Though Peugeot Australia has delayed a variety of key new electrical car (EV) launches within the passenger and SUV segments, it has now launched a brand new electrical mid-sized van.
The Peugeot E-Skilled, which is predicated on the combustion-powered Skilled, brings the battle to the LDV eDeliver 7 and Mercedes-Benz eVito, in addition to the forthcoming Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo. It’ll additionally go up in opposition to the Ford E-Transit Customized as soon as it arrives.
For now, the E-Skilled is considered one of two Peugeot EVs bought in Australia. The opposite is the smaller E-Companion industrial van. Having kyboshed plans to launch the E-208 and E-308 right here this 12 months, and axed a number of plug-in hybrid fashions together with the 308 and 408 PHEVs, the French model says its EV vary will now broaden in 2025.
On sale in different markets for years now, the battery-electric E-Skilled supply van arrives in Australia in mid-life facelifted guise. It includes a new entrance fascia with Peugeot’s new company badging, in addition to revised inside expertise.
How does it stack up? Learn alongside to seek out out.
How does the Peugeot Skilled evaluate?
View an in depth breakdown of the Peugeot Skilled in opposition to equally sized autos.
Peugeot
Skilled
How a lot does the Peugeot E-Skilled value?
In Australia, the Peugeot E-Skilled van is just supplied in a single Professional long-wheelbase variant, priced from $79,990 earlier than on-road prices.
| Mannequin | Worth earlier than on-road prices |
|---|---|
| 2025 Peugeot E-Skilled Professional Lengthy | $79,990 |
To see how the Skilled strains up in opposition to its rivals, try our comparability instrument.
What’s the Peugeot E-Skilled like on the within?
From the surface, it takes a short while to recover from simply how massive it’s the E-Skilled is. It’s technically a mid-sized van nevertheless it actually has some presence and fills up a parking house.
Hopping in requires a giant step up from the bottom. Fortunately, to make this simpler there’s a step midway into the cabin, although it will be good if there was a pillar-mounted seize deal with too.
When you’re sat within the driver’s seat you’re in prime place. You sit very excessive up and have a terrific view out entrance and thru the facet home windows.
Rear quarter visibility is mainly nonexistent, nevertheless, as a result of there are facet home windows within the cargo space. The center seat head restraint additionally blocks a substantial quantity of rearward visibility, so for almost all of my testing I opted to take away it.
The driving force’s seat itself has sufficient cushioning and help to get comfy. It’s a great place to spend a protracted period of time, which many drivers of this car possible will.
Including to the consolation, there’s a skinny central armrest that folds down from the motive force’s seat. It’s useful to have someplace to your elbow to relaxation, nevertheless it might be a bit wider since my arm saved on falling off it.
As to be anticipated in such a workhorse like this, the motive force’s seat is just manually adjustable, however there’s sufficient adjustability to dial in an excellent driving place.
In European vogue, the E-Skilled comes with a heated driver’s seat that’s operated by way of a small rotary dial on the seat base. It will get very popular, in a short time, even on the bottom setting, so I didn’t use it an excessive amount of in sweltering Melbourne warmth.
Forward of the motive force there’s a leather-wrapped steering wheel that’s quite un-van-like. It doesn’t actually really feel like real leather-based, nevertheless it’s much better than a urethane steering wheel.
Like the motive force’s seat, the steering wheel is heated. It’s significantly decrease depth, however on cooler mornings it was good for taking the nippiness of my fingers.
The buttons and switches on the steering wheel are logically positioned and have a satisfying clicky motion when pressed. One of many few downsides with the steering wheel, nevertheless, is using piano black materials, which even after a couple of days received smudgy and gross-looking.
Not like nearly each different present Peugeot, you don’t must look over the steering wheel to see the digital instrument cluster. As an alternative, fortunately, you look by the steering wheel such as you do in different automobiles.
This can be a large plus as a result of many individuals, together with myself, usually battle with positioning the steering wheel in a means so you possibly can truly see the digital devices.
The display screen doesn’t provide the flashy 3D look that different Peugeot clusters do, however this isn’t the tip of the world as a result of no different industrial van has a perform like this.
Regardless, the digital instrument cluster has beautiful graphics with completely different layouts that may be customised to your coronary heart’s content material. All of them are notably darkish and minimal although, so that you’ll should get used to that.
