There’s been lots of discuss electrical automobiles and SUVs, as fashions like Tesla’s Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y and BYD’s Atto 3 quickly rise within the gross sales charts.
Demand for these automobiles continues to develop, whilst many Australians nonetheless categorical considerations in regards to the lack of vary of many electrical automobiles (EVs) and our nation’s nonetheless patchy charging infrastructure.
There’s one automobile kind, nonetheless, the place journeys are typically shorter, city jaunts, and the automobiles are deployed from one central location – and the place, due to this fact, such considerations aren’t as pronounced.
Vans profit significantly from electrification, and but the variety of choices on sale in Australia for the time being is sort of low, significantly in comparison with Europe.
Peugeot sees a possibility, due to this fact, with its e-Associate van to take a chunk of the electrical van pie; it’ll return for a second slice with the bigger e-Skilled.
Does the e-Associate have what it takes to persuade typical small van patrons – small and mid-sized companies, proprietor operators – to make the swap to an EV?
How a lot does the Peugeot e-Associate price?
Whereas the petrol-powered Associate is accessible in two completely different lengths, the e-Associate is accessible in a single, long-wheelbase variant known as the e-Associate Professional Lengthy Auto. It’s priced from $59,990 earlier than on-road prices.
Ice White paint is commonplace, with Artense Gray, Nera Black and Platinum Gray finishes costing an extra $690.
Renault has had this phase all to itself in Australia since 2017, other than the blink-and-you-missed-it tenure of the BYD T3. A lot of the exercise in Australia’s electrical van market, nonetheless nascent, is present in bigger vans – witness the Ford E-Transit or LDV eDeliver 9, for instance.
The Kangoo Z.E. was a hoary outdated factor, however in unhealthy information for Peugeot it’s being changed. The brand new, rather more trendy Kangoo E-Tech is due right here this 12 months, with pricing but to be introduced.
Need actually every other electrical van on sale in Australia? You’ll be a price ticket no less than $30,000 increased than the Peugeot’s sticker. The e-Associate continues to be $21,602 costlier than the equal petrol-powered mannequin, however various authorities incentives might help cut back that premium.
What’s the Peugeot e-Associate like on the within?
You probably have sat in a Associate earlier than, you gained’t discover a lot in the way in which of surprises with the e-Associate. The cabin is basically the identical, other than completely different devices with EV-specific dials, and a stubby gear selector.
For those who haven’t sat in a combustion-powered Associate, nonetheless, you’ll be in for a shock because the cabin deftly mixes Peugeot’s trademark inside fashion with the sort of usability anticipated from a automobile on this phase.
The Associate was the primary Peugeot mild industrial automobile to make use of what the model calls its i-Cockpit inside format, with a smaller, lower-mounted steering wheel and a high-mounted instrument cluster.
At 180cm tall and with out having so as to add some sort of qualifier like “I’ve a protracted torso”, I used to be in a position to get comfy simply. The presence of a fold-down armrest for the motive force’s seat is most welcome, and the seat is height-adjustable.
The leather-wrapped, squared-off steering wheel falls readily handy and feels good, although it lacks the peak and attain adjustment of petrol fashions.
No less than for me and my seating place, the devices are straightforward to see – no want for a head-up show right here.
Apparently, the passenger’s airbag is located not within the dashboard however relatively within the roof.
The 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system isn’t Peugeot’s newest, however works nicely sufficient. There’s no embedded satellite tv for pc navigation, although there’s wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
One other omission: there’s no AM radio, regardless of this being provided on different Associate fashions.
There’s fairly a passenger car-like really feel to the e-Associate’s inside, other than the bevy of storage cavities.
There are cupholders on both aspect of the dashboard, an unlimited shelf above the entrance seats that spans your entire width of the van, and open cubbies between the 2 entrance seats.
There’s no opening glove compartment, however there are two cabinets as an alternative, whereas there’s an extra open cubby on the centre stack, a shelf to fit your cellphone beneath the local weather controls, and a few different open nooks on the dashboard the place you may retailer objects.
There’s additionally an extra cupholder on the centre stack, although it’s a dainty European one with out tooth; the cupholders on their dashboard are equally toothless.
Vans aren’t identified for his or her visibility, and with its glazed bulkhead the e-Associate isn’t any exception. Nevertheless, there are giant exterior mirrors, whereas the e-Associate boasts the identical expansive greenhouse because the combustion-powered mannequin.
