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July 10th, 2020 by Zachary Shahan
London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) is well known for its iconic London taxis, which are now range-extended electric vehicles. Based on that experience, the company has just rolled out an electric van as well. It has similar styling, but more cargo space and certain other modifications.
Before getting into other matters, let’s jump right into the specs:
- Cargo capacity: up to 5.5m3
- Gross payload: 830 kg
- Range: 58 miles / 93 km on battery (WLTP)
- 50 kW DC rapid charging
- 22 kW AC charging
- Loading: 60/40 split door at rear
- £46,500 — expected starting price
- £493.92 per month rental based on Lex Autolease Contract Hire (without maintenance) over 60 months/20,000 mile pa with 9 months initial payment.
LEVC says that the VN5 “is set to revolutionise the commercial vehicle segment.”
The van includes LED headlights (or headlamps as I guess the British call them), which the company notes convert power into light at an 80% efficiency rather than the 20% of a halogen lamp. Plus, they last longer and are brighter.
“The cabin is optimised for professional use, with settings accessed via a large [9 inch] central touchscreen with intuitive interface, while bright LED lighting clearly illuminates other key controls.”
All vans include automatic emergency braking (AEB) and cruise control as standard features. “City trim adds a heated windscreen, front and rear parking sensors, curtain airbags and Lane Departure Warning, while the flagship Ultima features a rear-view camera, luxury seats, metallic paint and 22kW AC charging capability as standard.”
More information about the van can be found here.
Royal Mail has committed to using a prototype of the VN5 in its mail delivery services as a trial, as has DPD. 23 other companies are also trialling the prototype version of the van. They will all test out the van for a few months in real-world use, and presumably buy a fleet of them if they perform well.
Deliveries of the van will start in the 4th quarter of this year for right-hand drive orders, while buyers that want a van that drives on the left-hand side of the road will start receiving the VN5 in March 2021, according to current plans. (Who knows what 2021 brings?)
Demonstrating the electric van’s appeal for delivery services, LEVC notes, “With up to 5.5m3 capacity, VN5 cargo capacity easily accommodates two Euro sized pallets with a gross payload of 830kg. It has been built with a large side-loading door (enabling a pallet to be side-loaded) and a 60/40 split door at the rear to make loading and unloading easy for the driver.”
The van is being produced in Ansty, Coventry. LEVC notes that this factory is “the UK’s only dedicated electric vehicle factory.”
All images courtesy LEVC.
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About the Author
Zachary Shahan is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.
Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA] — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in this company and feels like it is a good cleantech company to invest in. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort on Tesla or any other company.
