Was talking to my HVAC company about this thing and how much they could save on gas and maintenance. Next month or so I'm going to find out how many miles I drive in my work truck. Then show the bosses that we can go green with this van and save a lot of money.
I know it is an old (great!) video, but just wanted to thank you for pointing out that we speak Catalan in Catalonia. Almost no reporter from outside Catalonia does, stating that this is just spain speaking spanish. Oh! And your pronunciation of Barcelona was perfect! I love your videos! Keep them going.
Thanks for caring about our language education Robert. First a bit of Yorkshire with the eUp and now Catalan! Nice looking van, it has to make economic sense to use these for around town deliveries. British Gas probably is making them use their own lekky.
I am a VAN guy. Period. For me, cars are dysfunctional. I like space. I recently traded in my 2008 Sprinter High Top 144 inch WB.(Far too many repairs and future worries). I loved it. 19 mpg for diesel van. My new Dodge CV gets 18 mpg with a 3.6 gas engine. I wanted the eNV200 here in the states, Florida, and the Dealers said they knew NOTHING about any such vehicle. Duh, that was 1.5 yrs ago. There is Boulder EV made in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. It is big and all electric. Thanks for the report Mr. Llewellyn.
this is perfect for city van dwellers: no maintenance (except tires and maybe breaks-but the motor can do regenerative breaking so maybe no break change for a long long time) and no clogged filters due to small trips and lots of starts and stops. I love the silence too and the massive torque on tap. and you can recharge it with pv panels - perfection when it will be mainstream so the spear parts will be easily available! i can't wait
£16,600 on the road is heading in the right direction... good to see the cost of EV's starting to get closer to the cost of a comparable ICE. Thanks for the episode.
A good idea for cities, Perhaps the Police should be trialling them too and some of the Airports as their air-side vans too. And certainly The Post Office ?? !!
Happy to see you back. One of the few hopeful shows I get to watch. Much appreciated. Have you considered crowd-sourcing your funding, such as the now ubiquitous Kickstarter? That van might make an excellent transport for my handicapped sister.
Electric is the future of transportation. The e NV200 s/b sold around the world in large numbers. Less fuel costs. Less maintenance costs. Longer lasting. No emissions. No noise.
Thanks for this update. I really hope to see the e-NV200 in the US soon, it would be a perfect replacement for my ageing and dirty Toyota 4runner and would then we would be a 100% electric household and my wildlife conservation and renewable energy nonprofit org would greatly benefit from the use of this wonderful utility vehicle :-)
Missed you Robert I'm anxiously waiting delivery of a mint condition MK1 Honda Insight from Japan (Private Import). Iv'e not got the money for a full EV but the little two seat Honda should save me a lot. Keep up the good work. I'm still frustrated by the myth that when your battery fails it's going to cost you a fortune. Certainly not the case with the Honda Hybrid batteries these days.
Hi. This is great, but how about Joe Average who cannot afford a new electric vehicle. What are the problems with the second hand market? A video about this would be very helpful and encourage others to change. Cheers.
Not sire much of a second hand market exists really but its an interesting question, range drops as the batteries age and at a certain point they need replacing which I believe would run into thousands of pounds, I'm sure the more on the road the more options will become available but yeah I'd be interested to hear some insight on this
Thanks for your reply. So are you saying that in a similar way to an engined car, that most people when the engine is worn out they will scrap the car. Many cars are over 15 years old, have been looked after and work well, but with electric it seems that after a few years, that's it. It seems the cost is a problem, you could re-engine a 6 year old car, but would you re-battery a 6 year old LX car considering the developments in technology. I wonder what the depreciation is, £30,000 over 8 years is twice what I paid for my car in one year. I suspect we may have to wait 10 years.
No I think some solution will arise other than scrapping, perhaps selling back to manufacturer who could then put new/reconditioned batteries in, I don't know but I think would have to be very different to the life of a petrol/diesel car
So, if needs be I would be happy to buy an 8 year old engined car and think it was relatively new, but would I buy an 8 year old LX car. Apart from the batteries and general consumables, I wonder what are the other problems. Early LX cars had brush motors that are not reliable, but with the advent of 3 phase inverters and motors I assume this is no longer an issue. I would be helpful for more info. A second hand leaf is at least 10 grand, that's huge wedges of cash for a 8 year old car.
The interesting difference between the LEAF and NV200 is the NV200 has a cooling system built around the battery pack so the vehicle can be charged more often but without the worry of increased battery temperature. That is the problem for those LEAF owners in areas where they have very hot days and need to use the L3 EVSE units. The NV200 has addressed this issue since they are being marketed for Taxi and delivery vans where charging multiple times during the day may be needed. Hope the 2017 LEAF which will have the bigger battery unit will also have the internal battery cooling system.
Glad to see another episode of Fully Charged on RUclips, it's been a while. It's been so long in fact, that I started thinking about watching more Top Gear... Perish the thought!! :D Rob, will you be starting a new series to chart the progress of Formula E, by any chance? I noticed a few videos where you were talking with the presenters of the series. Would be pretty cool to watch if it is something you were planning on doing.
