Peugeot e-2008 2019 first drive

You can get this electrically powered SUV in every one of the 2008’s available trim levels but the one we tried was a GT Line (£32,000), three-quarters of the way up the ladder and quite classy inside, with some faux-leather and funky contrast stitching, with silvered plastics used sparingly enough that you can almost be convinced they’re actual chrome. 

Adults will be able to get seated behind adults easily - you’d hope so too, in a car 4.3m long - and behind that there’s a 360-litre boot that Peugeot says is a very strong loadspace for the class. Depending on which class you pop it in, I suppose.

At this trim grade, the 2008 gets a large central touchscreen that’s nice to look at but sometimes fiddly to use - the temperature control, at least, ought to be separated from it. And there’s a new, fancier 3D take on Peugeot’s i-Cockpit, which as usual features a small steering wheel that’ll probably obscure part of the instrument pack, unless you set it very low and giving yourself a karty driving position. 

The instrument pack now has several distinct layers, with a speedo, for example, reflected onto a screen from beneath - a bit like a head-up display, just in the usual instrument position. I’m making it sound more complicated than it is in reality. The idea is that, thanks to mirrors various, the instruments are actually projected from a greater distance from your eyes than regular dials, reducing the time you need to refocus from the road. Can’t say I noticed that, but it is a particularly attractive, customisable display.

The mechanical layout is straightforward. CMP is a steel monocoque with MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam at the rear. As with combusted models, the electric motor sits beneath the bonnet, along with its inverter and other ancillaries, and drives the front wheels, with no 4WD option. Such is the way of small crossovers/SUVs that you don’t even ask about four-wheel drive these days. 

The 50kWh battery, smaller than the 64kWh ones you'd find in a Hyundai Kona Electric or Kia e-Niro, sits where the gearbox would otherwise be, down the centre line, and in an H-shape beneath the seats, so doesn’t impinge on passenger space. It gives a WLTP range of 193 miles. You can charge it at 100kW from a DC fast charger, with up to 7.4kW from a single-phase AC wallbox that you can have fitted as part of the deal. Via a DC fast charge, you can put 80% charge into the battery in half an hour, while a full charge is 7.5 hours from a 7.4kW box - so overnight, really. (There’s an optional 11kW charger if you have three-phase power, but most UK supplies are single phase. In which case, the 11kW option actually takes ages because the car can only charge through one of the three phases – so 11 divided by three, or 3.7kW. Yes, bit complicated. We’ll get used to it.) The battery is warrantied for eight years and, come resale time, Peugeot will give you a battery capacity certificate that will eventually be just another part of buying a used car: ‘Does it have service history, outstanding finance, has it been nicked, and how much life is left in the battery?’

The e-2008 finds itself as an unusual proposition. This is one of the best compact crossovers there is (not a high bar, granted) and with an electric option that is deliberately un-weird.

I’m still waiting for a small SUV that really sets new standards and, if you like driving, I still think you’d be better off with a lower car that is nicer to drive. But the e-2008 has distilled things to a simple proposition: if you like a 2008, does a zero-emission variant suit the way you’ll use the car? As Guillaume Clerc, the chief engineer on the 208 and 2008 projects, says: “If we can’t sell electric Peugeot 208s or 2008s, the world isn’t ready for EVs.” My guess is that it’ll do just fine.