Electric Assisted Vehicles (United Kingdom) - Electric Assisted Vehicles has revealed a new chassis cab version of its eCargo bike, called the EAVcab.

The EAVcab is a development from the EAVan Ultra lightweight Commercial Vehicle (ULCV), which can now be supplied to the customer with just the chassis structure and the front cab.

It measures two-metres long (in short wheelbase form) by on-metre wide, weighs 120kg and can carry a 120kg payload. The EAVcab can cover a range of up to 60 miles in a day and then be recharged using a three-pin plug socket. Batteries can also be swapped to keep the EAVcab in constant use but are fully re-charged in less than six hours.

There are two ladder structure chassis variants, the medium and the long wheelbase. Weight capability remains the same as the EAVan at 120kgs payload plus 100kgs for the rider.

A heavy-duty version will be available by the Summer of 2020 for loads up to 350kgs with increased braking and power regeneration capability harnessing the kinetic energy of the entire vehicle.

All EAVcabs are limited to 15mph and are fitted with EAV’s ‘e-nertia’ switch for pre-pedal hill starts and pull-aways up to 3.7mph.

“We’ve looked closely at what’s happening to commercial vehicle transport right now in towns and cities all over the world,” said Adam Barmby, founder and technical director of EAV. “The clear political and public interest direction is to reduce or remove cars and vans from urban environments which are currently the most affected by air and particulate pollution. We looked at how light commercial vehicles are built and utilised and how EAV could replace as many of them as possible providing a cleaner, quieter and less congested environment with minimal damage to city infrastructure and without any change in efficiency, in fact, we believe efficiency will significantly improve.”

Body conversions include: rear box units of two, three or four cubic metres with multiple access door configurations; Temperature controlled units with both chiller and freezer  box units in varying sizes; Dropside; Flatbed; Livestock; Curtainside; Refuse and plastic collection cages; Rapid Response medic unit; RoRo load box and even a Beavertail for transporting/collecting bicycles and other small vehicles.

“The EAVcab gives EAV a real technical advantage in dealing with urban pollution and congestion.” said Nigel Gordon-Stewart, executive chairman of EAV. “We can now all but replace light commercial vehicles in urban environments reducing congestion and pollution as well as vehicle costs for operators. For EAV it means we can produce EAVcabs in volume, reducing the production cost and keeping retail prices down.”

The company operates through an international network of EAV dealers and is already looking for dealer representation throughout Europe and in the USA and Canada.