The eDaily is available as a chassis cab and has a towing capacity of up to 3.5-tonnes


need to climb a steep hill while heavily laden, and eDaily can stop then pull away again on a 30º incline. The eDaily has a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tonnes. A massive 153.58- tonne load was recently hauled by a standard eDaily 3.5-tonner in a publicity stunt at Blackbushe Airport in Surrey, winning it the Guinness World Records title for ‘heaviest weight towed by an electric van’.


Also worth noting is eDaily’s surprisingly-tight turning radius of from 5.5m kerb-to-kerb. Pressing the standard ‘city steering’ button gives you extra power assistance if you are manoeuvring in and out of tight spaces. Three different electric power take offs (ePTOs) are available with an output of up to 15kW and they can be used even when the motor is switched off. As with most electric vans, the ranges cited above mean drivers will have no option but to plug into a public charging point if they are on a long-haul intercity run. Most light commercials tend to be used locally however, the manufacturer points out.


If you need more range on a regular basis and want to be zero-emission then remember that Iveco and Hyundai jointly unveiled a prototype Daily equipped with the latter’s fuel cell technology at last year’s IAA Transportation show in Hanover, Germany. As yet, there is no


@whatvan


indication as to when or whether it will go on sale though.


A variety of standard and optional connectivity-enabled services are provided with eDaily through the ‘Iveco On’ portal, with software updated over the air and predictive diagnostics hopefully preventing faults leading to unscheduled halts. The services include the eDaily Routing app, which predicts the vehicle’s range, how much charge will be required for it to reach its destination and the time of arrival. The eDaily is protected by a three-year/100,000-mile warranty, with the battery covered for eight years/100,000 miles if you opt for one, or eight years/155,000 miles if you opt for two or three.


Electric vans are significantly more expensive to acquire than their diesel counterparts, but maintenance costs are up to 25% lower than they are for equivalent diesels, Iveco contends. Furthermore, it is rolling out a


long-term rental package called GATE, short for green and advanced transport ecosystem, that it says should make the expense manageable for significant numbers of customers. Returning to the importance of businesses installing their own charging facilities, Pod Point has become Iveco’s preferred charging point supplier. When fleets acquire a new eDaily, then Iveco


will recommend Pod Point as their charging partner. Pod Point is offering AC charging from 7kW up to 22kW using either its Solo 3 or Twin charger at a discounted price. That is a welcome initiative given how much such installations can cost, although government grants of up to £350 per socket for up to 40 sockets per company are available. The firm can sort out any


groundworks required and arrange for the charging units to be maintained. Worth noting too is the availability


of Array Charging, Pod Point’s load balancing package, which allows more chargers to be installed while still using the existing electricity supply. Iveco is also offering retail customers a free Solo 3 home charger and installation. Getting workplace charging installed requires a good deal of planning, warns Paul Kirby. Considerations include everything from whether you have the space to put in all the charging points you need, and whether any of them should be rapid chargers, to whether the power they draw will affect the heating and lighting in your premises. Iveco Capital can help fund the cost of installing the charging infrastructure, and contract hire and low-rate HP deals have been constructed to help customers acquire the vehicles. Recognising that some clients


will have no option but to use public charging points, Iveco has introduced a charge card that can be used at over 9,000 of them.


Order an eDaily today and you can expect delivery before the end of the year. Order a diesel Daily and you may have to wait until the first quarter of 2024 before it arrives. While the need to turn an old- fashioned ignition key once and then once again to start the vehicle off – rather than using a key fob and pushing a button – seems a little dated, eDaily feels like an effective performer. Putting it through its paces at Millbrook left us impressed with its manoeuvrability when we pushed the ‘city steering’ button, and its ability to accelerate strongly when necessary, thanks to Hi-Power. The standard hill descent function allows you to go down inclines in a controlled manner, while making full use of the regeneration function when appropriate means you can get from A to B without worrying about the brake pedal.


What became increasingly clear,


though, is that drivers will need proper training to get the best out of the vehicle and maximise its range. Simply handing someone the keys as one might with a diesel and expecting them to get on with it is no longer an option; if indeed it ever really was.


August 2023 WhatVan? 23


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