Jonathan Welch looks at the electric, composite-bodied version of Iveco’s e-Daily, as offered by EVM UK
“The Iveco Daily offers a convincing package for an operator looking for a 22-seater…” – those were the words of Richard Sharman when he drove a smart blue Iveco Daily minibus in issue 1546, which appeared in early October last year courtesy of importer EVM UK. And EVM’s products are no stranger to the pages of CBW, the company being on the ball when it comes to publicising the surprisingly large range of mini- and midi-sized buses and coaches it offers.
But what is strange is that this time, it was myself doing the driving, not our usual minibus expert Richard, offering a different perspective on a new version of the Iveco Daily. The one under the CBW microscope today is in fact an e-Daily, an all-electric version, and rather than being a ‘van’-style minibus as tested by Richard, this time we’re looking at the ‘CM’ version, which uses EVM’s long-lasting composite modular body structure, hence the name.
First impressions
Let’s start with the obvious: this bus looks very different to the one Richard drove, thanks to the boxy, somewhat utilitarian nature of the CM body. That’s not a criticism, and as can be seen in the images, some thought has gone into the styling. The glazing is encompassed in a tall gloss black ribbon, which runs from the windscreen right to the rear, helping to bring the chassis/cowl and the saloon body together as one. Also gloss black on our test vehicle, the space above the windscreen has been designed to allow a destination screen to be fitted for those operations which require one. The overall look does remind me somewhat of the small buses often seen on airport shuttle work in the USA. The remainder of the front cowl remains as Iveco intended; I’ll admit, I’d prefer a more coach-style deep front bumper, but that’s not what this midi is about.
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