The Citroen Berlingo E500 Electronique...

[gtd2000]

I bumped into an old school pal of mine the other night in the local Tesco.

 

We got chatting and get tells he's just scrapped a Berlingo EV... I was surprised something so "recent" would be scrapped - he runs around in an ancient Zafira with different coloured panels...

 

Anyhooo, it turned out he has another three of them.

 

Never heard of them? Me neither....

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Berlingo_%C3%A9lectrique

 

 

Went for a look and they are severely low mileage..the one that peaked my interest is on a Y plate and has a mere 5000 miles on it!!!

 

Now there's obviously been some issues with these vans and there's not a great deal of information on them - there is a local business that had one of those Renault EV vans but he got rid of it after a few short months....I need to ask hime why - I suspect range was the actual reason.

 

Anybody have any experience with such things?

 

I can get one for scrap money and I must admit the thought of free road tax and no mot's does appeal greatly/ That said, fucking around endlessly with electrical gubbins does not...

[tul66]

More info would be appreciated on these, I might be up for buying one.

[spartacus]

Got to be worth a shot for scrap money! I'd have one for that if he wants to sell me one!

[somewhatfoolish]

IIRC correctly with the 1st gen PSA EVs the batteries need maintenance(water topping up) and if it's ignored they get fucked quickly, and the electrickery(traction battery charger, inverter, etc) is not terribly robust and mostly unobtainium. Battery maintenance aside not that different from my one really, by current EV standards they're orphans and therefore properly shite.

 

Naturally my first reaction is how much and 2ndly why haven't you already GIB?

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I'm near sure there's already one being run on this very forum, I'll see if I can find the thread

 

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[gtd2000]

What passed though my mind was that there's a few videos of people on Youtube who are converting regular cars to electric and here's something that already done but could possibly be brought up to day with improved equipment or even something along the lines of better batteries.

 

With one of these, the presumably more difficult part of conversion has essentially taken place but it's possible that's just not seeing the bigger picture yet...

 

There is a 10 plate for sale on eBay at £600 right now up in Falkirk - seems to have duff batteries but for some reason - despite being pre March 2015 seems to require an MoT.

 

I can get one for £100 but would rather do some research into what may well be a bottomless pit

[gtd2000]

Here's some decent info:

 

http://www.berlingo-e.co.uk/

 

There's a bunch of links on the bottom left margin.

[somewhatfoolish]

GIB! I'll have it for that price, the motor alone is worth that.

[Cavcraft]

PLEASE buy it, it has to be worth if it you can afford it/it's not stupidly expensive to purchase.  Just seen it's £100, it's an absolute no-brainer, chief. Even just to toy with and see if you can either get new batteries, refurb the old ones or find another type to use it must be worth a bash.

Appreciate it's probably an unpopular thing on a car forum, but electric vehicles are the future and if they're available at 'our' sort of money they should be encouraged, imho.

 

Plus if you end of roffling it, the queue will go round the block twice.

[Aston Martin]

Roffle the other 2!!!

[The Moog]

I would love to try one at that price... Seriously.

[Cavcraft]

What passed though my mind was that there's a few videos of people on Youtube who are converting regular cars to electric and here's something that already done but could possibly be brought up to day with improved equipment or even something along the lines of better batteries.

 

With one of these, the presumably more difficult part of conversion has essentially taken place but it's possible that's just not seeing the bigger picture yet...

 

There is a 10 plate for sale on eBay at £600 right now up in Falkirk - seems to have duff batteries but for some reason - despite being pre March 2015 seems to require an MoT.

 

I can get one for £100 but would rather do some research into what may well be a bottomless pit

 

SRSLY if you don't want the £100 one I'll ask my mate with a recovery truck how much he'll want to get it back here. 

[Pillock]

I'm near sure there's already one being run on this very forum, I'll see if I can find the thread

 

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Are you thinking of

http://autoshite.com/topic/31291-Batteries-not-included*;-adventures-in-potential-difference.

