Design of Electric Commercial Vehicles for Production

Development of high performance electric vehicles has been pursued both by simple conversions from standard gasoline vehicles, and by designing a purpose-built vehicle in the form of a taxi incorporating novel features. By combining the lower cost of the former method with the greater efficiency of the latter, the Mark III Lucas electric vehicle has been evolved based on a standard van, providing 1 tonne payload capacity. The compact drive package can be fitted to a variety of vehicles at the initial manufacturing stage. Some of the implications for distribution and servicing of quantity-produced electric vehicles are considered.