Well-priced seven-seat SUV gains fully electric options in its third generation On sale Autumn Price from £48,500 (est)
James Tute james.tute@haymarket.com
WHETHER YOU’RE LOOKING for new shoes or a film to stream, the choice is almost infinite. If, on the other hand, you want a seven-seat electric SUV, your options are strictly limited, so the arrival of this new Peugeot e-5008 in the exclusive electric seven-seater club is potentially good news for large families keen to switch from the pump to the plug.
It will be available in single-motor form from later this year, alongside a new 5008 Hybrid. They will be followed next year by a plug-in hybrid 5008, plus two more e-5008s.
The 210 Single Motor launch model’s electric motor produces 210bhp, and its battery has a 73kWh usable capacity.This yields an official range of 311 miles, which is some way short of what the entry-level Kia EV9 can manage but beats most versions of the Mercedes-Benz EQB.
This will be followed by a 230 Long Range Single Motor model with a 98kWh (usable capacity) battery. It’s predicted to be capable of a class-leading 410 miles between charges, although that figure has yet to be officially confirmed.
There will also be a 320 Dual Motor AWD version with four-wheel drive and the same 73kWh battery as the regular single-motor version. It is expected to have the same 311-mile range as the entry-level model.
Peugeot says a maximum charging rate of 160kW – which is slower than that of the EV9 – will allow for a 20-80% top-up in half an hour, or add 62 miles of range in just 10 minutes.
Whichever power option you pick, there should be more room inside than in the existing 5008.The e-5008 is the first model built on an extended version of the underpinnings already used as the basis for Peugeot’s recently launched e-3008 electric family SUV, and it has grown from just over 4.6 metres long to almost 4.8 metres.
The e-5008 follows the two-three-two seating format of the outgoing 5008, but the three second-row seats have a new folding mechanism.This allows their seatbacks to tilt and slide forwards and, combined with wide rear door openings, should improve access to the two rearmost seats – something we’ve found awkward in the smaller EQB.
With all seven seats in use, the e-5008 has 259 litres of boot space, which is quite a lot less than in the EV9 (333 litres). Still, that’s about the same size as the boot of a Toyota Yaris hatchback, into which we fitted four carry-on suit