The bulkhead itself, nonetheless, doesn’t have a load-through flap just like the petrol mannequin.
You may open both a sliding door on all sides of the automobile or two barn doorways on the again to entry the load house.
With the battery mounted underneath the ground, there’s been no obstacle to cargo capability: Peugeot claims an equivalent 3.9 cubic metres of house to the petrol model.
The load house measures 2167m lengthy with the bulkhead, which doesn’t have a gap flap like in petrol-powered fashions. Most load top is 1243mm and width is 1527mm, or 1229mm between the wheel arches.
There are, nonetheless, solely six tie-down rings as an alternative of 10 just like the petrol mannequin.
What’s underneath the bonnet?
The e-Associate rides on Peugeot’s EMP2 structure, which has been engineered to assist electrical and plug-in hybrid automobiles along with conventional petrol- and diesel-powered fare.
It incorporates a single, front-mounted electrical motor with 100kW of energy and 260Nm of torque, barely greater than the (admittedly lighter) petrol-powered Associate Professional and Premium with their 96kW/230Nm turbocharged 1.2-litre three-pot. The official 0-100km/h declare is 11.2 seconds, with a high velocity of 135km/h.
Peugeot says outputs are adjusted relying in your drive mode: you get the total 100kW/260Nm in Energy, solely 80kW and 210Nm in Regular, and simply 60kW and 190Nm in Eco. The lattermost mode reduces energy to the HVAC system.
The e-Associate makes use of a 50kWh lithium-ion battery and provides a claimed WLTP vary of 258km. That’s lower than the brand new Kangoo E-Tech Electrical, which boasts 300km of WLTP vary.
You may cost the Associate at as much as 7.4kW utilizing AC energy, and it’ll take 7.5 hours to cost it from 0 to 100 per cent. Alternatively, you may plug it right into a 100kW DC quick charger, and it’ll take half-hour to cost it from 0 to 80 per cent.
By way of the infotainment touchscreen, you may arrange deferred charging so the automobile will solely settle for cost at sure instances.
We had 268km of vary displaying within the instrument cluster upon startup. By the top of an 81km drive route, which consisted of inner-city, suburban and freeway driving, we had 176km remaining. Common power consumption was 16.4kWh/100km.
The e-Associate has a tare weight of 1632kg, which makes it 247kg heavier than the Professional Lengthy Auto.
Peugeot says the e-Associate has a payload of 753kg, or 203kg lower than the petrol-powered Professional Lengthy Auto, whereas braked towing capability is 750kg, or 200kg lower than the petrol-powered Professional Lengthy Auto.
The Peugeot’s payload is increased than the brand new rival Renault (615kg), however its towing capability can’t match the Kangoo’s 1500kg determine.
How does the Peugeot e-Associate drive?
This isn’t essentially the most radical of latest EVs, which is each an excellent and unhealthy factor.
In contrast to many EVs, you begin the automobile with a traditional switchblade key, and there’s no one-pedal drive mode. You may activate B mode, which maximises deceleration once you let your foot off the pedal, however whereas it can sluggish the automobile down it doesn’t convey the van to an entire halt.
Like Peugeot’s automobiles and SUVs, there’s additionally no auto maintain operate. For these of us who’ve gotten fairly used to this characteristic, the dearth of auto maintain – significantly in inner-city visitors – is an annoyance.
Whereas the moment torque of some front-wheel drive electrical automobiles will see their entrance tyres scrambling for grip, the e-Associate is easy off the road.
We drove it largely in Regular mode, which doesn’t make the most of the total outputs accessible in an try and stability sufficient energy with ample vary, and it didn’t really feel like a slug. That was regardless of a 200kg load strapped in within the again.
Energy mode offers you the total outputs, although we didn’t really feel the necessity to use it. A quick attempt demonstrated the e-Associate doesn’t really feel massively faster on this mode.
The steering within the e-Associate may be very properly weighted, serving to to provide this lengthy, skinny van a relatively car-like really feel. The system genuinely does really feel prefer it’s out of one of many EMP2-based passenger automobiles, very similar to the beautiful leather-wrapped wheel itself.
Experience consolation is usually fairly good. We felt some muffled thumps on some extra patchy Sydney roads, however issues like freeway growth joints had been dispatched with out drama.
