What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

Operating

The dashboard display tells you how many miles you can travel before your battery is flat. Yet to overcome his acute range anxiety, the writer was happy to discover that regular round trips of 70–80 miles could be accomplished with ease, without the need to seek a public charging point, and with plenty of margin left for short local runs. 

Emboldened, he tackled a 120-mile non-stop lightly laden round-trip – again in chilly temperatures – having completely recharged the battery pack, and made it back with 20 miles to spare. Not too bad a performance given that it was delivered in grim weather, but it did fall significantly short of the quoted range.

Relying on a 13A three-pin plug socket, domestic charging proved to be achingly slow, with an hour’s charging appearing to add no more than two or three miles to the e-Dispatch’s range. 

Matters were not helped by the socket’s location on the end wall of a domestic garage. That involved the e-Dispatch being nosed in as far as possible, with the charging cable at maximum stretch.

In our view nobody should even think of opting for an electric van unless they at least have access to a sensibly positioned single-phase 32A 7.4kW wall box. That should allow you to charge from zero to 100% in just over 11 hours, Citroen claims.

A three-phase 16A 11kW wall box should get you from zero to 100% in seven hours, the manufacturer contends, while a DC 100kW fast charger should ensure you boost your battery from 15% to 80% capacity in 45 minutes.

The Mode 2 cable we were using is not a standard Citroen offering, and the manufacturer understandably does not encourage its use – although it should be stressed that this is because it makes charging painfully slow rather than unsafe. It advises owners to use the Mode 3 cable provided with the vehicle instead, which can be plugged into a wall box.

Fed by a 7kW on-board charger, the battery pack is covered by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty triggered if the pack’s charging capacity falls below 70%. A three-year/100,000-mile warranty protects the rest of the vehicle.

The van qualifies for the maximum £6,000 government plug-in van grant, which reduces the basic price to £36,380 – still several thousand pounds more than the nearest equivalent diesel model.

It is important to point out, however, that the e-Dispatch does not qualify for vehicle excise duty and that employees who enjoy its private use have a 0% benefit-in-kind liability. Also note that you will not be charged if you enter a low-emission zone, given that the van does not produce exhaust emissions.

Service intervals are set at two years/25,000 miles. With no engine oil and filter changes, and no emission control system to worry about, the time spent in the workshop should be modest – along with the cost.

Metallic paint is standard on this model and our test van was finished in extra-dark chocolate metallic, described by Citroen as Perla Nera Black – an odd choice for a working vehicle. Everything is painted in the same colour including the door handles, mirror casings, bumpers and side rubbing strips.

Citroen e-Dispatch 75kWh M Auto Driver van

Price (ex VAT) £42,380**

Price range (ex VAT) £32,965-£42,380**

Gross payload 1,000kg

Load length 2,512mm

Load width (min/max) 1,258mm/1,628mm

Load bay height 1,397mm

Load volume 5.3m³

Loading height 544mm

Rear door aperture 1,282mm x 1,220mm

Side door aperture 935mm x 1,241mm

Gross vehicle weight 3,025kg

Braked trailer towing weight 1,000kg

Residual value 26.6%*

Cost per mile 47.7p

Engine size/power 100kW (136hp) electric motor

Torque 260Nm

Gearbox 1sp

Range 211mls (WLTP)

Battery 75kWh

Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls (battery 8yrs/100,000mls)

Service intervals 2yrs/25,000mls

Insurance group 36E