AN EV WITH A CV (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The Vauxhall Vivaro Electric sells well for a reason. Jonathan Crouch checks out the improved model.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 73

Vauxhall's Luton-made Vivaro Electric is our market's best selling mid-sized EV van - and one of the UK's fastest selling EVs of any kind. That's due to a large dealer network, decent operating range and load area practicality that is generally uncompromised by the full-battery powertrain. If your company's ready to switch to Zero Emissions motoring, one of these probably needs to be on your radar. Here, we look at the revised model.

Backgroundword count: 129

The segment for EV vans has had a slow start, partly because of the global pandemic but mainly because of high pricing and lack of operating range. Gradually though, operators are beginning to take full-electric LCVs seriously. To understand why, you might want to take a look at our subject here, Britain's best selling EV commercial, the Vauxhall Vivaro Electric. This British-built contender is a shared Stellantis Group design also marketed by the conglomerate as the Citroen e-Dispatch, the Peugeot e-Expert and the Fiat E-Scudo - and by Toyota as the Proace Electric. We've also tried this vehicle in MPV passenger form as the Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric. So what sets this van apart in the race to convert sceptical businesses to the advantages of EV? Let's find out.

Driving Experienceword count: 268

Vauxhall has ditched the previous smaller 50kWh battery used in this model (which only went 133 miles on the combined cycle) and now restricts Vivaro sales to variants fitted with the larger 75kWh Stellantis battery. Plus a lot of work's been done on this unit to eke out range, enough so that it's claimed to now take you up to 217 miles in this van - 12 miles more than before. As previously, there's a 136PS electric motor offering 260Nm of torque and there are three driving modes - 'Normal', 'Eco' and 'Power', with only the latter releasing the motor's full output. Even then, top speed is just 84mph. The Vivaro Electric has a regenerative braking system that can be adjusted through three recuperation levels using paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. As with a diesel Vivaro, there's a little bit of an issue with an offset driving position (which also affects this model's Stellantis Group cousins), but refinement is good by LCV standards, as is ride quality thanks to load-sensitive shock absorbers and a so-called 'passive' suspension system that adjusts springing and damping as required, depending on the road surface. Plus this model feels quite manoeuvrable. Testers who'd found the sheer size of some other mid-sized LCVs in this segment a little daunting when dealing with narrow country lanes and squeezing through gaps in the traffic were, we found, much more easily able to acclimatise to a Vivaro. The bonnet's set quite high, but the nose has a squared-off shape that we've found during our testing programme makes this Vauxhall easy to place in tight urban situations.

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