[zesty]

The transit custom lashing points hold 500kg each spruce. A flat tank won’t go anywhere, pushed up against the bulk head and lashes down tight, it’ll be as safe as a framed upright tank.

At the end of the day, no matter how you secure the tank, you’re going to be in trouble in a high speed crash no matter what…

[CleanClear]

Away from home at the mo but I'll measure up when I'm back and give the exact part of the floor you can't bolt through.

Vin

Won’t different vans have different battery locations though? If I were going electric it would probably be the eCustom Sport I would opt for.

Same, that’s what im going for.

Battery takes up whole floor except the 1st quarter and last quarter of the van. So right where the tank goes the battery is underneath!

I’m going to use ratchet straps to strap a flat tank down if/when I get the e custom sport.

Aye a was thinking ratchet strapping might be the only option. I’ve got an upright 500 litre tank at the moment so wouldn’t feel comfortable ratchet strapping that, but the larger footprint of a flatter tank could be a possibility?

Have you test driven the e custom sport?

I’ve only test driven the limited, was a bit slow. But great to drive.

The sport does 0-60 in around 8.5 seconds, so not too shabby.

Whats the stopping distances like mate ?

[zesty]

Stopping distance is very good because of the regen braking. Better than diesel.

[CleanClear]

Stopping distance is very good because of the regen braking. Better than diesel.

Ok mate, beyond very good you don't actually know ?

I know  a little bit about regen though . Regen braking does not make stopping distances better. It doesn't add extra stopping power beyond what's already available. It can't match the braking force of friction brakes, especially in emergency or high-speed stops.

'very good'    Can't let you be getting away with that !!

[zesty]

Stopping distance is very good because of the regen braking. Better than diesel.

Ok mate, beyond very good you don't actually know ?

I know  a little bit about regen though . Regen braking does not make stopping distances better. It doesn't add extra stopping power beyond what's already available. It can't match the braking force of friction brakes, especially in emergency or high-speed stops.

'very good'    Can't let you be getting away with that !!

You can Google the stopping distance, I don’t really care to be honest 

[Scottish Cleaning Service]

What would happen if you lived high up and your battery was 100% charged and you set off for work and its all down hill? Is this the reason why they tell you to only charge the battery to 80%?

[zesty]

What would happen if you lived high up and your battery was 100% charged and you set off for work and its all down hill? Is this the reason why they tell you to only charge the battery to 80%?

Nothing would happen, except you’d use more energy going back home!

You only charge to 80% to preserve the battery health for as long as possible. Nothing wrong with charging to 100% but no need to that regularly, unless you need to for a longer trip.

[Splash and dash]

Stopping distance is very good because of the regen braking. Better than diesel.

Regen braking is nothing to do with improving braking it just means it charges the battery whilst you are breaking

[zesty]

Stopping distance is very good because of the regen braking. Better than diesel.

Regen braking is nothing to do with improving braking it just means it charges the battery whilst you are breaking

No it really is. Trust me, I’ve test driven one.

When in one pedal mode, it’s extremely powerful at decelerating. Combined with using the brakes, it will stop much quicker than the equivalent diesel.

Ultimately you’re governed by the tyres and mechanical grip, but it stops very quickly. The regen is ‘engine braking’ but on steroids.

As soon as you’re off the throttle, the van is slowing down aggressively. No time wasted (I know it’s only half a second) between moving from accelerator to brake.

At the end of the day, who cares anyway? I literally couldn’t care less how soon the van stops. As long as it stops in a reasonable distance which literally every modern vehicle on planet earth does.

[Perfect Windows]

I've done the measurement. The battery is 105cm wide (or so - I'm not going under again to measure to the mm).

If the bolt holes on your cage are further apart than that, you can bolt through. Ours aren't, so we popped to Cheltenham to Cleevely, EV specialists, who dropped out the battery and allowed us to use their lift while we fitted the tank. Overall, the job was five and a half hours. At £100 an hour it cost £550.

Now we know what we're doing, I reckon it would be around two and a half to three hours: 45 mins for them to disconnect and drop the battery, 45 to refit and the remainder would be our fitting time. The biggest time vacuum the first go around was the endless measuring to be sure that the tank would fit and that the bolts and spreader plates wouldn't interfere with the cooling fluid pipes on top of the battery. Here's a pic of a battery to show what I mean:



Handful of points:

I don't care how anyone else fits their tank. All I care about is how we fit ours. There are 382,766 other threads on that subject, all exactly the same.

Braking - the only comment on that is that it stops quickly enough for me. Everything I've read on EVs says to do a proper emergency stop once a month or the brakes can seize from lack of use. When I've done that, it stopped plenty fast enough.

The only experience I have is of Stellantis EVs (they all come from the same factory so they are all the same) and a Gardiner tank (the forerunner to the Grippa offering). We chose a Stellantis EV because it was insanely, bizarrely, stupidly cheap, but they are now even cheaper - there was a 36k mile, grade A battery 2021 Citroen e-Dispatch up the other day for a buy it now of £8,500 + VAT. Potty. If Transits were even close to that we might be looking at them. A van is a tool for us; the cheaper the better.

Vin

[CleanClear]

I've done the measurement. The battery is 105cm wide (or so - I'm not going under again to measure to the mm).

If the bolt holes on your cage are further apart than that, you can bolt through. Ours aren't, so we popped to Cheltenham to Cleevely, EV specialists, who dropped out the battery and allowed us to use their lift while we fitted the tank. Overall, the job was five and a half hours. At £100 an hour it cost £550.