 

Which is somewhatfoolish's Partner? (as in Peugeot, not significant other)

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Are you thinking of

http://autoshite.com/topic/31291-Batteries-not-included*;-adventures-in-potential-difference.

 

Which is somewhatfoolish's Partner? (as in Peugeot, not significant other)

Yes that's the one. Pretty much the same van?

 

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[catsinthewelder]

Me and a mate were looking into buying a very cheap electric Blingo a few years back but were put off by the cost of batteries. I think it's still in the barn where we used to work.

[Kringle]

Get them all, roffle and sell to us! I'll have a multitude of tickets

[The Moog]

At £100 worth getting home then look into options later

[Kringle]

Actually for 100 smackers I'll buy one although I think you've already got a queue ^

[gtd2000]

I'll get some further information on the Vans.

 

From what I understand, one Van was running up until fault recently but had been revamped with a load of car batteries in the rear. The battery's are normally stored under the car in trays. This one might have only covered 24,000 miles.

 

One Van has had the electric motor and gubbins removed but has only covered a mere 5000 miles...

 

The other Van was vandalised by the pals nephew and has a broken windscreen and other internal damage.

 

One of the problems with these Vans, is that when the power runs out, they can't be towed, supposedly it's done sort of safety precaution. The one that was recently running has a Jerry rigged generator in the back, beside the batteries.

 

Supposedly the Van did run out of charge on a few occasions but I've no idea how effective the generator is in getting the van moving again.

 

I'll see if I can get more information this week but he can be hard to get hold of.

[somewhatfoolish]

Yes that's the one. Pretty much the same van?

 

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Similar but totes different; the Electrique is a Mk1 Berlingo/Partner, mine is a Mk2 and is the bastard offspring of a drunken threesome between PSA, Glasgow City Council and Allied Vehicles. The most important difference is probably the batteries, rather than NiCads it has LiFePo which are maintenance free.

 

The operator's manual for mine does advise against towing at over 10mph because ZOMG! electricity! but nothing bad has happened yet despite one tow reaching the heady heights of 15 em pee aich. The obvious reason is that towing backdrives the motor which feeds power back into the inverter with unpredictable consequences, but they're designed to deal with this when going downhill as that's how regenerative braking works; chin itchy, there's potential for the smoke inside escaping but touch wood it's not happened yet.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Probably an ideal buy for dollywobbler, most of the gubbins could be transferred to the reliant van......

 

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[garbaldy]

If the one that's been gutted is available I would be interested as the fither in laws Berlingo is starting to look rather rough and needs a back axle And some doors.

[somewhatfoolish]

In order of preference;

 

From what I understand, one Van was running up until fault recently but had been revamped with a load of car batteries in the rear. The battery's are normally stored under the car in trays. This one might have only covered 24,000 miles.

 

 

The other Van was vandalised by the pals nephew and has a broken windscreen and other internal damage.

 

 

One Van has had the electric motor and gubbins removed but has only covered a mere 5000 miles...

 

[D Spares & Tyres]

Worth £100 all day!

 

Sell electric motor and batteries, shove an XUD in it and get some cheap motoring!

 

In the unlikely event you get a tug then just tell them you put the engine in yesterday and the paperwork is in the post. But put an MoT on it so it doesn't ping the anpr then you will be fine*

[clayts450]

You're all doing this wrong. Rip out the electrics and stick a Mustang V8 in there.

[Floatylight]

You're all doing this wrong. Rip out the electrics and stick a Mustang V8 in there.

Nah 2x Suzuki Hayabusa Engines in the back..

 

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[sierraman]

Genuinely interested on learning about reviving something like this. Better start learning.

[chaseracer]

I wish I had the funds, buy one of these, and shove in a 200k XUD 

 

FTFY

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Only on Autoshite would there be a thread on converting an electric car to a gas guzzler

 

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[Kringle]

Can I recreate a Pat Mustard moment with one?