For the last 60 odd years, the transit van and others like it have been the workhorse of Britain. Today, there's about four million of them on the UK's roads, but by 2030, they will no longer be available to buy new, and battery power will take over. To find out if commercial EVs are really up to the job, we've dressed up like the Super Mario Brothers, and picked the latest EVs from two titans of the commercial van sector, Mercedes and VW. We're going to test them in three key areas: comfort, load carrying, and performance.
We've got two vehicles to test, the VW E-Transporter, which has a 37.3 kilowatt-hour battery pack that produces 110 horsepower, and the Mercedes E-Vito, which has a 41 kilowatt hour battery that produces 114 horsepower. Neither of them are particularly cheap, as they're just north of £50,000, which is more than the basic diesel models by about £20,000. Our expectations are high, but we'll start by looking at how they behave on the road.
We're kicking off with the VW E-Transporter, and being a petrol head, Jimmy's first question was, "What's this range?" Well, before we get dug into that, yeah, these are designed for a specific purpose in mind, aren't they? They are short jobs around town, which is handy because the range is 82 miles. However, industry research has discovered that the average distance van drivers cover each day is barely 70 miles, however, if you need to go further, a recharge will take a whopping 45 minutes, which at least gives you a bit of time to enjoy the VW's cab.
"What is it like to be in here?" Jimmy asks, referring to the cabin. "It's quite," he says. "It's basic isn't it? It's basically I know sat never standard." He seems to be disappointed with the quality of the interior. "I'm used to VW having a sort of quite good quality," he continues. "This feels so scratchy, hard, horrible when you bring an E-vehicle to market just up its evenness." He wants more comfort and luxury in his vehicle. Jimmy also likes the fact that it's quiet, but that's probably because it's also very slow. Come on, call this oh wow, is that it? Look at your range when you did that, we just lost a mile.
"We just lost them all," Jimmy says, as he accelerates. "Accelerating once I was expecting torque," he says, referring to the electric motor. "Yeah yeah because all the EVs that I've driven have photo tour," he continues. "In order to preserve what range is there, the power is limited to 75 percent of its maximum and the top speed is just 56 miles per hour." This limitation can make negotiating busy junctions a hair-raising experience. Jimmy says short gaps here not a lot of room quick nip across oh no see I don't like it you can't go, I put my foot down nothing happens there's that delay.
"Yeah, I'm amazed it hasn't got any initial response," he continues. "I'm underwhelmed." Next up is the Mercedes E-Vito, which certainly had one thing on its side - a 92 miles range in this what you've got 10 more-ish. It's like 12 more miles percent right! The power output is limited during normal driving and the top speed is even slower at just 50 miles per hour. However, Jimmy says that six miles gets him ten miles more range because he can just not go as hard.
"The lower spec Mercedes is a couple of grand cheaper than the VW," Jimmy notes, "but have they cut any corners in the cab?" The answer is no. "It's definitely much better," he says. "Better interior for sure. The seats are more comfy, the layout's better." However, the road noise is louder on the Mercedes. On a positive note, the Mercedes will charge from 10 to 80 in just 30 minutes, but how quickly will it accelerate? Jimmy asks, "I'm gonna punch it go-go I mean what's that about?" The Mercedes does respond a bit better than the VW.
"We're finding both of these vans a little bit disappointing," Jimmy says. "Yeah bro range is one thing okay and if it suits your needs then it suits your needs." However, he adds, there's no grunt in either vehicle. If you were going to go heavy lifting, perhaps things will improve later when we get down to some heavy lifting.