Click for the Ford E-Transit full review
When vans started going electric you got a sense that every model that came out was marking time, waiting for someone else to really move the game on. Last year’s winners, the Stellantis medium vans, made a decent stride in the right direction but the Ford E-Transit is on a totally different level.
It helps starting with one of the best large vans you can get, in terms of its driving ability, interior quality and practicality, but it then adds a level of electric performance that nothing in the class can match. It offers a range of up to 196 miles, and at least 100 miles with a full payload, and a level of performance that is unrivalled, even among the E-Transit’s diesel equivalents. The 184hp model is one of the most powerful large vans you can buy, but the 269hp version blows everything out of the water.
What’s more, even though the Transit was not originally designed to be electric, it manages to integrate the technology in a way that feels seamless and natural, with no major and obvious quirks. It feels as natural a process as driving a standard Transit and has the numbers to make the transition to electric as seamless as it should be for businesses trying to make an unfamiliar leap.
RUNNERS UP
Click for the Maxus eDeliver 9 full review
Going for an electric van from a brand that is not part of the mainstream might feel like a bit of a leap into the unknown, but it is a one worth taking in the case of the Maxus eDeliver 9. The big electric van has a range that is second only to the E-Transit in its category, and it has more in the way of battery choice than you get elsewhere with three different options.
You can pick from 112 miles, 146 miles or an impressive 185 miles. It isn’t just a case of enticing numbers, though, as it feels a lot more sorted and simpler to live with than the offerings from many of the more established brands. It more than deserves to be considered above many of the more well-known models.
Click for the Renault Kangoo E-Tech full review
Renault was one of the first to go electric in the van world and we had high hopes for the second generation of its small Kangoo. Thankfully for us, and Renault, the Kangoo E-Tech has delivered. It is still in a minority in that it is a van that has been designed to be electric from the outset, and this is clear through quite how unobtrusive the electric elements are.
It’s just a van that you happen to plug in rather than one you put diesel into. UK models get some genuinely handy features, too, with rapid charging included as standard, which should add a load more flexibility for companies that don’t want to be tied to a route that stops off back at base on a regular basis.
