Groupe PSA – the parent company of Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall – has announced that all-electric versions of the Dispatch, Expert and Vivaro will go on sale in 2020.
The Vauxhall will be known as the Vivaro-e, the Peugeot will be known as the e-Expert, and the Citroen will be called the e-Dispatch.
Though we knew these new electric vans were in the pipeline, this is the first time that all three have been offically confirmed together, and the first time that we’re been given any details of their projected driving range.
Are all three new PSA Group electric vans the same?
The electric Vauxhall Vivaro-e, the electric Citroen e-Dispatch and the electric Peugeot e-Expert are indeed all variants of the same van, and will share the same electric-drive specification.
They will also all be built in the Hordain factory in northern France, using powertrains assembled at the Tremery plant in eastern France.
This will be a change for buyers in the UK, as the Vauxhall plant in Luton builds all the Vivaros for the UK market at present, and has recently begun assembly of Dispatch and Expert vans as well.
Are there any technical details yet?
We’ve no details about power output, torque or payload – all important considerations for medium van buyers – but PSA has confirmed there will be two battery options and given us the projected driving range:
- 50kWh battery with 124-mile driving range
- 75kWh battery with 186-mile driving range
The kWh stands for kilowatt hour, the standard measure for electric vehicle battery capacity; the projected range has been calculated using the official WLTP testing procedure, but is not yet fully ratified.
Since battery tech is heavy, the longer-range model will almost certainly have a lower payload than the 186-mile version.
How does this compare with other medium-sized electric vans?
The range is certainly substantially higher than the Mercedes-Benz eVito, which is presently rated to just 92 miles per charge.
The Volkswagen e-Transporter also plans to offer a choice of two battery sizes, claiming 136 miles or a massive 250 miles of driving range; these calculations have so far been announced used the older NEDC testing procedure, however, so are not yet directly comparable.
Both of these mainstream rivals are set to go on sale in 2020 as well – as is the new Maxus e Deliver 3 (previously known as the LDV EV30), which uses aluminium construction and is promising 121-200 miles of driving range.
No all-electric version of the Ford Transit Custom has been announced yet, but you can already buy a Plug-in Hybrid version, which uses a petrol-electric drive system to avoid range anxiety but still offer 30 miles of pure-electric driving.
There’s been no announcement about electric versions the Renault Trafic family at this stage.
Will there be an electric Toyota Proace?
The Proace is essentially the same van as the Vivaro, Expert and Dispatch, and also built by the PSA Group in France on Toyota’s behalf.
As such, it will be no surprise to learn that an electric version of this will also be appearing in 2020, with an electric Proace City (Toyota’s version of the Berlingo / Partner / Combo) set to appear in 2021.
How much will the new electric vans cost?
It’s too early for official pricing, but you can expect an electric Vivaro-e, Dispatch or Expert to cost considerably more than a conventional diesel version initially.
The Transit Custom PHEV is around £15,000 more than an equivalent diesel Ford, and that has a comparatively tiny battery pack (which is a large part of the manufacturing cost difference).
However, Citroen has announced it expects total life costs for the electric Dispatch to be lower than an equivalent diesel, presumably on the basis that electric vans are cheaper to actually run.
We’ll bring you more on these new electric vans as soon as we have it – including any further word on the possibility of an all-electric Vivaro-e VXR.
All of them are expected to be on display at the 2020 CV Show, which takes place at the Birmingham NEC in April.
Also read:
>> The Parkers guide to electric vans
>> Vauxhall Vivaro full review
