LEVC VN5 electric van completes final testing phase ahead of production

Image credit: LEVC

VN5, the new electric van from LEVC (London Electric Vehicle Company), has successfully completed another milestone ahead of its production start in Q4: final testing.

Verification prototypes, built on the same production line as the TX taxi at LEVC’s state-of-the-art factory in Ansty, Coventry, have spent the last 32 months undergoing a strict development and homologation programme including hot and cold climate testing, durability and crash testing.

In total the vehicles have completed equivalent of 850,000 kilometres of testing, ensuring the VN5 will more than live up to the task of daily use. The programme builds on the extensive global test regime carried out by the same engineering team who developed the TX electric taxi ahead of its launch in 2018.

During development, VN5 has undergone a raft of tests including ‘extreme event and abuse’, which places huge demands on the powertrain, suspension and brakes, with rapid deceleration over potholes, multiple kerb strikes as well as wading through waist deep water.

Engineers have also carried out ‘general durability’ testing, designed to replicate a lifetime of usage, as well as climatic chamber testing, simulating the effect hostile temperatures and weather can have on vehicle functions and materials.

Image credit: LEVC

Joerg Hofmann, LEVC CEO, said: “Completing the final testing stage is another important milestone in VN5’s development before production starts in Q4. We’ve designed and engineered an electric van that can offer zero emissions capability alongside zero range anxiety, as well the technology, driving dynamics, durability and quality already established in our TX model. These benchmark credentials make VN5 a desirable green transport solution for any commercial vehicle operator.”