Electric light commercial vans: What’s available in Australia and what’s coming?

The half to one tonne electric light commercial van segment has been around since the EV transition started in earnest in the early 2010s.

Renault started with the Kangoo ZE van in 2011, and the first publicly available Citroen Berlingo Electrique (based on the Mitsubishi iMiEV drivetrain) began sales around 2013.

Now there are many – VW offers the ID Buzz Cargo, and there is the multi-badged van developed by Stellantis and sold under various Stellantis brands as the Citroen e-Dispatch/Peugeot e-Expert/Vauxhall Vivaro Electric/Fiat e-Scudo (and even as the Toyota Proace Electric!)

Another Stellantis electric van offering is the Citroen e-Berlingo/Peugeot e-Partner/Vauxhall Combo-e (also sold as the Toyota Proace City Electric). 

Renault has electrified versions of the Master and Traffic, Mercedes the eVito … and the list goes on. China makes too many to mention – but few have escaped their local market … yet. 

In Australia, the first was the Renault Kangoo ZE in 2017 – but no other models at or under 1 tonne were seen here until the Mercedes eVito van arrived last year. (Unless you count the dozen or so BYD T3 vans brought in last year before they discontinued sales). 

All that is about to change though. Soon, both Renault and Peugeot will launch their 600 to 800 kg range vehicles – respectively the Peugeot e-Partner and an all-new model Kangoo E-Tech.

In 2024, we will see even more around the 1t mark – the Renault Trafic E-Tech, the Ford e-transit custom and maybe even the Victory light truck/dual-cab ute and van variants from EV Automotive.

Following that in 2025 we will see the arrival here of perhaps the quintessential work van: the reborn VW Kombi, now known as the VW ID Buzz Cargo.

So what can we expect in this segment in the next 6 to 12 months? Below is a quick summary of what we know so far about each of these models:

Mercedes eVito van: 

Availability: now.

Renault Kangoo E-Tech (new model). 

Availability: soon.

*Note: Renault have yet to specify which version (short or long wheelbase) will be sold here. However, going by the specification of the current Kangoo ZE, it is likely only be the long wheelbase version will arrive.

Peugeot e-Partner. 

Availability: soon.

Ford E-Transit Custom. 

Availability: 2024.

VW ID Buzz Cargo. 

Availability: 2025.

Looking forward:

Similar moves are afoot in other commercial vehicle segments too: we are seeing more electric options arriving between the up to one tonne electric commercials discussed above and the 4.5t gross limit for a standard driver’s licence.

These include the recently arrived Ford E-Transit, the soon to arrive 1.4t Renault Master and the 2024 likelies of the 4.5t gross Foton T5 and JAC N55. 

All-up, it seems 2023 is looking to be the year when the e-LCV in Australia will start to come into its own. The key point is – unlike many private buyers – businesses use the metric of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) to evaluate their vehicle purchases.

This means that a higher upfront cost may not be the barrier that private buyers often consider it to be. When it comes to TCO, electric commercial vehicles have many benefits. First-up, EV running costs are much less than diesel/petrol equivalents.

EVs also don’t need to stop and waste work-time at refuelling stations for most of their recharging – ‘refuelling’ often being done instead when the vehicle is not being used overnight or during loading/unloading at a depot.

They also need far less downtime as they age for such things as major services, exhaust system replacements and brake overhauls (EVs use brakes a lot less as most of the braking energy is recouped through regenerative braking using the motor rather than wasted in heat and wear via brake pads and rotors).

Together, the extra initial cost of an EV can often be offset against these cost savings and productivity gains. This means that even before these electric van options reach purchase price parity with their ICE equivalents, businesses are likely to start switching quickly based on TCO and productivity gains over ICE ones.