Peugeot’s all-new E-5008 is an important turning point in Peugeot’s massive drive towards electric vehicles. This is the first time the historically top-selling 5008 model has been available in fully-electric form. It also marks the first seven-seater SUV from the brand – which in its own segment, has fairly limited rivals. If you wanted a seven-seat Peugeot EV before this, your only option was the more van-focussed Peugeot E-Rifter. I got the chance to try out the new E-5008 on UK roads, for the first time, at Peugeot’s E-5008 press test drive event, encompassing a hundred mile-plus route from the heart of the English countryside, to an EV-friendly destination, in Bristol.
Before we took the E-5008 onto the road, Peugeot was keen to present its EV offensive in the UK, which now stands at 12 specific BEVs: That’s nine fully-electric passenger cars, and three fully-electric light commercial vehicles. The Peugeot team also highlighted the other seven-seat electric SUVs which the E-5008 will compete with, specifically the Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90.
For pricing, the E-5008 starts at £48,550 in the UK, the EV9 is a significant chunk higher at £65,025, and the EX90 near double, at £96,255. Whilst that’s an impressive saving over its rivals, the E-5008 in its most affordable form is still over £11,000 more expensive than its equivalent petrol hybrid sibling, which starts at £37,360 on the road. It’s a shame that neither a closer price match, or even price parity, could be reached, like Vauxhall’s new Frontera EV has managed to deliver, also under the Stellantis brand.
The car I tested was the E-5008 GT, with the most affordable electric setup, consisting of a 73kWh battery, and an electric motor delivering 210 horsepower, with an on the road price of about £52,350. This setup offers up a drivable range of around 311 miles.
First impressions
Looking at the E-5008 in the flesh for the first time, it’s unmistakably a large car – if not looking like as much of a behemoth as the Kia EV9. Its large size looks purposeful, however, and is combined with the impressive design language we’ve seen on many recent Peugeots. Just look at this E-5008, compared to the first generation of the model, and you can clearly see how the firm is repositioning itself as a premium brand.
Moving to the inside, and first impression is.. it’s big. Peugeot extended the length of the new E-5008 over the outgoing model, and that pays dividends when it comes to interior space. Even with the third row of seats in place, boot space is still respectable, whilst becoming seriously cavernous in five-seat form. That third row does position the E-5008 as a seriously practical family EV. However, personally, even though I’d rarely, if ever, need that third row, I’d still consider this EV as something to run around in with the third row always down, to have that massive boot space. Go further, and fold that second row down, which also lies flat, and the E-5008 turns into a makeshift van.
The premium feel continues on the inside, too. The optional Nappa leather coating each seat is a nice touch, whilst all interior plastics and materials feel fairly top notch. This, combined with the compact steering wheel, and wraparound dashboard, made from a blend of metal and grey fabric, makes the E-5008 feel special. It seems to set it apart from EVs from some other manufacturers, which are starting to look unrecognisable from brand-to-brand.
On the road
Get behind the wheel, and the E-5008 handles like a smaller car than its size suggests. Facing forward, you’d forget that there’s an entire five seats behind you. Even on the narrow Cotswold country lanes where I began the journey, the E-5008 felt manoeuvrable and easy to place on the road, despite its size. And that’s coming from someone who’s used to driving a much smaller car, day-to-day.
Despite the enormous cabin, there’s none of that echo typically associated with large seven seater EVs, particularly those in van form. Even getting onto the motorway, the E-5008 remains pretty silent. Settling into the trip, I tried out another of the E-5008’s party tricks… the massage function, available on both front seats, offering several different techniques. It’s impressive to see something so flashy on a Peugeot, as a feature that most, including me, would associate with more luxurious brands such as Mercedes-Benz.
Whilst it was only a quick hour down the motorway to our half-way point, that feature, combined with the seriously supportive seats, supple ride, and decent sound system, gave me the impression that the E-5008 could also be the perfect large EV for long roadtrips. With the arrival of a longer-range variant next year, packing a larger 98kWh battery and even more impressive 415 miles range, that capability could be used even further.
The 210 horsepower electric motor in this model delivers a 0-62mph time of 9.7 seconds, which doesn’t sound fast on paper, but that instant torque which all EVs benefit from makes this E-5008 feel much faster than the figures suggest – more than adequate when it came to overtaking a tractor, or merging onto a dual carriageway, off a short slip road. Peugeot will start selling a 322 horsepower dual-motor variant in the UK next year, for those who want plenty more oomph, bringing that 0-62mph time down to a sports car-rivalling 6 seconds.
The small screen located further down the dashboard acts as a shortcut screen, allowing you to navigate to different parts of the main screen. Whilst there are several physical buttons for critical controls below this, such as heating the front and rear windscreen, or quickly turning off the fans, it would be even more usable if that screen could also double up as a display for features such as climate control or media, as losing whatever else was on my main screen whenever I wanted to adjust my temperature, seat ventilation, or massage function, was slightly frustrating.
Charging Up
Peugeot’s infotainment software makes use of TomTom mapping, which, as you’d hope on an EV, gives visibility of chargers across the nation, with recommended stopping points for charging shown when you enter a long route into the nav. Without even reading the instructions yet, I pressed the voice button on the steering wheel, and asked the car where the nearest EV chargers were, which worked instantly. This was a really neat touch, allowing me to easily view the nearest chargepoints on the move, without having to take my hands off the wheel. Personally, I still prefer using Waze, so it was handy to have Apple CarPlay baked in to the screen, too.
There was no need to search for a charger on this route, though, with our test drive route taking us to Mollies Diner in North Bristol – a restaurant and hotel which caters really well for EV travellers, with an installation of 14 GRIDSERVE chargers, consisting of both rapid 100kW DC chargers, and slower overnight chargers. As one of my first times charging an EV, it’s great to see contactless payment options, without the need for specific apps of cards, making the process near instantaneous. There’s a simple indication on the dashboard of how quickly battery charging is taking place, with the car display simply showing how many miles of range are being added, per hour – an easily understandable figure, especially for those who may be owning an EV for the first time – compared to the multitude of figures shown on the charge point itself unit.
The maximum charging speed of the E-5008 stands at 150kW, which isn’t the fastest in the segment – the more expensive Kia EV9 will do 210kW – but it still enables a 20-80% DC fast charging time of 30 minutes. This wasn’t prohibitive at the 100kW station we stopped at, but, in the longer term, once more ultra-rapid chargers roll out across the UK, this slower speed could become more notable.
Verdict
The Peugeot E-5008 is already on sale in entry-level motor spec, in which form it has become one of the affordable seven-seat EVs in the country, excluding van models like the Peugeot e-Rifter. While the most affordable of the bunch, it’s still not a cheap EV, at a £48,550 starting price, but the value for money it offers compares to its main rivals, the Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90, is remarkable. For those looking for a budget seven-seat EV, there’s still nothing in the market. A fully-electric iteration of something like the Dacia Jogger would fit the bill perfectly, here.
The Peugeot E-5008 is a leap forward for the brand’s EV range. Thanks to the E-5008’s premium look and feel, and the masses of tech inside, I can see it appealing to not only large families, who’ll love it for its practicality, but also drivers like me, who don’t necessarily need that third row of seats, but just want to own a good-looking, premium, electric SUV.
Specifications as tested: Peugeot E-5008 GT, 73kWh 210
| Price on the Road | £48,550 |
| Seats | 7 |
| Range | 311 miles |
| 0-62mph time | 9.7 seconds |
| Top speed | 106 mph |
| Boot space | 916 litres with 3rd row down, 348 with 3rd row up |
