Royal Mail to trial prototype of LEVC’s new electric van

Royal Mail will trial a prototype of LEVC's electric van, the VN5, for use in real-world testing.

The prototype is a van conversion of LEVC’s TX Taxi and will be used by organisations ahead of official VN5 launch later this year.

The famous British postal service and courier provider is one of 25 business partners taking part in the trials, all using the converted TX-based vehicles.

Joerg Hofmann, CEO, LEVC, commented: “Royal Mail is one of the oldest postal services in the world and, like our London black cab, is part of British history and culture. It is great that these two iconic brands are joining forces for this trial. The VN5 prototypes will wear the iconic Royal Mail red livery and be used on routes that will test the vehicles ability to the full. These trials are crucial to the final development of the van, ahead of its launch later this year.”​

The VN5 cargo capacity easily accommodates two Euro sized pallets with a gross payload of over 800kg. 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 eCity technology meets the demanding duty cycles of various different sectors, and, for logistics businesses such as Royal Mail, VN5 has been designed to provide ‘distribution to door’ – not just last mile – capability, creating a link between out of town depots and city centres. ​

​Paul Gatti, Fleet Director at Royal Mail said: ​“As a Company, we are committed to making changes to our operations that reduce our environmental impact, whilst ensuring we continue to meet customer expectations. Alongside the introduction of electric vans in locations across our business, this trial is part of a programme of initiatives that allow us to experiment with ways to achieve this, whilst enabling us to continue to deliver letters and parcels safely, efficiently and responsibly.”​

LEVC’s trial phase will take place over the next few months and prototypes will be trialled with a wide range of businesses, from Tool & Equipment hire to Energy suppliers. These companies have been specifically chosen to put the vehicle through a variety of different use cases.