Engineered: for excellence:: New Fiat: e-Scudo: delivers:

Andrew Walker runs his eye over the latest e-van, the e-Scudo

Fiat Professional Scudo has added an electric version of its new Scudo, to target those looking to an electric van future.

It uses the same running gear as its electric Stellantis group stablemates the Citroen e-Dispatch, the Peugeot e-Expert and the Vauxhall Vivaro-e, plus the Toyota Proace Electric. So you get a 134bhp electric motor powering the front wheels and a battery located under the cargo floor.

There are two battery models: a 50kWh with a 141-mile range, or the 75kWh version we tested, with a 202-mile range.

Prices start from around £40,000 with a £4,000 premium for the bigger battery version in standard wheelbase format.

There are two trims, Tecnico and Business, one roof height with close to 1.9 metres with standard or long wheel base versions. Standard offers a cargo volume of 5.3m3, Long 6.1 m3

Tecnico comes with a full steel bulkhead, twin side sliding doors, 16” alloys, a laminated windscreen and storage under the front seats. Business adds body coloured bumpers, rear parking sensors, a leather multi function steering wheel, a 7” infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and some useful extra safety features including blind spot assist and road sign recognition.

As with the other Stellantis vans, the e-Scudo comes with a rapid-charging option. Plug in to a fast charger and a 0-80% charge for the 50kWh E-Scudo takes 32 minutes, with the larger 75kWh battery coming in at 45 minutes. Plug in at home using a 7.4kWh charger and these times increase to 7 hours and 11 hours respectively. As ever, use discounted night-time electricity rates to charge at home overnight and if you keep the battery at 50 per cent, you can top up to at least 80 per cent in just four hours.

The e-Scudo features twin side sliding doors with twin rear opening doors to 180 degrees. Payloads are from 1,002kg to 1,226kg, with a 1 tonne towing capacity. You also get Fiat Pro’s ‘Magic Cargo’, with a load-through bulkhead for carrying longer items, ( 3.67m or 4.02m in the Long version) a central passenger seat that can flip down to be used as a table or workspace, storage underneath, large door bins, twin dash top cup holders, and a cubby in front of the passengers and another in the centre dash.

The finish is predominantly black and grey, with good quality plastics and fabric throughout.

The dashboard and switchgear is very car-like. The dashboard is dominated by the 7″ Colour touchscreen, while the general layout of buttons, switches and steering wheel controls, are all logically located and are easy to reach. You’ll need to enter the touchscreen for most functions, but the setup is very intuitive.

As with all EVs, the e-Scudo is good fun to drive in town. All models use an auto gear change with three driving settings: Sport, Normal and Eco. Each is a balance betweem fun and frugality. So Sport is best utilised when you are carrying a heavy load, Normal works well for every day use and Eco reduces the power output to give you an increased battery range.

The regen braking system is well balanced and adds real miles to your range when used efficiently, especially in slow moving traffic or on roads with plenty of traffic lights and roundabouts.

Driving on urban roads is really enjoyable as the e-Scudo offers swift progress at lower speeds. The ride doesn’t feel too harsh and the battery which is located underneath the loadspace, doesn’t make the van feel cumbersome.

At speeds of up to 50mph driving in Eco mode, the e-Scudo will comfortably return one mile of distance travelled to one mile of battery range. However, if you’re used to making rapid progress on the motorway in a diesel van, you’ll need to re-think how you drive on the motorway in the e-Scudo. Range drops off sharply at over 60 mph. In order to conserve the battery range, it’s best to stick to speeds of no more than 55-60mph and as you’ll discover, you’ll keep a 1:1 ratio of miles driven to range used.

Utilise cheaper charging tariffs between 00.30 and 04.30 am and you’ll put 30kWh of range into your battery for £2.25 a go. Electric Scudo offers the same load space as a diesel Scudo and all e-Scudos come very well equipped.

Cons

Ostensibly identical to four other electric vans. Expensive. Our test van will set you back upwards of £45,000, so you’ll need to run your e-Scudo for a while before the extra cost levels itself out. Better to lease.

Range anxiety may still put many off an electric van, but if not all your vans are being driven long distances all of the time, this is a great option. A 200-mile range is more than adequate and coupled to tax saving zero emissions and cheaper running costs, it makes the decision to change to an EV that much easier.

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