Citroen e-SpaceTourer people mover offers all-electric travel for nine
Want to save the planet? David Attenborough warns us to stop over-populating.
If this news has come too late and you have four, five, six or even seven offspring in tow, Citroen and its e-SpaceTourer gives you the opportunity to reduce a little of your super-breeder carbon footprint.
The 100 percent electric people-mover has just gone on sale in Europe and the UK and is something of a unicorn for the segment. A price tag starting from 55,900 Euros ($91,500) highlights its sales limitations.
At least it’s leading the way. Mercedes will have an all-electric people-mover based on its V-Class by next year, while ABT has revealed an electric Volkswagen Caravelle nine-seater, but Citroen expects to begin deliveries of its e-SpaceTourer in a matter of weeks.
Citroen shifted only 400 vehicles in Australia last year (fewer than Maserati) so needless to say the French carmaker won’t be in a hurry to send this niche electric bus down under.
Regardless, product manager at Citroen Australia, Daniel Khan, said the e-SpaceTourer was being explored for import to Australia but was “still under consideration for local potential, although we can’t guarantee it will come here”.
Even so, it’s a compelling offering for both private and business use. The front-mount electric motor offers 100kW and 260Nm and is offered with either a 50kWh or 75kWh battery. The former offers 230km range and the latter 300km range on the “real world” WLTP testing cycle.
The battery pack is mounted underneath the electric people-mover’s floor, so it remains as practical as Citroen’s diesel-powered SpaceTourer models.
Fast charging is possible up to 100kW with the 50kWh battery achieving 80 percent in 30 minutes and the 75kWh battery in 45 minutes. That’s the same sort of time it takes to load and unload five children from a people-mover most parents would agree.
A full charge from a 7.4kW domestic Wallbox take 7 hours and 30 minutes for the 50kWh battery.
Large families can choose between Feel and Shine grades in XS (4.60m long), M (4.95m) and XL (5.30m) body styles, available with eight, seven or five seats. Citroen says interiors are “endlessly modular” with rail sliding seats to prioritise boot volume or leg room as required.
Boot space is up to 2932-litres in the five-seater XL version, or all of the rear seating can be removed without tools to give a van-like 3968-litre load space. The flagship Shine grade has two hand-free electric sliding doors, electric, heated and massaging front seats and a two-part glass roof.
For commercial use such as airport shuttles or taxis, Citroen’s offering the electric SpaceTourer Business – available in XS, M and XL and with five to nine seats – or SpaceTourer Business Lounge – available in M and XL and with six or seven seats.
Sounding like a Richard Branson fantasy, the SpaceTourer Business Lounge is a “living room or office on wheels” with individual leather seats positioned with their backs to the road (in row two), a sliding and retractable table and dark-tinted rear windows for privacy.
French prices start from 55,900 Euros ($91,500) for the e-SpaceTourer Feel with 50kWh battery, and 64,150 Euros ($105,000) for the XL Shine. Not cheap, but at least you can boast to your children how you’re offsetting their pesky carbon footprints.
On the commercial front, an e-SpaceTourer Business M starts at 53,150 Euro ($87,000) while the e-SpaceTourer Business Lounge XL starts from 62,000 Euros ($101,000).
Not numbers that will appeal to many Australia buyers, but Citroen’s Daniel Khan said PSA Group (Peugeot and Citroen in Australia) “is moving towards electrification, and in Australia it will be a two-stage process for Peugeot and Citroen with plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) coming first to prepare us for full EVs.”
