After a bit of a false start, VW finally has a fully electric version of its Transporter, but how much is the range of a Volkswagen e-Transporter?
They started off by getting racing car tuning company ABT to produce their first generation electric Transporter, but Volkswagen has bounced back with a full factory version e-Transporter. It might be made by Ford, but it's one of the best in the sector, so it's going to appeal to everyone from owner drivers and tradesmen to small businesses and massive fleets.
In this guide we'll take a look at the Volkswagen e-Transporter's battery specifications, its driving range and charging times. If you're thinking about buying an e-Transporter this is need to know stuff that will hopefully help you make the right decision.
We'll look at the factory-fresh Volkswagen e-Transporter as well as cover the VW ABT e-Transporter model.
Here goes...
Things didn't start very well for the Transporter when it came to making a medium electric van. They went down the "can't someone else do it" route and turned to the highly capable (and most known for their Formula-e racing team) ABT who used the then current Transporter 6.1 as the base.
There was a small problem, though. It was a pretty poor aftermarket conversion because VW didn't give ABT any of the keys to the kingdom to really allow them to do very much with the software and control units. It therefore felt a bit rubbish and was a massive sales flop.
Nevermind, it happened, so let's move on...
Being an relatively early attempt at an electric van, the Volkswagen ABT e-Transporter was launched in 2020, it had a pretty tiny battery, which also meant a really small range.
Battery Size: The ABT e-Transporter was fitted with a usable battery capacity of 32.5 kWh (37.3 kWh gross).
Range: The official WLTP range for the Volkswagen ABT e-Transporter was 82 miles (132 km).
Real world range: In the real world, it was pretty hopeless, although we never got enough time behind the wheel to fully rundown the battery, it was looking like it would just about do 60 miles on a single charge. That's not terrible efficiency, but it's also well below what you'd want for a working van.
The new Volkswagen e-Transporter is built on a shared platform with the Ford Transit Custom, so it is exactly the same as their electric version, the Ford E-Transit Custom.
That also means it share the Ford E-Transit Custom range, and is identical in pretty much every other way, except the badge, the front grille and a few bits inside.
64 kWh Battery: e-Transporter vans with a 64 kWh have an official WLTP range of 201 miles (324 km).
Real world range: In the real world, with weather conditions and a decent amount of payload on board, the e-Transporter will have a range of around 170 miles. Extensive motorway driving will likely reduce this even further to around 150 miles (241 km). Either way you'll likely get between 150 to 170 miles out of a full charge, depending on how you use it.
The new e-Transporter comes with a usable battery capacity of 64 kWh
The e-Transporter can charge using either an AC or a DC power supply with speeds of up to 125kW.
AC Charging: The VW e-Transporter has an 11 kW onboard charger, which will take 8.5 hours to charge from 0-100% using a home wallbox.
DC Fast Charging: The e-Transporter supports a peak DC charging rate of up to 125 kW. A 10-80% charge can should take approximately 40 minutes.
