Big People Carriers are largely used for suburban duties, which is just as well because this car's not much good for anything else. A huge heavy People Carrier relying on a battery designed to sustain an electric supermini (the Corsa-e) was never going to travel very far between charges and, sure enough, this e-Traveller's 50kWh battery pack takes this Vauxhall only 143 miles between charges. So you're going to need to think hard if you're going anywhere more than 60 miles or so away, unless you've the time for a potentially lengthy recharging stop before your return journey.
This is annoying because the electric version of this car's LCV counterpart, the Vivaro van, has the option of a larger 75kWh battery that would add around 60 miles of additional range. At the time of this test in Spring 2021, that wasn't being offered on the Vivaro-e Life.
If you're wondering what driving a huge great full-electric People Carrier might be like, well, there's not too much to get your head around. You turn the key in the ignition, wait for the starting beep, then flick the gear toggle into Drive. There's a drive-mode selector that allows drivers to switch between ECO, NORMAL and POWER modes. There's 136hp on tap and there's also a 'B' option that ploughs extra energy back into the battery, offering more resistance while you're slowing down. Top speed is just 84mph.
