Automakers may be finding it harder to sell electric vehicles to everyday consumers, but they’re still a great solution for fleets. That’s certainly true in the UK, where electric delivery vehicles are growing in market share. Now, Prodrive has revealed an innovative EV delivery van to capture some of that action, and it’s giving off hardcore Piaggio Ape vibes.
Dubbed the Evolv, the tiny van is meant to be a “last mile” delivery vehicle to make the final trip from (let’s say) the Mexican place to your door with a fresh quesadilla, not haul a ton of sharp cheddar across town from the cheese warehouse. It packs a 20kWh battery pack for a claimed range of around 100 miles, and Prodrive believes it’ll be capable of charging from 20-80% in about two hours. Despite a footprint of just 10.6 feet long by 4.7 feet long, it offers a touch over 141 cubic feet of storage space.
According to Prodrive, that’s in line with what one could expect of a compact delivery van. It also has a turning circle of just 7.8 meters (25.5 feet) which is almost identical to that of a London taxi. Essentially, this is a small but mighty delivery vehicle.
“Mighty” looks to apply nicely to its robust design, too. The body panels are modular and easy to replace if damaged, says Prodrive. Further enhancing durability are flush-fit headlights that sit well behind the Evolv’s bumper-car-like front fascia, a design feature with the added benefit of potentially reducing the chances of injury in the case of a pedestrian incident.
In fact, this vehicle meets N1 (small van) safety standards regarding passive safety, even though it isn’t technically a small van. Of course, nobody wants an accident to happen in the first place, which is why the windshield features a wraparound design to give the driver maximum visibility from behind the wheel.
Buyers can configure the load space to suit their personal needs, and the options include a pallet truck that stows in the vehicle to help move heavy items upon arrival at the delivery address.
The Evolv will be an ELM Mobility product, a new brand Prodrive has developed with Astheimer Design. Astheimer penned the Evolv’s unique shape, and Prodrive handled the engineering. ELM Mobility aims to have Evolvs making deliveries on the streets of the UK in 2028, and customers can expect to pay about £25,000 for an Evolv – though ELM is still figuring out who will actually build the units.
“We’re confident to back ourselves, but we’re certainly not sat here thinking it’s going to be an easy journey. We’ve thought long and hard about manufacturing strategy and all those things to make sure we learn from what others have done differently. The market itself is emerging and developing,” said Iain Roche, CEO of Prodrive Advanced Technology to AutoCar. “This could be the next tuk-tuk, applied to all sorts of things all over the world. Frankly, the market could be massive.”
Though Roche draws a comparison to Tuk Tuks, we think the Evolv is very Piaggio Ape (below). Just like the Evolv, the Ape is known for its small stature and modularity. Sure, the Evolv has four wheels but there are versions of the Ape with four wheels as well, as seen farther below.
Only time will tell if the Evolv makes it to production, let alone have the impact of the legendary Tuk Tuk and Ape, among other small utility vehicles currently doing a huge amount of heavy lifting all over the world, if in small increments.
Here’s hoping Prodrive and ELM Mobility bring the Evolv to market, it’s certainly a compelling design. The world can always use more funky and functional vehicles in it.
Images: Prodrive/ELM Mobility, except where noted
I, for one, am looking forward to more weirdo vehicles appearing on Canadian streets. The sea of grey CRs-V and RAVs-4 is slowly killing me.
Love it. Something like this should be very popular in Japan, where home delivery is even more popular than (say) the USA, and more people in cities don’t have cars at all.
One thing that might be more feasible with electric drive would be bidirectional control. On the narrow streets of my old neighborhood in Tokyo, this would have been a real benefit, since there were some you could only back out of once you got onto them—like one street with stairs. Wouldn’t work with this design.
This is what the USPS should have gone with, instead of the monstrosity they designed by committee. https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/new-usps-mail-truck-03-ht-jef-210225_1614270921774_hpEmbed_1x1_992.jpg
It should not take two hours to charge a 20kWh battery pack from 20-80%, certainly not by 2028 when these are supposed to be available.
It might not have the thermal management to handle faster charging speeds.
Thermal management is expensive, and cost is a thing.
That’s true. For £25,000, I would expect it to charge faster. Hopefully, the specs will improve over the next few years.
I dig the Richard Scarry inspired greenhouse.
I dunno, I think its going to look suspiciously like a Kei truck to your local DMV.
I like this, but to be really practical as a delivery unit it needs a swappable battery system. The 100 mile cap with 2 hr recharge is limiting in terms of keeping the thing working to the max.
Do look up how far a delivery vehicle of this type will travel in a day.
Seems if the depot is close to delivery zone, 20-50 miles a day. If rural or large distance from depot, then up to and over 200. I was assuming that depot is likely a distance from the delivery zone.
Those aren’t the limiting factor you seem to think they are. Local delivery vehicles don’t travel *that* far in a day. A huge portion of the fuel consumption and emissions come from idling, which EVs don’t do. And whenever the vehicle returns to home base, be it for an hour long lunch break or a 15 minute pickup, they can top off the battery.
That shape and color really drive home the honey-bee vibes
Is that the same Prodrive that makes race cars?
If it is, I wanna see one of these go 80+ MPH.
Yes