ROAD TO ZERO continued from p19


if your house is capable of working with the battery system, Ford claims it could even be possible to power a typ- ical home during an electrical black- out for up to three days. With the driveline mounted below


the body, the engine compartment is turned into a 400-litre secure front storage area, what the Americans call a ‘frunk’ (front trunk), increasing car- rying capacity. The trucks will come with twin on-board chargers, capable of work- ing with a range of charging options. A standard 32A home charger will take 14 hours to completely fi ll the stand- ard model, or 19 hours for the extended, while a 150kW rapid charger will de- liver 80% of charge in just 44 minutes, or 41 minutes for the extended model. The trucks will have the option of


DPD doubles EV fleet


DPD has purchased 750 electric vans from Maxus, including 500 eDeliver 9 models and 250 of the smaller eDeliver 3. The deal brings DPD’s EV fl eet to almost 1,500 vans in the UK.


“The 3.5-tonne van is the workhorse of any delivery and collec-


tion fl eet, so to get our hands on an EV with this kind of capacity and range is a real game changer for us,” said Olly Craughan, DPD’s head of CSR. “We’ve got EVs in every DPD depot already, but they are largely


focused on quite compact routes, usually in city centres, where range isn’t an issue. But this opens up the possibility of clean, green deliv- eries on a much larger scale.


“Our aim is to deliver to 25 of the largest towns and cities in the UK entirely with zero and low-emission delivery means by 2025.”


The power of three


LONG TERM TEST


Citroën e-Dispatch


The Citroën e-Dispatch comes with three driving modes. In Normal, which is the default mode whenever you start up, the motor delivers 80kW of power and 210Nm of torque, which is more than enough for comfortable everyday driv- ing. If you are running fully laden, or towing in a hilly re- gion, you can fl ick across to Power mode, for the full 100kW, 260Nm driving experience. There is also an Eco mode, which not only lowers the motor output to 60kW and 190Nm, but also cuts cab cooling and heating capacity. If you go from Normal to Eco mode in town, the van can feel a little fl at, with reduced acceleration. However, 60kW is still a healthy output. On a recent cross-country trip, where speeds rarely reached more than 50mph as I followed trucks and caravans on single-carriageway roads, Eco came into its own. In that sort of driving, where you never use full throttle, the Eco setting was more than up to the task. Add in the regenerative brake function, which slows the van on the approach to bends and junctions, and not only was it more than powerful enough, but it was very relaxing. It also had a marked effect on the available range. Indeed, so effective is Eco, that I have found myself in- creasingly fl icking across to it whenever I start a journey, to maximise the available mileage. However, you still can’t defy physics and take the van much above 50mph and you


20 VANUSER • JULY 2021


onboard weighing systems, to help cal- culate available driving range. The in- terior is also dominated by a massive 15.5” touchscreen and a digital dash, with over the air upgrades available to keep software up to date. As mentioned, the F-150 Light- ning is not destined for these shores, it is simply too big for European use. However, as an indication of Ford’s EV intent, the truck couldn’t be a clear- er marker in the sand. We certainly wouldn’t bet against an all-electric Ranger in the future.


will see that remaining range number start to tumble. On a recent trip to the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, a 67-mile each way run, I was hopeful that a starting total of 185 miles might be enough to see me get there and back. Despite running in Eco and rarely topping 60mph, the van arrived with around 90 miles left, which on that evidence would not be enough to get me home. Fortunately, while looking for a plug to slowly top up the battery while I was there, one of the site’s safety team pointed me to a rarely used charging area, where there were fi ve 50kW CCS chargers available. By the time I came to leave I had over 180 miles available again, cancelling any anxiety about using the public charging network.


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