Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
The Citroen e-Dispatch costs quite a lot more than a diesel-powered one, but the flip side is that you should enjoy significantly cheaper running costs. As a rule of thumb, the day-to-day running costs of an electric van are about a fifth of the costs of a diesel van, but it depends how you use it and when you charge up.
Residual values for the e-Dispatch are impressive by the standards of the class and in line with the Peugeot e-Expert, Toyota Proace Electric and Vauxhall Vivaro-e. Indeed, all four vans hold on to their value better than premium rivals such as the VW ABT eTransporter and Mercedes eVito – we suspect their relatively good electric ranges make them more appealing long-term prospects.
Range-topping Driver trim includes electric heated mirrors, front and rear parking sensors, built-in sat-nav, a head-up display and a safety-pack which includes blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, speed limit recognition, an advanced emergency braking system and automatically adjusting headlights. It’s an expensive trim, but compares well with other vans available.
The e-Dispatch is one of the few vans on the market capable of rapid charging at up to 100kW. That means you can get from 0% to 80% in a charge time of just 30 minutes for the small battery or 45 minutes for the large one. We would advise most buyers to go for the larger unit as the extra 60-odd miles of range makes it one of the most useable electric vans currently on sale.
All e-Expert’s are backed up by a three-year and 100,000-mile warranty for the vehicle and an eight-year warranty on the batteries.