The e-NV200 is my current wallpaper on my PC's desktop. I don't know why I'm fascinated with vans but it might have something to do with fancying the A-team's van from the 80's. I was a little confused at 2:54 where a white van with white panels all around the vehicle sped past while inside the vehicle there is clearly side and back windows. I thought is was the world's first use of external cameras and huge displays inside the cabin to mimic windows as seen by a ford concept: SynUS. Looking forward to the new episodes of Fullycharged.
Robert makes a very powerful argument for electric traction. The biggest stumbling block (the batteries) seems to have been overcome, with even better technology to follow. The one question I ask is "Why is there not a British firm exploiting this"?
Great to see they've got rid of that ridiculous 'switch' that the leaf has for selecting P,R,N,D. YES the van has a proper tactile gear stick which you can feel what position it is in, or glance at it. The leaf joystick just feels like it belongs on an arcade machine or an 80s game console. Thinking of getting rid of the Leaf to buy an e-nv but I really think they should have put in a slightly bigger battery than the leaf to compensate for the greater weight and frontal area. 35+ KWh PLEASE Nissan, and put some glass in the rear doors for goodness' sake.
I've been given a leaf as a company car, its the older one too with less range but I LOVE it, saves me a crap ton on fuel costs, gets me to work and plenty of juice for running to the shops etc after, plus it'll beat most cars of the line at the traffic lights (love pissing all over the boy racers..... Hmm maybe I'm a boy racer) anyhoo, love it, just need to win the lotto so I can get a Tesla ;)
A common battery pack that can be changed at charging stations very quickly is the only answer to the range question. Then even H.G.V and coach traffic could convert to electric power eventually as much bigger packs and changing systems where the vehicle drives in the pack is changed by a machine could be developed. :)
It's not (the only answer). Inductive road charging is another option. Charging as you go pretty-much solves the whole range thing. Presumably it'd only be avaible on major roads like motorways, but then if you are travelling more than a couple of hundred miles (in Europe) you are usually on such major roads. I drive a van (camperised) and would love an EV, but I rarely drive as little as 100 miles, and quite often 1000. And spend a lot of time in the middle of nowhere. I really appreciate the 600 mile range I currently have. Anything less than 300 will require fairly major changes to the way one travels, but I think that's coming, and it's not like we have a choice about getting off ICE farily sharpish. You could get a pile of battery in the back of that van, it's only (very) expensive :-) Anyway, thanks for a sensible vehicle review. More vans please. I shall keep a careful eye on how this changes ove rthe next few years. The current van is 16 years old, and has a few more years in it, but I'm going to have to choose something new sometime (or give up owning a vehicle entirely, which currently seems an expensive option, although probably not as expensive as buying a long-range EV van.).
O.K the only answer that is possible RIGHT NOW we have the tech and systems. If companies were not bought out or bullied out of existence decades ago, we would have this working now.
wayne burgess Another solution is quickcharging. Just look at the Tesla Solar Superchargers, which can recharge their 450 km batteries in half an hour. Inductive road charging is already an existing option used in South Korea currently.
Think bigger. Lorries, coaches, REAL vans not the toy one on the video that my tool kit would not fit in. The impact of retro conversions and battery packs that can be swapped even faster than a vehicle can currently fill its tank would be massive and cut pollution in a way that works forever.
I'm not convinced that would work. Every vehicle would need the same amount of space to fit the battery pack in and that wouldn't work, because all vehicles come in different shapes and sizes.
How brilliant! Hopefully all the manufacturers will be building vans like this, even up to the level of a Ford Transit! Also, I can't wait to see trolleybuses on Britain's streets. If the Swedes and the Italians build trolleybus routes "to protect the urban environment", perhaps our Government should do the same (and even tramways and metro lines). That would definitely make our country better, and there would be more money in the Government's kitty because the NHS wouldn't have to shell out as much to treat pollution related conditions. Perhaps, what the government should do is have a 25% discount on full electric vehicles, and a 20% discount on EREVs and plug in hybrids, and 15% on hybrids.
I'm a petrol (& diesel) head but I also appreciate the need for alternative energy sources for cars and vehicles. I guess the old range anxiety issues is still the biggest hurdle for the British car buying public to get over. I currently run an older diesel which will do 44mpg on a run (which isn't bad considering it's 19 years old, big and an auto) but with diesel at stupid prices I can see the attraction of EV especially for commuting. I also like the fact that an electric motor will provide stump-pulling torque at zero revs. Just a shame electric cars cost so much.
Maybe a natural gas generator to charge the van could come out as a fast charger that could be used at home or carried in the vehicle on long trips. One that could be a fast charger (say 120, 240 or 440 volts). Porsche is coming out with a sports car that runs on over an 800-volt system. :-)
Just a thought but wouldn't an electric be less affected by extra weight? It's already a heavier drive system so the extra weight is a smaller percentage of the total anyway and regen braking can recoup more from more weight since there's more energy. I would wager the range isn't as far behind the Leaf as people may think.
If I'm going to drive a giant battery around, I want to be able to run the AC and my appliances overnight while it's parked. You would think this is possible and reasonable right? Waiting for them to show up in the US and offer closer to 300 Mile range and 15 minute 80% fast charge with some reasonable availability of super chargers in the US SE. BTW, Does the engine bay hood need to be so big on these? they should move the cab forward and get us another 16 inches of cargo.
How big is this van? Expert/Transporter or Berlingo/Caddy? It looks kind-of in-between, but perhaps nearer to Expert/Dispatch/Scudo/Jumpy size (which are already very popular as a Taxi platform).
