While this combination did maintain the indicated range pretty well when navigating Turin’s tight streets, it wasn’t quite strong enough for one-pedal driving. We also kept the regenerative braking in its strong ‘B’ mode. We left the powertrain in its default Normal for the most part, which still provided plenty of oomph to propel the E-Scudo with 300kg of weight in the back. There are a lot of scratchy plastics about the place, but taken together with the large physical climate-control switches and other buttons, the E-Scudo feels built to last. What’s more, there’s plenty of cabin space up front, with decent headroom, although the middle passengers’s legroom is hampered by the large central pod that houses the gear and driving-mode selectors. Thankfully, visibility in the E-Scudo is pretty good as-is, thanks to a large windscreen and side mirrors, and it’s easy to manoeuvre, even in tight streets and parking spaces. The larger van’s digital rear-view mirror hasn’t made its way down to the E-Scudo, either. The simplicity of the setup makes it easy to read on the move, but the larger, diesel Ducato gets a fully digital driver’s display and large central touchscreen, which are overall more impressive to use. Behind the wheel is a set of analogue dials, with the rev counter replaced by an energy gauge for the electric powertrain. Save for the badges on the steering wheel and front grille, the E-Scudo is identical to its Citroen, Peugeot, Toyota and Vauxhall counterparts. The E-Scudo does, however, come in crew cab and platform chassis forms, too, while a people-carrier version called the Fiat e-Ulysse is currently being considered for a 2023 UK launch. While there are two wheelbases and body lengths available, there's no variation in roof height as you might expect. Regardless of your battery choice, you get a 134bhp electric motor powering the front wheels, which is enough to get up to the E-Scudo’s motorway-friendly top speed of 80mph with ease, even in ‘Normal’ mode. That means you get a choice of a 50 or 75kWh battery, for ranges of 141 and 202 miles respectively. It draws on the technology available to Fiat now that it’s part of the Stellantis Group, and so features the same platform and powertrain as the Vauxhall Vivaro-e, Citroen e-Dispatch, Peugeot e-Expert and Toyota Proace Electric – which were jointly crowned Best Medium Electric Van in the 2 022 DrivingElectric Awards. Now, the brand is turning its attention to the medium-sized van part of the LCV market with this new E-Scudo. Fiat’s first electric van was the E-Ducato, which arrived in 2021 and is set to rival the forthcoming Ford E-Transit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |