Van Wanted!

[EVskij]

I read somewhere a release from an auction house which said the average transaction price for a used van (typically a 3-year-old one being 'defleeted') has gone up by £4,500 in the last year.
A small foretaste of what will come when the sale of new diesel vans is banned altogether!

That does make sense. As my work van, I could sell it at nearly same price as what I paid for it just over 3 years ago. This is based on same make/model, milage and age as found on autotrader, main dealer forecourts, etc.

[Tonibe63]

The right van is out there but lack of supply and an increase in demand means prices will be high compared to what the same van was 12 months ago, good if you are getting out of vans but bad if you want to replace it.
Long term I think, mass produced, electric vans will be available when the ban of IC engines kicks in, infact there are some available now and that will only increase. Amazon and Ford have bought in to a Company called Rivian to produce electric vans and pickups for the US and once they are on stream then supply will come to the UK ...... they will be a rival for Tesla. An electric Rivian pickup was used to support the electric Harleys used by Ewan and Charlie and Amazon has placed forward orders to supply their own delivery van fleet.
As for the short-term I think that prices will not be going down in either the new or used market.

[johnnyboxer]

I have had my Hiace for 19 years

Just passed it’s MOT again without any advisory again

It just keeps on going & all it’s had is tyres, wipers and one set of brake pads (discs are original) and 2 suspension bushes in 19 years

New vans are nice with mod cons, mine doesn’t even have electric windows

MOT garage said they couldn’t recommend a brand of newer van, they are all too complex nowadays and shit themselves on a regular and continuing expensive basis with sensors, turbo, ad blue issues and gearboxes etc

[Tonibe63]

I have had my Hiace for 19 years

Just passed it’s MOT again without any advisory again

It just keeps on going & all it’s had is tyres, wipers and one set of brake pads (discs are original) and 2 suspension bushes in 19 years

New vans are nice with mod cons, mine doesn’t even have electric windows

MOT garage said they couldn’t recommend a brand of newer van, they are all too complex nowadays and shit themselves on a regular and continuing expensive basis with sensors, turbo, ad blue issues and gearboxes etc

I sold my 19 year old T4 a couple of years ago after owning it for 10 years with no real issues but it was getting rough and no creature comforts. Replaced it with a 7 year old Vivaro Sportive which has been great so far (2 years) with just routine servicing plus an overdue cam chain replacement all of which are diy jobs. I know forums are generally full of problems but personally I wouldn't want a newer model after reading about all the adblue, injection and ecu problems of vans that are out of warranty, with bills running in to £1k+.
I bought my Vivaro from my Son-in-Law who was going for a new Transit custom on lease which, after 70k miles and zero problems in 2 years, he has chopped in for another new Transit custom at a cheaper monthly rate than his first one (in his words a nobrainer). For business users that is the future for trouble free motoring especially when the electric vans become more mainstream but for the nonbusiness leisure users bills will be more expensive when at the mercy of main dealers. If you look at 'end of life' vehicles today they are not financially viable to repair, either through breakdown or accident damage, and only a very tiny percentage are rotten or rusty.

[SteveWat]

I have had my Hiace for 19 years

Just passed it’s MOT again without any advisory again

It just keeps on going & all it’s had is tyres, wipers and one set of brake pads (discs are original) and 2 suspension bushes in 19 years

New vans are nice with mod cons, mine doesn’t even have electric windows

MOT garage said they couldn’t recommend a brand of newer van, they are all too complex nowadays and shit themselves on a regular and continuing expensive basis with sensors, turbo, ad blue issues and gearboxes etc

Never sell that van!!!!! I don’t think Toyota manufacture a van “In House” anymore....I think they use PSA Technology.
I’ve got a 1997 Land Cruiser.....pretty much the car equivalent of your Hiace

[SteveWat]

Look at Peugeot tepee disabled conversion
Low mileage and ramp so easy to get bike in

I know that makes a lot of sense, but I need the capacity of a big van for other stuff.

[johnnyboxer]

I have had my Hiace for 19 years

Just passed it’s MOT again without any advisory again

It just keeps on going & all it’s had is tyres, wipers and one set of brake pads (discs are original) and 2 suspension bushes in 19 years

New vans are nice with mod cons, mine doesn’t even have electric windows

MOT garage said they couldn’t recommend a brand of newer van, they are all too complex nowadays and shit themselves on a regular and continuing expensive basis with sensors, turbo, ad blue issues and gearboxes etc

Never sell that van!!!!! I don’t think Toyota manufacture a van “In House” anymore....I think they use PSA Technology.
I’ve got a 1997 Land Cruiser.....pretty much the car equivalent of your Hiace

Cheers
They don’t make their own van anymore
Since 2012 it’s been a PSA effort as you say
Like you I have a Hilux and Toyota are good

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

With electric vans, the key factors are range and payload.

The ranges quoted by manufacturers are all for empty vans on warm days...and are acceptable for urban multidrop.

Cold weather kills the range...the more so on multidrop, where the driver is hopping in and out all the time. A big load in the van, and continuous highspeed running will also kill the range.

Apart from a brief drive in a Renault Master ZE, my sole experience of electric vans is the Iveco Daily...of which I don't think a single example was sold in the UK.

We had a demo chassis-cab running at an Iveco press day. It was empty, and had a dropside body. The weather was cold and misty, and to the horror of the Iveco rep I had the lights and demisters on, and the windscreen wipers wiping. Just pottering around an industrial estate was enough to flatten the battery in about 3 hours. It was driven gently...acceleration was either 'slow' or 'very slow' depending on whether economy or performance was selected.

The economic case for electric vans is the reduced cost per km (no diesel) will make up for the high front-end cost. But I couldn't see, given the range and speed constraints, how you could ever drive the thing far enough to save enough diesel to pay the difference before it rusted away.

Other electric vans are going to have to be better...

[catcitrus]

My 1998 Fiat Scudo with NA 1.9 Pug diesel has just passed another MOT and has 204,000 on the clock. Fiat galvanised a lot of the lower panels so virtually no rust. Mine is also an ex wheelchair ambulance designed to seat 4 and carry two wheelchairs with a fold down ramp at the back. You can actually ride any bike straight in--including my 1050 Tiger--without worrying about height--the floor is cut away. It cost me 1150 quid about 14 years ago--I've had my monies worth--and when it retires/expires I'll get another one. The point is that its effect on the planet, based on the "well to wheel " principle, has long since been paid for--and it does 45 mpg (but is slow--no bad thing these days!). Just a comment on the "well to wheel" (oil well to rolling wheel--the analogy applies just like cradle to grave)--how much CO2 is produced in mining and refining the lithium, refining the metal, mining and refining the precious metals for the electronics and so on----an electric van may not actually pump out CO2 on the street but boy has it cost the planet to actually get it there!!--and then the recharge energy probably comes from a gas fired power station!--AND its lugging around all that battery mass--AND the batteries will degrade in a few years and need to be recycled--how much CO2 will that burn up--AGAIN----its political vote grabbing bullshit.

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

The brutal reality is that a fully-charged electric van has about the same range as a diesel van with the 'low fuel' light on. And it will take far longer to 'fill up' when you have to.