Since March 2021, we have been enjoying driving our Citroen eDispatch electric van. We recently reached the milestone of 50,000 miles driven in the van and we can honestly say we don’t have any regrets at all about going electric. In our previous van these 50,000 miles would have burnt a whopping 6,500 Litres of diesel – equivalent to 17,000kg CO2 emissions.
The van is used every single day and we have only had a couple of times when we have experienced range anxiety – these were in the early days when we were getting used to the issues surrounding public charging points.
We have a 75kWh battery pack, with an estimated range of around 200 miles. As with all electric vehicles (including vans and boats!) speed of travel is key to the amount of energy used. We can achieve the range the van says we have, if we drive sensibly and don’t go over around 55-60 mph on motorways. We now choose to take the shortest route the satnav offers us, even if it takes 10 minutes longer, this is often not on the motorway, which is far better for electric vehicles – and we have seen some beautiful countryside along the way!
We are lucky enough to have a charging point at our workshop, so the majority of charging takes place there. We have definitely noticed an improvement in the numbers and quality of public charging points over the last 4 years. There are certain types which we know are more reliable than others, where the App just works, eg Instavolt and PodPoint. However, public charging is still horrendously expensive – so we do avoid it when possible.
Yes, we do need to be a little more organised and account for van charging when we plan our trips and visits to customers’ boats and marinas, but this is just something which is second nature now.
Based on our first 50,000 miles, we would highly recommend our electric van! If anyone is thinking of going electric with their car or van, and has any questions about it, we are happy to answer questions based on our experience to date 😊.
