Citroen e-SpaceTourer - long-term review

TGG’s e-SpaceTourer and I spent a weekend at a romantic off-grid retreat in the Herefordshire woods. Actually, that’s not quite true. TGG’s e-SpaceTourer was back with Citroen for an update, so an even-larger e-SpaceTourer XL and I spent a weekend at a romantic off-grid retreat in the Herefordshire woods. 

It was all very nice and relaxing, save for one fly in the mindfulness ointment: off-grid cabins in the middle of the woods provide nowhere to charge your big electric MPV. EVs need grid.

Which highlighted the biggest issue with the e-SpaceTourer: yes, with its 75kWh battery, it’s more rangey than the old 50kWh e-SpaceTourer. But it’s still not especially rangey.

In wintery British conditions (and some truly conservative driving – no door-handling the big lad here), I’ve been averaging just over two miles per kWh, which – with a useable battery capacity of 68kWh – means a range of 150 miles, give or take. (This figure remains pretty similar between XL and regular e-SpaceTourer variants.)

You might point out that there aren’t that many occasions on which many of us drive more than 150 miles in one hit, but there are still… quite a few occasions, right? Or maybe occasions where we’re not quite driving 150 miles, but wherever we’re ending up doesn’t have recharging facilities. And that’s when things start to become a little complicated. Warning: e-maths incoming.

Case in point: between my house and this cabin stood a journey of around 130 miles. Departing on 90 per cent battery in sub-zero temperatures, that was too far to risk in a single hit with nowhere to fill up at the other end, so I specced out a fast-charge station some three-quarters of the way there, planning a half-hour splash’n’dash.

But, 15 miles into my drive, I realised I’d left something at home, so had to turn around and head back. Now, in a petrol car, a 30-mile detour (or retour, or whatever you want to call it) wouldn’t present a challenge. But in the e-SpaceTourer, it threw my entire charging strategy totally out of whack, rendering my initial target out of reach, and necessitating some frenzied calculations and charge-station research en route. Not what you’d call liberating.

Not least because, when you’re relying on public charging, that 150-mile range isn’t really a 150-mile range. On a rapid charger, the e-SpaceTourer will draw a maximum 100kW, which adds a just-about-acceptable 3.5 miles of range (or thereabouts) each minute. But the charge-rate slows dramatically – to 40kW or lower – beyond 80 per cent charge, and down to 20kW once you hit 90 per cent.

So, unless you’ve really got nowhere to be, you only want to be fast-charging your e-SpaceTourer to 80 per cent. And, with the state of Britain’s public charging network, you don’t want to be playing fuel-light bingo below, say, 15 per cent charge. Which means you’re playing with more like 44kWh of useable battery, which means your real-world range between charges is under 100 miles. Which isn’t very much.

This equation would be different if there were more reliable fast-chargers in Britain, especially beyond the motorway network. Or if the e-SpaceTourer could charge a little quicker, or was a little more power-efficient, which might happen as the weather warms up. (Though I suspect not substantially: I’ve banned my family from turning on its heating, and instead order them to dress warm for any long drive.)

I’d also feel less rancorous about the whole thing if I wasn’t paying 85 pence per kWh (yep, pretty close to 40 pence per mile) for public fast charging.

Your personal mileage may vary. But as things stand, I’m struggling to make the e-SpaceTourer sums add up. And that’s a shame. I like this big bus. I like e-motoring. I’d love it to make sense. But, for me, it’s not quite there yet.