A stunning draw back of the digital instrument cluster is it has a gradual refresh price, which implies it takes some time for the digital speedo readout to replace. This may be annoying since you mightn’t realise you’re dashing till it’s too late.
The central infotainment system can also be a very new unit that’s extremely extra trendy and up-to-date. It’s an odd, virtually letter box-like form that’s vast however not very tall.
The touchscreen itself is high-resolution and responds snappily to the touch inputs. It’s additionally able to being very brilliant, which is improbable through the day, however not a lot at evening time.
Though I hadn’t spent that a lot time in different trendy Peugeots with this new infotainment system software program, it didn’t take me lengthy to seek out my means round. The menu format could be very straightforward to grasp, plus it helps that there’s not rather a lot to it.
As customary, there’s wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring. With my iPhone 15 Professional Max related I didn’t expertise any notable dropouts in any respect throughout my week of testing.
I’m grateful the E-Skilled does include a wi-fi cellphone charger slot within the centre stack below the touchscreen, nevertheless it didn’t truly cost my cellphone. As an alternative it simply made it overheat, which is a standard incidence with many in-car wi-fi cellphone chargers.
Elsewhere inside, the cabin it’s very plastic improbable, however that is to be anticipated in such a workhorse car. That arduous plastics will last more and put on higher in the long term in comparison with softer fake leathers and the like.
One thing that did depart me wanting extra, nevertheless, was storage areas. It’d sound apparent for a industrial car like this, however vans of this measurement usually have oodles of areas and crevices wherein to stow odds and ends.
There are massive door pockets and central cubbies, however there’s a tiny glovebox space and the E-Skilled doesn’t have a storage shelf above the windscreen like many different vans do.
On the passenger facet there’s a two-person bench seat that’s rock-hard in comparison with the motive force’s seat. It doesn’t provide any adjustability in anyway, which is disappointing as a result of the seat again could be very upright.
It’s fairly squishy with two occupants sat subsequent to every on the bench seat, and the individual within the center has to contend for legroom with the gear selector, which is positioned quite obtusely given it’s such a small shift-by-wire unit.
A cool function with the bench seat is that the outer seat base lifts as much as create a passthrough opening into the cargo space. That is useful should you’ve received extra-long objects you might want to transport.
Fortunately there’s a bulkhead that separates the cargo space from the passenger compartment. Aside from growing security, it makes street noise much less boomy within the cabin, plus the local weather management system doesn’t should work as arduous.
As customary, there are sliding doorways on all sides of the van. Each have a easy opening and shutting motion that’s virtually car-like and definitely in contrast to industrial vans of previous.
There are additionally twin barn doorways behind the van that open to 90 levels, or barely wider when unhooked, permitting forklift loading on the rear.
The cargo compartment within the E-Skilled is correctly massive, accurately given it’s a mid-sized van. It’s fairly bare-bones again there although, aside from some tie-down factors, decrease inside cladding and a plastic non-slip mat.
| Dimensions | Peugeot E-Skilled |
|---|---|
| Size | 5333mm |
| Width | 1920mm |
| Top | 1948mm |
| Wheelbase | 3275mm |
| Load size | 2780mm |
| Load width | 1628mm |
| Load top | 1397mm |
| Cargo capability | 6600L |
To see how the Skilled strains up in opposition to its rivals, try our comparability instrument.
What’s below the bonnet?
The E-Skilled is just supplied with a single powertrain possibility in Australia, comprising a 100kW entrance electrical motor powered by a 75kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
| Specs | Peugeot E-Skilled |
|---|---|
| Drivetrain | Single, front-mounted electrical motor |
| Battery | 75kWh lithium-ion |
| Energy | 100kW |
| Torque | 260Nm |
| Pushed wheels | FWD |
| Weight | 2052kg (kerb) |
| Payload | 1001kg |
| Gross car mass (GVM) | 3053kg |
| Braked towing capability | 1000kg |
| Unbraked towing capability | 750km |
| Vitality consumption (claimed) | TBC |
| Vitality consumption (as examined) | 28.1kWh/100km (280km city driving) |
| Claimed vary | 330km (WLTP) |
| Max AC cost price | 11kW |
| Max DC cost price | 100kW |
Throughout my time with the E-Skilled I loaded it up with 650kg of ballast and over an prolonged city drive loop it returned common vitality consumption of 27.5kWh/100km, which is incrementally higher than what I noticed throughout my city commute driving.
