VW electric vans review: quietly getting on with it

Item: VW electric vans review: quietly getting on with it
Author: Glynn Williams

VW has two electric vans that could go into production at the drop of a hat, and another at the concept stage. We've been to take a look.

Glynn Williams 26 March 2014

25_VW_eloadup_review_action — Looks like a car because it almost is a car. The VW e-load Up is a light van conversion of VW’s electric city car, the e-Up

ELECTRIC cars are still a rare sight on Britain’s roads but electric vans are rarer still. Renault has had a decent go with the Kangoo ZE – winner of our Best Green Van Award 2014 – but now Volkswagen is taking the subject seriously as well. Volkswagen has been showing off two VW electric vans in Germany – one that would be easy to put into production, and one that’s been used in trials with important customers to test how practical electric commercials can be in day-to-day use. Business Vans was there to bring you the full story.

25_VW_eloadup_review — As much room in here as in a Fiesta van – and with the car doors in place its pretty easy to load too

Volkswagen e-load up

First, the Volkswagen e-load up. This is nothing more or less than a light van conversion of Volkswagen’s tiny electric city car, the e-up (if you want to know more about this car, click here: The Volkswagen e-Up – don’t worry Dad, batteries are included. The rear seats and trim are stripped out, and the load area is lined with materials more suitable for commercial use. There’s a wire mesh bulkhead that reaches the roof-lining, so the e-load up can safely be filled to its full interior height while preserving rearward visibility when there isn’t a full load on board. Since the e-up’s battery pack encroaches only minimally upon the cabin, this means the rear loading volume is an impressive 900 litres – just under the volume of a Ford Fiesta Van. One interesting point – most small supermini-based vans use a three-door body-shell, but the e-load up VW showed us was a five-door model. According to Markus Arand from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, this is much more convenient in terms of loading and unloading, or fitting in awkwardly-shaped items.