This is a BRAND NEW Citroen 2CV AK Electric Delivery van - exclusive first drive review

foreign the AK was citroen's charismatic commercial cousin to the Citron 2cv people's car that we all know and love it transported Goods that weren't too heavy all across cities towns and Villages but not too far of course to all those places that we love and it did it in that utilitarian commercial simple charm that today we kind of crave I think but what about what about if I told you that today you could buy a brand new version of the AK and if you wanted to you could have it completely Electric in the case of this particular car well this is it this is the eve and this is the source of the review on today's show I'm Johnny Smith welcome to the late break show and this episode is proudly supported by blackcircles.com Britain's largest online Thai retailer [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] fake [Music] [Applause] now before we start playing with this retro EV van you're probably looking at that thinking it looks a little bit familiar well that's because in a previous episode on The Late break show a couple of years ago I reviewed this car which is the electric cousin to that oh if you haven't watched this there's a link above my head now I promise there is you can watch this bonjour Darren as they say in Wiltshire bonjour my baby yeah exactly so this is your creation this thing Darren it is and what's what fascinates me is um tell I want to tell the audience how new it is this is pretty much all new right most things you can see is brand new right um the only things on all these windows yeah really yeah everything else you can see is brand new wow okay suspension arms uh Wheels tires lights yeah yeah wow okay so we'll start the front end and we'll flip it around to talk about the back end so the front end of the eve this body shell yeah is a new body shop it's a brand new 2cv body shell which we cut down the B Post Yeah to mount on the van back the van back so so you you've been able to buy new shelves for a while I know with the passenger cars yep and we'll go through the slight differences in a minute when you sit in there so from here forward we've got the we've got the the motor the brushless motor with the original gearbox yes yeah um disc brakes because they yeah and and um things like lights this is like a optional LEDs or is this this is just normal halogen lights we will be offering LEDs eventually yeah um but this was yeah I did like this is just a prototype test meal yeah so yeah it's just a standard this bit forward apart from this roof is a electric 2cv is it yeah it's great it does look so nice doesn't it with the three bolt the three bolt because these are brand new Wheels aren't they yeah yeah they are these are brand new still made in France Wheels yeah they're yeah they're the original made it yeah the original Citroen Wheels yeah Citroen two CVS always had comically thin tires one two fives is standard or like this this has one three five fifteens for a little bit of extra width but regardless of whether you've got an older car or a new car electric or piston when it comes to needing new tires head to blackcircles.com head to the black circles website enter your vehicle registration number and your postcode and then you'll find the most suitable tires for your car and your budget there are thousands of reviews of different tires from real customers to help you choose the best tires for your car and with the black circles click and fit service with over 2 000 Tire fitting Partners there will be a garage or a mobile tire fitter conveniently located near you chassis new chassis galvanized brand new chassis yep uh this one is not galvanized on this one but they they do come galvanized yes yeah okay um if the black ones are a 10 year warranty the galvanized ones are guaranteed for life and that's the ones we recommend to go for if you're watching this as someone that's not familiar with two CVS you're thinking a new chassis actually put the new chassis under a two CVS seems to be a relatively common job yes they do rot well the car in the day was made it was a very very cheap car yeah and made to a price and also the latter years is made in Portugal so there's no rust protection right so or very little of course you bring them to the UK they don't last there are stories of this chassis rotten away before it was out in a two-year warranty really a warranty here because there was just no protection at all no gosh right the early ones are different but the later ones was built in Portugal but most of them now have been replaced yeah and this chassis is a made in a license from Citron okay so it's a Citroen part it's made by my part supply Mahari Club Cassis in the south of France wow talk to me about the sort of the size of the battery pack the size of the motor the proposed range yeah the motor is the same as electric 2cev um it's a 15 kilowatt motor the honor van because a battery pack is mounted centrally we can offer two sizes oh yeah 10 kilowatt hour or 20. yeah um this is a 10. um this will do we tell people about 60 to 65 miles in central London it would do over 75 miles what I've actually done you've done it yes but what people don't realize it took me a day and a half to do 75 miles in London because the traffic of course yeah well then City range and EVS is is often way way higher because of all that start stop and it's got regen braking of course so yes it's very mild it's not like a modern electric car but yes it has got regen breaking um the the bigger battery pack 20 kilowatt hour we were hoping about 120 530 mile range but what the van is designed to do most people will only need the 10K at one hour and that was almost my next question what is the sort of proposed audience for this in my head I'm thinking kind of upend high-end Boutique yeah it's art exam businesses