Reverse-engineering Ford's E-Transit Custom (EV van) for Australia | Auto Expert John Cadogan 

Electric vans are common here in the UK. They are used for deliveries, never seen a tradesperson with one. If it can hold the charge to do a day's work then it's better than bothering with a diesel engine.

I don't think that many Aussie "tradies" will struggle to keep charge in their batteries. I can just about guarantee that at every job they turn up to, it will be the apprentice's first job of the day to plug the van in to the customer's power supply. And at the end of the job, the invoice will still have a call out fee on it, kms. travelled at 78 cents per kilometre + time for both the apprentice and the "tradie" at the full hourly rate. I can't see too many 3 phase chargers getting fitted to any "tradie" garages anytime soon.

I'm liking the recent concentration on EVs, badmouthing the rubbish but talking up the positives. Most others seem to focus on one or the other.

At 14:50 did you say “in fairness to Ford”? Amazing - never thought I’d hear you say that in any context.

There is a series of videos from a plumber in Missouri with an eTransit. He seems to be getting ~120 miles / 200 km per day. He has also run it down flat deliberately, and done a tug of war with an ICE van in his fleet. If he has a warranty claim down the road that should be an interesting conversation.

As a tradie I have to say that does resemble me. There are tools in my Ute I use maybe once every 1 or 2 months but I when I do need to use I can’t afford to drive 40 mins home to get and 40 minutes back to the site. Also every time I look at the currier spec for what electric vehicles can do when translated to a proper work Ute I wouldn’t even get halfway through a day on a full charge especially cause I’m in a regional area and 80% of my driving is 100km/h on a motorway and how the F would I get the vehicle into the garage and most modern houses would have the same problem

I'm going to be optimistic on a niche use for the e-Trans, it would make a awesome wheelchair taxi for a private company or NDIS support service.

Sunday night content! Thanks John. 👍👍

Im a mobile detailer in the UK. Last year I hired a Nissan EV van for a month. I gave the thing back after 2 weeks because I was having to cancel appointments and loosing money. I cannot charge at home so even if I bought one. I'd be reliant on public charging (Its expensive, more expensive than my diesel van that burns 25p worth of diesel per mile). The EV van allegedly had a 200 mile range. On a typical day. I drive 150miles per day. Except. Once I'd loaded the van for work inc the water tank. I was getting 50 miles from a charge. I had to charge the thing 3 times per day! Thats around 4 hours wasted per day!. My average day with the EV: Take missus to work. She comes home on the bus. Charge the van... Yawn. Do 1st job... Drive to the charge point, wait in a 3 or 4 deep queue and eventually charge the van. Cancel 2nd job because of the charging issue. Charge the van so its ready for taking the missus to work. If we did any socialising, shopping etc... I'd need to visit the charger again before turning in for the night or we wouldnt have enough juice to take the missus to work in the morning. Charging the van isnt just the time charging the thing. Theres the time to drive to the charge point (not many around here). Waiting for a charger to be available if someone is already there. I have been 5 deep in a queue. I really despair for the future. EV's are not good enough. The range is too short and the charge time too long. public charging facilities are sketchy at best. I live in a city of 320,000 people. My nearest public charge point is 8 miles away, there is just 2 points. The next charge points are a further 15 miles away across the city. I hate card payments. I have lost so many credit cards... I leave it at home, Im not good with cards.. I can buy diesel with cash... I like cash, I know where I am with cash.

