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New e-Dispatch now arrived at home. Tech issues..

11K views 45 replies 12 participants last post by  Gad Amit 
#1 ·
My e-Dispatch finally made it over from France and onto my driveway this week. I’ve oBly had a short drive and so far so good.

The one real let down is the tech.

Sadly there is no option to set the charge condition or deferral of the pre conditioning from the driver interface. It has to be done via the MyCitroen app. This is my first stumbling block. Whatever network the modem uses has poor coverage in my area and I’m struggling to connect to the van most of the time. Which is really quite daft. Unfortunately there’s no way to see what network connection the van uses or what it’s strength is. There also no option to hotspot it. So far I’m a little disappointed with the interface and the app. I mean seriously, you’d have thought Citroen would have had the app properly translated into English rather than the poor auto-translation they have used. It really is a bit haphazard.

Anyhoo. I’ve already waited a week for Citroen UK to comeback to me on this so thought I’d reach out here to see if anyone knew more about the network provider. I’m hoping I can put a femtocell in maybe?
 
#2 ·
Oh please do tell me everything and anything about the van. I've pretty much agreed a deal for a 75kWh XL, I'm just waiting to test drive the e-Expert (I can't get my hands on a Dispatch so thought I'd be cheeky and test the Peugeot) next week and finalise the sale of my env before I sign on the dotted line.

If and when you get a chance, I'd love to know any details on range you might be able to offer.
 
#3 ·
We have had our e-dispatch for a month now but haven't been too far yet so can't say what range is, we, like yourself, have the 75kw XL as we needed the extra space.
The env was too small as we made it in to a camper with the 3 seats in the back. It worked all right but very small space for loo.
If and when you get it there are a couple of points to look out for, one is the vent in front of the offside wheel, it need to be closed off other wise you will fill the compartment full of muck.
Great vehicle though, so far.
 
#5 ·
Anymore opinions of this van, I was going to test drive a couple of weeks ago but I couldn't find the time. I currently have a vw T6 diesel transporter. I love the vw but I have been lusting after an ev for over ten years and I think these new PSA vans tick most of the boxes at a price that once you take into consideration the Diesel savings is roughly the same as the old diesel vans.
 
#7 ·
A bit of an update on this.

I haven't had the opportunity to use the van much as I have been waiting for an appointment for the body builder to fit all of the lining and racking. I did however have a good drive up to them to deliver the van yesterday. Here are my initial thoughts and findings.

I plugged in with the battery at 98% around 2 hours before leaving and used the (dreadful) MyCitroen app to start the 45 minute pre-programmed/21°C heating cycle. I noticed that the charger contactor didn't engage to start the charge. Clearly the van will not 'top-up' when near full or to help with pre-conditioning/climate.

The predicted range displayed on leaving was 181 miles. The temperature was 1°C and the climate set to a moderate 19°C with AC off. The first 10 miles were a mix of town and B roads, all quiet and done in the Normal drive mode with regen on. Efficiency on the display stated as 2.2miles/kWh for this part of the journey. The predicted range depleted in accordance with the miles traveled. All good.

This soon came undone however with the last 40 miles of motorway driving. Cruise set at 70mph. I got to my destination with a total journey distance of 52 miles with 55% battery remaining and a predicted range remaining of 64 miles. Efficiency for the motorway part of the journey was 1.7miles/kWh.

Bear in mind that my van is the 75kWh version and is the XLWB variant so it is heavy and is likely not as efficient as the smaller 50kWh SWB version. Even so, and in consideration of the temperature, I was still surprised by the result. I guess time will tell and we'll see what it is like to live with. I have yet to try it fully loaded (which it will be most of the time) :confused:. Thankfully I am realistic about the range. I reckon 100 miles fully loaded at this time of year. That's ok with me. The efficiency does bother me though. 2.2miles/kWh is quite poor but no doubt this will get better with warmer weather.

Other thoughts -

It is a well made van. I have fitted some Victron Energy stuff, reversing camera and some LED lighting in the rear over the last week or so and have been in all nooks and crannies, taking bits apart etc. It really is a good bit of kit. The drive is very smooth and quiet and the regen braking is nearly on par with my Model S. Having to turn it on every journey is a bit daft though. Why it can't be latched on/off as a bit of an oversight.

It is heavy! Even unloaded you can feel the weight.

