Renault Zoe Van review

The Renault Zoe Van has several things going for it, chiefly that it’s cheap to run and can take you further than any other electric powered van. That’s the positives.

The negatives centre on the fact that it isn’t really a van as you know it. Like the Ford Fiesta Van, this small hatchback is a rear-seats-out conversion from the passenger car, with a mesh bulkhead and flat floor.

That makes it a very small van, with a load volume of just 0.51m3 and a maximum payload of just 387kg – by comparison, the Ford Fiesta Van has just under 1m3 and a 530kg payload allowance.

Power comes from an electric motor producing 107bhp, while the battery is a 52kWh pack that Renault claims is capable of taking you up to 245 miles on a single charge. The option of specifying it with a fast charging system of up to 50kW also means that an 80% charge can be added in just 70 minutes. Alternatively the Zoe Van is fitted with a so-called Chameleon charger, which can adapt 3kW to 22kW supplies.

The Renault Zoe’s main rival is the Ford Fiesta Van, but it could also be compared to the Fiat Fiorino and will draw obvious comparisons to the now discontinued but much-missed Vauxhall Corsavan.