Electric Volkswagen eCrafter debut
The all-electric van from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, the eCrafter, will be making its UK debut at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham in April, ahead of real-world testing beginning with UK customers at the start of May.
The first test vehicles were handed over to a group of major European customers at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ headquarters in Hannover in December. By allowing the vehicle to undergo tests with selected fleet operators, the company will be able to incorporate findings and learnings into the final design and production version of the zero-emission van.
Four UK customers are taking part in the tests: Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, City of London Corporation and the London Borough of Southwark.
John Hole, fleet manager at Gatwick Airport, said, ‘We are delighted to be able to test the eCrafter ahead of launch and interested to see how the vehicle performs in everyday conditions and operations. Sustainable transport is an important focus for Gatwick across our entire business, including alternative fuelled vans and it is great to see such innovation in the supply chain.’
Like the conventionally-fuelled and multi-award-winning Crafter, the eCrafter was designed in collaboration with customers – those whose vehicles cover between 70 and 100 km per day, sometimes involving many starts and stops. These parameters apply to around 85 per cent of the trips made in an urban setting according to analysis of more than 210,000 driving profiles with over 1,500 customers.
The eCrafter will be available in September 2018, once it has been extensively tested by customers in practice and made fully ready for the market.
