LDV eDeliver 7

[coulomb]

https://www.ldvautomotive.com.au/vehicles/

2024 LDV eDeliver 7 electric van review: Australian first drive

[Gordon]

I guess I'm an early adopter of the eDeliver 7, I read somewhere that only 21 were sold in April, we picked up our 88kWh LWB low roof model on 10th April. It's going quite well so far, one rear proximity sensor has failed- I can't see any damaged wires (they are quite exposed to rock impacts, and we have 12km of rough corrugated gravelly road to get to our place), so not sure what the issue is.

There's some moderately exposed orange convoluted conduits not far from the front left wheel, presumably high voltage cabling, so I'm thinking of making up some sort of guard to offer a bit more protection from rocks kicked up by the wheel.

Real world range with mostly 100km/hr driving is more like a safe 250-270km, vs WLTP 362km. For an around town delivery van I think the WLTP range is probably quite close to what I could get. Handling is very good for a van, and there is plenty of power under foot, even in Normal mode with 500+kg of load.

With the colder weather starting now, it seems the heater isn't much chop for the passenger, with a cold breeze blowing low down from the back, past the seat into the foot well, chilling the passenger's left calf. With the heater set to be directed to the feet, not much in the way of warm air is noticeable for the passenger.

User maintenance listed at 4000km intervals in the manual (first one was actually at 3000km) involves checking coolant and fluid levels, tyres, lights etc, but now the "Vehicle Maintenance Now" message appears each time we turn the car on, but there is no obvious way to reset it, and neither LDV Parramatta where we bought it, nor LDV Help have any idea how to reset it. LDV importers are yet to respond to my email last week about how to reset it. I'm still trying to find an OBD-2 scanner to reset it myself.

[Gordon]

Can anyone recommend an OBD2 scanner and app that will definitely work with this vehicle sufficiently to see codes, see battery SOC, reset messages etc? Not getting much confidence from the suppliers I've contacted so far who can't say for sure what will work, and I'd rather not have to spend more than $250 for it.
TIA

[brendon_m]

Can anyone recommend an OBD2 scanner and app that will definitely work with this vehicle sufficiently to see codes, see battery SOC, reset messages etc? Not getting much confidence from the suppliers I've contacted so far who can't say for sure what will work, and I'd rather not have to spend more than $250 for it.
TIA

I've had a lot of luck with the vgate Bluetooth adapter (about $50) but your best bet would be to find someone local and borrow one so you can try before you buy.
The app I normally use doesn't have a listing for LDV. It does have a listing for SAIC (LDV parent company) but there is only 1 model, the eRX5. However it is an EV so may work anyway but it's definitely a stretch.

[Gordon]

the "Vehicle Maintenance Now" message appears each time we turn the car on, but there is no obvious way to reset it

I spoke to the LDV help line the other day, they tell me it has to be taken to a dealer/workshop to reset it. Nearest LDV EV dealer or workshop is over 300km away at Taree, so that wont be happening, which I hope wont impact the warranty, as I'm recording the required maintenance I do every 4000km.

Another annoyance is the energy use display, the instantaneous display goes up to 60kWh/100km (and -30kWh/100km on regen), but the displayed average only goes to 29.9kWh/100km, which would be fine if we only drove around town. However, most of our driving is on 100 -110km/hr speed limit roads, and the average energy consumption is generally some unknown amount above the display limit.

The "range" display is pretty useless for our typical driving, but would be ok for only driving around town. It doesn't appear to take any notice of recent activity, solely relying on some inbuilt algorithm.

Various reviews on this vehicle from a number of web sites suggested replacing the Giti Van tyres, but I have found them to be quite good, with good traction and low wear, they still look near new after almost 12000km, other than the mud all over the sidewalls.

[Gordon]

Just back from a 1230km trip from near Tamworth to the Lismore area to collect some discounted 440W PV panels from RPC (me), and a whole lot of plants from nurseries from the North Coast and west of Tenterfiield (horticulturist wife), so chock full volume and probably approaching 1 tone of load for the trip back over the GDR
.
308kg of PV panels

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Even fully loaded the van has plenty of get up and go for overtaking, going up hills etc, and feels very stable on the road. Also when loaded it is smoother over rough roads, which are a bit harsh when it is empty, and quieter- less of an echo chamber in the back.

Quite impressed with the energy usage too, we averaged 26.2kWh/100km, generally driving at around the speed limit, so lots of highway 100km/hr driving. The Bruxner Highway from Tenterfield to Casino is very windy with lots of 35-55km/hr bends, and has a very uneven surface, so quite bumpy on the way over, but much smoother on the return with the full load. Energy usage on the return was only a fraction more than on the way over, which was a bit of a surprise.

[Gordon]

We took the eDeliver 7 for the ~900km round trip to the LDV service centre in Homebush, Sydney to see if they could fix the annoying 4000km maintenance reminder (checking fluids, tyres etc), but they reckoned that sorts itself out after the first scheduled 30000km maintenance... I'm doubtful.

They claim to have done a couple of software updates, but we haven't noticed any differences in anything.

We asked about the non-functioning 4 rear sensors, they said $1600 for 4 new sensors (backorder from China) and wiring replacement, which we wont be doing, since the exposed wiring will just be damaged by rocks on the road again. I'll have to get under there and see if I can find the damaged wires, and I seriously doubt the sensors are really all non-functional. I'll see if I can put some extra protection over the numerous exposed bits of wiring under the vehicle.
I asked about the traction control doing weird stuff around bouncy corners - one time it started accelerating up a hill coming out of a corner when my wife didn't have her foot on the accelerator. The receptionist said that was normal! All interactions had to go through her, no direct contact with any tech person who might have a bit more idea (maybe) of how the van should behave.

For the above, with no obvious changes/improvements we had to wait around for almost 6 hours in what was an industrial/commercial wasteland on the Great Western Highway, so noting to do, although we did find a reasonable cafe over at the Sydney Markets.

LDV Tamworth, only 35km away aren't interested in EVs, so no chance of local servicing, the sales dude reckoned people in Tamworth aren't interested in them! The number of Telas, BYDs etc I see would suggest otherwise.