LDV Edeliver 7 vs Ford Tourneo Custom

What's the difference?

Sole traders, SMEs, transport companies and corporate fleets are potential customers LDV is aiming at with its new eDeliver7 electric van range, which competes in Australia’s mid-sized (2.5-3.5-tonne GVM) commercial van segment.

The Chinese manufacturer claims the eDeliver7’s combination of quiet operation, reduced maintenance costs, no battery impact on cargo space and, critically, more competitive pricing is ideal for businesses looking to build ‘sustainable’ fleets.

As the number of battery electric van offerings continues to grow, we recently spent a week in one of the new eDeliver7 variants to see if it can offer a viable alternative to diesel powertrains that traditionally dominate this competitive market segment.

This idea hasn’t always worked out too well. Take a parcel-van (in this case the Ford Transit Custom) strip out the rubber matting and cargo barrier and bolt six or seven seats into what was the load area. Sure, the original vehicle to use this concept, the Volkswagen Kombi way back in the 1950s, got away with it, possibly because there wasn’t anything better around.

Ford has plenty of history with this notion, too. The first Transit of 1965 was also available as a mini-bus, but worked okay because the Transit itself was such a car-like departure from the commercial-vehicle norm.

Things didn’t go so well for Ford in the early 1980s, however, when the Econovan-badged parcel van it shared with Mazda (the E2200) was fitted with eight seats, given some fuzzy velour trim and dubbed the Spectron. And it was dreadful. In fact, so bad, that it made the contemporaneous Mitsubishi Nimbus and the even more forgettable Nissan Prairie seem like vastly superior alternatives to the job of moving people. Only because they were.

Early versions of the Spectron retained the Econovan’s crude suspension, wheezy (and fragile) little engines and even the tiny dual rear wheels that entirely deprived the vehicle of any traction. In fact, dreadful doesn’t even cover it.

So you can see why Ford might be a bit antsy about me referring to the new Tourneo (a badge that has been around in Europe for decades) as a Transit Custom with extra seats and windows. Yet that kind of sums it up (up to a point, anyway). Luckily, the Transit Custom itself is a pretty sorted thing these days, so maybe Ford has nothing to worry about. Maybe…