I think that Nissan should have marketed this 1st and the Leaf later. Fleet & delivery vehicles emit much more than the average driver by nature of their function, shouldn't cause as much range-anxiety as the linear distance from home base isn't usually very far and the ROI is quicker as there's much less maintenance required.
Soon, but I think it's be released in Japan before hand. Besides, the e-nv200 has only started sales in Europe for a month now. So I guess you have to wait a year. Still, you guys now have the cheaper i-MiEV for $23,000. Ask any owner, the little thing that's shorter than a Mini is practically a van. Fold down the 50/50 rear seats and you get a nice flat floor, a square loading space with no wheel humps or any oddly shaped interruptions and a generous 50 cubic feet of space.
Does anyone know the number of miles a taxi will drive during a shift, and how much time a taxi can be considered "out of service" each day for charging? I was under the impression that taxi's were shared between drivers, so it was still in use even when the primary driver was off his shift. It does sound like the perfect way to reduce inner city emissions though. I assume the issue of charging during an average working day will soon tell us how this can be managed, and how this style of battery usage affects its longevity. (maybe that's not an issue any more, but empirical data is always good to show off to people)
Steven Whiting Lots of modern data centres use technology such as in-rack water cooling as it saves having massive precision air conditioning plants cooling loads of air in the rooms. Also nicer for the techs that have to occasionally venture into the data centres as it isn't chilly and incredibly noisy (which is what large precision air con units are!).
Just put them on the roof of the garage where the car mostly is at. That way you're not carrying around the extra weight for nothing and the cell's are always aligned perfectly to the sun, whereas a vehicle in a multi storey car park is going to get nothing...
I'm watching because I'm interested in the electric version of this van. I would have liked a more realistic road test to make me believe enough to invest my hard earned cash, this is what I was looking for when I found this video. E.g a road test at night in the rain on a cold uk winters day. I would like to see what happens to the range when the lights are on and the windscreen blower is blowing hot air, and there is 100s of kg of tools and equipment in the back driving in the hills of my home town of Sheffield. I average around 45miles a day, and occasionally work in excess of 100 miles from home. This to me is a real road test for any commercial vehicle. Is there anyone out there who has tested this van under the above conditions, and has recorded the results? The solar charging is great for sunny spain, but for the good old cloudy uk in winter time we can have less then 2hrs of sun strong enough for good solar panel operation, thats if its not cloudy. I work an average of 10hours a day, so solar charging isnt practical for me. Wind isnt much better, as its unreliable. The above also costs greatly, so even if your lucky enough to be in a area where you can get planning permission for your renewables, its going to cost lots, and unless you charge when there's power, you are going to have to find away of storing that power until its time to use it. The most common way I've seen is with battery banks. But this is also expensive and doesnt work efficiently, let alone the inefficiencies when you charge a battery from a battery. There are other things to consider when talking about getting power from renewables. 1 of those things is having consistent power. There needs to be consistent power as most of the things we use require this. Renewables power gluts and droughts are absorbed by the national grid because there are power sources that can be turned on and off quickly. Have you ever had a cuppa tea at the end of your favourite tv show. Think how many 1000s of others are doing the same. This also effects the quality of the power supply, and if its not rectified quickly, you can overload the power system and end up with a cascade power failure. Many things including renewables affect our power supply. Here in the uk, were use to reliable power, google cascade power failure, its interesting and worrying. Power supply is a subject that we all need to be discussing. If all these technologies mentioned above were assessed and the environmental impact in ALL the aspects were tallied, what would the result be I wonder? I'm interested in real world practical warts-n-all results. I'm middle aged, and recently rode a bicycle that a friend had fitted a electric motor. This will probably be my first venture into electric vehicles. What I'm after is realistic answers. If anybody knows where I can find them, I would be grateful if you could tell me where. Sorry for the bit of a rant. Power supply and the environment is a important issue to me, as I hope it is for you. I bring up issues because I've yet to see anyone give us the public real world results and solutions. Everyone seems to have a vested interest or give advice without real world results and experience. Has british gas published a unbiased results of running the fleet of nv200's, or is it a gimmick? I've never seen a british gas Nv200. I've only ever seen their diesel van fleet. I'm probably going to get lots of stick from posting this. Bring it on. I have broad shoulders and a brain. I'm a gas and electrical engineer, who has a knack for knowing when people are talking a load of gu ff. If you have any experience/knowledge/practical real world answers, or know where there are some please comment and let me know. If you don't, don't bother to comment. I will ignore you, as I will not suffer Fools, Idiots or idiocracy. The only conclusion I've come to, talking to smart interesting people is, there's to many people on this planet living life styles that aren't sustainable in the long run. Things will change one way or another.
+aspudkicker I only came to look at the van. Now I'm fired up. Bed time is the wrong time to be fired up. I've been looking at the list of fully charged videos. Its a massive list. I'm going to choose from the list to see if Robert finds any real world answers for my situation.
So the legendary black cab is replaced by this Nissan? I thought british were proud of their things? London taxi is one of the british icons imo. And now this boxy no style car is gona take over? I know its economical and all but still.
I don't see how you can use this vehicle as a taxi in a large metro area.One would think that the charge would not last an entire day of commercial use?
