The LEVC VN5 is a plug-in hybrid

panel van A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...

produced since November 2020 by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

electric vehicle manufacturer

London EV Company London EV Company Limited (LEVC, formerly The London Taxi Corporation Limited trading as The London Taxi Company) is a British automotive electric vehicle manufacturer with its headquarters at Ansty near Coventry, England, and a wholly-owne ...

(LEVC), a subsidiary of Chinese automobile company

Geely Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (ZGH), commonly known as Geely (吉利 "auspicious"), is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company is privately held by Chinese billionaire entrepreneur ...

Overview

The

LEVC TX The LEVC TX (previously known as the TX5) is a purpose-built hackney carriage manufactured by the British commercial vehicle maker London EV Company (LEVC), a subsidiary of the Chinese auto-maker Geely. It is the latest in a succession of purp ...

Hackney carriage A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common s ...

was launched in 2017, as a plug-in hybrid range-extender electric vehicle. Geely announced its intentions to build electric commercial vehicles based on the LEVC TX. Spy shots of a new LEVC TX-based van first surfaced on the internet in February 2018. Over a year later on June 19, 2019, an unnamed LEVC plug-in commercial van was revealed, which was later officially named the VN5 next year in March 2020, with "VN" standing for "van" and "5" referring to the 5 cubic metres (176.5 cu ft.) of cargo space. The VN5 went on sale in the United Kingdom in November 2020 with a starting price of £46,500 ($64,335), and although eligible for the United Kingdom's plug-in hybrid van

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of up to £8,000 ($11,068), it has a much higher overall cost than other compact electric vans available in the United Kingdom such as the Maxus e Deliver 3, Renault Kangoo ZE, and

Nissan e-NV200 The Nissan NV200 is a light commercial and leisure activity, 4/5-door van designed and produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan since 2009. Overview The vehicle was previewed as the NV200 Concept at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, followed by ...

. The VN5 has three available trim levels; Business, City, and Ultima. The LEVC VN5 went on sale for the rest of

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in July 2021.

Specifications

Battery and engine

The LEVC VN5 has a 31kWh

lithium ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also see ...

with a

Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure The Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) is a global standard for determining the levels of pollutants, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of traditional and hybrid cars, as well as the range of fully electric vehicles. The ...

(WLTP)-certified electric range of , with 50 kW

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...

rapid charging for the Business and City trims, allowing the battery to be fully charged in 30 minutes, and 22 kW

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

fast charging for the Ultima trim. The van also uses three-cylinder

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...

as a

range extender A range extender is a fuel-based auxiliary power unit (APU) that extends the range of a battery electric vehicle by driving an electric generator that charges the vehicle's battery. This arrangement is known as a series hybrid drivetrain. The ...

, giving it a total range of .

Cargo

The VN5 has a maximum payload of for the Business trim, while the City and Ultima trims max out at and respectively. For cargo access, on the side is a single

sliding door A sliding door is a type of door which opens horizontally by sliding, usually horizontal to a wall. Sliding doors can be mounted either on top of a track below or be suspended from a track above. Some types slide into a space in the parallel w ...

and in the back are 60/40 split rear doors.

Features

The VN5 comes standard with a collision avoidance system,

cruise control Cruise control (also known as speed control, cruise command, autocruise, or tempomat) is a system that automatically controls the speed of a motor vehicle. The system is a servomechanism that takes over the throttle of the car to maintain a s ...

, and a

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

, while a heated steering wheel, front and rear

parking sensor Parking sensors are proximity sensors for road vehicles designed to alert the driver of obstacles while parking. These systems use either electromagnetic or ultrasonic sensors. Ultrasonic systems These systems feature ultrasonic proximity dete ...

s, curtain airbags, and a

lane departure warning system In road-transport terminology, a lane departure warning system (LDWS) is a mechanism designed to warn the driver when the vehicle begins to move out of its lane (unless a turn signal is on in that direction) on freeways and arterial roads. These ...

are available in the City and Ultima trim. Higher-quality seats and a

backup camera A backup camera (also called a reversing camera or rear-view camera) is a special type of video camera that is produced specifically for the purpose of being attached to the rear of a vehicle to aid in backing up and to alleviate the rear blind s ...

are exclusive to the top-level Ultima trim.

LEVC e-Camper

The LEVC e-Camper is a

camper van A camper van, also referred to as a camper, caravanette, motor caravan or RV (recreational vehicle) in North America, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term describes vans that have been fitt ...

variant of the VN5. It was revealed in late June 2021 and will go on sale in Q4 2021 at a price of £62,250 ($86,458). It features an electric

kitchenette A kitchenette is a small cooking area, which usually has a refrigerator and a microwave, but may have other appliances. In some motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings, a kitchenette consists of a small ref ...

, a rising roof, and a central

folding table A folding table is a type of folding furniture, a table with legs that fold up against the table top. This is intended to make storage more convenient and to make the table more portable. Many folding tables are made of lightweight materials to f ...

. The first row of the e-Camper has two seats that can swivel 180° and a second row

bench seat A bench seat is a full width continuous pad forming the front seat of automobiles. The second row of seating in most sedans is usually a bench. The third row of most SUVs and minivans, which may be forward-facing or rear-facing, is also a bench ...

which can slide back to form a dining/socializing room within the van.

References

{{reflist

External links

LEVC VN5 official website

LEVC e-Camper official website
Cars introduced in 2020 2020s cars VN5 Retro-style automobiles