To see how the Skilled strains up in opposition to its rivals, try our comparability instrument.
How does the Peugeot E-Skilled drive?
To begin the E-Skilled you might want to press and maintain the beginning button momentarily for it to register. You’ll realize it’s able to go when there’s a beep, which is a drastic departure from the standard diesel grumble in standard vans.
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Abroad mannequin proven
It’s straightforward to pick out drive with the small shift-by-wire gear selector after which get transferring. From a standstill there’s zippy acceleration, as you count on with an EV as that is when most torque is out there.
However regardless of feeling zippy off the road, I wouldn’t name the E-Skilled quick in any regard. Its single electrical motor solely produces 100kW and 260Nm, which isn’t a lot given the van weighs over two tonnes unladen. But it surely does make cute electrical motor whine noises at round 50km/h.
Within the ‘Energy’ drive mode issues transfer alongside just a little extra briskly, nevertheless it by no means has sufficient oomph to spin the entrance wheels, which in some regards is an efficient factor. The ‘Eco’ drive mode additionally actually dulls throttle response and reduces the local weather management fan pace.
The E-Skilled feels most at dwelling when ‘placing’ round at metropolis speeds. Even when the van isn’t loaded up, you do must mash the throttle fairly firmly should you meet a hill and wish to keep your pace.
Its inner-city vitality consumption can also be astronomical, although this is smart because the tiny electrical motor has to maneuver such a heavy brick of a car.
There are three completely different ranges of regenerative braking, and each time you flip the car on it defaults again to the weakest. This was just a little irritating however finally I learnt to drive it like a hybrid.
Disappointingly, there’s no one-pedal driving mode, which implies you might want to use the brake pedal to return to an entire cease.
Round city, the unladen journey is significantly extra compliant than I used to be initially anticipating, making it virtually car-like. It’s nowhere close to as bouncy and tough as different leaf-sprung utes and vans will be with out a load onboard. The load of the battery pack possible settles the rear leaf suspension.
The car-like driving dynamics proceed with the sunshine steering, which makes this huge van tremendous easy and user-friendly on the street, and it’s a enjoyable factor to chuck round corners.
This lighter steering additionally makes the E-Skilled comparatively straightforward to park, however there’s no escaping its 5.3m size when squeezing right into a parking spot.
As customary there are entrance and rear parking sensors, in addition to a reversing digital camera that may sew collectively a hen’s-eye view while you’re backing up. This implies there’s no excuse for curbed wheels.
Increase pace within the E-Skilled is the place it begins to battle. It seems like the electrical motor doesn’t have any extra to offer, which isn’t stunning given its measly outputs.
As a way to get round this you must use a good dose of accelerator pedal to rise up to hurry. This noticed my already not-so-great vitality consumption determine take an additional hit.
Regardless of this, the E-Skilled remains to be a straightforward and assured car to drive at larger speeds. It’s surprisingly quiet contained in the cabin regardless of being an enormous field on wheels, however in fact facet wind gusts will be felt at freeway speeds.
As I discussed beforehand there are massive blindspots within the E-Skilled, as with many different equally sized vans. This will make you second guess when altering lanes, or when reversing out of a perpendicular parking house.
To my shock, when loaded up with 650kg of ballast the Peugeot E-Skilled didn’t actually really feel a lot completely different when it comes to efficiency.
This was additionally mirrored in my common vitality consumption, which was incrementally higher than that of my typical city driving commute.
The E-Skilled isn’t actually a dynamic car when loaded up, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel prefer it’s working too arduous while you hyperlink up some sweeping corners.
With a load on board, the electrical motor remains to be punchy sufficient at low speeds to get transferring, and the journey is even higher settled. Actually, it was so comfy it felt extra like an SUV than a industrial car. You may inform a car like that is constructed for carrying heavy masses.
Laborious, singular bumps are barely transmitted into the cabin, although constant street lumps may cause the van to get a bit bouncy, which is frequent in these kind of autos.
On the protection entrance, the E-Skilled does include a good listing of ordinary gear, although it doesn’t have adaptive cruise management. As an alternative it has common cruise management, which for some could also be seen as a profit.
Frustratingly, nevertheless, the cruise management likes to sit down below the set pace. I can handle the pace significantly higher myself, so I usually opted to drive with out cruise management.