Ask your average cabbie, and they do a surprisingly low mileage. They also like a 20 minute coffee break to chat to their mates where you could do fast re charges. The really sensible idea would be to put the chargers at Paddington/Waterloo station, heathrow etc where they queue up for at least that amount of time anyway.
In metro city, I suppose, it is much easier because you utilize regen breaking to charge your car on the fly, instead of keep hammering break at every stop light. Plus, hammering break is not good for passengers
Love your show. FYI this is not a suitable taxi or taxi alternative vehicle, it must have a range of 400 km/ charge in a test rig setup and tested on a wet raining cold day fully loaded with passengers and baggage having the lights on, windscreen wipers running and heater and air conditioning dimister concurrent with interior heaters and music plus the all the dispatcher and Power hungry GPS and back to base security taxi system. I am an automotive engineer designing the new Australian hybrid industrial heavyweight cycle duty taxi. Keep up the good work, don't listen to a brainless convincingly salespeople that can talk using powerful hollow words ( meaning the words sound strong but empty on the inside deceiving the listener) you are far brighter than that I know you are cause you drive a tesla and that vehicle is like a new baby that going through teething problems however will grow to be a strong heathy person. The attitude tesla has is a healthy one to make it happen.
400km on a single charge? I doubt that this is a reasonable requirement, even for Australia. In Europe, a taxi will typically do about a half of that in a day (or significantly less). But even then, it will be stopped (waiting for customers) a lot of the time at known places, hence can be topped up there while waiting.
In London the average traffic speed is about 10mph, so after the five and a half hours before he/she has by law to take a break, a driver will have only done 55 miles. He then has half an hour to recharge himself and the taxi. This is well within the capability of the Nissan 24kWh battery never mind their newer ones. (London taxis don't like taking passengers very far anyway and this will give them a perfect excuse to refuse a fare!)
If a taxi driver is paying around £10000 a year on fuel then buy a tesla model s keep it for five years and it would have only cost what you pay for electric. You will save on service costs road tax extra
I will comment on an old video since I have an NV-200 and a Tesla. I love the Nissan for it's B and D mode, this becomes part of driving. I wish Tesla did as well as using the paddles. I really miss a larger battery, since I want to do a regular trip from Freiburg DE to Thierrens CH where there is the most amazing Ecological construction site ............IN THE WORLD. The Swiss Romande has installed about 10 fast charging stations. And there are not enough on my route. I have an answer for what to do with no charging stations in Montbéliard, FR. Take a hotel room and plug into the hotel lobby. I am going to see with a lawyer about taking the Swiss Department of transport to task since over 40 countries signed on with the International Energy Agency and France would have one million charging stations in 2015. I am writing from the future, 2017. If you are keeping score at home, there are less than one million charging stations in France.
Junkyard Wars inspired me to become an engineer! Now I work for SpaceX! Thanks Robert and Cathy!
That is truly awesome :)
in what capacity?
oisiaa That's awesome! :) What do you do there?
oil the robots?
FakeX?
Was talking to my HVAC company about this thing and how much they could save on gas and maintenance. Next month or so I'm going to find out how many miles I drive in my work truck. Then show the bosses that we can go green with this van and save a lot of money.
Did it happen?
I know it is an old (great!) video, but just wanted to thank you for pointing out that we speak Catalan in Catalonia. Almost no reporter from outside Catalonia does, stating that this is just spain speaking spanish.
Oh! And your pronunciation of Barcelona was perfect!
I love your videos! Keep them going.
Your passion always comes through, hope the channel is doing well now, good luck for the future!
Thanks for caring about our language education Robert. First a bit of Yorkshire with the eUp and now Catalan!
Nice looking van, it has to make economic sense to use these for around town deliveries. British Gas probably is making them use their own lekky.
I am a VAN guy. Period. For me, cars are dysfunctional. I like space. I recently traded in my 2008 Sprinter High Top 144 inch WB.(Far too many repairs and future worries). I loved it. 19 mpg for diesel van. My new Dodge CV gets 18 mpg with a 3.6 gas engine. I wanted the eNV200 here in the states, Florida, and the Dealers said they knew NOTHING about any such vehicle. Duh, that was 1.5 yrs ago. There is Boulder EV made in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. It is big and all electric. Thanks for the report Mr. Llewellyn.
this is perfect for city van dwellers: no maintenance (except tires and maybe breaks-but the motor can do regenerative breaking so maybe no break change for a long long time) and no clogged filters due to small trips and lots of starts and stops. I love the silence too and the massive torque on tap. and you can recharge it with pv panels - perfection when it will be mainstream so the spear parts will be easily available! i can't wait
Wow, I happen to be watching this episode now after having started in 2017, wow, what a difference., still great thought
I’ve just bought and ex British Gas e nv200 for my new Zero Emission Delivery business in Southampton. It’s awesome!
Does it still have a range of 120km?
I test drove one of those at the Evolution Car show in Edinburgh, very nice van! Drives like a car. Loved it!
Hi. I love your videos about electric cars.
Love the show finally some light shed on an under publicised area. keep em coming please Robert :)
£16,600 on the road is heading in the right direction... good to see the cost of EV's starting to get closer to the cost of a comparable ICE.
Thanks for the episode.
Welcome back Robert.