who um want to stand out because you know if you make a everywhere you go in this people we've done a bit of a photo shoot in London when I was doing the uh test drive and I was in a car behind and when you're driving it you don't realize how many people are stopping to look at you yeah and like well not look at the van because it's it stands out yeah and if you want someone stands out from the norm there's not much on the market yeah to do that your pet you're paying a premium for the fact that it is a brand new retro yeah and PR tool and it's going to be made very small numbers and also they're made to order we don't make the Vans then sell them people order a van and we make it to their specification how long does it take to build one do you think uh we'll look about three months from start to finish okay yeah and you do all of that stuff in-house we do everything announced we've got our own paint shop so you can have any color um literally any color um the the EV kit we fit yeah it's all done in-house we don't manufacture the chassis but stuff like that but that's bought in from our supplier yeah yeah so what does the EV feel like well the first thing you've got to remember with this car this the philosophy of it is that the EV conversion is relative power to what the car originally had so if you're expecting a really fast you know like Street sleeper kind of approach with sort of Tesla levels of acceleration this is not that car so this feels like sort of around about a 30 horsepower car and as such it isn't fast off for Mark you have still got a gearbox like Darren said so typically you'll select third or fourth one of the tallest gears and then just pull away in that and leave it now if you hear wind rustling by it's a very hot day today uh it's worryingly for England and um we've got the air con look so if you see sunlight underneath the windscreen it's because I've got the the air conditioning flap open which is just a giant knob that opens and closes there's a knob down there so I can adjust that look there you go I can tweak it but as I cruise through this Village it reminds me of how much I've missed being in a 2cv it's so soft it's so soft and these seats are so squidgy it's a really comfortable place to be in actually I mean I'm I'm tall I'm six foot three Darren's not a small guy we can both fit in it I've got tons of leg room it's a flat floor so all the kind of practical parts of it they kind of Stack Up the indicators louder than that guy's motorbike because the indicator solenoid is actually in there so the brakes are pretty good actually on this um but they're standard and that's because the the weight is relatively close to standard 2cv and the performance is close to seven so instead of upgrading so much stuff they have actually upgraded the damping a little bit but that's about it let's explore the corners so I'm going to drive flat out regardless of the corner let's see what happens let the 135s do the grip do the work it's almost one of those cars actually you can drive it flat out and you don't come unstuck but just remember the 2cb was designed to drive across a plowed field with eggs on board and deliver a comfortable ride but also it was such a cheap simple car which is why it's a master class in minimalism and you forget that you know your dash cluster is it consists of barely anything a heater for the demister windscreen wipers fog lights at the back mandatory and there's your Speedo when there's sort of waving needle and a mono spoke wheel the mono spoke so This Is 40 miles an hour I've got my gauge down here which gives me the range and as we said before this is sort of between 60 and 70 mile-ish range car this is a small range car so if you're looking at it going hang on it's a 40 Grand van that's brand new old-school looking which it can't travel very far and it can't be rapidly charged you can fully charge in about two and a half hours on a three kilowatt Supply so like a three pin Mains plug really if that just sounds useless to you then you won't even entertain this but I think there's enough this is a niche where there's enough brands individuals businesses who would see the promotional value of it or want to have an EV delivery van that delivers stuff that's fairly lightweight and premium perhaps quirky and those are the people that might see the potential in this the Eevee or AK 350 depending on what are you going to call it don't call it it's interesting because it's not an official Citroen so we flip the car around or van around because I want to talk about this first of all before we talk about the build of this quick AK history lesson for people that don't know much about AKs like me I know this version there's three there's been three verses basically there's three versions AK 250 AK 350 and ak-400 the AK 250 was based on the car chassis yeah um same height as this van but around about nine inches smaller wheelbase yeah the back of the van oh okay okay right yeah um the AK 350 what this is based on yeah is is a longer van a low roof right okay um the ak-400 at the same length but it's about six inches higher so it's got the aerodynamic properties of a house brick okay right okay okay so this is the 350. yeah it basically it's based on the 350 yeah yeah and the the this back is is not metal no it's not so the car shell is metal and you you chop the car basically we drop it down the B post build a a a frame in yeah so we can Bolt the fiberglass yeah body to the to to the um the the B post so this is all fiberglass which is kind of good because the original 2cv metal is extremely thin and rusted quite badly in the UK yeah so the one I did the intro next to that lovely patinated van by your Workshop is that a 250. yes it is yeah that's a tips that's an early yeah an early van brilliant so we've got that out of the way because I was really interested to