Out of curiosity JC what mill are you running? Would like to see a video of it if you don’t mind? Noticed the soft blow hammer and work hold downs on the wall & have been trying to spot your mill in any of your vids without success. A link to the swarf collector would also be handy, as I’ve just bought a 70 years old (1952) Bridgeport series 1 J head mill myself, and always keen to learn from others. 👍👍👍🇦🇺

As I understand it, loaded weight isn’t the main limiting issue with EV,s in regard to range, it is rolling resistance, friction and particularly wind resistance. An EV at rest does not use any fuel like a ICE vehicle does at idle and as the EV accelerates it’s increasing speed gives the vehicle a potential that is relevant to regenerative braking that an ICE vehicle does not. It is why ICE vehicles are more efficient on the highway and EV,s are better in stop start traffic. EV,s also have the same torque potential right down to zero speed whereas an ICE vehicle under load has to rev the vehicle through each gear in turn to maintain the torque required for example to take off from traffic lights and then go up a hill. Each gear is different torque until the revs match the required speed and each speed needs different throttle settings in a different gear for each load. This is why I suggest Johns ball park figures are likely wrong as he is making assumptions that are probably more relevant to ICE vehicles and this is born out by a number of tests I have seen on UTube where EV,s are loaded to maximum capacity but it does not make the range figures change as much as was expected. The real problem with the EV load carrying vehicles seems to be towing trailers or caravans with a high wind resistance on the highway. Towing a similar weight to a large caravan but with a aerodynamic load seems to make a lot less difference as it does with IICE vehicles but the penalty at slower speeds doesn’t seem so great on EV,s at slower speeds such as in urban areas. . It makes sense when you consider that depending on the drag coefficient of a vehicle, that if a vehicle travelling at 60km/h doubles their speed will have about 4 times the wind resistance at the higher speed and for example a standard 4 door Ute is using about 40% of its power to overcome wind resistance at highway speeds depending on the vehicles power and drag of course. Bottom line, I’m a bit dubious about some of Johns conclusions regarding the ratio of weight to range and I would be surprised if the extra weight of the van would significantly effect range, especially as that weight has a potential via the extra inertia which will return power via regenerative braking and the way torque works with electric motors. Further, while I’m not a tradesman myself these days (although I was many years ago) my brother owns a business as do my nephews who are builders and they mostly drive to a site, stay there all day and drive home. So their vehicles if EV would need only about a half charge and usually much less. A job more than maybe a hundred km/s away is an overnight stay rather than a commute and while my brother does the odd interstate trip, I can’t help thinking that in the very near future there will be enough charging points to make this not an issue as fast chargers enroute are used while taking a lunch break and home chargers (or at work) are able to get the van charged up overnight. The other real advantage I can see with the EV is the sheer amount of space they seem to provide and the on site power that they can provide on site is becoming the norm rather than the exception. I neither need nor want a Van these days as I am essentially a farmer but if someone brought something like a smaller version of a Ford Lightning to Australia I would certainly consider it. The last thing to consider is that as fuel prices go up, anyone can put a PV on their roof and charge their EV. No one can buy a refinery and make their own diesel.

I think you need to add at least 10% to the charging consumption. The 11kW is the charger output not its draw from the wall socket. It takes more like 87.12kWh to fill it up, so it uses 229Wh/km. WLTP measures consumption from the wall, so charger efficiency is included, they also include some cargo mass and AC use. However the Ford figures presume 100% charger efficiency. However WLTP has a section of 130kM/h driving, something unlikely to be a significant part of the usage pattern in real life.

Run the AC all shift. Do many deliveries. How many km will be left? Depends on the kind of route and weather of course.

This seems perfect for me. I can charge at home and typically drive 100-150 miles a day. The Transit I currently have is, far and away, the worst car I’ve commuted in. It feels like every part of it was made to be disposable. I’d rather not get gas every 3 days.

More Ming Moles please John!

Hey John, you have forgotten the pick-up section of the courier run. Sure, some couriers do a drop run only, but most will also pick up at the same time. Having worked around couriers for many years, a good many get back to the depot with full loads, and depending the run, may come back with more than which they departed the depot. There is a slight flaw in your assumptions.

In a previous job we were doing deliveries on set runs for each week day. Every day was different but because deliveries were close together 4 out of 5 days were only about 60k’s a day. The 5th day we serviced a few “outlying” customers but even that was less than 150k’s. I have no idea if this is typical but I wouldn’t be surprised if many use cases would fit this amount of range.

My son delivers parcels for oz post and says he does under 50 klm a day so perfect for that.

