Robin – the E Deliver 3 – going places

OK, it’s a few weeks since we bought our E Deliver 3 and named it Robin (from its number plate). We have many plans for it, some of which we have achieved, others we are still working on.
Those achieved include
1. Removing the tacky plastic lining of the cargo area, and replacing it with a nice plywood lining. We used the existing plastic panels as templates for the plywood panels, we replaced the plastic clips holding the panels on with 5mm rivnuts, which mostly fitted into the wholes left by the clips. One or two had to be 6mm where there was too much play. M5 stainless screws and washers were used to secure the panels. We still have to do the top panels in all 3 doors, but the effect is excellent, a bit quieter and certainly nice to sleep in now.

2. Having roof rack rails fitted to the van. These are T-Slot rails, 2 metres long down each side of the roof. No roof bars yet, but they are or will be excellent attachment points for awnings, solar panels etc. I have 3d printed some attachments to hold the support tent poles for the main awning.
3. We worked very hard getting the awning that we had originally used on Squirrel to work on this van. The awning is meant to be supported by a rear lift up door, but Robin has a pair of unequal barn doors. Because squirrel was so small, we had already devised ways of supporting the awning where the door didn’t reach to, so we extended these changes to fully support the awning. Fiberglass poles fit into 3D printed brackets that fit into the roof tack rails. These keep the upright poles at the rear of the awning at the correct distance from the van to tension the awning and also support the awning along each side. A spreader bar maintains the tension across the back of the awning, and a couple of aluminium tent poles go across the awning to support the roof at two points over its length.
Here are some photos from the first fitting session!

3. As this van has a 50kWh battery, charging it with an 8 or 10amp EVSE becomes impractical when it is very low on power, one night it took 17 hours to recharge it! So we invested in a 32amp single phase untethered wall box from EV Power (OEM Audio), and had it fitted by Eco Wise Electrical Ltd, who modernized our fuse box, connected in an RCBO and a type B RCD and a twin pole isolation switch, and replaced all the fuse wire fuses with proper trippy switches with new sockets. It looks really good, and a couple of nights ago I put 28kWh into the van in 4:21!

4. We have done a road trip to the Hawkes Bay, 650 kilometers return, 2 nights camping with the awning on the van, sleeping in the van, two games of Disc Golf at two new courses (to us). The van was full of bikes and camping gear. Photos on campsite in Havelock North.

The van was fantastic to drive, very little fatigue or aches and pains on arrival, quiet and fun to drive, and handles quite well. We have been amazed at the low power usage since we got the van, and on this trip it didn’t disappoint. Over 651kms, it used 132.74 kWh, which is 20.39 kWh/100km, or 4.9 kms/kWh and represents a range of 246.3 kms from the 50.23 kWh battery! Spreadsheet here. All that with maybe 200kg of gear in the back!