China’s Geely, owner of car makers including Lotus, Volvo, Polestar, Smart and LEVC, is looking to shake up the UK’s LCV market with a new premium electric van brand.
Farizon, founded in 2016, is just weeks away from beginning UK deliveries of its flagship SV, a mid-sized van available in three sizes and with a range of different battery options, and it plans to tempt fleets away from established ICE-powered alternatives by offering a more usable and premium-oriented proposition.
The rear-driven SV (standing for Super Van) will be pitched against the likes of the new Volkswagen e-Transporter, the Mercedes-Benz eVito and the Ford E-Tourneo - the electric version of the UK’s best-selling overall vehicle.
Including the UK's £5000 plug-in van grant – which is currently due to run until April next year – the SV starts from £40,000 in 'L1 H1' (short wheelbase, low-roof) form, with a 67kWh battery giving a range of 188 miles. A larger, 83kWh pack boosts range to 234 miles from £43,000 upwards, and Farizon’s UK boss Calum James says this version "will cover the majority of business use cases".
The largest SV (L3 H3) can be specified with a 106kWh pack that gives an official range of 342 miles – making it comfortably the UK's longest-range electric van – for £51,000.
As well as its long range and competitive load-lugging stats (a minimum payload of 1035kg, low load lip of 550mm and up to 13 cubic metres of load volume), James highlights the SV's extensive standard kit list as a factor that could give it an edge over established rivals.
"We are positioning ourselves as perhaps slightly more premium than some of the other manufacturers, in terms of the specification that we put onto the vehicle as standard," he said.
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