Electric Van vs Diesel Van

[Jaigox]

Hi Everyone,
New to the forums here.
Ive gotten into the window cleaning business in the last three years and currently leasing diesel 2021 transporter with a portable window cleaner.

I am looking at jumping and getting myself a fully kitted van with a tank etc

I have customer based mainly in central & east London. But the issue I have had with my diesel van is the DPF. I am sure others have experienced this. I don't plan on providing services outside of London.

I wanted everyone's opinon on this - should I get an electric van or a diesel van?
Has anyone had an electric van in and around London? How is it going?

 

[Bell Pallisey]

talking to an Amazon driver about his Merc Sprinter i said will it make London and back ?[100 miles each way] he said you are joking,no way!

 

[Jaigox]

talking to an Amazon driver about his Merc Sprinter i said will it make London and back ?[100 miles each way] he said you are joking,no way!

What about operating solely in London?

 

[ched999uk]

It's probably worth looking at some van ev forums. The problem we have is we carry quite a high payload for a decent period of the day. A lot of parcel delivery type companies don't actually carry much weight.
DPD are at the forefront of van evs, they started with Nissan eNV200's, MAN's eTGE (3.5ton), then Ford E-Transits and Maxus Deliver 9s and Deliver 3s. Royal Mail also are expanding their ev fleet of Peugeot e-Partner and e-Expert.

If you think about DPD and Royal Mail they are do multi stop work similar to our driving patterns but neither carry as much weight.

I seem to remember 1 or 2 of the window cleaner system installers have fitted a few ev's with tanks etc as it's a bit more tricky with a battery mounted under the floor between the wheels.

I also think there are 1 or 2 on here that have Nissan env200s. Might be worth searching for env200 on here?

For the majority of us I think EV's would be great, it's just the cost that is off putting. Remember if you are on Octopus and get an Ohme or Zappi charger you can go on Octopus Intelligent Go which gives 6 hrs at 7.5p/kwh between 11:30 pm and 5:30 am so about 6 hrs at 7kwh per night = 42kwh - even at 2miles/kw that is about 84miles for about £3.15 so the equivalent to about 168mpg from a diesel! Your whole house electric can use the cheap rate at 7.5p/kwh!

If you do want to switch to Octopus for their cheap off peak tariffs you can get £50 credit by using this Octopus link (I also get £50 credit).

 

[Bell Pallisey]

What about operating solely in London?

i know the local Amazon depot had these electric mercs and transit diesels when the depot opened 3 yrs back,all i see now is the transits that says something.That chat i had with the merc driver was 2 yrs back he was jus doing local runs as they do . If the electric mercs were ace surely theyd have many more by now

 

[Jaigox]

Thanks all very interesting. How has everyone dealt with the DPF filter issues?

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

What about a petrol van, would that possibly suit your round?

 

[Iron Giant]

Thanks all very interesting. How has everyone dealt with the DPF filter issues?

If you look after your van you shouldn't have dpf issues, my previous van was a 64 plate Vauxhall combo the dpf light came on for 10 seconds and I had that van for around 6 years I put Cataclean in the fuel tank every few months, currently driving a 19 plate Berlingo and no issues with short runs and stop starts after 6 months of ownership, it does get a decent run out sometimes on a weekend usually around 40 minutes to where I want to get to and 40 minutes back.

If ordering from new then I'd go for a petrol engine if you want a cleaner running engine and to avoid messing with Adblue etc, I believe petrol vans may take longer to get hold off so you'd need to know this well in advance maybe 6 months going off enquires I made in the past.

 

[Johnboi]

We run a 50kw Toyota pro ace as a local window cleaning van.

It has a 500 ltr pure freedom system in the back.

The range is about 150 miles per charge and does us most of the week as it does local compact domestic wfp work.

A joy to drive and when you get back in even a newish diesel van it's like stepping back in time.

 

[CMcB]

I've had issues with the adblue and dpf, and other issues related to a using a diesel for lots of short journeys. Because of this I've just ordered a petrol van.
I think to stop dpf issues you just need to take it on long journeys regularly or take it to a dpf cleaning place before it gets bad. @Iron Giant said he takes his on a 80 minute round trip some weekends so that probably is helping his van.
I think the new transit custom vans have a manual dpf regeneration that a driver can initiate which may help.
I've no experience with electric vehicles but I think by the sounds of it, it could be a good alternative for you.

 

[Pjj]

If you look after your van you shouldn't have dpf issues, my previous van was a 64 plate Vauxhall combo the dpf light came on for 10 seconds and I had that van for around 6 years I put Cataclean in the fuel tank every few months, currently driving a 19 plate Berlingo and no issues with short runs and stop starts after 6 months of ownership, it does get a decent run out sometimes on a weekend usually around 40 minutes to where I want to get to and 40 minutes back.

If ordering from new then I'd go for a petrol engine if you want a cleaner running engine and to avoid messing with Adblue etc, I believe petrol vans may take longer to get hold off so you'd need to know this well in advance maybe 6 months going off enquires I made in the past.

There isn’t that many petrol vans especially once you get above the 3000 kg mark

 

[Iron Giant]

There isn’t that many petrol vans especially once you get above the 3000 kg mark

One of the reasons I went for a 2nd hand diesel van available straight away unlike new vans, petrol vans which are as rare as hens teeth.

