Hang on, has Renault made its Trafic van… cool?

This is the new Renault Trafic E-Tech, and in a real turn up for the books we think it might actually be… cool. Have we lost our minds, or is this genuinely now a funky and futuristic-looking rival to the Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo?

Just look at that face. We’re liking the backlit logo and the lightbar, and is it just us or does chunky black plastic cladding work better on a work van than it does on a medium-sized crossover? There’s plenty of it here.

Renault has also given the electric Trafic a “visor-like windscreen” that wraps around into the side windows, and there’s a funky looking beltline that gives the slab sides some attitude. Still practical though, with the L1 body getting a load capacity of 5.1m³ and the L2 extending the wheelbase by 40cm to up the space to 5.8m³. We’re told that overall height has actually been reduced to 1.9m in order to fit into all underground car parks, while the large doors mean you can load Euro pallets into the side and the rear.

It's even fairly interesting in the cabin, and we don’t actually need to qualify that with ‘for a van’. The dashboard is essentially a giant tube, although it’s broken up with a giant 12in infotainment screen (that can run Google Built-in if you spec it) and a 10in dial display. The central touchscreen is the biggest in Renault’s light commercial vehicle range and includes navigation designed specifically for commercial vehicles, meaning it’ll take into account the size of your van and will avoid unsuitable roads. Oh, and the seats are upholstered in a fabric made from 50 per cent recycled jeans.

Good news under the skin too, because the new Trafic E-Tech is based on an all-new platform with 800V tech, which allows for DC rapid charging that tops the battery up from 15 to 80 per cent in just 20 minutes. There will be two battery options too. A Long Range setup will see an 81kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery provide 280 miles of range, while an Urban Range version will get a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery with a capacity of 59kWh and a subsequent range of 217 miles. Plus, the Trafic also gets the ability to power electrical items with its vehicle-to-load tech.

The 201bhp electric motor is also mounted at the rear, which means the front wheels only need to focus on steering, so the turning circle is as small as a Renault Clio’s at 10.3m. There’s also 254lb ft of torque, and Renault reckons on a payload of 1.25 tonnes and a towing capacity of two tonnes.

We’re told that a whole “new family of all-electric LCVs” is on the way on this platform, and that the internal combustion engined Trafic will remain on sale alongside this new EV for the foreseeable.