The lack of charging control is disappointing. You have the choice of some bizarre button dance that you can perform with a button at the charging flap but this only defers the charge or starts it straight away. You can't set a time or change the charge current in the display. The app offers very limited functionality too. It does 'climate on' and charge on. That's about it. Connecting to the vehicle is slow and unreliable. I figure the SIM is likely on EE which is poor in my area anyway. Even in town it was sketchy. The app does allow you to see the position of the vehicle on a map but it simply doesn't work. Journey data is available but you have to download it via bluetooth. If this is the same app as the Citroen cars use then they have a long way to go to get anywhere close to the competition.
 
#10 ·
I have fitted some Victron Energy stuff, reversing camera.....
Thanks for the update. I'm planning on fitting a reversing camera too - which system did you go with and were you able to connect it directly into the standard head unit?

Re the range, 1.7m/kwh doing 70mph in winter is quite encouraging. After 18 months of driving an e-nv200 I've got quite used to doing around 60mph so should be able to push that up to closer to closer to 2m/kwh giving a range of 140ish miles and a fair bit more in summer.
 
#8 ·
Shame about the efficiency but as you said it’s a large van and the weather is cold. I would be looking at the standard wheel base. What are your thoughts on which battery size to get. It does not seem like a lot of extra money for the bigger battery but maybe weight becomes an issue. I don’t normally have much in the back
 
#9 ·
In your situation I’d have to say that I’d probably roll the dice on the smaller battery for the smaller van. It’s a good bit cheaper and lighter. It boils down to initial cost saving and higher efficiency (less weight & drag) vs. increased range and space.

I guess it depends on the sort of work you’re doing and your geography. If you’re jobbing around locally and you have the odd D.C. charger on hand then maybe go for the smaller battery version.

You really need a couple of days with one. That would be the best solution.
 
#14 ·
Point to ponder on the edispatch xl 75kw.

Have you noticed the opening in front of the driver side wheel in the arch?

I have had to make a baffle to stop the muck going through in to the compartment which was designed for an inter cooler, if left open it could seriously fill with an awful lot of junk.

If you look through the grill in the front of the vehicle, you can see the air scoop. This really needs:oops: closing off as well.

Interested to hear what others have found.
 
#15 ·
Point to ponder on the edispatch xl 75kw.

Have you noticed the opening in front of the driver side wheel in the arch?

I have had to make a baffle to stop the muck going through in to the compartment which was designed for an inter cooler, if left open it could seriously fill with an awful lot of junk.

If you look through the grill in the front of the vehicle, you can see the air scoop. This really needs:oops: closing off as well.

Interested to hear what others have found.
Whoops! Seem to have repeated myself.
 
#18 ·
Random question - I take it inside it’s more or less the same fittings etc as the normal PSA vans? Reason I ask is I am tempted to get a van with the bench seat, but as we are expecting I would look to switch the bench to a single seat (so have two seats in the front) and have a double seat fitted in the back by an expert fitter

Changing the bench seat in the front is simple in the ICE version with kits available, assume it would all work and be as simple in the electric version too?
 
#23 ·
Random question - I take it inside it’s more or less the same fittings etc as the normal PSA vans? Reason I ask is I am tempted to get a van with the bench seat, but as we are expecting I would look to switch the bench to a single seat (so have two seats in the front) and have a double seat fitted in the back by an expert fitter
Some cold water poured on my plan by the dealer, apparently their local seat fitter for their diesel vans has concerns about fitting rear seats to the the electric ones - reasons given being the fact you have to drop the diesel tank to fit seats and the fixings for the panels etc in the back use different fittings for the electric van so they think non-conductive materials would be needed

Personally I wonder if this is more a lack of knowledge/experience working on EV’s (dropping the battery pack in other cars isn’t that big an issue compared to dropping a fuel tank other than shock safeguards) and Nissans env200 have metal seats no issues, but I can’t really take the risk of buying and finding out actually i can’t put seats in the back 😕
 
#19 ·
As far as I can tell, the electric version is identical in most respects. The seats in the front of mine are the same as our other regular Peugeot Experts. I have worked on these diesel versions - putting in lighting etc, and cannot see any material differences. Even the 12V fuse box under the bonnet is the same.

It even has a fuel filler flap! Fixed in place of course.
 
#20 ·
By way of an update on efficiency: I performed a near identical trip home to the one previously reported on Wednesday evening. The ambient temperature ranged from 1°C/-1°C and was preceded by a fast charge at the Instavolt rapid charger at Astle Retail Park in West Bromwich. For the motorway portion I tried a near contant 60mph on cruise. Only varying to 62/58mph whilst going past the odd slower lorry. I saw an average of 2.2kWh/Mile for this. The last 10 miles of cross country driving tipped up to 2.4kWh/Mile.

