Nissan eNV200 (the fully electric van) review

[Kris the Handyman]

I've been asked by one of the members to do a quick real life review of the electric van. So here it goes.

The Nissan eNV200 so fully electric, not a hybrid, so no engine under the bonnet, just a big electric motor. It is based almost entirely on NV200 which is the diesel version. Inside it's just a normal van, on the outside you can hardly tell it's electric, the only thing missing is a tailpipe and a grill at the front for the radiator cooling. I don't know what's the suspension like on the diesel version but the electric is rather stiff but loading up the back helps a lot.

Pros: hardly any user maintenance (windscreen washer fluid) and a lot less at the garage (brake and steering fluid and suspension), no oil changes, no belts, no glow plugs, etc. No road tax, electricity is currently free at most of the chargers and it only takes about 20-30 minutes to charge, it's very QUIET so less stress and more pleasure to drive, it can move really fast if you want it, provides a good image to your business

Cons: low mileage - around 70 - 80 miles on one charge

My experience and why I chose it.
I was in the market for a new van and I did ponder the idea of getting an electric one. They are still quite expensive but my local Nissan dealer got me an ex-demo one with only 780 miles on the clock for £14k (£21k is the regular price) so I took it. What helped me decide was the running cost and the positive image of the van for my business. I'm a handyman and a carpet cleaner and the van is perfect for what I do. Customers love it. I live and work in the same town (Edinburgh) so I only need to charge once every 2 days, usually at home overnight but if I want it free then I can use one of the commercial chargers. I will be moving house very soon and my commute will be around 15-20 miles so I will need to charge it everyday and most likely even midday at one of the commercial chargers but that's not a problem, it only takes about 20-30 minutes to charge so I can take my break then.
In around 2-3 years time there will be a new one out with a much bigger battery which will be able to do around 180-200 miles. There is also a company in the UK that can add an extra battery to the current one which would double the range of the current model but it will set you back around £7k. As the technology progresses the prices will also come down.

To sum it up the electric van is not for everyone just yet. If you do a lot of motorway driving which drains the battery quicker or do a lot of driving in general during the day then you may get tired of constantly charging the van. But if you do around 60 miles a day and mostly city driving then it's perfect and you will not want to look at a diesel one ever again.
I love mine

 

[petermillard]

Hi Kris.

Thanks for this. As I mentioned in your other thread I'm seriously conspiring one of these - they're about the right size for me, a bit bigger than my current Berlingo but not as big as a Transit / Transporter, and the electric option is intriguing. 98% of my work is within a few miles of where I live - I typically do around 1300 miles a *year* - so the relatively low mileage per charge wouldn't be an issue for me; I'd probably be charging on a weekly basis at most.

I have public charging points a couple of streets away from me, and I could charge at my workshop if necessary. One question; you mention a couple of times that it only takes 20-30 minutes to charge - presumably that's not to charge fully, from near empty? Also, when you say you charge overnight at home, have you had a 30A charging point installed, or is this just off a 13A socket?

Last question - what spec did you get? Is the 'rapid' worth the extra?

Thanks again for posting this - there's not much real world info about the vans online, and while there's another eNV200 that I see charging locally, I've never managed to catch the guy for a chat!

Peter

 

[woodpig]

Sounds like a good option for those that don't do huge mileage every day. Free charging when available makes it even better.

 

[Claymore]

What puzzles me regarding electric cars/vans etc is our government are always going on about not having enough power stations to run the country and we may have to import power from France etc as the national grid cannot cope..... yet they are trying to promote electric vehicles which use electric.........if everyone bought one how the hell could they supply enough electricity to keep everyone mobile also if they all changed to electricity wouldn't it be easier for them to bring in massive price increases for the electricity? its fine saying its free now but I wouldn't trust our government to tell me the time.
I guess I am a petrol head at heart having owned big bikes and yank cars so its a shock to the system seeing silent cars lol wonder how many grannies will step out in front of them when they are silent?

 

[Wuffles]

...wouldn't it be easier for them to bring in massive price increases for the electricity?

Oh that'll be coming regardless :shock:

 

[woodpig]

Some of the Tesla models have 0-60 times of 2.8 to 5.5 seconds and are stunning to drive apparently. As far as the silent operation goes it would be easy to add some "noise" at low speed if required to protect pedestrians. Petrol is bad enough but we really need to reduce the number of oil burners on the roads, particularly VW's. :lol:

 

[Kris the Handyman]

Peter: on a commercial rapid charger (50A) it takes 30 minutes to change from to 0 to 80%. You never get there with 0, usually around 20% so it takes around 20 minutes to charge from there to 80% and then it slows down so if you want it full add another 15 minutes. I charge overnight via a Tesco extension lead (sounds funny charging a car through a socket) so 13A (takes around 8-10 hours) because the house is rented but when we buy I will get the 30A socket installed (4 hours to charge). The Rapid is a must! Otherwise you won't be able to use the rapid charger (30 minute charge) and you will be left with the slow ones. Don't get one without the Rapid socket. Mine is the Accenta Rapid Plus. It sounds like an electric van would be for you

Claymore: they produce a high pitched noise when driving below 20mph so everyone can hear it and everyone does look thinking "what the heck is that making that noise?" So no danger of an accident. I'm petrol head myself too, my other car is a 1995 Mitsubishi Pajero 2.8td heavily modified for off-roading. But I enjoy the electric van so much that the 4x4 will be going soon

 

[petermillard]

Kris, that's fantastic information, thanks very much! I've watched a lot of YouTube (including Ian Samson's 100+ hours on the Nissan Leaf) and at no point has anyone mentioned how quickly they can charge on a rapid charger. TBH even an overnight trickle charge on a 13A socket would be fine - as aI say, it'd probably only be once a week at the most for my mileage.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Cheers, Peter

 

[ardenwoodcraft]

Had to drive my diesel Berlingo down to Devon yesterday and stopped for a break at Taunton Deane services. I noticed that they have a couple of EcoTricity charging points for electric cars installed. Don't know if they "charge" to use them but if I had an electric vehicle I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to take one on a motorway!!

As has been said, electric around towns and cities is fine but for longer distances oil still rules.

 

[Kris the Handyman]

Ardenwoodcraft: Ecotricity electric highway is currently free and down South there are so many stations that there is no way you would be left without a charge BUT longer journeys will take longer because you need to stop and charge every 70 miles or so. On a diesel you just fill up once and forget it until you've passed 400 miles or so. But the cost of maintenance of a combustion engine is waaaaay higher than an electric motor. There is an electric taxi (Nissan Leaf) in the uk which did 180k miles with no servicing apart from brake and washer fluids, still on original brake pads ( because of the motor braking feature which also charges the car). One day they will have ranges bigger than combustion ones and all you will see is electric. Owning one I can see lots of benefits but it's not perfect yet.

Peter: standard wall socket charge is fine overnight, that's what I do if I don't have time to charge at a rapid charger but if you want free charging then a rapid charger is the only realistic option. The rapid charge socket is installed next to the normal one on the Nissan and you use a "Chademo" nozzle on the rapid charging station. If you have any other questions then shoot, I'm more than happy to help.

 

[mailee]

After my experiences with battery drill/drivers I would never trust a battery powered car! Knowing my luck it would decide to give up the ghost in the centre lane of a motorway! The batteries aren't made by Makita are they? :lol:

 

[Claymore]

They would have a much longer range if you used a longer extension cable (make sure its got anti surge fitted and a usb charger 9-) )

 

[petermillard]

If anyone's interested you can go to https://www.zap-map.com to see charging points local to you, or on a planned route.

Peter: standard wall socket charge is fine overnight, that's what I do if I don't have time to charge at a rapid charger but if you want free charging then a rapid charger is the only realistic option. The rapid charge socket is installed next to the normal one on the Nissan and you use a "Chademo" nozzle on the rapid charging station. If you have any other questions then shoot, I'm more than happy to help.

Kris, thanks for that. I've just discovered the charging points local to me are only fast chargers (not rapid) so I'd be looking at a 4 hr charge on one of those, presumably. Local Nissan main dealer a few miles away has one rapid charger, but it seems to be out of action right now! Annoyingly, there are half a dozen Rapid chargers less than a mile away, but they belong to Tesla :/

All these different types of charger seem to have a different connector - if you buy the 'rapid' does it come with the appropriate cable, or do they nickel & dime you into buying them separately?

Also, have you owned yours long enough to use it through winter yet? Curious about the effect of cold weather on battery life. Sorry, many many questions! Trying to get to a dealer for a test drive next week, so hopefully will have some answers from them as well!

Thanks, Peter

 

[Kris the Handyman]

A lot of the dealers don't know much about electric vans sadly, I had to browse online to find all the answers.

When buying the van you should get 2 cables: 13A one for home charging and a type 2 for fast charging. All of the rapid chargers have the nozzles installed and yours is a Chademo. The only chargers you can't use are the Tesla ones.
An even better map is PlugShare which gives feedback from users and more people use that than any other. There is also Charge Your Car. The charger infrastructure very fast so you will see more and more chargers all over the place.

I haven't owned it long enough so only driven in relatively warm weather but there is not much of a drop when it's cold, especially with our British winters. Only annoying thing when the weather is wet is the digging up of the windscreen so you need to have the air con on most of the time and that saps the battery. The difference is about 7-10 miles of extra range with and without air con.

As I said the van isn't perfect (no other one is) but to me it's much better than a diesel.

 

[No skills]

Probably a dim question... are the charging leads proprietary to each make? (At the car end of the lead).
Must be plenty of scope for making different leads so you can use different manufacturers charging points. I imagine the power points on the wall must be a commando type outlet??
Again maybe a dim point?

 

[Kris the Handyman]

All of the commercial chargers apart from Tesla have 2 or 3 different nozzles so you can always use one. Nissan uses a DC nozzle called Chademo for the rapid charging and a commando type 2 for fast charging.
Tesla owners are spoilt because they can use their own chargers and most of the other ones too.
I will take a photo next time I'm at a charger and show you the different types of nozzles.

 

[Wuffles]

I expect the chargers talk to the vehicles too, so an adaptor would need to be pretty smart to fool a Tesla charger. I bet they harvest all sorts of data during the "free" charge.

{removes tin foil hat}