Item: Peugeot Partner Electric van
Rating: 3
Author: Steve Huntingford

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Introduction

Performance & drive

Interior

Passenger & boot space

Costs & verdict

The fact that an electric version of the latest Partner can't be far away, and would almost certainly be a big step forward, is bad news for the current model's&nbsp;resale values and&nbsp;finance rates.

What's more, today's Partner Electric is pricier than its main rival, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/renault/kangoo/van/review/n20116">Renault Kangoo ZE</a>.

The van&nbsp;is covered by a three-year/100,000-mile warranty, while the battery is covered for eight years or 60,000 miles.

For all the latest van reviews, news, advice, and videos visit our dedicated van section&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/class/vans">here</a>.

The way the Partner Electric drives is, without doubt, its best feature. The Partner handles quite well as a diesel, but as is generallly the case, the&nbsp;low-mounted additional weight of a battery pack really helps to improve stability.

The suspension is still a little soft and you still have to put up with some wallow&nbsp;through&nbsp;corners, but this is hardly a vehicle for setting lap records anywhere, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

In addition, while the&nbsp;Partner's 74bhp diesel engine struggles to cope with heavy loads, the extra low-down torque of the Partner Electric pulls you along strongly enough from&nbsp;the moment you press the accelerator pedal.

True, it still looks seriously underpowered compared with&nbsp;the 108bhp e-NV200, but it feels sprightly next to the&nbsp;59bhp Kangoo ZE.

While the Partner Electric has an official&nbsp;range of 106 miles, you should&nbsp;expect to achieve around 80 in real-world driving conditions.

Better news is that rapid-charging is included as standard, which means a&nbsp;brief top-up of around half an hour&nbsp;will charge the battery to around 80%. Charging from&nbsp;the mains takes&nbsp;eight to 10&nbsp;hours.

It’s a curious anomaly that the latest&nbsp;Peugeot Partner&nbsp;–&nbsp;which shares its basis&nbsp;with the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/citroen/berlingo-cv/van/review/n18480">Citroën Berlingo</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/vauxhall/combo-cargo/van/review/n18391">Vauxhall Combo</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;isn't yet available in electric form, but that you can still&nbsp;buy this&nbsp;old-shape Partner with batteries and an electric motor.&nbsp;

The Partner Electric was launched initially only as a compact (L1) van, before a long-wheelbase (L2) version was added. However, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/renault/kangoo/van/review/n20116">Renault Kangoo ZE</a>&nbsp;has continued to dominate the electric&nbsp;van sector, with&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/nissan/e-nv200/van/review/n20139">Nissan e-NV200</a> scooping up most&nbsp;of the remaining business.

Is the&nbsp;Partner Electric an overlooked gem, though? After all,&nbsp;it can provide up to 3.7m3 of capacity and transport as much as 636kg of payload. Power comes from a single 66bhp&nbsp;motor, and it manages an official range of 106 miles.

Such are the power demands placed on an electric van that it’s not uncommon to find that there are&nbsp;very few options to enhance interior comfort, and the Partner Electric is no exception.

You're limited to SE trim,&nbsp;which provides air conditioning, Bluetooth, cruise control, a speed limiter, electric windows and mirrors, a&nbsp;trip computer and the Multi-Flex passenger seat, which adds extra storage space. It’s not the most opulent of choices, then, and&nbsp;lacks even the option of adding sat-nav or&nbsp;a DAB radio.

The interior is utilitarian and a little cramped – although as the Partner Electric doesn't require a gearbox, there's now much-needed space for the driver’s left knee and the knees of a passenger in&nbsp;the otherwise cramped middle seat. Unfortunately, though, driver's seat travel is a little lacking and the arrangement of the controls around the steering wheel and on the dashboard isn't the most logical

The covered storage area on top of the dashboard and two open compartments in the centre provide the bulk of the oddment storage, but there you get well-sized door pockets and useful under-seat space.

Peugeot has its strongest model line-up for some years, with some of its cars now rated by our testers as being among the very best available.

Highlights focus around the firm’s newest SUVs, the 3008 and 5008. The 5008 was named Large SUV of the Year at the 2018 What Car? Awards, thanks to its appealing blend of space, interior quality and low running costs.

That bodes well for future launches, too, because many of the learnings from these cars will be passed on as new versions of existing cars are launched – something that could take many years, because the Peugeot range is so big, ranging from an entry-level supermini with the 108 to an executive saloon with the 508, up into the SUV range and also vans.

Buyers should evaluate some of the lower-rated cars in the range more carefully, though. Some are now quite old, and are subsequently left behind in terms of quality when compared with the opposition, making them below-average buys, in our estimation.

PEUGEOT

Partner Electric

It’s never easy to recommend something that is already out of date, but the Peugeot Partner Electric covers all of the basic elements required of a good urban electric van. It’s greatest detraction is its aged interior, and coupled with the hefty premium for going electric in the first place, if your heart is set on a Peugeot Partner it might be best to buy a diesel version for now

Peugeot Partner Electric

The smaller L1 model is capable of transporting lengths of up to 1800mm, while the larger L2 can take&nbsp;2050mm.

Those figures increase by 1200mm when using the Multi-Flex seat, which allows the front passenger seat to fold forwards and flat and the mesh bulkhead to pivot to the side. That increases the load volume of the van by 0.4m3 over the standard L1 maximum of 3.3m3 and L2 maximum of&nbsp;3.7m3.

Maximum width across the Partner Electric is 1620mm, while there's only one option for the roof height, allowing for 1250mm of storage space.

Payloads are 636kg for the smaller van and 552kg for the larger van. The Partner Electric is bettered by the e-NV200 for payload (752kg) and volume (4.2m3) but roughly on a par with the storage of the standard Kangoo ZE (3m3 load volume and 640kg payload).

A 12-volt&nbsp;charging point and six load-lashing hooks are standard in the rear of the Peugeot, as are two side loading doors and twin rear doors.

The Peugeot Partner Electric covers all of the basic elements required of a good urban electric van, but it has a dated interior and is expensive to buy. So, if your heart is set on a Partner, it might be best to buy a diesel version for now

Electric Van

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Peugeot Partner Electric van review

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The fact that an electric version of the latest Partner can't be far away, and would almost certainly be a big step forward, is bad news for the current model's resale values and finance rates.,What's more, today's Partner Electric is pricier than its main rival, the Renault Kangoo ZE.,The van is covered by a three-year/100,000-mile warranty, while the battery is covered for eight years or 60,000 miles.For all the latest van reviews, news, advice, and videos visit our dedicated van section here.

Buying advice for the Peugeot Partner Electric van covering running costs, MPG, Fuel Economy, Reliability and Safety, from the expert What Car? review team.

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