New 2021 Citroen e-Berlingo Van on sale now from £31,302
Citroen launches compact zero-emission e-Berlingo Van with up to 171 miles of range
Citroen’s electrification strategy is going from strength to strength, and the French firm is building on its already fairly expansive fully electric range with this e-Berlingo Van commercial vehicle.
The new Citroen e-Berlingo Van is available to order in the UK now, with prices starting from £31,302 including the government’s £3,000 plug-in van grant. The new commercial vehicle variant means Citroen has beaten stalwart van brands like Ford and Mercedes to the punch, as it now has a pure-electric offering in all three of the major van segments, with the e-Berlingo joining the mid-sized e-Dispatch and the larger e-Relay.
However, it’s worth mentioning that the new electric model is only available in the brand’s two most expensive specifications – the cheaper X Pro and Worker Pro trims are only available with a diesel engine.
Standard equipment for the cheapest e-Berlingo Enterprise Pro includes 16-inch steel wheels, automatic headlights, front fog lamps and electrically folding door mirrors. There’s also a decent amount of safety equipment, including rear parking sensors, cruise control, a speed limiter and an alarm system.
Inside, buyers get air-conditioning, a few USB sockets and a wealth of storage pockets, including a shelf above the windscreen and door bins big enough to accept 1.5-litre water bottles. There’s also an eight-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Prices for the Driver Pro model start from £33,240. Upgrades over Enterprise Pro include 16-inch black alloy wheels, body coloured bumpers and exterior trim, automatic windscreen wipers and a little more sound deadening for the cabin.
The trim level also adds a 10-inch digital dash, front and rear parking sensors, and a three-year subscription to Citroen’s live traffic update and speed camera locator services. There’s also a digital rear-view mirror which takes feeds from cameras mounted at the rear and on the passenger side of the van.
Citroen sells multiple variants of the e-Berlingo, starting with an extended wheelbase model that adds an extra 350mm to the van’s overall length and an extra £1,440 to its starting price. There’s also a Crew Van model (priced from £34,122), that gains an extra three seats in the rear and glazed sliding doors. Both variants are only available in Citroen’s Enterprise Pro specification.
New 2021 Citroen e-Berlingo: platform and powertrain
Like the diesel-powered Berlingo, the pure-electric e-Berlingo is based on Stellantis’s EMP2 platform, although the fuel tank and combustion engine have been replaced with a 50kWh battery pack and 134bhp electric motor.
Citroen says its electric powertrain gives the Berlingo a top speed of 81mph and a maximum range of 171 miles. Charge times are reasonable, too – when connected to a 100kW DC rapid charger, the battery can take on an 80 per cent charge in around 30 minutes, while a full charge using an 11kW wallbox is easily achievable overnight.
As the electric van’s body-in-white is identical to the diesel model’s, and the motor has a maximum torque output of 260Nm, the e-Berlingo retains the same 800kg payload and one-tonne towing capacity. The amount of space in the back is the same, too, at 3.3 cubic metres for the standard wheelbase model and 3.8 cubic metres for the XL variant.
TrustpilotCitroen has also added a few safety features, including an overload indicator which will issue a warning to the driver when the van is loaded with more weight than it is rated to carry.
There’s a host of technology that Citroen has poached from its passenger car range, too, such as autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and trailer stability control, which will use the van’s stability programme to help regain control of your trailer if it starts to fishtail.
Now click here to read our review of the new Citroen e-Berlingo Van…
