Nissan e-NV200

e-NV200 is an urban crowd pleaser to beat diesel power

Revised e-NV200 still has plenty to offer and is a quiet, refined place that could put you off diesel for life, says Andrew Walker

The Nissan e-NV200 is the longest standing of the current crop of electric vans, having been launched back in 2013. It was updated in 2018 using the running gear from the Nissan Leaf and adding a 40kWh battery, which increased range by over 50% to 124 miles on the combined cycle. That’s a distance that many new electric vans may struggle to beat.

Offered in Visia, Acenta and Tekna trim, in theory there’s an e-NV200 for all buyers. Basic Visia includes Bluetooth, electric windows, a USB connection and steel wheels. Accenta adds rapid charging as standard, a reversing camera, automatic air-conditioning, battery heating/cooling to help the van maintain its charge and cruise control with speed limiter.

We were testing an e-NV200 in Tekna + trim, which comes with SatNav, 15” alloys, automatic lights and wipers, plus our test van was fitted with the £252 Cold Pack, which adds heated front seats a heated steering wheel and heated door mirrors.

It comes supplied with two charging cables, a three-pin 10-amp cable and a seven-pin 32-amp cable. Using the seven-pin cable and a Rolec wall charger takes you from zero charge to full in about seven hours. The Acenta and Tekna versions come with a CHAdeMO socket that allows rapid charging from public charge points. This can add 80% charge to the battery in as little as 40 minutes, conditions permitting.

There’s only two front seats, and only the driver’s seat can be moved back and forth as well as reclined, but it is a comfortable cabin, nonetheless. If you need more cabin space the passenger seat can be folded down to create a tray table. There’s also a full steel bulkhead, two sliding doors, near side and off side and unglazed French rear doors.

The cabin itself is rather bland, finished in grey and blacks, and the quality is decidedly average, but it all works well and all of the switchgear is easy to use. For storage, you get a small glove box, two slim door pockets, a large flat area between the seats, twin dash mounted cup holders, a small dash top area and a lift up and over central box.

The Tekna is fitted with a really nice infotainment touchscreen, so accessing the DAB radio, SatNav, Bluetooth telephone and CD player is easy, but there’s no connected Apps for Apple Car Play or Android Auto.

Safety featured includes ABS with EBD, an alarm, electronic traction control, curtain, driver, passenger AND side airbags, remote central locking and a tyre pressure monitor.

Press the starter button, engage D and you are ready to move off in total silence. It’s nippy, reaching 62mph in just 8.7 seconds but top speed is only 77 mph. It is easy to drive and simple to manoveure, but it’s hardly thrilling. It makes sense to utilise the Eco button, which

adds some regenerative braking Nissan Leaf-style to the drive. This allows you to let the van slow itself down without the driver having to use the brakes and it’s easy to get used to. Disengage Eco and the Nissan is far more sprightly but you quickly drain the battery and the range decreases faster. It is better to use Eco all the time.

The Tekna is fitted with large side mirrors and a wide angle reversing camera, so going backwards is a cinch.

The e-NV200 has a cargo volume of 4.2 cubic metres and there’s a payload of 705kg, putting it ahead of sister model the Renault Kangoo. The rear compartment is not large enough to stand up in at 1.36 metres, but it’s a useful rectangular shape. The battery is located underneath the load area so load volume does not suffer, so the Nissan has space for two Euro Pallets in the back, with 1.22 metres of space between the rear wheel arches. The rear sill is 524mm off the ground and there are six D-ring lashing eyes set into the load area floor. Payload is 705kg, almost 100kg more than the Renault Kangoo.

While an electric van with range of 124 miles will work for some, it won’t work for all. Having a home charger makes all the difference. We were able to charge the Nissan to full, with the range showing 123 miles. We then drove it for just over 100 miles including two 40-mile motorway trips using the cruise control at 70mph, before we felt the need to charge again. We reckon that if you avoid the motorway, you can easily achieve a 124-mile range or even more, but only if you stick to under 50mph or under this in urban areas. Even short, motorway, trips at a constant 70mph, will reduce the battery range much more quickly.

We found the Nissan’s cabin a comfortable place to be, with little wind and road noise entering the cabin, even on the motorway and in the wet. In slow-moving traffic you can hear a pin drop and enjoy quiet, hands-free, telephone conversations. Compared to a diesel van it’s bliss to be in, and the auto gearbox also takes the strain out of urban driving. All in all, we found the e-NV200 to be a quiet, relaxing, comfortable work place.