The reason for 11kw is cost cutting. You get 7kw from single phase. 240v x30A = 7.2kw. Now if you get the same charger, up the voltage rating of the components a bit and now connect it across 2 phases you now have 415v x 30A = 12.45kw. So they are not using a 3ph charger. All they have done is use a single phase charger and connect it across two phases instead of a single phase and neutral. It has nothing to do with cooling. To get 22kw you need to add another 2 single phase sets of hardware. So it is just a cost cutting exercise.

They all sound like a great idea except for the charging issues you point out regularly.

A fair chunk of the power needed to go down the road is pushing the air out of the way. This means it is not really accurate to scale the range simply from the weight. It also means that the range gets a lot shorter when the speed gets higher. Someone doing a lot of in town driving will see a greater range but also will see more effect from the weight.

Hello John great video , question , so to change this up at home , whats the cost of installing a charger , and whats the on going cost of charging the van ? i would want to be a lot cheaper surely , whats the price of life and replacement of batteries ?? ill stay petrol , cheers

Excellent vid.. making shit real since a while now👍

I'm looking at the normal van with extra seats, and i was interested when they announced these were coming. But as im fly in fly out and van would be sitting at airport i figured he batteries would be flat by time i got back unless i had a solar panel on roof constantly trickle charging while away.

Can’t wait for the cost benefit analysis on the E-Tranny. I’m the mentioned service guy repairing 15 stoves a day and will be after a new van I’ve 3 years or so

I may be wrong and I know it is just semantics, but I think the thermal management of the charging circuitry inside the car that needs improvement and not the inverter. The inverter is needed to drive the car. The internal battery charger does the opposite, it takes the AC from the "charger" on the wall(that is simply an outlet and a switch afaik) and turns it into DC for the batteries. When DC fast chargers are implemented this is the system they are bypassing on the car and they have a big box somewhere where the actual AC/DC conversion happens nearby and the car's battery pack is directly connected to the DC power coming through that massive cable.

I had a nice decompile after I got up this morning. All good.

Good summary of what folk can expect in the real world. EV commercials will suit perfectly some applications and be terrible for others. The more people like you give real world facts, away from the shiny brochure the better.

The swarf wand has my attention!

The van is already released here in uk, it does approximately 130miles and has less payload

Thanks for the interesting sums John. Could I pick your brain on another usage mode? Let's say that the courier van which you've calculated as having a realistic range of 150km around town is asked to make a delivery to a country town. What realistic range might it get at 110kph on the Hume Hwy?

Given the power usage drop of most battery tools, I’d suspect that the 380k range will be a 280k range after the first year. Or real world - 141ks will be down to 85ks

As an American I don't know much about the Australian market and what their contractors drive around in. As an American I'll explain what we typically do however I have converted the numbers to metric so they are easier to understand given that we are on the English system for measurements and weights. One day out of curiosity I was working at a facility that had a scale so I asked if I could weigh my vehicle and they said go ahead that's fine. The vehicle that I was driving is a Ford Econoline van full size with a V8 in it. The weight of that vehicle is 3,020 kg that is fully equipped with the shelving tools and a ladder rack and ladders and myself. This is not include materials that I would normally carry for a job. Depending on circumstances the amount of equipment I have to carry could increase the weight to 3170 kg if I have another person and additional material. The vast majority of contractors are typically like myself I am in the telecommunications industry so my vehicle tends to be lighter than many others because my tools typically are not as heavy as other trades. Is not uncommon to see the vast majority of work vehicles 680 kg to 907 kg weights this is cargo capacity. The maximum tank capacity of this vehicle is 133 liter A typical fill up for this vehicle which includes gasoline typically 109 liters in 5 minutes. Economy is about 6 km to one liter of fuel. Which means this vehicle has a range of over 654 km. What people in government and even the automakers fail to understand is truly how much weight is carried in a contractors vehicle. We all know electric vehicles are heavier this will just increase their weight even more. Where I live we are spread out we typically travel expressways to get where we need to go it is not uncommon to travel 40 minutes to get a particular place at well over 100 to 112 kilometers an hour. Seldom do we sit in traffic typically when you get on the expressways they are free and open to drive. When you give an employee an electric vehicle you're paying them to charge that vehicle up.If it's not the employees vehicle why are they going to use their electric at their house to charge it up. Which means they are going to go to a charging station and you are going to have to pay them to sit there and charge the vehicle. Hope as the employer that employee doesn't have to wait in line hoping that they can find a charging station because if they can't and the vehicle needs towed you're paying for their time and to have the vehicle towed. Unfortunately battery technology is not here yet if I hire employees and give them company vehicles I would rather pay them to spend 5 minutes at the gas pump knowing that they will be able to go over 600 km then put them in an electric vehicle. When I hire telecommunications technicians and hiring them for that skill set I am not hiring them to try to figure out they're charging schedule and what station to charge at without a line. This is why the process of them running a company vehicle needs to be as simple as possible in something they're familiar with. Otherwise it's going to cost myself as the employer.