 

[ched999uk]

To the OP, if you don't need much range (guess at less than half of quoted range when loaded - maybe even less in winter) then try and get a test drive of an electric van.
I would say you will be impressed, they are so smooth and the torque is instant no matter what speed! Plus with the right charger (zappi or ohme) octopus gives you 6 hours a night at 7.5p/kwh for the whole house!

 

[THL4KEL]

 

[ched999uk]

And a petrol car has never caught fire? Look at how many Zafira's caught fire before Vauxhall issued a recall! I believe it was over 300 that had caught fire, often leaving their occupants with mere seconds to escape before their cars were destroyed!

 

[THL4KEL]

And a petrol car has never caught fire? Look at how many Zafira's caught fire before Vauxhall issued a recall! I believe it was over 300 that had caught fire, often leaving their occupants with mere seconds to escape before their cars were destroyed!

Yes as you have told us multiple times, but when did a Zafire fire cause $400/500 millions of damage and destroy 3965 other cars and a ship, with a fire lasting three weeks?

 

[spruce]

i know the local Amazon depot had these electric mercs and transit diesels when the depot opened 3 yrs back,all i see now is the transits that says something.That chat i had with the merc driver was 2 yrs back he was jus doing local runs as they do . If the electric mercs were ace surely theyd have many more by now

Is Amazon running Transit diesels still?

If you look after your van you shouldn't have dpf issues, my previous van was a 64 plate Vauxhall combo the dpf light came on for 10 seconds and I had that van for around 6 years I put Cataclean in the fuel tank every few months, currently driving a 19 plate Berlingo and no issues with short runs and stop starts after 6 months of ownership, it does get a decent run out sometimes on a weekend usually around 40 minutes to where I want to get to and 40 minutes back.

If ordering from new then I'd go for a petrol engine if you want a cleaner running engine and to avoid messing with Adblue etc, I believe petrol vans may take longer to get hold off so you'd need to know this well in advance maybe 6 months going off enquires I made in the past.

Citroen vans with a petrol engine used to be factory order only at one time as everyone wanted diesel engines.
Not sure if this is still the case. If it is then expect to pay a large upfront deposit.

 

[Iron Giant]

Is Amazon running Transit diesels still?

Citroen vans with a petrol engine used to be factory order only at one time as everyone wanted diesel engines.
Not sure if this is still the case. If it is then expect to pay a large upfront deposit.

The only Amazon vans I've seen are diesel engines.

I expect ordering a petrol van is no different today

 

[Pjj]

Is Amazon running Transit diesels still?

Citroen vans with a petrol engine used to be factory order only at one time as everyone wanted diesel engines.
Not sure if this is still the case. If it is then expect to pay a large upfront deposit.

Amazon down here ard using diesel transits yes , dpd have been trialing electric but say the distances from there drop to delivery are is to much they have had to have them recovered as batter has been flattened, will be interesting to see what happens

 

[ched999uk]

Amazon down here ard using diesel transits yes , dpd have been trialing electric but say the distances from there drop to delivery are is to much they have had to have them recovered as batter has been flattened, will be interesting to see what happens

DPD are using some electric vans round here, I think their main depot is in Preston so only only about 40 mile round trip to Blackpool plus their delivery route so I doubt more than 100 miles a day.
Currently electric vans are too limited for most professions - cars on the other hand are very good for most people who do under 250 miles a day. Journeys over 250miles (on average as there are some evs that do 350 miles ) are ok as long as you can stop for 45 mins to recharge - yes the cost to recharge away from home is as expensive as driving a petrol car but at home you are looking at less that 2p/mile in fuel costs.

I will come clean we bought an ev 3 weeks ago as our car was 11 years old, we don't do many long journeys, it was cheaper than a lot of petrol cars (I'm not keen on highly strung 3 cylinder turbos) plus the fuel economy on these petrols isn't good at all, don't get me started on petrol hybrids and their mpg. It wasn't for green reasons just seemed a sensible decision looking at the costs of running it and the cheaper home electric costs.

 

[spruce]

DPD are using some electric vans round here, I think their main depot is in Preston so only only about 40 mile round trip to Blackpool plus their delivery route so I doubt more than 100 miles a day.
Currently electric vans are too limited for most professions - cars on the other hand are very good for most people who do under 250 miles a day. Journeys over 250miles (on average as there are some evs that do 350 miles ) are ok as long as you can stop for 45 mins to recharge - yes the cost to recharge away from home is as expensive as driving a petrol car but at home you are looking at less that 2p/mile in fuel costs.

I will come clean we bought an ev 3 weeks ago as our car was 11 years old, we don't do many long journeys, it was cheaper than a lot of petrol cars (I'm not keen on highly strung 3 cylinder turbos) plus the fuel economy on these petrols isn't good at all, don't get me started on petrol hybrids and their mpg. It wasn't for green reasons just seemed a sensible decision looking at the costs of running it and the cheaper home electric costs.

The wife's Citroën Xsara diesel is nearly 21 years old. It runs fine. All we are doing is the usual maintenance stuff, and it loves breaking front coil springs. Apart from that, I hope to keep it for another 10 years, if I last that long. It has 108k on the clock.
I had a 2004 Xsara estate diesel a few years back, which son now has. He took it on 5 years ago with 80k on the clock as I wasn't using it much. It now has 180k and still running fine. It failed MOT a week ago on rear brake balance and 2 bald tyres. So mileage wise, the wife's Xsara still has many miles left in it.