New Citroën ë-Berlingo Van review

As the all-electric version of an extremely popular model, the Citroën ë-Berlingo Van we're reviewing here has the potential to do well.

After all, for almost as long as some of us can remember, the Citroën Berlingo Van has been the go-to choice for many decorators, plumbers, joiners and electricians (to name a few of the trades it serves). You’ll see one parked outside a house on almost any residential street.

Like the conventional version, the ë-Berlingo is a product of the Stellantis group so you’ll see more than a passing similarity to the Fiat E-Doblò, Peugeot e-Partner and Vauxhall Combo Electric as well as (due to a manufacturing agreement) the Toyota Proace City Electric. All five models roll off the same production line.

A recent update has given the ë-Berlingo a slightly altered face, with a large Citroën badge on the new front grille, and it now has a longer range and an improved interior. But competition among small electric vans is healthy – and growing.

As well as the Stellantis-built vans, it's competing head to head with the Renault Kangoo E-Tech and its two platform sharers, the Mercedes eCitan and Nissan Townstar Electric. Read on to find out whether the Citroën ë-Berlingo Van is the best buy in its class...

There’s one electric motor in the Citroën ë-Berlingo Van providing a power output of 100kW. In real money, that’s equivalent to 134bhp – which is not an unreasonable figure for a small van.

Where any electric van really scores is with its torque, and the ë-Berlingo is no exception: all 199lb-ft is available immediately, rather than you having to wait for an engine to hit 3000rpm or so. That's invaluable, especially when buzzing around town or entering a busy roundabout with a full load on board.

Meanwhile, the 52kWh battery pack gives the ë-Berlingo an official WLTP combined test cycle range of 213 miles. As with electric cars, you need to take that figure with a pinch of salt because ambient temperature, general driving conditions and how much your carrying will affect how far you can really go.

On paper, though, the ë-Berlingo's numbers stack up pretty well against the Renault Kangoo E-Tech and its mechanically identical siblings, the Mercedes eCitan and Nissan Townstar EV. The Kangoo offers up to 120bhp and has a smaller, 45kWh battery pack, resulting in a shorter WLTP test range of 186 miles.

Regardless of how far you're going, the ë-Berlingo zips along quite well, even with a 250kg load in the back. Moving away from a standstill, the acceleration feels quicker than the quoted 11.2-second sprint to 62mph.

There’s a caveat to that performance figure. There are three selectable drive modes: Eco, Normal and Power. The default, Normal, restricts power to 109bhp, providing a balance between range and performance. You’ll need to select Power each time you start the van to unlock maximum performance.

At the other end of the scale, Eco mode is designed to improve range but achieves that by restricting the motor’s output to 81bhp and reducing the air-con's effectiveness.

Another setting to play with is for the regenerative braking. If you press a B button next to the drive selector, it makes the regen effect stronger, potentially improving the van’s range and reducing wear on the brakes.

With no load on board, the ride quality is comfortable, and while we found the handling fine when we were pushing on, the vagueness of the steering made it harder to be confident the ë-Berlingo would go exactly where we wanted.

In comparison, the Kangoo, eCitan and Townstar are, by electric van standards, a joy to drive on fast but twisty roads. That said, the lightness of the steering in the ë-Berlingo does at least make manoeuvring and parking in towns relatively effortless.

“The ë-Berlingo Van doesn’t break any new ground from behind the wheel but there’s little to complain about either. I'd described it as 'automotive white bread'.” – Phil Huff, Van Reviewer

"Practical" is the best word to describe the interior of the Citroën ë-Berlingo Van. We don't mean it in a negative way – it's just that it’s nothing special. There are few frills and it feels quite dated, but it remains functional.

For a small van it’s reasonably spacious, although the dual passenger seat fitted to higher-spec models remains a bone of contention. The centre position is very much for occasional use, and even then the occupant will find their knees catching the section of dashboard that juts out.

Overall, interior space is – as you'd expect – on a par with the other Stellantis small electric vans. In fact, there's not much variation across the market, although the Renault Kangoo E-Tech, Mercedes eCitan and Nissan Townstar EV feel slightly less airy because of the angle of their windscreens.

There’s a modest amount of storage here and there, but in this van class designers are somewhat restricted in what they can do. You get a small glovebox and decent door pockets, a pocket in the centre of the dashboard for a mobile phone, and a cubby on top of the dash, but that’s about it.