Charging question The batteries in the current ev's at the moment charge at the max rate only for aprox 80 ~90% capacity then have the charge rate reduced for the final top up to prevent thermal runaway. Have you taken this into account?

Maybe a good deal for inner city delivery drivers yet I doubt an option for vehicles moving refrigerated goods.

You've also got to allow for the fact that the battery will lose some capacity over the years of ownership meaning a subsequent additional reduction in range... that's got to be allowed for when deciding if a vehicle will have sufficient range

As a professional hoarder / tradie wannabe I love slipping into my trannie Lwb, midroof VO returns mid 8L/100km That's better than all the cars I've owned Keep the facts coming jc , haven't spotted the fishnet stocking for a while, did Cletus pinch em

Of all the electric vans on sale today, in Australia, the E-Tansit is absolutely one of them.

Bring back steam technology; you can recharge the boiler at DP Creek ( providing there is water) and recharge combustion source using exchange gas from Bunnings. That will not take 7 hours.

UK BT Openreach purchased a load of these, they got the small battery versions (the driver said there was a option for a larger capacity but the fleet managers know best), a staff member told me they use the ev van to go to another engineer's house who has a diesel van and rides along with them, as in rural wales they simply can not do the range etc required to cover the distance required, so effectively caused more pollution as they have ordered vehicles that the staff simply can not use and will just incur costs while they dont get used and the consumer picks up the bill in there phone bill

F-150 Lightning with the 99kWh pack has 11.3kW charging; and with the 135kWh pack as 19.2kW charging. Whether the charging cables that are supplied with the respective vehicle are capable of handle the load, I do not know. I say that, because for example, the first Kona EV had a 7.2kW onboard charger but the Type-2 cable was only rated for 3.2kW.

Hey John, you know how you said you can't get a 300 Landcruiser in Australia yet? I saw one driving around Canberra today. No idea if it's a dealer thing, or what but there it was, large as life. It was a Sahara ZX.

Builders and associated Tradies would be hooking up to the "builders power" on site, which the site owner then has to pay. We got power bills for our new house build while it was under construction, was a bit of a shock (sorry just had to). Being a Sheepshagger now in residence I know back in the old homeland Builders power is not charged until completion.

wow! a $100 pointer! I want one. Great video John and love the maths. You had an opportunity to discuss transposition of formula and glossed over it. Shame.

The perpetual machine. What a little beauty. Still going after all these years. Runs on endless supplies of hallucinium.

That's a good analysis - thanks mate. I'm not so sure there is a direct relationship between weight and kWh (or litres for an ICE) used. A friend of mine with a ICE transit has an increase in fuel consumption when the van is loaded heavily but only by about a 10% hit. If I used your assumption, he'd be looking at a 30% hit between empty and full.

