The Electric Van Thread

Range is up to 185 miles I think, so probably a realistic 150?

Totally depends on the car and the driving style. Urban driving is way more economical than motorways. Lots of cars will beat the official range with ease in urban driving, some won't.

new sprinter with the largest battery pack (113kwh) allegedly does 300 miles on a charge

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42775886/2024-mercedes-benz-esprinter-revealed/

pricey though.

There's a Nissan Dealer on the Leaf FB group selling two new (delivery miles only) 73 plate Townstar vans for £20k+VAT each, rather than the usual £35k+VAT...

Got a link?

We had the same experience as Giant Scum - utterly pointless. We also has a look at the ID Buzz, but that's not great either.

In 2020 we reserved 4 build slots for the Cybertruck, so we're doing research on load etc as to whether keep them or sell the slots on. So far it looks like they should be OK and we already have a bunch of Tesla chargers installed. Lets see what other car brands do to compete with the Cybertruck i suppose?

That 190 mile range on the Ford fully loaded and in cold weather will drop like a stone. Nowhere near good enough for real world applications i'm afraid.

Got a link?

It's a private group (UK Nissan Leaf owners group) but the guy's name is Simon Dando of Fish Brothers Nissan, apparently in Swindon.

Bit of a thread resurrection....

I'm doing the man-math around a VW ID Buzz Cargo as my personal daily - I might be just about able to justify it if I'm feeling brave.
Does anyone have one? Thoughts?

Also, insurance...
I've a VW caddy at the mo, which is classed as a car (it's a Kombi 5 seater), and so insurance is around £500ish. Just done a quote on a Buzz cargo and it's the thick end of £1300...

I do drive for work - visiting places - for which I get milage, so my understanding (and current situation) is that I have business use on my policy, which adds a bit, i think. Do I need it on there?

TBH at £1300, the man maths falls down a bit.

Kia PV5 UK launch is at the CV show on 29th April so I'd at least hang fire to see prices, range, weights etc. I'd imagine the maths will be better than a Buzz.

Yeah I seen the PV5 - looks cool, though I suspect in a trim that's 'nice' (as it'll be my only vehicle) it'll top current 2nd hand Buzz prices (£35k-ish)?

Certainly won't be buying owt in the next couple months but starting to consider it. just surprised at the insurance as much as anything!

Could have bought a leccy Vivaro Life Elite, less than 6 months old, for the same its just cost me for a three year old diesel.

Problem, range is about 100 miles.

Considering the amount of space there is in a van, the range is seriously poor on them. Aware vans for actual work tend to need all the space but surely improving the range would mean more vans would be sold...

I really wanted an ev Berlingo/partner, but the range is so poor that I just stopped looking...

We had a '75' kWh E-expert/Vivaro for two years then switched to a Buzz Cargo, that is now also two years old except we own this one with no plans to change.
It has been great, range is 200-270 miles, reliability has been great, it's nice to drive. It's owned by my business, insurance is through direct line who were a lot cheaper than some @ £500ish I think. It's coming up for renewal in August.
I think you are right about it being nicer at a pre-reg price than a PV5, it really comes down to load space. The Kia has a much bigger cargo area, but less range unless they have really improved efficiency. My long term in the Buzz is 3.1m/kWh but that's over three winters and only two summers. We have had a Kia Soul since 2020 which has been faultless, so I'm sure the PV5 will be great too. We just don't need the extra load space so perfectly happy to keep the buzz.

Posted by: hungry-monkey

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I do drive for work - visiting places - for which I get milage, so my understanding (and current situation) is that I have business use on my policy, which adds a bit, i think. Do I need it on there?

Try direct line. They were competitive for me when I had a van as a daily with occasional work use. Also were happy to transfer NCD between car and van policies, which a lot of insurers won't. They assume a mix of SD&P used as well as business.

I've just taken the plunge on a cheap VW ID Buzz cargo deal, moving from my current caddy as ICE van prices are ridiculous at the moment, almost twice my current payment. Really looking forward to the Buzz, but hadn't thought about the extra insurance cost, so will have to iook into this 😳

Nice, you will like it. For us direct line were dramatically cheaper, about half the price of some, and it went through the huge insurance hike era without too much increase