know about that wait I want to know about the weight because van people will go tell me the way tell me how much you can fit in it those are the things they want to know the curb weight of the van is 650 kilograms 650 kilograms with the battery pack it's just because I weighed it the other day on the way Bridge did you yep so with the battery and everything I got a minute I thought it was gonna be a bit more on that but it's 650 kilograms and that's the small battery pack this yes yes okay right um the payload with it's it's about 380 kilograms it'll take right um you know I've tested it when we done our the photo shoot in London yeah myself I drove it and I had 200 just over 200 kilograms of 2cv gearboxes in the back because I could pick them up yeah and it was absolutely fine really yeah and I suppose it's never going to be a fast long-range vehicle no never never designed it's not designed to cross a continent yeah and it's not designed to take two ton of gravel no um like we said it this is based on the car chassis yeah but all we have done is upgraded the real suspension I was just about to do the official bounce desk CCV bounce test because they are ridiculous so I mean the Space is really good totally flat um Threshold at the back the battery pack lives behind the seats yeah um did the original vehicle have the same layout as this or did it have a bulkhead um I had a bulkhead we can put a bulkhead in um the original van had inner wings so when you look at the other van and the wing came all the way down because you had the will Arch one side was a fuel tank the other side was supposed to spare wheel carrier okay okay of course you don't need the fuel tank no um obviously by taking those out we have gained a lot of room yeah yeah so you've got some lash stands are these glass fiber yep okay so the doors are glass fiber nice let's just show those and the windows are in neat shape but are these is this the original shape or no we've got to offer to win uh three three options no windows yeah the windows what was period to the AK 350 what was sort of this size sort of oblong yeah squares this is period to the very early Vans you get the very early Ripple Bonnet Vans very early 2cb van without the sort of lodging shaped window what really looks good not the most practical Windows to look out but they do look the part so the French porthole yeah or the or the oblong for more practicality but again so so I can't believe how light it is yeah no it's 650 kilos honestly I couldn't believe it myself yeah 650. how much are they are 40 000 pound plus the v80 okay um yeah dude for the electric one yeah we can do a petrol one and they start at 33 000 plus fat okay so if you're watching this and you're thinking I like the idea of all this brand new 2cv van stuff but I'm not interested in electric you could order one with a normal piston yeah you know flat twin yeah 602 CC yeah about 40 break horsepower yeah oh stop it with your performance yes there's lots of hills around here around here um or the highest voltage so it does feel authentically kind of old school this is not you know this is a an air cooled brushless motor this is not you kind of like Tesla Motors or you're really really Cutting Edge stuff but it's it's it's robust and of course it's front-wheel drive because all two CVS work with rack and pinion steering if you watched my Morris electric van feature which went viral it seemed I'll put a link up on my head for that if you haven't seen it another another case in point of a commercial vehicle that's deeply retrospective and you pay the premium for that kind of retro appeal but with Modern Electric drivetrain so will suit you layers low emission zones congestion where things need to be delivered but of course this van back here this glass fiber back is perfect as an advertising ad board you know whatever your brand is if you want to get it color coded it is old school you get the slight wine of the transmission get a bit of wind noise those lovely headlights on stalks these ridiculous Wing mirrors on Long stalks the corrugated sides okay windy body roll the body roll the body roll is just so massive it is absolutely massive but you know it's not going to fall over because they just hang on with that amazing that amazing independent suspension that it has I mean a lot of two CVS still get used as daily driving vehicles in in hotter countries typically and the Nemesis of the two CVS really always been rust but when you buy one that's brand new that's got you know galvanized chassis glass fiber back brand new body shell you're eliminating so many of the 2cv issues I typically do 50 new car reviews on electric vehicles on The Late break show so I'll put the playlist for my EVS up on the screen somewhere now you can have a browse that's brand new kind of sensorable practical cars and slightly quirky brand new electric stuff like this apparently a very very famous person in the film industry now I must not name has not only got one of these on order but he's also got three electric Maharis would you like the the Citron the equivalent of citrine's mini moak or beach buggy and he's got them in his French residence but he cannot be named sadly it's quite a heartthrob for many you're probably thinking how fast is this Johnny what's the top end on the old on the old EV well it's 60. I'm doing 40 now I've got my flat on the throttle I'm in third so it it doesn't have a great deal of tour but at the same time it feels appropriate for the car that I'm in I didn't do French at school so I've got no idea how to say this is the new fully electric brand new it's an AK van called the EV I'm Johnny Smith welcome to the late break show I don't know how to say that in French I can't speak French and just let the Funky Music do the talking is [Music] [Music] so this is more roomy than the original one it is yeah well