The lane-keep help system hardly ever intervenes until it actually has to, which is a pleasant constructive, although there aren’t any lane-centring-like driver help capabilities.
Throughout my week of testing I charged up the E-Skilled at a 75kW DC fast-charger from 25 to 100 per cent. This took round one hour all up.
The E-Skilled has a DC fast-charging price of 100kW, which isn’t excellent, particularly given its asking value, although on the 75kW charger it did max out all the way in which till the battery reached 80 per cent capability.
What do you get?
The Peugeot E-Skilled is just supplied in Australia in single Professional Lengthy guise.
Peugeot E-Skilled Professional Lengthy gear highlights:
- 16-inch metal wheels
- Full-size spare wheel
- Halogen headlights
- Auto high-beam
- Entrance fog lights
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Energy-folding facet mirrors
- Twin sliding doorways
- 180 diploma barn-style rear doorways
- 10-inch digital instrument cluster
- 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- DAB+ digital radio
- 4-speaker sound system
- 2x 12V sockets
- 2x USB-C sockets
- Paddle shifters
- Keyless entry and push-button begin
- Heated steering wheel
- Leather-based-wrapped steering wheel
- Bulkhead with load-through flap
- Plastic ground cowl
- Three-seat format
- Gray material upholstery
- Heated driver’s seat
- Driver’s armrest
To see how the Skilled strains up in opposition to its rivals, try our comparability instrument.
Is the Peugeot E-Skilled protected?
The Peugeot E-Skilled hasn’t but obtained an ANCAP security score.
Nevertheless, its diesel-powered Skilled counterpart obtained a Silver collision avoidance score (55 per cent) from ANCAP, based mostly on testing performed in 2022.
Commonplace security gear consists of:
- Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
- Low-light pedestrian and bicycle owner detection
- Ahead collision warning
- Emergency braking help
- Lane departure warning with unmarked street edge detection
- Lane-keep help
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Driver consideration alert
- Distance alert system
- Site visitors signal recognition and pace restrict show
- Hill begin help
- Acoustic car alerting system
- Entrance and rear parking sensors
- Reversing digital camera
- Tyre strain monitoring system
How a lot does the Peugeot E-Skilled value to run?
The Peugeot E-Skilled is roofed by a five-year/200,000km guarantee, with a three-year paintwork and 12-year corrosion guarantee, along with an eight-year/160,000km battery guarantee.
| Servicing and Guarantee | Peugeot E-Skilled |
|---|---|
| Guarantee | 5 years/200,000km 8 years/160,000km (battery pack) 3 years (paintwork) 5 years (corrosion) |
| Roadside help | 5 years |
| Service intervals | 12 months/25,000km |
| Capped-price servicing | 5 years |
| Complete capped-price service value | $1846 |
Peugeot additionally affords three- and five-year service packs for the E-Skilled, priced from $750 and $1350 respectively. This gives financial savings of $306 and $466 respectively in comparison with paying for providers as you go.
CarExpert’s Tackle the Peugeot E-Skilled
Competitors within the electrical van house is continuous to warmth up in Australia, nevertheless it stays removed from boiling level.
The Peugeot E-Skilled is a attention-grabbing addition to the French model’s native lineup, particularly because it has at present dialled again its vary of EVs and killed PHEVs altogether to as a substitute of deal with mild-hybrids.
This electrical mid-size van affords user-friendly driving dynamics which might be overtly car-like, regardless of it being a hulking field on wheels. Its hushed cabin and newer infotainment expertise additionally helps elevate the inside expertise.
There are evident downsides, nevertheless. One of many largest is how a lot it prices. The E-Skilled is at present round $30,000 dearer than the equal diesel-powered Professional Lengthy automated variant.
And in comparison with its direct rivals it’s not overly aggressive when it comes to pricing. The LDV eDeliver 7 is extra reasonably priced, plus the forthcoming Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo begins at $79,990 earlier than on-roads.
The vitality consumption determine can also be quite eye-watering. I perceive this sort of car is constructed to haul round heavy masses all day, however with a median vitality consumption of round 30kWh per 100km, this implies you solely actually have a theoretical vary of round 250km.
For some firms with urban-centric fleet operations, this will likely match the invoice. However industrial van drivers who must journey longer distances might want to permit loads of time for charging stops.
Excited about shopping for a Peugeot E-Skilled? Get in contact with considered one of CarExpert’s trusted sellers right here
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