A new British-built electric van range is aiming to carve out a niche at the lower-cost end of the market, with the Electric Van Company (EVC) launching its CitySprint as a lightweight solution for urban delivery work.
Rather than taking on the established one-tonne electric van market head-on, the EVC CitySprint has been developed around a much narrower brief. It is designed for operators working short, predictable routes in towns and cities, where low running costs, easy charging and compact dimensions matter more outright carrying capacity.
The EVC CitySprint uses a 23kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, paired with a 20kW electric motor, to deliver a claimed range of up to 120 miles and a top speed of 46mph, and is built for the kind of stop-start urban operation that defines last-mile logistics. Payload is between 500kg and 600kg depending on body type.
Price is likely to be one of its biggest selling points. EVC says the CitySprint starts from £15,250 excluding VAT, a figure that would place it well below the cost of most battery-electric vans currently available in the UK. The company is also quoting lease costs of around £400 a month over three years, while claiming domestic charging could cost as little as £1.90 per week, assuming the vehicle is charged at home rather than on the public network.
Assembly takes place in Nelson, Lancashire, with the company describing the CitySprint as a British-built product, although the vehicle is put together from components sourced globally, with many coming from China. It falls into the L7e heavy quadricycle class rather than the N1 van category.
The battery can be charged from a standard 13A domestic socket using the onboard 3.3kW Type 2 charger, with EVC quoting a 20% to 80% charging time of under five hours.
EVC is also placing some emphasis on battery longevity with the LFP pack covered by a four-year, 20,000km warranty. That is enough for between 3,000 and 4,000 charge cycles, which EVC estimates is enough for around 10 years of use.
The CitySprint range is not limited to a single van body either. EVC is offering a number of configurations aimed at different types of city-based work.
Alongside the standard panel van, there are pickup, tipper, box van and chassis cab options, giving it a broader spread of potential customers, opening the door to sectors such as facilities maintenance, municipal work, trades and specialist urban deliveries, as well as more traditional parcel operations.