An issue that has not been spoken about in great detail is "repair of an EV"..when looking on another RU-vid Channel, they took the front boot liner out of the F150 Lightening..and really it was an eye opener. I would hate to get even a 10kph hit to the front or side impact of that F150..even have a coolant leak..the time and $$$$ to fix it..with all those sensors..dual cooling systems and all those high voltage cables..talk about a mobile nightmare! Then the fun begins. A/. Getting the parts..B/. Finding a panel beater who would even contemplate the job...which means until "private enterprise" start ramping up to undertake EV repairs..you could generally say the EV Vehicle Dealers would be the place to go for repairs. So there would be smiles and doing high fives in their repair department when an EV vehicle comes in for repair or service. Then there is the "barriers to entry" EV manufacturers would create within the EV repair market, not forgetting the "John Deer" effect that manufactures have with 3rd party repairers at present.yeh..I give it miss...

The best option is to convert your petrol engine to run on LPG. That seems to be environmentally friendly to me.

If these next gen batteries are NMC cathode chemistry then the range is 80% of the WLTP thats because those batteries are designed to be charged from 10-90% If you over or under charge will dramatically increase battery wear Make sure you get an LFP battery which can be and must be regularly charged from 0 to 100%

you hit on one of the main bottle necks, charging at home. here the standard house street connection is only 60 amps. plus im told the power co doesn't want fast chargers installed because the street transformers will need to be upgraded.

308 Holden 1 Tonner on dual fuel...look cool, sound cool, drive 1000 kms with a trailer, full refuel in 10 minutes from most servo's in Straya.

All looks good ! 👍 , we just need to load up the vehicle with a huge diesel or petrol generator and jerrycans . Beam me up Scotty !

Transit roof has a fairly large area, why don’t they cover the roof in solar to gain some extra range or reduce auxiliary electric load demand. Cue the aftermarket accessory companies.

A little point of clarification could i ask John - I have a Ford Transit custom DCIV - and its 2ltr diesel - you mention petrol transits at 9.12 ..i have yet to see a petrol one .. are they available in OZ? ..they are all Diesel here ....love your videos ...very informative

Seems to me someone should start a Tradie Only Fast Charging service so that there are no queues for workers who need to get back on the road ASAP. Probably a subscription of $50 a mth plus electron charges. Time is money, and this is peanuts compared to fuel prices for people doing 600km or more a week.

John I believe that the 11kw charge limit is possibly there because in the USA their 3 phase is only 240 Volt not the 415 we and most of the rest of the world have. Phil

The van for a tradie would be ok but I wouldn’t use it as a courier. As a courier you might have your run worked out and then you get the call from base to head somewhere 10km away to pick up 5 boxes and deliver them to somewhere 20km further away by 5pm, thereby stuffing you up completely.

EV transit type vehicles were everywhere in the UK where I've just been, as were regular EV cars, almost one in 5. They'll find their niche here in time. It's inevitable.

I am waiting for the Transit e-Ambo's....at least the defibrillator should have a decent kick...

What ever happened to super capacitors if you have a bunch of capacitors charging and discharging wouldn't that create an alternating current as your rolling down the road?

Should be awesome on the resale once the battery goes KaKa. I still can't insure my 2016 Hiace within 10 grand of replacement value (like for like, second hand).

What about in the UK where they changed all the police vehicles to EV's and the crims were getting away as the police cars ran out of charge and had no where to recharge them quickly! Smart move that one!

Yep no exhaust but the fumes of a ev going up on flames is a killer to more than just onlookers.

What happened to the Holden Cruze and Captiva videos?

My understanding is one of the major limitations of EV charging is the battery charge acceptance rate. If it is low, you can throw as much inverter/charger at it as you like. However, you'll still only be able to charge as fast as what the battery will accept.

After a bit of thought, continuous induction charging through the roadway would make EVs more user friendly, think brushless slot cars. Feasible?

Excellent John. One small addition; running around town would also be the most efficient given the van has regenerative braking. Could be quite significant. Also... beats me why Chinese importers (say BYD) haven't focused on this market opportunity. I know they imported a electric vans, but surely (with the range available to them), it would be a great way to get the brand out there and, as you point out, clean up our air. Oh and can we please have electric garbage trucks! Is there a worse use of a diesel engine, than in a garbage truck!?