Great video! How Fully Charged has come on since 2014!
A good idea for cities, Perhaps the Police should be trialling them too and some of the Airports as their air-side vans too. And certainly The Post Office ?? !!
Nice Star Wars style text at the end there! Another great episode
Happy to see you back. One of the few hopeful shows I get to watch. Much appreciated. Have you considered crowd-sourcing your funding, such as the now ubiquitous Kickstarter? That van might make an excellent transport for my handicapped sister.
Electric is the future of transportation. The e NV200 s/b sold around the world in large numbers.
Less fuel costs. Less maintenance costs. Longer lasting. No emissions. No noise.
Thanks for this update. I really hope to see the e-NV200 in the US soon, it would be a perfect replacement for my ageing and dirty Toyota 4runner and would then we would be a 100% electric household and my wildlife conservation and renewable energy nonprofit org would greatly benefit from the use of this wonderful utility vehicle :-)
Missed you Robert I'm anxiously waiting delivery of a mint condition MK1 Honda Insight from Japan (Private Import). Iv'e not got the money for a full EV but the little two seat Honda should save me a lot. Keep up the good work.
I'm still frustrated by the myth that when your battery fails it's going to cost you a fortune. Certainly not the case with the Honda Hybrid batteries these days.
Hi. This is great, but how about Joe Average who cannot afford a new electric vehicle. What are the problems with the second hand market? A video about this would be very helpful and encourage others to change. Cheers.
Not sire much of a second hand market exists really but its an interesting question, range drops as the batteries age and at a certain point they need replacing which I believe would run into thousands of pounds, I'm sure the more on the road the more options will become available but yeah I'd be interested to hear some insight on this
Ben Millen excuse the typos!
Thanks for your reply. So are you saying that in a similar way to an engined car, that most people when the engine is worn out they will scrap the car. Many cars are over 15 years old, have been looked after and work well, but with electric it seems that after a few years, that's it. It seems the cost is a problem, you could re-engine a 6 year old car, but would you re-battery a 6 year old LX car considering the developments in technology. I wonder what the depreciation is, £30,000 over 8 years is twice what I paid for my car in one year. I suspect we may have to wait 10 years.
No I think some solution will arise other than scrapping, perhaps selling back to manufacturer who could then put new/reconditioned batteries in, I don't know but I think would have to be very different to the life of a petrol/diesel car
So, if needs be I would be happy to buy an 8 year old engined car and think it was relatively new, but would I buy an 8 year old LX car. Apart from the batteries and general consumables, I wonder what are the other problems. Early LX cars had brush motors that are not reliable, but with the advent of 3 phase inverters and motors I assume this is no longer an issue. I would be helpful for more info. A second hand leaf is at least 10 grand, that's huge wedges of cash for a 8 year old car.
The interesting difference between the LEAF and NV200 is the NV200 has a cooling system built around the battery pack so the vehicle can be charged more often but without the worry of increased battery temperature. That is the problem for those LEAF owners in areas where they have very hot days and need to use the L3 EVSE units. The NV200 has addressed this issue since they are being marketed for Taxi and delivery vans where charging multiple times during the day may be needed. Hope the 2017 LEAF which will have the bigger battery unit will also have the internal battery cooling system.
Glad to see another episode of Fully Charged on RUclips, it's been a while. It's been so long in fact, that I started thinking about watching more Top Gear... Perish the thought!! :D
Rob, will you be starting a new series to chart the progress of Formula E, by any chance? I noticed a few videos where you were talking with the presenters of the series. Would be pretty cool to watch if it is something you were planning on doing.
The e-NV200 is my current wallpaper on my PC's desktop. I don't know why I'm fascinated with vans but it might have something to do with fancying the A-team's van from the 80's. I was a little confused at 2:54 where a white van with white panels all around the vehicle sped past while inside the vehicle there is clearly side and back windows. I thought is was the world's first use of external cameras and huge displays inside the cabin to mimic windows as seen by a ford concept: SynUS. Looking forward to the new episodes of Fullycharged.
Robert makes a very powerful argument for electric traction. The biggest stumbling block (the batteries) seems to have been overcome, with even better technology to follow. The one question I ask is "Why is there not a British firm exploiting this"?
A good drive test. I didnt see any mention of the enhanced cooling systems these vans apparently have vs a Leaf.
Has Motability been made aware of this vehicle? It'd be brilliant for transporting wheelchairs etc. It's just what I need (and I am far from alone!)
Great to see they've got rid of that ridiculous 'switch' that the leaf has for selecting P,R,N,D. YES the van has a proper tactile gear stick which you can feel what position it is in, or glance at it. The leaf joystick just feels like it belongs on an arcade machine or an 80s game console. Thinking of getting rid of the Leaf to buy an e-nv but I really think they should have put in a slightly bigger battery than the leaf to compensate for the greater weight and frontal area. 35+ KWh PLEASE Nissan, and put some glass in the rear doors for goodness' sake.
