LEVC appoints Paneltex as official conversion partner for VN5 electric van

LEVC (London Electric Vehicle Company) has announced a new official conversion partner for its VN5 electric van. Paneltex specialises in temperature-controlled van conversions and offers a nationwide aftercare network, road-based support engineers and a 24-hour spare parts service.

Paneltex has created a custom solution for VN5 that allows the van to be chilled and heated from 0 – 25 degrees. This type of conversion would be well suited for use by supermarkets, pharmaceutical companies and catering companies who all have a need for temperature-controlled environments. Paneltex produce conversions for most scenarios, including freezing, and all solutions are bespoke to the customer’s needs.​

Joerg Hofmann, LEVC CEO, commented: ​

“We are pleased to welcome Paneltex as an official LEVC conversion partner for our new VN5 electric van. This enables us to offer high quality, flexible and bespoke conversions for customers with a requirement for temperature control. Both the food and medical industries are a focus for VN5 and we aim to become a leading vehicle player in these specialist sectors.”​

Based in the east of England, with locations in Yorkshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire, Paneltex operates nationwide, offering high quality solutions specifically designed to meet the demanding and ever-changing needs of the commercial vehicle market. Its in-house engineering and manufacturing teams have 30 years’ experience in providing individual design and build services, with a commitment to supporting products over their whole life cycle. ​

Chris Berridge, Managing Director at Paneltex, said:

“We are excited to further expand our range of conversions in the electric vehicle sector, by becoming an official converter of the LEVC VN5. We feel that our experience with larger electric vehicles and systems, combined with the proven quality of our chilled and frozen van conversions, puts us in a unique position to offer a market-leading temperature-controlled small van. The success of the LEVC TX electric taxi gives us a great idea of the capabilities of the VN5 and we are looking forward to converting more of these vans for emissions-free cold chain deliveries”.

Designed, engineered and built in the UK, LEVC’s VN5 is based on the same innovative architecture and proven eCity technology as LEVC’s TX electric taxi. This powertrain delivers a pure electric zero emissions range of over 60 miles (98 km) and the more frugal driver could achieve a 76-mile (122 km) range in pure EV mode, according to WLTP city methodology*. In addition, VN5 utilises the same strong, lightweight bonded aluminium monocoque & SMC construction – designed to last twice as long as the competition and has a class-leading turning circle of just 10.1m for unrivalled mobility in busy city environments.

With up to 5.5m3 cargo capacity, VN5 easily accommodates two Euro sized pallets (1200mm x 1000mm) and offers a gross payload of up to 830kg. 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.

VN5 is sold through LEVC’s growing international dealer network, with more than 50 locations in the UK, ensuring that customers are never further than a 45-minute drive time to an authorised LEVC service point.​

* Pure EV (electric-only) range 60.9 miles, Pure EV range City 75.8 miles in accordance with EAER Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) figures (October 2020).