Ducato e has arrived

[SpeedyDux]

My brother lives just north of London. A few years ago he drove to Scotland and back in the last gen Leaf with the small battery. Took a few stops and it wouldn't fast change after the first stop because the battery was still too warm. So it took all day. He drove 60k miles in 3 years in that car, it was good as long as you knew it's limitations.

Did the same trip in his new Tesla Y last year. Took three 20 min stops (and arrived with a good amount of charge). Driven at 70mph. No worries.

Last week watched a repeated episode of 5th Gear Recharged, the series where they road tested EVs. In that episode they took a sporty Kia EV just over 1000 miles on the longest continuous highway in Europe, from Oslo to Tromso, to achieve the previous time set by an ICE car of 24 hours continuous driving. Observing the speed limits. One section near Tromso required a ferry. All their stops were planned in advance, using fast chargers. Apparently Norway has the highest concentration of public chargers. Was it 5 times the number per EV that the UK has? I forget.

They still had en route problems, finding chargers at planned stops either in use, or in one case awaiting repair. This caused delays. If they used aircon, the range dropped significantly, so they had to leave it turned off. They only used the available big acceleration once, with big grins for the cameras, and that caused a significant drop in range. It was pretty obvious that they had to drive the EV like a crate of eggs to maximise range. Ahead of them was the camera car which clearly was an ICE. They reached the finish line in Tromso with 1% battery and 4km range remaining and they were nowhere near a charger as far as we could tell. Squeaky bum time. About a minute under 24 hours total journey time, if you believe that.

What is the point of having massive electric horsepower from the battery, if you dare not use the acceleration? Or, if you can't use the aircon when it is sunny? Making that journey in under 24 hours by EV became unlike real-life driving. Perhaps this energy-saving, hypermiling style, is what EV owners often need to do, hoping that on a long journey they will find a fast charger that isn't either occupied or out of service?

I wouldn't like to be an early adopter of an EV motorhome that has a practical range in the real world of maybe 80-100 miles when fully loaded. EVs tugging lightweight caravans might be more useable. For now.

 

[Guigsy]

Last week watched a repeated episode of 5th Gear Recharged, the series where they road tested EVs. In that episode they took a sporty Kia EV just over 1000 miles on the longest continuous highway in Europe, from Oslo to Tromso, to achieve the previous time set by an ICE car of 24 hours continuous driving. Observing the speed limits. One section near Tromso required a ferry. All their stops were planned in advance, using fast chargers. Apparently Norway has the highest concentration of public chargers. Was it 5 times the number per EV that the UK has? I forget.

They still had en route problems, finding chargers at planned stops either in use, or in one case awaiting repair. This caused delays. If they used aircon, the range dropped significantly, so they had to leave it turned off. They only used the available big acceleration once, with big grins for the cameras, and that caused a significant drop in range. It was pretty obvious that they had to drive the EV like a crate of eggs to maximise range. Ahead of them was the camera car which clearly was an ICE. They reached the finish line in Tromso with 1% battery and 4km range remaining and they were nowhere near a charger as far as we could tell. Squeaky bum time. About a minute under 24 hours total journey time, if you believe that.

What is the point of having massive electric horsepower from the battery, if you dare not use the acceleration? Or, if you can't use the aircon when it is sunny? Making that journey in under 24 hours by EV became unlike real-life driving. Perhaps this energy-saving, hypermiling style, is what EV owners often need to do, hoping that on a long journey they will find a fast charger that isn't either occupied or out of service?

I wouldn't like to be an early adopter of an EV motorhome that has a practical range in the real world of maybe 80-100 miles when fully loaded. EVs tugging lightweight caravans might be more useable. For now.

Personally I don't try to break records every trip. They probably could have turned on the AC, used as much acceleration as they liked and just done a couple more 20 mins stops.

The problem with caravans isn't the weight, it's the aerodynamics. EVs rely heavily on being slippery through the air and caravans are like towing a parachute.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Personally I don't try to break records every trip. They probably could have turned on the AC, used as much acceleration as they liked and just done a couple more 20 mins stops.

