LIGHT COMMERCIAL TEST
Story and photos by Jacqui Madelin
IS THIS THE
FUTURE? While more familiar companies announce EV delivery vans, LDV has already quietly been selling the eDeliver3 in New Zealand.
T
hat our time with LDV’s eDeliver3 wasn’t quite as planned was no fault of the vehicle, but rather crossed wires or – given the unfortunate implications of that phrase for an electrical vehicle – an oversight which meant the fast-charge cable was not in its storage space when I collected it. It is possible to plug into a household socket, which delivers a great commutingdistance top-up. However, the 52.5kWh battery option we drove (the 35kWh is no longer available) provides a claimed 400km from a single full charge. Would it be enough? Buyers need not worry. Those not sticking to an urban
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route will find New Zealand’s charging network is growing fast. You can currently recharge the full length of the country’s main highway, with most public chargers placed near stores, cafes or fuel stations. You can load an 80% charge while you use the loo and order a cuppa, so no time need be wasted. Compact vans like this stick mostly to urban environs, where a nightly charge – even an overnight top-up on the standard socket – is all that’s required. Urban running also puts this eDeliver smack in its strong zone. Electric motors deliver their best at low speeds, and this one, therefore, delivers great performance from zero to 50. July 2022
Indeed, until you get used to it, you’ll be careful how you prod the throttle from rest – it’ll try to spin the wheels from a standing start. eDeliver 3’s compact dimensions do limit what you can carry but are a boon around town where its drivetrain shines, and it’s easy to manoeuvre or park. But head out onto the open road, and acceleration is as pedestrian as most vans, while range suffers if you spend much time near the open-road limit. As review headquarters were some way out of town, we didn’t get near a 400km range. No problem, we simply looked up fast-charger locations online – there were plenty – headed for a handy
one and reached for the cable. Uh oh… Fortunately we had enough charge to complete the review despite a rural-urban commute and plenty of around-town running – where we discovered this van’s panel sides and rear took some getting used to at awkwardly-angled junctions or while reversing. That’s no different to any panel van – luckily, the reversing camera is excellent and standard. Equally appreciated, the digital ‘range remaining’ and ‘percentage of battery remaining’ seems reliably accurate, as we discovered after selecting eco-mode while doing our necessary review distance and related environments. We didn’t run out of juice, either, though