that is good and then what else have you got inside I mean I say this like a 2cv is a technologically packed car we wanted to keep it we didn't want to it's a two it's a two CV but electric yeah that's that that's what we wanted so Reinventing its style wise now we got the the battery gauge yeah there's a much power you got yeah we got to switch for the electric uh windscreen demister yeah um and there's two lights here for um if the door is open yeah and the other one is to tell you that the power is on so no one else no we got the conventional handbrake the original gear lever what is I wanted to keep because it's a DNA of the car that is so important yeah um um so it still has a gearbox yeah and we'll dissimilar to the previous tcv you basically put it in a higher gear and just yeah you just leave it in third or fourth um first skill is blocked off was too low uh this one's got the optional air conditioning the uh the flap on the front that's not optional no no I stand there I don't understand it don't sell yourself short so there you go there's your there's your your French peasant AC right there it's just a big flat like if you know a classic Land Rover it's the same it's just a big flap at the base of the and it works well that's great and a cup holder yeah and that now that is a optional extra that is optional we have we have got cut borders and I tried and tested it all across the states a year ago so it will they work well it does work and apart from that that is it that is it same with same flip up Windows yeah same basic doors same sun visors it it's a two CV but electric and I'm all right and thinking like the car can you choose the fabric for the seats yeah we have got to think around about 32 types of different fabric you can choose I love the fabric and yeah amazing and also the seats come out okay the same as original cars you're sliding forward yeah take them out put them on the floor so when you on your lunch break and your picnic you can sit in the seat to mount for something brilliant this is your little trolley that I remember from last time your demonstrator unit so this is the same again as the van right the original tcv gearbox inboard discs mated to the brushless motor here um control module on top yeah battery pack at the back yeah I had I had to look at this because when I first turned up I thought this is probably my one of my two three favorite color schemes on two CBS I love this two-tone but this one's this is the first customer EV conversion okay um yeah this is a this is we're still I haven't finished it yet and we're still waiting for the paperwork for the dvla the car came over from Switzerland and it's gonna now be living in London brilliant so it's been it's been built for London years yeah yeah awesome the throttle is it could do with being a little bit smoother it's a little bit on off um but I'm sure that's something that you can change this particular car is the first um the kind of prototype build for the van they've done several cars now with the van version this is the first who's gonna be the first high-end Barista to order one with your beard and your waistcoat if you were a guy that is I mean women can wear waistcoats sure about a beard right let's get some speed off he says putting his foot to the floor and going from 40 to 45. in about 10 seconds lovely Countryside Round Here this isn't really the native environment that the the electric van the Eevee should be in because this is more really about town cities Village Life can just imagine it load it up to the roof with Patisserie related confectionery and French sticks and lovely bottles of French beer and other French stuff onions champagne edible snails now of course I don't just feature electric cars on this show new electric cars so you could be watching this thinking I like this but I don't like the electric element of it well that's fine for seven thousand quid less you could order it with the 602 CC flat twin air called engine that it was born with and enjoy it as a little piston car most people's rationale to spend 40 000 pounds plus VAT on a sort of brand new vintage Van that although this one's electric it doesn't really go any faster than the original car does will seem like what's the point what's the point at all it's probably lost on most people but what we have here is we have a really niche interesting car that you could use as a rolling advert as well as a lightweight short Journey usable commercial vehicle and it does have I think it's got tons of charm to it it's brilliant that you can have something like this with a brand new number plate on it and you can legitimately use it could use it as a brand extension for me it's just nice to get in something like this and remind myself of how simple and utilitarian Vehicles can be yet you have a big smile on your face I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the late break show if you haven't already subscribed why not subscribe I do an awful lot of electric car stuff both quirky and odd like this and brand new and fairly normal uh have a look at our merch as well I'll put a link in the description below we sell merch you might want some you might not it's fine not offended [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Late Brake Show

Views: 386,020

Keywords: jonny smith ev reviews, carpervert, citroen 2cv restomod, citroen ak400, citroen 2cv, best small electric vans 2023, best ev minivan, classic van, citroen van camper, 2cv review, citroen h van engine swap, 4k, electric van review, 2cv suspension, the late brake show, jonny smith cars, best new coffee van, barista van, citroen ami review, electric 2cv conversion, classic car ev conversion, 2cv, quirky delivery driver, morris ev van, electric conversion van, ev

Id: 2enBRbJaT4c

Length: 28min 24sec (1704 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 01 2023