Hey John, while we're on the subject of EVs and Ford, and considering you've been doing a couple of reviews lately in various EV/PHEVs, will you be doing a review of the Escape PHEV, now it's finally released in Shitsville? I test drove one on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised. I've been driving various hybrids for many years, but this Escape is on a different level in terms of refinement and drive-ability, and the fit and finish is top-notch too. I've still got to test drive the new-gen Outlander PHEV yet, but I think I'm already sold on the Escape. Although the Outlander PHEV has three variants, the Escape PHEV is only available in the ST-Line grade and compares somewhat closely to the Exceed. The big thing here is the Ford is $10K cheaper than the Mits.

Some things that needed to be addressed are battery warranty. That's a whole new issue as these things are very expensive to replace.

John, What about doing a break down in true life cycle.... Cost to build vs life cycle (vs elec / dinosaurs) vs cost to recycle.

Something is definitely in the wind - I had never seen an electric vehicle in operation on the road before, and suddenly, in the last month I have seen three of them.

Minimum 500 km with a full load including driver and passengers in a Canadian winter with all lights and heater running. A 5 minute time to do a full charge at a charging station. Charging stations in every town and highway charging stations on majored highways. A price comparable to the same vehicle with an IC Engine. Plus the ability to have it serviced at any local garage. With all these conditions met, I MAY consider an EV vehicle.

To get three phase power from pole to the metre box cost up to three thousand $.

Roadway based Induction charging public parking places in addition to roadway based induction charging in/near major metropolitan areas. Real world technology available now

Hearing about the price of replacing a vehicles batteries was frightening... I'd love to know what the cost of disposal is along with what happens to the batteries themselves.

You note that the hyundai goes further due to it's better aerodynamics. And then you go on assuming range goes up linearly with mass? It might towing a trailer because as well as mass you add wind resistance. Check out the mpg per tonne for ICE semi trailers. Much better than a one tonne hatch back ICE. The frontal area to mass ratio is much better on a semi. I suspect the loaded e van will not be far behind the unloaded for range. Once up to speed and rolling the mass just flexes the tyres a little more. Theoretically stop start should be not too bad with regenerative braking - more mv^2 in but more mv^2 back.

Don’t forget they pick up as well!

Can you advise on 'when' to recharge an ev? My Leaf, after 8000 miles in 2 years needed a new £5000 battery. So you need to factor in your running costs £2500 per annum for the battery. When asked for a new battery under warranty the dealer plugged in their magic machine which said the car had been recharged when it was already 80% full, and that invalidates the warranty. So, is it OK to recharge when it is over 80% or under 20%? If not, the real range is actually 60% of the battery capacity.

What is the price surcharge for the EV version?

I might get lucky and it might be something you could suggest to some of your bigger customers, but one of my customers is willing to let me plug in for free so it’s not going to be a lot but at least while I’m there which is usually 3 to 4 hours and they’re not far so I can top up there on top up at home

It won't be perfect but I give Ford credit for giving the e-van a go. The Toyo e-HiAce isn't even on the cards.

So whats that magnetic rod used for?🤔

It may make some sense if your metro only. That’s not all tradies nor is it a courier drivers doing routes outside the inner city. I’m telling my clients to wait. Infrastructure for the logistics industry is not there yet.

In regard to the "next-gen battery tech", what about the solid-state batteries we hear about that aren't too far away? Thoughts on that John?

Have our Aussie friends seen what California has done. All EVs by 2035. 6 days later, held a Press Conference telling residents not to charge their EVs in the evening, then warned of electric shortages causing brown/blackouts. This while closing power plants nuclear, coal, and gas, it would be funny if it wasn't so sad

I would like to add to your estimates that doubling the weigh does not double the energy consumption. Even at low speeds (60kph) it appears aerodynamic drag is still a significant component of energy consumption. A good example of this is an Imiev minivan (literally a brick on wheels) and the Imiev sedan. They both weigh about the same but the minivan has about 75% of range in city driving. Also MG ZS EV at about 1500kg compared to a Tesla M3 over 2000kg where the lighter MG has a higher consumption in city driving. I would say that it needs more real life testing to determine what the reduction in range is due to load. The thing to consider is the van (unlike a Ute or a vehicle towing a trailer) has the same aerodynamic performance regardless of load. I am inclined to suggest that the loaded range will not be significantly lower than the unloaded range.

