Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
The Peugeot e-Rifter's pricing has been adjusted so that the entry-level Allure Premium five-seater version qualifies for a government electric car grant. The Citroën e-Berlingo still starts at a lower list price, but that comes with a lot less equipment. Sadly, no seven-seat version qualifies for the grant, but you can get it with a well-specced Vauxhall Combo-e Life.
Due to its higher list price, the e-Rifter costs the most per month compared with the e-Rifter and e-Berlingo. It does have better resale values than the Combo-e Life, though, so the e-Rifter will be worth more in three years.
You also get lots of safety features, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assistance and traffic-sign recognition. While the e-Rifter hasn’t yet been tested by Euro NCAP, the regular Peugeot Rifter scored four stars out of five. It was deemed that the AEB system wasn't especially effective but there were few quibbles over its structural integrity.
As a brand, Peugeot ranked a disappointing 22nd out of 30 manufacturers in the 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey – putting it behind Citroën and Volkswagen, and only just ahead of Vauxhall and Ford. Its three years or 60,000 miles warranty is good, but hardly class-leading, while the eight years or 100,000 miles warranty for the battery is par for the course.
Charging the e-Rifter will take a little over seven hours from a wall charger, or roughly 30 mins from 10-80% on a 100kWh rapid charger.
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