In conclusion, whether your business would benefit from running an e-NV200 really depends on your daily journey. For someone like a florist, or for the Post Office, or anyone who performs a series of short, local journeys, owning the Nissan would be a no brainer. A government grant of 20% up to a maximum of £8,000 can be applied to e-NV200 sales to sweeten the deal. This would make the Tekna + version we drove cost from £26,839; that’s a reasonable investment. On the downside, the Nissan is a little bland inside and with everyone else in the process of launching an electric van, this could put some off.

In our week in the eNV200, we managed to achieve a 100-mile range, but it was driven unladen. We would add a caveat that any electric van once fully laden, will not achieve such a good return.

On a closing note, Nissan covers the battery for eight years and 100,000 miles. In this period, if the battery capacity dips below nine bars (out of 12) when recharging, Nissan will replace it free of charge.

In addition, the e-NV200 is covered by a five-year/60,000-mile guarantee for its mechanical and electrical components.

There’s also a 12-year anti-corrosion warranty. Nissan, we feel, can be relied on when it comes to battery technology and the purchase or lease of an e-NV200 can be undertaken without any worries.

Verdict

Increased range is a real bonus. The cabin is functional, rather than exciting. Nissan’s EV experience will reassure anyone moving to electric vans for the first time.

CC&V RATING: N N N N

MAXUS eyes SME fleets with groundbreaking DELIVERs

Andrew Walker caught up with Mark Barrett, General Manager of Harris Automotive Distributors UC, which distributes the MAXUS range in the UK and Ireland, to find out how the name change from LDV had gone down and how big a dent Covid-19 had put in their plans

CC&V: Since we last spoke LDV has become MAXUS, while the media has been dominated by the Covid-19 global pandemic which has obviously had a major effect on van sales. Is the brand now ready to move on from this?

Mark Barrett: Like so many other industries around the world, the recent restrictions and impact of Covid-19 have been a challenge for the automotive industry. However, at MAXUS we never took our foot off the pedal despite the pandemic and in early April, we started our rebrand process, which would see the LDV moniker align with LHD Europe, China and other markets to become MAXUS.

We had planned to officially introduce the commercial vehicle market to the new MAXUS branding at the 2020 CV Show, and we had exciting, large-scale plans for the launch of our first MAXUS new platform vehicles, the e DELIVER 3 and DELIVER 9.

As we know, the CV Show was cancelled, but that didn’t stop us repurposing our plans with a little bit of lateral thinking.

On June 15 we launched our vehicles through a virtual online experience, allowing past, present and future customers to get up close and personal with the DELIVER 9 and e DELIVER 3 vans – remotely. The virtual launch was hugely successful and in fact, we were probably able to reach more people through our virtual launch than we ever could have through a physical launch event.

Both the DELIVER 9 and e DELIVER 3 are now available to order through local dealership networks and with restrictions broadly lifted, we believe we are in a strong position to build on our plans and the sales that we have already started to generate and push the MAXUS brand to new heights.

Along with the rest of the fleet media we sadly missed the opportunity to see your new vans at this year’s CV Show, especially the electric e DELIVER 3. Can you tell us more about this vehicle?

MB: We had given the market a sneak preview of the e DELIVER 3 at CV Show in 2019 when we showcased a left-hand drive, pre-production model, which was called the EV30 at that time.

The newly launched e DELIVER 3 is an all-new platform model that features enhanced spec. It is billed as the little brother to its predecessor, the LDV EV80, but it is the first vehicle by MAXUS that is only available as a fully electric model with no other power train options.

The MAXUS e DELIVER 3 is available in three variants with two wheelbase options: a short wheelbase panel van (4555 L x1780 W x1895 H), a long wheelbase panel van (5145mm L x1780mm W x1900mm H) and a long wheelbase platform chassis (5037mm L x1780mm W).

It also features a High-Power Low Energy Motor with an acceleration time of 0-60 miles in 11 seconds. There are two battery options to choose from, a 35kWh and 52.5kWH, plus DC + AC dual charging modes. With the DC mode, the van will be 80 per cent electrically charged in 45 minutes.

Prices for the e DELIVER 3 start from

“Everything about the DELIVER 9 is of superior quality and showcases what we at MAXUS are all about...”