Now we know what we're doing, I reckon it would be around two and a half to three hours: 45 mins for them to disconnect and drop the battery, 45 to refit and the remainder would be our fitting time. The biggest time vacuum the first go around was the endless measuring to be sure that the tank would fit and that the bolts and spreader plates wouldn't interfere with the cooling fluid pipes on top of the battery. Here's a pic of a battery to show what I mean:



Handful of points:

I don't care how anyone else fits their tank. All I care about is how we fit ours. There are 382,766 other threads on that subject, all exactly the same.

So its cost you a day off work, at whatever your daily expected rate is . Then £550 to have a system fitted ? Thats cool, all i asked for and probably all anyone else expected was just like asked... the cost. We now know it was £550 .

 Further ... i've highlighted it in red.... you now know what you're doing ?  This makes no sense to me as you didn't fit the tank.

Further again :

Scared the boy the other day when I pulled into a gap in a line of 30mph traffic with a touch of vigour the other day. Great fun to drive.

I'll add nothing to that you big macho man you............... 

Ultimatley the takeaway i have from this is that its quite an operation to remove a van battery to enable drilling into a floor to secure a water tank. Probably not a job for a home enthusiast.

Vin

[Perfect Windows]

This makes no sense to me as you didn't fit the tank.

The clue is in the phrase "...and allowed us to use their lift while we fitted the tank."

Vin

[AuRavelling79]

This makes no sense to me as you didn't fit the tank.

The clue is in the phrase "...and allowed us to use their lift while we fitted the tank."

Vin

Ah. Vin, you haven't appreciated that sometimes CleanClear's late night/early hours postings aren't always his most lucid.

[tlwcs]

This makes no sense to me as you didn't fit the tank.

The clue is in the phrase "...and allowed us to use their lift while we fitted the tank."

Vin

Ah. Vin, you haven't appreciated that sometimes CleanClear's late night/early hours postings aren't always his most lucid.

Trolling is ok when drunk? Asking for a friend 😁

[Perfect Windows]

All going well. Not caught fire yet.

But there's one fly in the ointment.

The van should be able to connect to the Vauxhall app. Can I make it happen? Can I hell.

Purpose is to allow you to check battery state of charge while away from the van (saves walking out to check in the rain, etc). But the main thing, the thing I desperately want to work, is that you can precondition the van. In winter, you should be able to set the van to warm up ten minutes (or whatever) before you get in.

Now, it's less of a problem than you might think as the van uses an electric heater for the cab air so it's pretty much instant - no need for an engine to warm up - but preconditioning means you can do it while the van's plugged in so you're not wasting any charge.

Forums are full of people (rightly) saying the app is useless. Some people even load the Peugeot software instead (last resort for me, Vauxhall claim to be on the case with my problem).

Minor irritation but an irritation, all the same.

Vin

[zesty]

That’s why you stay clear of vauxhalls 

[The Jester of Wibbly]

All going well. Not caught fire yet.

But there's one fly in the ointment.

The van should be able to connect to the Vauxhall app. Can I make it happen? Can I hell.

Purpose is to allow you to check battery state of charge while away from the van (saves walking out to check in the rain, etc). But the main thing, the thing I desperately want to work, is that you can precondition the van. In winter, you should be able to set the van to warm up ten minutes (or whatever) before you get in.

Now, it's less of a problem than you might think as the van uses an electric heater for the cab air so it's pretty much instant - no need for an engine to warm up - but preconditioning means you can do it while the van's plugged in so you're not wasting any charge.

Forums are full of people (rightly) saying the app is useless. Some people even load the Peugeot software instead (last resort for me, Vauxhall claim to be on the case with my problem).

Minor irritation but an irritation, all the same.

Vin

Pre conditioning is really good.

I thought you had pay a subscription to use the app and connect to the vehicles SIM card?    The sim card also comes in handy for live traffic monitoring for sat nav, set your route up from your phone pre journey, vehicle tracking (could reduce insurance premium), vehicle control and maintenance monitoring, journey data and more.

I'm only talking from experience as that's what I need to do to use the MYBMW app for my personal car.

[Always shining]

Still waiting for my log book then I’m going to attempt getting  on the Vauxhall app for the same reasons - state of battery and the pre-conditioning.
I bought a new 500l flat tank (instead of the 650l upright I have already) and I’m waiting for the frame to arrive but just looking underneath it looks there there is more than enough room underneath to bolt the frame in either side of the battery. I’m going to get my local garage to stick it on the ramp and then we can have a proper look but from an initial look it doesn’t look like a problem.
What size tank did you fit that meant you had to drop the battery and was it an upright?
Have to agree with you that it drives lovely.
I’ve only been pottering in it at the moment as I’m still using my old van whilst I set up the vivaro so have been driving in mainly eco. The other day on the by-pass I slipped it in the power mode. The instant power was very quick!
Very impressed so far

[Perfect Windows]

Mine's the prototype of the Grippa, one supplied and fitted by Gardiners.

Tank cage is about 110cm across but the bolt holes are a maximum of maybe 102cm apart (they are movable but that's their max separation). That means the front mountings need to be inside the area covered by the front of the battery, the battery being roughly 110cm across. Hence dropping the battery.

The rear mountings are behind the back edge of the battery so could be fitted at leisure (though worth noting the problems we had even with those, highlighted above).

Vin

[Always shining]

Got you.
I’ll have to have a measure when I get home but I’ve got a feeling for some reason that my battery isn’t as wide as that. I may be wrong.
I’ve only checked visually so far.
Let me know how you go on with the Vauxhall ap. I’m sure the guy at Vauxhall where I got the van from said it was £7.00 a month