Hi John!

Whats involved with getting three phase at a residence? Could you go to 440 volts or higher?

Are you planning on doing a piece on BYD and their EVs? Their Australian distributor keeps going from bad to worse. The latest I've read is that they're planning on giving BYD owners points for every kilometre they drive (there's an article at CarExpert about it). Encouraging people to drive _more_ doesn't seem all that green to me, even if the vehicles are EVs.

Renault have had an electric version of small Kangoo van on the market for a couple of years now. Is there some real world feedback for this vehicle against the scenarios you suggest?

Five EVs isn’t many. You would think by 2024 Ford could give us a couple of hundred…

I like your shirts bud.

I've always said the only thing the world is going to get out of the change to electric vehicles is a much need investment in battery technology and a vast improvement in air quality in heavy trafficked area's such as city's, metro's and residential /urban places and i should think noise pollution in the same places will be vastly better. I also think at the moment Ford are making a mistake with the battery chem on these tradie vehicles because it would seem that LFP chem would be better as they can be discharge 100 pc and recharged to 100 pc without harm to the battery, even with the kw density down on Li battery's tradies don't need 6 second 1/4 mile times so power isn't as important as torque for carrying.

Just a couple of things missing here. In the winter wet roads mean rolling resistance is a fair bit more and heater use will use a lot more - I'm not sure if this has a heat pump or not but if not its going to be a decent chunk of power per hour since a van has a large surface area to get rid of that heat again. Similar for the a/c in summer but if its a resistive heater you're really going to notice. Then there is degradation - if you're keeping this thing longer term you have to allow for the loss of range that brings. It may be small, it may be larger but that's to be seen. Lastly and most important is your usage. Weight has a decent impact but speed has a lot more impact when you're talking about a van. If you're sitting at 120k+ all day this isn't going to be getting anywhere near those figures. I tried a vivaro electric a short while back and after about 5 miles of small roads then 55 miles of motorway at 70mph (112k) on the cruise control it was giving a low battery warning. Granted thats only 50kWh but its also lighter and only had me, a few snacks and a wheelchair in it. That was also with very minimal a/c use, dry roads and an ambient temp of around 18c - so pretty much ideal conditions. I didn't account for wind but on the way back it did a very similar number (58 miles to warning) so I can only presume that was representative. If you're thinking of one I would strongly suggest getting an extended test drive first to make sure it will actually do the job you want it to. On the other side of the coin, while knocking about around town I could regularly keep it around or slightly over 3 miles per kWh. If you're doing gentle, short runs these may be ideal. I can see for something like local couriers they would be great because its all slowish around the doors stuff and overall mileage is fairly low. A side benefit is being able to leave the hvac going without having to have an engine running.

John, care to comment on the unspoken case of ev pollution regarding particulates expended. By that I mean the additional brake and tire wear evs expel due to their additional mass. I rarely hear that discussed when the pollution reduction is touted by evs. I await your analysis on those facts.

Hi John, may I please be educated as to what your pointers original job was.

Also not trying to appeal to the nuts IMHO was a great move.Going to keep saying this for a while but I looove the new John character. Knowledgeable, quick minded and open to changing his mind when he lives with the thing he was dead against.

The tradie will pay around $75 a week(5 Days charging at night .21c KWH, The courier may pay more for his daily top up charge.

So where does all the electricity come from for charging and how many vehicles can be charged per street

I like it but yep need more batteries and aerodynamics would help and some shear power to wake up the tradie. 200km sounds about right with eco driving LOL Great video John!