Peugeot e-Boxer electric van review (2023)

• Limited performance
• But quiet and smooth
• Not much regen braking

Usually electric vans give you quite a lively feeling of initial performance, due to the way that electric motors generate all of their torque immediately. This makes most electric vans sprightly at low speeds and away from standstill, useful attributes for vehicles that typically operate in busy towns and cities, even if performance tails off at higher speeds.

The Peugeot e-Boxer isn’t like this. The motor instead seems to have been calibrated to give you quite a gentle feeling response at first, which gradually builds up as you go faster. So once rolling, it’s perfectly adequate, but to begin with it can seem… rather slow.

While this might be good news for the life expectancy of the front tyres – like all Boxers, the e-Boxer is front-wheel drive – we found that even when driving an unloaded van, hills had us wishing the vehicle was equipped with a lower gear. Loaded we suspect it will prove almost troublesome, something we hope to test very soon.

Peugeot e-Boxer power and performance

All of this tallies with the electric motor’s on-paper statistics. The 90kW power rating is equivalent to 122hp – about the same as the entry-level 120hp diesel models – but the torque rating is much lower at 260Nm compared with 310Nm for the diesel.

Combine this with the single-speed transmission and limited amount of initial get-up-and-go, and yes, you’ve got a pretty slow van. We suspect painfully slow, if loaded to full capacity.

Top speed for 3,500kg gross vehicle weight (GVW) models is limited to 68mph; the e-Boxer is also available with a 4,000kg GVW rating, limited to 56mph.

Unlike other electric vans, there’s not a huge amount of regenerative braking when you lift off the accelerator, and no B mode to boost it. So you’ll need to use the conventional brakes more than in most rivals.

On the plus side, the electric motor does make the e-Boxer quiet and smooth. There are no vibrations to speak of, road and wind noise are well suppressed until you reach higher motorway speeds, and the low volume electrical squealing you get from the drivetrain at lower speeds is easily drowned-out by the radio.

The push-button controls for the gearbox may look a little odd, but they are easy to understand and easy to use. And there’s no complicated starting sequence like you’ll find in the E-Ducato – simply turn the key and go.

Peugeot e-Boxer suspension comfort and handling

The e-Boxer’s suspension is firm, which is typical of a large van designed to carry over a tonne of payload. It’s not actually unpleasant, but you’ll feel the bumps. And while it’s also not the sharpest tool in the corners, it doesn’t embarrass itself horribly – body roll isn’t too bad and the e-Boxer doesn’t struggle when tackling a winding country road or busy town centre.

The steering is surprisingly heavy at low speeds, which makes some manoeuvring tiresome. But you don’t need to be going much faster for this to lighten-up. Not that this helps with the driving position…

• Poor driving position
• Instrument panel has shed most of its needles
• Very much a third-party conversion

The interior is where the e-Boxer shows the age of the van it is based on – which goes all the way back to 2006.

The cab is practical enough, with plenty of storage space for odds and sods, but the steering wheel is leaned forward like a bus and you can only adjust it for reach. This is bad news for your wrists over time. The seats are firm and quickly uncomfortable, too, while the touchscreen infotainment system in the centre of the dashboard, which includes sat-nav, is small and fiddly to use.

The way BEDEO has converted the standard van’s interior also raises eyebrows.

As a third-party project rather than a factory effort, the e-Boxer doesn’t get a bespoke instrument cluster. Instead, the needles have been removed from the existing rev counter, fuel gauge and temperature gauge – leaving the speedometer as the only functional dial in front of the driver.

All the relevant electric drive info – including battery charge level and remaining driving range – is instead shown in a new digital display incorporated into the rear-view mirror. This is clear enough, albeit a little way out of the driver’s eye-line, but the mirror part makes little sense in a van with a solid bulkhead.

The push-button gear selection is a neat solution, though again, far from what we’d expect from an OEM – which drew some criticism from the team here. Works well enough in practice, which is the main thing.

One further piece of weirdness comes with the ventilation controls. To get any heat you have to turn it on separately from the main ventilation panel – which still controls the fan speed - using a digital panel to the right of the steering wheel.

Probably best to make sure your drivers know this before sending them out on a winter delivery run (though running the heat will also reduce the driving range).

• Cheaper to run than a diesel model
• But more expensive to buy
• Details of standard kit

Rising energy prices have the potential to skew things in the future, but for the moment, the cost-per-mile for electric vans remains cheaper than equivalent diesel models.

And though electric vans cost more to buy outright – the e-Boxer is over £50,000 even at the entry-level – their monthly finance costs are more competitive, while servicing should also be substantially cheaper. The introduction of the larger, 75kWh, battery has also brought about a slight reduction in the price for some models, due to economies made in the manufacturing process. This only applies to the heavier versions, though, and pricing for the lighter models remains unchanged.

Typically, items such as brake pads wear less, too. Though the lack of substantial regenerative motor braking in the e-Boxer may mean that is not the case here.

Peugeot e-Boxer standard equipment

The e-Boxer comes in Professional trim level only, and includes all of the following standard equipment:

• 5.0-inch touchscreen with DAB radio and satellite-navigation
• Bluetooth and USB connectivity
• Air-conditioning
• Rear parking sensors
• Heated electric mirrors
• Interior rear-view mirror with built-in information display

It’s too early to comment on this. While a third-party conversion of this type is unlikely to have had the same level of testing and development time as a Peugeot factory model, BEDEO has been creating electric van conversions for a long time. So we don’t anticipate any major problems.

If you want to let us know about your experiences owning or operating an e-Boxer, drop us a line via the Parkers feedback email address.

• Very limited safety kit as standard

Not much to say here – the e-Boxer covers the basics but nothing more. So you get an airbag, but key modern safety items such as autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitors and lane departure warning aren't fitted as standard.

These, and a number of other active driver aids and additional airbags, are available from the options list.

An alarm is fitted as standard on all Boxer Professional grade models and the e-Boxer is no exception.