistic technologies.

Such as ??

I think the question is more about battery vs. hydrogen... but both are EV.
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I have asked where I can fill up my conventional car for nothing...

I assume you mean conventional to you ? Conventional to others may mean the 'new fangled' EV cars ? The 'new conventional' ??

I think Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars is probably a better term to differentiate old conventional and new conventional.

 

[nicebutdim]

Such as ??

I think the question is more about battery vs. hydrogen... but both are EV.

Good point and, yes, I was specifically thinking about hydrogen. Obviously all vehicles require significant resources to manufacture, but those powered by Lithium battery technology are particularly resource hungry and with the added drawback of limited battery life.

My advice to the OP would be to seriously consider the electric option if they change vehicles at a fairly young age, but not if they like to keep them for longer periods. A diesel Vivaro might realistically be expected to be in service for two decades, in some way or other, but I honestly don't see the current crop of EVs managing to continue in economical use beyond 6-8 years.
[automerge]1596576405[/automerge]

I assume you mean conventional to you ? Conventional to others may mean the 'new fangled' EV cars ? The 'new conventional' ??

I think Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars is probably a better term to differentiate old conventional and new conventional.

I don't see EVs being used widely enough to yet warrant the term "conventional".

 

[Zerax]

Interesting thread...

I need to get a new van myself, so have been learning all I can about electric ones. There are lots of aspects to whether they work for me or not;

-Will an electric van work for me (range, power, charging etc.) ?
-How does it drive with a full load of stock, tools etc ?
-Driving in the winter might be a bit chilly if the heater has to be turned off for range
-What's the reliability of fast chargers around me if I need to use them ?
-What happens if there's a large scale power outage ?
-Will there be many more restricted areas for non EU6 vans ?
-What will the future resale values be like ?
-What's the future resale values of diesel vans going to be like ?
-Etc. etc.