Visibility is good to the front and side, and you get rear parking sensors on all versions to help out when reversing. 

As for infotainment, the entry-level ë-Berlingo doesn't have a touchscreen – it relies on you slotting your phone into what Citroën calls the Smartphone Station and connecting it to the van via Bluetooth. Without your phone, you can't even listen to the radio, let alone get directions by sat-nav, so it could be a bit limiting if you're not tech savvy.

The other two models have a 10in infotainment touchscreen usefully angled towards the driver. Although a sat-nav app is included, you can also run your own choice of apps through the screen using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.

“I can see the logic in the Smartphone Station but skipping even an old-fashioned FM radio seems like a bit of a crazy idea.” – Phil Huff, Van Reviewer

There are two panel-van versions of the Citroën ë-Berlingo Van, named M and XL (we've no idea where S and L have gone). The shorter M panel van has a load length at the floor of 1817mm, while the longer XL ups this to 2167mm. Load volumes are 3.3m³ and 3.9m³ respectively.

High payloads are tricky to achieve on an electric van because there's a balance to be struck with the weight of the main battery pack – the heavier the battery, the longer the range, but the lower the payload limit.

Citroën has done a decent job with the ë-Berlingo, giving it the capacity to carry up to 781kg (model dependent), which should be enough for most operators. It can pull a trailer weighing up to 750kg trailer, although the achievable range will drop sharply.

Let's have a quick look at the stats for the Renault Kangoo E-Tech for comparison... The medium-wheelbase Kangoo has a load length of 1810 to 2230mm, and payloads max out at 764kg. Towing weights are much more impressive at 1500kg.

Access to the ë-Berlingo's load bay is through twin asymmetric rear doors plus a single side door on the M model or two side doors on the XL. The full-height bulkhead protects the van’s occupants and there are six floor-mounted load-securing rings.

Enterprise and Driver models come with the Extenso combination folding passenger seat and load-through hatch, allowing you to slide long, thin loads safely through into the cab.

“There’s no sacrifice in cargo volume for going electric, but the ë-Berlingo can't take as much weight in the back as the diesel version. Whether the 250kg difference bothers you will depend on your needs.” – Phil Huff, Van Reviewer

Vehicle list prices are just the starting point these days due to manufacture discounts and, in the case of electric vans, government grants, but we can tell you that the Citroën ë-Berlingo Van undercuts its rivals comfortably.

Citroën has a habit of changing the trim levels of its vans on what sometimes seems like a monthly basis, but at the time of writing, the options for the ë-Berlingo are Enterprise, Enterprise Plus and Driver.

Enterprise has air-conditioning, cruise control, rear parking sensors and lots of driver and safety aids, but if you want an infotainment screen you'll have to go higher up the range. Enterprise Plus gets you the 1oin touchscreen plus a 10in digital driver's display, while Driver adds a surround-view camera, blind-spot detection and other extras.

The ë-Berlingo has a maximum charging speed of 100kW and should take about half an hour to charge from empty to 80% using a fast public charger. A typical 7.2kW home EV charger will take about seven and a half hours. Be careful when you’ve got a cable plugged in though: the side door will slide straight into the port.

Citroën’s warranty package consists of three years or 100,000 miles of cover, with an eight-year battery warranty, guaranteeing that the pack will retain at least 70% of its original capacity (limited to 100,000 miles). That’s exactly the same as you get with the Fiat e-Doblò, Peugeot e-Partner and Vauxhall Combo Electric.

The Renault-based trio of vans each go their own way. The Renault Kangoo E-Tech gets a three-year, 100,000-mile warranty. The Nissan Townstar EV cover last five years. The Mercedes eCitan is covered for three years but has no mileage limit.

The stand-out is the Toyota Proace City Electric. Its cover can extend as far as 10 years, with very few catches involved – although there’s still a 100,000-mile limit.

Service intervals for the ë-Berlingo are every 25,000 miles or two years, unless a message on the dash instructs you to do it sooner.

“I think if you're an owner-operator looking to keep their van for more than a few years and considering a Citroën ë-Berlingo, it's worth bearing in mind that you can get a longer warranty from Toyota.” – Phil Huff, Van Reviewer

Read more: How we test vans

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