I've been given a leaf as a company car, its the older one too with less range but I LOVE it, saves me a crap ton on fuel costs, gets me to work and plenty of juice for running to the shops etc after, plus it'll beat most cars of the line at the traffic lights (love pissing all over the boy racers..... Hmm maybe I'm a boy racer) anyhoo, love it, just need to win the lotto so I can get a Tesla ;)
A common battery pack that can be changed at charging stations very quickly is the only answer to the range question. Then even H.G.V and coach traffic could convert to electric power eventually as much bigger packs and changing systems where the vehicle drives in the pack is changed by a machine could be developed. :)
It's not (the only answer). Inductive road charging is another option. Charging as you go pretty-much solves the whole range thing. Presumably it'd only be avaible on major roads like motorways, but then if you are travelling more than a couple of hundred miles (in Europe) you are usually on such major roads.
I drive a van (camperised) and would love an EV, but I rarely drive as little as 100 miles, and quite often 1000. And spend a lot of time in the middle of nowhere. I really appreciate the 600 mile range I currently have. Anything less than 300 will require fairly major changes to the way one travels, but I think that's coming, and it's not like we have a choice about getting off ICE farily sharpish.
You could get a pile of battery in the back of that van, it's only (very) expensive :-)
Anyway, thanks for a sensible vehicle review. More vans please. I shall keep a careful eye on how this changes ove rthe next few years. The current van is 16 years old, and has a few more years in it, but I'm going to have to choose something new sometime (or give up owning a vehicle entirely, which currently seems an expensive option, although probably not as expensive as buying a long-range EV van.).
O.K the only answer that is possible RIGHT NOW we have the tech and systems. If companies were not bought out or bullied out of existence decades ago, we would have this working now.
wayne burgess Another solution is quickcharging. Just look at the Tesla Solar Superchargers, which can recharge their 450 km batteries in half an hour. Inductive road charging is already an existing option used in South Korea currently.
Think bigger.
Lorries, coaches, REAL vans not the toy one on the video that my tool kit would not fit in. The impact of retro conversions and battery packs that can be swapped even faster than a vehicle can currently fill its tank would be massive and cut pollution in a way that works forever.
I'm not convinced that would work. Every vehicle would need the same amount of space to fit the battery pack in and that wouldn't work, because all vehicles come in different shapes and sizes.
How brilliant! Hopefully all the manufacturers will be building vans like this, even up to the level of a Ford Transit! Also, I can't wait to see trolleybuses on Britain's streets. If the Swedes and the Italians build trolleybus routes "to protect the urban environment", perhaps our Government should do the same (and even tramways and metro lines). That would definitely make our country better, and there would be more money in the Government's kitty because the NHS wouldn't have to shell out as much to treat pollution related conditions. Perhaps, what the government should do is have a 25% discount on full electric vehicles, and a 20% discount on EREVs and plug in hybrids, and 15% on hybrids.
I'm a petrol (& diesel) head but I also appreciate the need for alternative energy sources for cars and vehicles. I guess the old range anxiety issues is still the biggest hurdle for the British car buying public to get over. I currently run an older diesel which will do 44mpg on a run (which isn't bad considering it's 19 years old, big and an auto) but with diesel at stupid prices I can see the attraction of EV especially for commuting. I also like the fact that an electric motor will provide stump-pulling torque at zero revs. Just a shame electric cars cost so much.
I'm with you on the price argument. I'd have thought that economies of scale would have brought the price down. Still, there is hope, I suppose.
Well at least 'WhiteVan Erectus' may not give much thought to other road users, but at least now he's helping the envionment!
Maybe a natural gas generator to charge the van could come out as a fast charger that could be used at home or carried in the vehicle on long trips. One that could be a fast charger (say 120, 240 or 440 volts). Porsche is coming out with a sports car that runs on over an 800-volt system. :-)
The windows in the van make the taxi version look like the vehicles off the 5th element (from a side view anyway)
Just a thought but wouldn't an electric be less affected by extra weight? It's already a heavier drive system so the extra weight is a smaller percentage of the total anyway and regen braking can recoup more from more weight since there's more energy. I would wager the range isn't as far behind the Leaf as people may think.
If I'm going to drive a giant battery around, I want to be able to run the AC and my appliances overnight while it's parked. You would think this is possible and reasonable right?
Waiting for them to show up in the US and offer closer to 300 Mile range and 15 minute 80% fast charge with some reasonable availability of super chargers in the US SE.
BTW, Does the engine bay hood need to be so big on these? they should move the cab forward and get us another 16 inches of cargo.
People in the car next to you seem entertained 🙂
Could you test the range with 6 large adults in the minibus version? This would be a realistic test for its duty as a taxi?
it's good I'm sure you can put a solar panels on the roof so keep the charge going then you have more buys
How big is this van? Expert/Transporter or Berlingo/Caddy? It looks kind-of in-between, but perhaps nearer to Expert/Dispatch/Scudo/Jumpy size (which are already very popular as a Taxi platform).
I think that Nissan should have marketed this 1st and the Leaf later.
Fleet & delivery vehicles emit much more than the average driver by nature of their function, shouldn't cause as much range-anxiety as the linear distance from home base isn't usually very far and the ROI is quicker as there's much less maintenance required.
where is the e NV200 manufactured? It would be a great if it is the UK?
So, how do these stand up, four and a half years later, at the end of 2018?
Are they going to be available for the USA market?
Soon, but I think it's be released in Japan before hand. Besides, the e-nv200 has only started sales in Europe for a month now. So I guess you have to wait a year.
