Geely-owned London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) introduced its all-new, large EV platform on Friday. The platform is designed for EVs “ranging from people-movers to commercial vans,” Reuters reports.
About LEVC’s Space Oriented Architecture
The Space Oriented Architecture (SOA) has apparently been jointly developed in China, Sweden, the UK, and Germany for over the past 2.5 years, according to LEVC.
This new technology is expected to enable longer range, fast-charging features, and advanced driver-assistance features for EVs.
On Thursday at the company’s Ansty, England, headquarters, LEVC executives told media that SOA could support a variety of EVs, including pickup trucks, large SUVs, and even mobile homes.
AutoCar reports that the platform can support EVs with lengths between 4.86m and 5.95m and wheelbases between 3.0m and 3.8m. Notably, that size leaves enough room for four rows of seats. The fourth row was intelligently designed to fold into a slot beneath the boot floor, maintaining the cargo space’s flatness.
In addition, an SOA-based EV will not replace the company’s existing TX taxi. Therefore, the platform was made with a 386mm low frontal step-in height, which LEVC claims to be 74mm lower than the typical European vehicle. Furthermore, it is easier to carry large objects because the boot lip is 28mm lower. It is made possible partly by standard air suspension, which enables SOA-based passenger vehicles to bend down by 20mm up front and 40mm down back.
However, commercial variants will forgo multi-link rear suspension in favor of leaf springs. Therefore, they are not anticipated to be as widely available.
The report also indicated that LEVC developed the SOA platform to be rigid as possible. According to the company, it has 41,000Nm/deg torsional stiffness, twofold greater than the average European MPV.
Kent Bovellan, LEVC’s chief architecture designer, said these features enable a “10% better ride and refinement” than the average German premium SUVs.
One variant, according to Bovellan, would have more than 536 horsepower and a 0-62 mph acceleration time comparable to sports vehicles, perhaps using the dual-motor setup from the 001.
See Also:
- Geely announces plans to make London black cabs maker into EV powerhouse
- Electrified black cabs outpace diesel-powered counterparts in London
- Geely profits rose 9% in 2022 after 4-year decline
- Geely Automobile unleashes 72 satellites in three years for fully autonomous driving
- London to see 100 new ultra-fast charging points for electric cars
However, the execs have not yet disclosed specifics of which EVs the brand will initially work on and when or where the new EVs may undergo production.
It must be noted that Geely previously announced plans to turn London’s famous black cabs into an EV powerhouse. Likewise, the company refused to share progress on those plans.
Nonetheless, LEVC Managing Director Chris Allen stated (via Reuters) that the company is establishing itself inside the Geely group to offer larger EVs that “give more space, more opportunities, more flexibility with a larger vehicle size.”