Not unhappy with this at all. It can only get better as the weather warms up. The one thing I am really happy with is just how very quiet this van is. Even wind noise is very low in consideration of how large it is.
 
#26 ·
After my query I sent to Citroen UK they have just contacted me to say theyve asked around at the business specialists at the dealerships who said they wouldnt due to the batteries

Am now asking a few third party seat fitters - Like the e-NV200 I cant see how the batteries would be a problem othr than needing to be removed, so unless they've iphoned them in there and are non-removable....
 
#29 ·
Citroen UK they have just contacted me to say theyve asked around at the business specialists at the dealerships
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

So let's get this right, the importer thinks that the best people to ask a technical query regarding a new model of vehicle are some salesmen? o_O:rolleyes::cry:

Time to brush up your French and email Citroen.fr
 
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#35 ·
Yeah, I think on all the e-life, e-traveller etc spec they're an option or included but not on the vans so if you want the 75kWh pack you're a bit scuppered. I've now ordered the Peugeot crew cab with a fair few options, the crew cab is only available at professional level, not the top tear Asphalt. I'll remove the bulkhead and see if I can remove one of the three back seats, fit a pop top and custom build some cabinetry. If the seats are really problematic I guess I'll at least have some decent fixings for after market removable seats. Such a shame they didn't make the larger battery version of the e-traveller available over here, would have saved so much messing around... and cash too probably! I reached out to a few companies about fitting seats in the panel van version and they either didn't know or weren't interested. Perhaps in a year or two there'll be a few more people around to do installs. I'll report back when it arrives, I was told that delivery will likely take until August though. I'll have a 2015 e-nv200 24kWh tekna rapid plus up for sale then too!
 
#36 ·
Good plan - yes I agree there doesn’t seem to be a physical reason why seats can’t be fitted, just that no one has any experience doing it with the new PSA vans and I’m not brave enough to try and be a trend setter :) I believe the van is still the same shape as the ICE so it should be easy to get a pop top/cabinets for them

Id agree the 75kwh van is the way to go, 50kwh is just too restrictive on range unless you are patient (which my kids most definitely are not) which is a shame
 
#37 ·
Picked up a 75kw expert ex demo van a couple of days ago. So far impressed with the way it drives, very comfortable inside. I do wish they came with the 11kw three phase charger as standard as I could only find the 7kw version in time to buy the van before my year end. The plan was to use a Zappi 3 phase charger on my 44kw solar array to charge the vehicle. But unless I can find a way of changing the onboard charger to 3 phase I may be stuck with only using 1/3 of the solar array to charge which is a bit of a bummer.
 
#38 ·
As for the MyCitroen/Vauxhall/Peugeot apps, they are really rubbish...
Us PSA EV private car users also have many problems with the app.
They have managed to make it worse with every release, the last one being totally broken.
Doesn't update the battery charge, Doesn't respond to pre-conditioning and more...

I hope they get it sorted out soon, because in previous versions it worked most of the time, and was nice to have these remote features...
 
#39 ·
If you want to use the previous version (for some odd reason like it crashing immediately or trying to use it on a device that won't normally run Android Auto, say) then you can or may be able to find previous versions on apkmirror. ( https://www.apkmirror.com/faq/ you can also find previous Android Auto versions here).
I had to deny GPS permission on the old tablet I'm using because the current versions crash when the app tries to read the position (although Google Maps etc. can read the position without crashing - so this appears to be a My Peugeot problem).
It mostly works without this, it just can't record your journeys properly, the pre-conditioning and charge deferral settings do seem to work.
 
#45 ·
As far as my experience goes, on an AC charge, if you plug in with the car on, the car will switch to accessory mode (with screen, radio etc. powered). It's then impossible to switch back to 'Ready' mode if you try to start the car.
If you want to stop the charge and unplug, lock the car with the remote, this should power the car off, then unlock with the remote, this will pause charging and unlock the charge port and you can unplug the cable from the car, once the charger sees no load, it should release the cable lock and allow you to unplug from the charger.
Did you drive to the other charger with the cable stuck in the car? This would nean that the charger saw the charge had stopped and released the cable so a problem with the car or possibly the cable.
Can you hear the locking motor in the chargeport operating when you start and stop the charger or lock and unlock the car?
 
#46 ·
Thanks, I was asking the driver to repeat the process... he claimed that the car remote was NOT ACTIVE when in charging...
So the question what start the chain of events???

When he cut the supply to the charging station he manage to disconnect the plug and the next day after turning off the car charging procedure was fine...
 
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