Still, you guys now have the cheaper i-MiEV for $23,000. Ask any owner, the little thing that's shorter than a Mini is practically a van. Fold down the 50/50 rear seats and you get a nice flat floor, a square loading space with no wheel humps or any oddly shaped interruptions and a generous 50 cubic feet of space.
Awesome!! I'll take one... hmmm...available in Canada?
The EV Revolution is growing, and this time, "IT WILL NOT BE STOPPED" ...Finally.
Great video & score
Will they ever come out with an electric SUV & Truck both 4x4?
I could feel the love in your video.
Until next time my friend
I hear Tesla Is working on it.
Search on Tesla Model X, it will be a best seller for sure. Coming out very soon.
Hey man I like your vids!
Nice vehicle, but why can’t they put independent rear suspension? Every bump leads to a side-to-side motion (I wonder who else noticed this?)
You Cruise Robert! Charge on.
How about a Mercedes B-Class electric drive review ?
:( this car si not yet available for Canada?!
Does anyone know the number of miles a taxi will drive during a shift, and how much time a taxi can be considered "out of service" each day for charging?
I was under the impression that taxi's were shared between drivers, so it was still in use even when the primary driver was off his shift.
It does sound like the perfect way to reduce inner city emissions though. I assume the issue of charging during an average working day will soon tell us how this can be managed, and how this style of battery usage affects its longevity. (maybe that's not an issue any more, but empirical data is always good to show off to people)
Brilliant diesel engine sound :D
why wouldnt they put a bigger battery in it? seems stupid not to.
Strange to think there’s little more choice all these years later
Luckily a lot more electric vans being released this year or next, from Mercedes, Ldv ,vw, Renault etc
@@kevinwillis6707 yes I@m also looking at the Zoe van - the ENV200 is a better size but right now it's all about keeping costs down.
Emissionless taxis in London by 2018 eh?
Would be cool if Google let you into one of their planets as they get most of their electricity through water I believe.
Google are Wind and Solar www.google.com/green/energy/
Neil Carmichael
I think I'm might be thinking of the water cooling they use, not sure. Bad memory.
Steven Whiting Lots of modern data centres use technology such as in-rack water cooling as it saves having massive precision air conditioning plants cooling loads of air in the rooms. Also nicer for the techs that have to occasionally venture into the data centres as it isn't chilly and incredibly noisy (which is what large precision air con units are!).
What is the price for this van..?
+nayab zahra just visit the Nissan website
How many dollars is this car?
It's 2017, and there is still no talk about this vehicle coming to North America :(
Very nice! Put some Solar cells on the roof.
Just put them on the roof of the garage where the car mostly is at. That way you're not carrying around the extra weight for nothing and the cell's are always aligned perfectly to the sun, whereas a vehicle in a multi storey car park is going to get nothing...
I'm watching because I'm interested in the electric version of this van. I would have liked a more realistic road test to make me believe enough to invest my hard earned cash, this is what I was looking for when I found this video. E.g a road test at night in the rain on a cold uk winters day. I would like to see what happens to the range when the lights are on and the windscreen blower is blowing hot air, and there is 100s of kg of tools and equipment in the back driving in the hills of my home town of Sheffield. I average around 45miles a day, and occasionally work in excess of 100 miles from home.
This to me is a real road test for any commercial vehicle. Is there anyone out there who has tested this van under the above conditions, and has recorded the results?
The solar charging is great for sunny spain, but for the good old cloudy uk in winter time we can have less then 2hrs of sun strong enough for good solar panel operation, thats if its not cloudy. I work an average of 10hours a day, so solar charging isnt practical for me. Wind isnt much better, as its unreliable. The above also costs greatly, so even if your lucky enough to be in a area where you can get planning permission for your renewables, its going to cost lots, and unless you charge when there's power, you are going to have to find away of storing that power until its time to use it.
The most common way I've seen is with battery banks. But this is also expensive and doesnt work efficiently, let alone the inefficiencies when you charge a battery from a battery. There are other things to consider when talking about getting power from renewables. 1 of those things is having consistent power. There needs to be consistent power as most of the things we use require this. Renewables power gluts and droughts are absorbed by the national grid because there are power sources that can be turned on and off quickly. Have you ever had a cuppa tea at the end of your favourite tv show. Think how many 1000s of others are doing the same. This also effects the quality of the power supply, and if its not rectified quickly, you can overload the power system and end up with a cascade power failure. Many things including renewables affect our power supply. Here in the uk, were use to reliable power, google cascade power failure, its interesting and worrying.
Power supply is a subject that we all need to be discussing.
If all these technologies mentioned above were assessed and the environmental impact in ALL the aspects were tallied, what would the result be I wonder?
I'm interested in real world practical warts-n-all results.
I'm middle aged, and recently rode a bicycle that a friend had fitted a electric motor. This will probably be my first venture into electric vehicles.
What I'm after is realistic answers. If anybody knows where I can find them, I would be grateful if you could tell me where.
Sorry for the bit of a rant. Power supply and the environment is a important issue to me, as I hope it is for you. I bring up issues because I've yet to see anyone give us the public real world results and solutions. Everyone seems to have a vested interest or give advice without real world results and experience. Has british gas published a unbiased results of running the fleet of nv200's, or is it a gimmick?
I've never seen a british gas Nv200. I've only ever seen their diesel van fleet.
I'm probably going to get lots of stick from posting this.
