Citroen Berlingo - Electric only

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Fri 7 Jan 2022 22:16
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - groaver

I read that Stellantis have stopped selling the Berlingo and Peugeot Rifter as well as the Vauxhall combo as ICE in the UK unless it is a converted one for mobility sales.

Manufacturers are quickly withdrawing from the traditional market.

www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/business-tech%2C-develo...v

I note the Passat saloon is gone too.

There's always the more expensive Arteon to lease...

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Fri 7 Jan 2022 22:40
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - alan1302

Not keen on these only being available as electric only...had our diesel Combo Life a year now and really enjoyed it but at present the electric version would not be a suitable replacement.

Also am surprised that as a lot of these sell through Motability I can see a lot of people who want this kind of vehicle being put off and going else where through VW and Fords similar vehicles. (I know the article says that they can still be purchased for ICE for disability conversions but most through Motability are not converted)

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Fri 7 Jan 2022 22:57
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - daveyK_UK
A real shame.

I know of someone with a petrol 1.2 7seater Peugeot Rifter and another with the identical petrol 1.2 7seater Vauxhall Combo Life; both families love the cars and reckon the fuel economy is respectable (mid to high 40s on the motorway run).


I have driven a few of the diesel 1.5 as hire vans and found it to be a nice engine with good fuel economy.

I do think Peugeot/Citroen/Vauxhall/Opel have gone a bit too early with this announcement


Also, when does Vauxhall Ellesmere Port start building the new electric Berlingo / Rifter / Combo?

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Sat 8 Jan 2022 10:32
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - groaver
I do think Peugeot/Citroen/Vauxhall/Opel have gone a bit too early with this announcement

I agree.

There seems to be a hasty jump to electrification that alienates those who wish to currently continue with a fairly straightforward ICE car.

I realise there is significant pressure on car manufacturers as the new world of non-ice cars approaches to make sure that they are still relevant but cars starting at around £30k aren't for the masses, are they?

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Sat 8 Jan 2022 11:15
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - badbusdriver

You need to remember that as good a family car as the Berlingo/Rifter/Combo Life are, it is a very niche choice. Most buyers are not willing to put function ahead of style (within reason), and so most buyers will take the default SUV/Crossover option rather than one of the above, despite the above being emphatically better family cars.

So with the market for them being tiny in comparison to equivalent SUV's, there isn't actually that much risk (in terms of sales lost) for manufacturers to take this course of action.

Be aware though, that for potential buyers, there may still be a way in through a 'side door'. The above 3 cars are all based on vans, which are all available as crew cab versions. So unless the ICE van versions are also being done away with, a crew cab van could be bought instead. It may be that a buyer would have to accept not having windows in the rear quarter, maybe no 7 seat option, and potentially lower levels of standard equipment, so not too much of a sacrifice.

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Sat 8 Jan 2022 11:38
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - groaver

That's true, bbd.

They aren't volume sellers so the loss may be relatively small to new car buyers.

I do wonder how quickly this is snowballing across all range of ICE cars.

The Passat disappearing in saloon form is another niche model (relatively speaking) these days.

It's telling, I suppose, when a Fiesta isn't in the top 10 selling cars last year.

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Sun 9 Jan 2022 00:46
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - daveyK_UK
Van based MPVs are not be high volume sellers in the UK where you rightly point out people generally go for fashion over function; but they are big sellers throughout Europe.

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Sun 9 Jan 2022 11:06
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - barney100

It's inevitable that electric will take over but those with little free cash will be priced out due to the cost of an EV. The range seems to be getting better and I guess will get better still.

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Sun 9 Jan 2022 12:09
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - Rerepo

More investment needed in public transport so that the less affluent can still travel. On the plus side it will mean fewer cars on the road for those of us able to afford a car.

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Sun 9 Jan 2022 12:29
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - focussed

I wouldn't jump into EV's just yet.

"The UK peak grid demand increases by 7.5 GW (14%) with 20% of households using heat pumps"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917308954

That's 7500 megawatts.

Just to put that into perspective, Sizewell B produces 1198 megawatts.

So 7500/1198 = 6.26 times Sizewell B's output.

Are there any plans for 6 or 7 new Sizewell B sized power stations?

I haven't heard of any plans, have you?

Will there be enough leccy available to charge your EV if all these heat pumps are running on a cold winter's night?

Because you can sure that the UK won't decide to build these additional power stations, and even if they do, when will they be delivering power?

There is a disconnect between UK government policy and cold reality.

Edited by focussed on 09/01/2022 at 12:32

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Sun 9 Jan 2022 13:05
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - mcb100
There is a plan for 40GW of offshore wind generation by 2030, with additional planning for deep water (floating) turbines further from land - where there are greater levels of wind.
www.airswift.com/blog/offshore-wind-energy-project...k
National Grid seem happy enough with us moving to electrification -
www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero-s...s

Edited by mcb100 on 09/01/2022 at 13:09

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Sun 9 Jan 2022 13:30
Citroen Berlingo - Electric only - focussed

"What we find when we analyse the intermittency problem, is that intermittent non-dispatchable power actually carries very little value at all. What society requires, is dispatchable power - power that can be on tap when its required, and turned off when it's not, and it requires in addition a large component of cheap baseload power, that never needs to be turned off. What it does not require is wilful power that's here today and gone tomorrow"

www.templar.co.uk/downloads/Renewable%20Energy%20L...f

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