Van maker LEVC has shown off the new platform that will provide the basis for its next range of vehicles as it looks set to go pure electric.
The company is eyeing up a notable expansion, with the new platform said to be flexible enough to allow it to create a range of vehicles, including a successor to the current LEVC VN5 plug-in hybrid range extender.
It will also allow the company to expand the range of its vehicles, as it should be able to spin off a range of passenger-carrying cars and taxies.
Pure-electric new platform
The new platform gets the catchy name of ‘Space Oriented Architecture’ or SOA, and was co-developed with LEVC’s parent company Geely. There has been a wide range of collaboration in its creation, as it has been produced with input from research and development centres in China, Sweden, Germany and the UK, where LEVC has a factory.
It’s an electric-only platform, which is a departure from the current VN5, which is a plug-in hybrid van that uses a combustion engine as a generator to provide backup to the battery. It has taken 2.5 years to get to this stage, although LEVC hasn’t said what the current timescales are for it moving to production.
It features a centrally located battery, which can range from 73kWh to 120kWh. LEVC says this should enable a range of up to 695km (432 miles) and it will be capable of ultra-fast charging.
The SOA platform also incorporates the latest digital technology – L-OS. This will enable features such as self-driving ability up to Level 4 of autonomy and intelligent cockpits with a totally digital operating system. It will also be able to offer over-the-air updates.
The L-OS platform will also be provided to partners outside of the Geely Group, as it will be available as an open-source product for others to use as a basis for their own vehicles.
What size vans could it make?
The SOA platform is scalable, so it should be possible to create a range of different vehicles. LEVC has said it will be possible to make anything from 4,860mm in length up to 5,995mm based on wheelbases ranging from 3,000mm to 3,800mm.
The current VN5 van is 5,233mm long on a 3,386mm wheelbase, so this means that LEVC should be able to create vans both larger and smaller than it does at the moment.
LEVC will also be able to offer front-, rear- and all-wheel drive vehicles on the SOA platform.
As well as the commercial vehicle and taxi versions that LEVC currently makes, this new platform opens the door for an expansion into the passenger car market.
What about the range extender LEVC?
In the meantime, LEVC has made some edits to the existing VN5, giving it a larger battery that has a positive impact on its range and emissions.
The battery has been bumped up to a 34.6kWh unit, and is now the standard offering on all new VN5s. The increased capacity (it was 31kWh previously) means that the electric-only range is now 73 miles on the van, an improvement over the 64 miles it offered before.
This means that the total range, when you factor in the petrol range extender, is up to 328 miles, which is an increase of 10 miles. CO2 emissions have been reduced, too, as they now sit at 17g/km, down from 19g/km.