Bring it on.
I have broad shoulders and a brain. I'm a gas and electrical engineer, who has a knack for knowing when people are talking a load of gu ff. If you have any experience/knowledge/practical real world answers, or know where there are some please comment and let me know.
If you don't, don't bother to comment. I will ignore you, as I will not suffer Fools, Idiots or idiocracy.
The only conclusion I've come to, talking to smart interesting people is, there's to many people on this planet living life styles that aren't sustainable in the long run.
Things will change one way or another.
+aspudkicker
I only came to look at the van. Now I'm fired up. Bed time is the wrong time to be fired up. I've been looking at the list of fully charged videos. Its a massive list.
I'm going to choose from the list to see if Robert finds any real world answers for my situation.
aspudkicker You might want to look into VIA motors...
As long as the public transportation will use diesel, there won't matter the small cars.
One word of caution, the higher the voltage and amperage of an electrical system that easier it is to electrocute yourself.
Are the vans made in uk too?
Nope, in Barcelona, Polígono Industrial Zona Franca Sector B, Calle 3, 77-111, 08040 Barcelona
Many thanks for the info.
200 mile please, 60 kwh battery is a must, also underneath plate charging, cables are passe
So the legendary black cab is replaced by this Nissan? I thought british were proud of their things? London taxi is one of the british icons imo. And now this boxy no style car is gona take over? I know its economical and all but still.
Metrocab has an electric version of the classic London Cab. I *think* Robert already gave one a test drive (or a close competitor).
This van is built in Britain I'm fairly sure.
I don't see how you can use this vehicle as a taxi in a large metro area.One would think that the charge would not last an entire day of commercial use?
Ask your average cabbie, and they do a surprisingly low mileage. They also like a 20 minute coffee break to chat to their mates where you could do fast re charges. The really sensible idea would be to put the chargers at Paddington/Waterloo station, heathrow etc where they queue up for at least that amount of time anyway.
In metro city, I suppose, it is much easier because you utilize regen breaking to charge your car on the fly, instead of keep hammering break at every stop light. Plus, hammering break is not good for passengers
The comment on London Taxis was wrong!
Love your show.
FYI this is not a suitable taxi or taxi alternative vehicle, it must have a range of 400 km/ charge in a test rig setup and tested on a wet raining cold day fully loaded with passengers and baggage having the lights on, windscreen wipers running and heater and air conditioning dimister concurrent with interior heaters and music plus the all the dispatcher and Power hungry GPS and back to base security taxi system.
I am an automotive engineer designing the new Australian hybrid industrial heavyweight cycle duty taxi.
Keep up the good work, don't listen to a brainless convincingly salespeople that can talk using powerful hollow words ( meaning the words sound strong but empty on the inside deceiving the listener) you are far brighter than that I know you are cause you drive a tesla and that vehicle is like a new baby that going through teething problems however will grow to be a strong heathy person. The attitude tesla has is a healthy one to make it happen.
400km on a single charge? I doubt that this is a reasonable requirement, even for Australia. In Europe, a taxi will typically do about a half of that in a day (or significantly less). But even then, it will be stopped (waiting for customers) a lot of the time at known places, hence can be topped up there while waiting.
+Nitkurt a shift in Australia is over 300km. Australia is not Europe or London
In London the average traffic speed is about 10mph, so after the five and a half hours before he/she has by law to take a break, a driver will have only done 55 miles. He then has half an hour to recharge himself and the taxi. This is well within the capability of the Nissan 24kWh battery never mind their newer ones.
(London taxis don't like taking passengers very far anyway and this will give them a perfect excuse to refuse a fare!)
install a solar panel on the roof of the van and i'd buy one.
Excellent Brilliant Refreshing Lovin It :)
I want one!
£16,600. That's about 5 grand cheaper than my Leaf!!!!
It’s just a shame the range in real life is woeful as a friend has found who can’t wait to get rid as it’s so bad ☹️
ok, where is it? when can i have one? hurry uuuuppppp!
A private company wont be able to paper over the cracks of range and drivers sitting around doing nothing whilst charging.
royal mail please get some of these and dump those stinky diesels
If a taxi driver is paying around £10000 a year on fuel then buy a tesla model s keep it for five years and it would have only cost what you pay for electric. You will save on service costs road tax extra
The video would have been better without the background music.
I will comment on an old video since I have an NV-200 and a Tesla. I love the Nissan for it's B and D mode, this becomes part of driving. I wish Tesla did as well as using the paddles. I really miss a larger battery, since I want to do a regular trip from Freiburg DE to Thierrens CH where there is the most amazing Ecological construction site ............IN THE WORLD. The Swiss Romande has installed about 10 fast charging stations. And there are not enough on my route. I have an answer for what to do with no charging stations in Montbéliard, FR. Take a hotel room and plug into the hotel lobby. I am going to see with a lawyer about taking the Swiss Department of transport to task since over 40 countries signed on with the International Energy Agency and France would have one million charging stations in 2015. I am writing from the future, 2017. If you are keeping score at home, there are less than one million charging stations in France.
1 dislike.
Jeremy Clarkson should have better things to do with his time.
zooom zoooom
Really Nissan, same batttery pack ?? C'mon..... compete....
3:42
3:19 yawn
Told me absolutely zero, utterly pointless video.