Make room for the e-Doblo –it fits the urban delivery bill

The electric urban delivery market is getting crowded but there’s room for the latest from FIAT Professional, the e-Doblo, says Andrew Walker

The Fiat e-Doblo comes with a choice of 20 panel vans or four five-seater crew vans, and L1 and L2 versions. The shorter wheelbase models are 4.4m, the longer ones 4.75m. L1 comes with an 800kg payload, while L2 models have a 750kg payload, but come with a larger loading area. All versions feature the same 50kWh battery, which offers a WLTP range of 171 miles. Interestingly, the e-Doblo will tow 1 tonne.

Specs and equipment

Electric Doblo comes with two specs – Standard or Primo – and both are well equipped. Standard features include air con, cruise control, SatNav, DAB radio, an 8” infotainment display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a near-side sliding door. The Primo adds the load-through bulkhead, rear parking sensors, a rear camera in the mirror, a Visibility Pack, an Icon Pack and a useful passenger bench seat with armrest, storage and a writing table.

Performance and charging

The 50kWh battery uses a 100kW electric motor, putting out the equivalent of 136bhp. This is good enough for a top speed of 80 mph, but it’s the instant torque that’s most impressive, making forward progress smooth and silent.

Fast charging is included as standard. This means that the e-Doblo can top up its battery from 0-80% via a 100kW rapid charger in just 30 minutes. This is quite expensive though, so if you are looking to recharge at home, a 7/2kW Rolec Smart Charger will charge the 50kWh battery from 0-100% in 7.5 hours.

A more powerful 11kW charger brings the time down to five hours.

Exterior and interior

We were testing the e-Doblo 50kWh in basic Standard spec and the good news from the off is that the electric Doblo looks just like the ICE model, with just a slight nod to its electric roots, namely a blue ‘E’ on the rear door in front of DOBLO.

The interior has a car-like feel to it, with the dashboard dominated by the

8” colour touchscreen. It’s also finished in nicely textured plastics, with the grey seat fabric looking and feeling hard wearing. The load area has six tie-down hooks and the wheel arches are hidden to make loading or unloading easier.

On the road

A sojourn through Warwickshire gave me plenty of scope to test the e-Doblo on a mixture of dual carriageway and urban roads as we headed to the centre of Warwick. At no point was the e-Doblo driven laden, with just myself and a passenger, so how the van performed is based on this.

It drives like a small electric family car. Steering is light and the auto gear box located just to the left of the driver is easy to operate. Here you can select from Park, Reverse, Neutral or Drive with another setting ‘B’ that adds two levels of regenerative braking to the equation. There also three drive modes: Eco, which slows everything down and turns off the heating; Normal, for everyday driving and heating; and Power, useful if your van is heavily laden or you hit a steep incline.

On the Warwick by-pass I selected cruise control, adjusted this to 60mph and off I went. It’s quiet in the cab, the seats are comfortable, the full steel bulkhead keeps the heat in and the load space noise at bay.

The cabin itself is well designed and it’s easy to reach all of the switches and buttons while driving, an important consideration for most van users. The view from the front is also excellent. The location of the battery, spread evenly underneath the load space floor, means that the suspension doesn’t showcase the battery weight like some other electric vehicles.

Range

The e-Doblo’s claimed maximum range is 171 miles. Keep under 62mph on the motorway and select Eco drive to increase range.

Pros

Excellent payload, great to drive, top-notch cabin, on trend tech and if driven carefully expect a range of 130 miles. Plenty of model choices in panel van and crew cab.

Cons

Expensive to buy outright, better to lease. Very cold weather hits range. Charging from empty at home is slow.

CC&V VERDICT

If your van use is local, even regional, then the e-Doblo really could be a solution. It’s a comfortable, practical companion and currently one of the better electric vans on the market.

CC&V RATING: N N N N