The cabin additionally appears to be decently insulated, helped little doubt by the bulkhead sealing off the cabin from the echo chamber on the again. Regardless of the pretty giant exterior mirrors, there’s little in the way in which of wind noise at increased speeds.
There’s no adaptive cruise management or blind-spot monitoring such as you’ll discover in, say, a Toyota HiAce, nonetheless there are nonetheless some welcome driver help options like computerized high-beam and lane-keep help.
The latter doesn’t have any sort of related lane centring operate, nevertheless it works nicely to forestall you from veering into one other lane with out being an excessively intrusive presence.
The visitors signal recognition works nicely at detecting velocity indicators, however doesn’t know what to make of faculty zone instances – it merely assumes the posted velocity is similar all day lengthy.
Peugeot places its cruise management switches on a stalk behind the wheel. It’s onerous to see, however when you get used to it it’s very straightforward to make use of. We want there was adaptive cruise, nonetheless.
What do you get?
e-Associate highlights:
- 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wired Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
- DAB+ digital radio
- 1 x USB outlet
- 1 x 12V socket
- Cruise management
- Electrical parking brake
- Air con
- 4-speaker sound system
- Leather-based-wrapped steering wheel
- Distant keyless entry
- Computerized headlights
- Computerized high-beam
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Entrance fog lights
- Cloth upholstery
- Top-adjustable entrance seats with lumbar adjustment
- 16-inch metal wheels
- Twin sliding doorways
- 180-degree opening rear barn doorways
- Full-sized spare wheel
As talked about, you miss out on varied options discovered within the Professional Lengthy Auto. These embrace power-folding exterior mirrors, AM radio, a bulkhead pass-through, and rake and attain adjustment for the steering wheel.
Is the Peugeot e-Associate protected?
Combustion variations of the Peugeot Associate have a four-star ANCAP security ranking primarily based on testing of the Rifter individuals mover by Euro NCAP. The electrical e-Associate stays unrated for now.
The e-Associate comes commonplace with the next security gear:
- Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
- Lane departure warning
- Lane hold help
- Velocity signal recognition
- Reversing digital camera
- Rear parking sensors
- Entrance, front-side and curtain airbags
- Hill begin help
How a lot does the Peugeot e-Associate price to run?
Peugeot provides the e-Associate with a selection of three- and five-year pay as you go service plans, costing $600 and $1000, respectively. In distinction, the combustion-powered Associate’s plans price $1000 and $1900.
The corporate says by buying the pay as you go plans, patrons will see a saving of $398 and $530, respectively. These pay as you go plans are transferable do you have to promote the automobile earlier than the plan has been used.
There are fewer service objects than a combustion-powered Associate, however Peugeot says there are nonetheless objects just like the tyres, brake fluid, coolant and pollen filters, amongst others, that have to be checked at a go to. You may view a full breakdown of the service objects with every go to on the Peugeot web site.
For those who don’t buy a plan, you’ll pay $293, $412, $293, $425 and $307, respectively, for the primary 5 providers.
Servicing is required each 12 months or 25,000km. That’s an extended distance than Peugeot’s petrol-powered fashions, which have 15,000km or 20,000km intervals. The e-Associate can be serviced at any of Peugeot’s 36 sellers nationwide.
It’s backed by the identical five-year, 200,000km guarantee as the remainder of Peugeot’s industrial automobile vary, with a separate eight-year, 160,000km guarantee for the battery.
CarExpert’s Tackle the Peugeot e-Associate
Small vans aren’t solely the smallest dimensionally, but additionally when it comes to gross sales. And but Peugeot has an actual alternative right here with the e-Associate by providing one among simply two electrical choices on this phase.
The e-Associate is a totally nice factor to each sit in and drive. Its outputs are modest on paper nevertheless it doesn’t really feel beleaguered on the varieties of roads which will kind a part of its homeowners’ supply routes, together with hills and highways.
Energy supply is easy, the experience is settled, and noise is saved to a minimal. The cabin is comfy and filled with storage, although there are quite a few omissions – this is perhaps costlier than the flagship petrol Premium, however its gear ranges are nearer to that of the bottom Metropolis.
Peugeot says it can have sufficient provide of its new electrical van. We all know there’s loads of demand for equally priced electrical sedans and SUVs, however let’s see if this enthusiasm extends to vans, too.
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