The problem with caravans isn't the weight, it's the aerodynamics. EVs rely heavily on being slippery through the air and caravans are like towing a parachute.

On that basis, 5th Gear would have proved that the ICE car was superior for a long journey. They only just beat the previous 24hr record, and one has to wonder if that might have involved a bit of cheating. It's TV entertainment, not an independent test, innit.

 

[Jonno1103]

Personally I don't try to break records every trip. They probably could have turned on the AC, used as much acceleration as they liked and just done a couple more 20 mins stops.

The problem with caravans isn't the weight, it's the aerodynamics. EVs rely heavily on being slippery through the air and caravans are like towing a parachute.

Nothing slippery about a Q8 Audi E tron costing from £69k.

 

[Guigsy]

Nothing slippery about a Q8 Audi E tron costing from £69k.

It's a lot more slippery than any motorhome or caravan. It probably has half the drag coefficient and half the frontal area.

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[SpeedyDux]

5th Gear Recharged did a comparison test between the e Ducato and the e Transit commercial vans. I watched it on DMAX on Thursday.

It wasn't a totally level playing field, because they compared the cheaper(!) of the 2 versions of the e Ducato (the one with the smaller 47 KWh battery and shorter range), against the e Transit with its bigger battery and, as it happens, a more powerful electric motor. I guess they did that because the Transit is much more competitively priced. Unsurprisingly that e Transit was superior on every measure except payload and load space. The e Ducato seemed to need a lot of full throttle when carrying a 1 tonne load. Top speed only 62 mph or about 50 mph if using ECON mode. Acceleration somewhat sluggish. That is rather offputting.

In terms of having more room for van conversion purposes, the e Ducato still has the same bodyshell as the current diesel Ducato. The e Transit is based on the obviously less spacious and narrower current Transit bodyshell. Despite its other advantages, the e Transit is going to struggle as a PVC mainly due to the narrower bodyshell. Possibly better as base vehicle for a coachbuilt.

Both electric vans are still way too expensive for what they are capable of in the real world. Diesel versions are £25k - £30k cheaper for the base vehicle. Diesel is the no-brainer until these electric van manufacturers offer a product that is priced on a par with their Diesel versions, with comparable performance, payload, and range. If that happens, low maintenance costs could become a real advantage over the Diesel ones.

As things currently stand, I wasn't much impressed. Both e vans may be best left to the parcel urban delivery market. I have seen an e Transit in Amazon livery, driven relatively slowly along the M4. A rare sighting. Yet to see the e-Ducato anywhere.

 

[CAB96]

5th Gear Recharged did a comparison test between the e Ducato and the e Transit commercial vans. I watched it on DMAX on Thursday.

It wasn't a totally level playing field, because they compared the cheaper(!) of the 2 versions of the e Ducato (the one with the smaller 47 KWh battery and shorter range), against the e Transit with its bigger battery and, as it happens, a more powerful electric motor. I guess they did that because the Transit is much more competitively priced. Unsurprisingly that e Transit was superior on every measure except payload and load space. The e Ducato seemed to need a lot of full throttle when carrying a 1 tonne load. Top speed only 62 mph or about 50 mph if using ECON mode. Acceleration somewhat sluggish. That is rather offputting.

In terms of having more room for van conversion purposes, the e Ducato still has the same bodyshell as the current diesel Ducato. The e Transit is based on the obviously less spacious and narrower current Transit bodyshell. Despite its other advantages, the e Transit is going to struggle as a PVC mainly due to the narrower bodyshell. Possibly better as base vehicle for a coachbuilt.

Both electric vans are still way too expensive for what they are capable of in the real world. Diesel versions are £25k - £30k cheaper for the base vehicle. Diesel is the no-brainer until these electric van manufacturers offer a product that is priced on a par with their Diesel versions, with comparable performance, payload, and range. If that happens, low maintenance costs could become a real advantage over the Diesel ones.

As things currently stand, I wasn't much impressed. Both e vans may be best left to the parcel urban delivery market. I have seen an e Transit in Amazon livery, driven relatively slowly along the M4. A rare sighting. Yet to see the e-Ducato anywhere.

All the DPD vans around here are e Transits, both home and business deliveries.