EAV (Electric Assisted Vehicles) Ltd., the Oxford, UK-based sustainable zero-emissions transport manufacturer, has revealed LINCS (short for Lightweight INner-City Solution), a modular multipurpose lightweight vehicle designed to provide urban light commercial van capability. The new offering adds to a portfolio that includes the company’s more well-known e-cargo 2Cubed application and its RoRo (roll-on/roll-off) variant.
The company was set up in 2018, having started developing a unique four-wheel e-cargo bicycle concept almost two years before that became the 2Cubed. Its founders, a group of F1 and aerospace engineers, believed that pollution had become a huge problem and they studied transport options to see what was really needed to reduce emissions and replace what was inefficient in the chain.
As a result, they designed and built the lightweight, zero-emissions e-cargo and personal transport vehicles to be manufactured in the UK. They didn’t want a vehicle based on a bicycle or tricycle, which they felt were both inherently unstable. They decided on a four-wheeler that any van driver wouldn’t mind using, something that was easy-to-use but still had all the things needed to do a job—whether deliveries or being a paramedic, electrician, or policeman.
EAV’s solutions, which include its own patented engineering and software applications, are being developed with key strategic and technical partners such as Bamd, Bcomp, DPD, Revonte, and Vredestein. The company is based in Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire and led by Adam Barmby, CEO, with help from Nigel Gordon-Stewart, Executive Chairman; Leigh Barmby, COO; Richard Prosser, CFO; and John Barmby, CTO.
The LINCS has been designed with the Saietta Group, whose new in-hub electric motors will power a lightweight skateboard platform developed by EAV. The EAV platform will contain enclosed Li-ion batteries and become the basis of the new modular vehicle.
“The operational requirements for LINCS are both complex but also required a simple solution,” said Barmby. “We wanted to produce a multipurpose light commercial vehicle as a logistics platform to transform the way we move people and goods around our urban environment.”
LINCS, in its logistics role, acts as a fully dynamic “hub-and-spoke” mobile depot vehicle, delivering EAV RoRo boxes to e-cargo fleets to various optimized locations such as building fronts and car parks. This significantly reduces the total distance traveled and increases operational efficiency within the last mile. The solution will also be able to operate as a simple covered urban van, open pick-up, or drop-side.
“The uniqueness of the design and engineering is in its versatility, packaging, lightweight, strength, and in the understanding of current and future urban cargo operations, which we’ve already been successfully developing with our current EAV models,” added Barmby.
The lightweight vehicle is built on an aluminum skateboard chassis platform using two linked in-hub motors from Saietta Group. The EAV’s standard removable interchangeable lithium-ion battery pack provides a range of up to 100 mi (160 km) within an urban or intra-urban environment. The driver’s cab can be located on the left- or right-hand side, depending on the market, and is equipped with EAVAdvanced driving controls and in-cab systems.
EAV says the LINCS has been futureproofed for fully autonomous operations, which will be developed in conjunction with its leading technology partners. The vehicle features a “road train” capability, for which on inter-urban or urban deployments, multiple LINCS vehicles can be linked together into a single autonomous vehicle.
“EAV is much more than an eCargo bike company,” said Gordon-Stewart. “We’re a transport technology solutions business. We developed and launched the EAV2Cubed, and its predecessor the EAVan, as the foundation of a complete urban future transport vision conceived from a blank sheet of paper.”
He says that legacy automotive design and engineering solutions simply don’t work in the new, environmental and resource-conservation-focused world: “They’re too heavy, too big, and, from a resource and environmental point of view, are just wasteful.”
The LINCS is the next step in the company’s program that focuses on a complete replacement of legacy urban road transport with more sustainable, zero-emissions, environmentally friendly, safe, and efficient solutions for cargo and passengers. Its platform has recyclable composite bodywork with materials matching those on the 2Cubed and forthcoming RoRo and EAVGo! vehicles.
EAV engineers are currently looking at using the material for the chassis/platform in conjunction with fully recyclable aluminum to ensure a more complete vehicle-life resource-management program.
“We have a duty to urban communities [and] to the businesses that operate within them providing jobs, commerce, and opportunities for the future,” said Barmby. “Our duty is to provide an efficient commercial and passenger transport system that enhances the quality of life for everyone and everything within that community.”
The company believes that vehicle hardware design makes a large impact on operator efficiencies and cost reductions, especially in a world where 90% of costs are OPEX (operating expenses) rather than CAPEX (capital expenditures). It says that LINCS, as well as the other EAV vehicles, provide a better, safer, more cost-efficient, and higher environmental standard.
“It’s a big culture-shift step to walk away from the current legacy vehicles on the roads,” added Barmby. “It’s what we’re all used to after all, and people don’t like change. But that change must happen, and LINCS is a key part of the movement towards an exciting urban future transport vision.”
Another key part of the vision is EAV’s 2Cubed vehicle that was on display earlier in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill-climb festival in West Sussex. That vehicle is the company’s first product and is a key part of its multiple-product transport futures program.
The 2Cubed is 2.740 m (107.9 in) long, 1.040 m (40.9 in) wide, and 1.950 m (76.8 in) tall. The four-wheeler has a dry weight of 125 kg (275 lb), a maximum payload of 150 kg (330 lb), and a maximum gross weight of 380 kg (837 lb). Its top assisted speed is 15.5 mph (25 km/h), and its range of 18-60 mi (29-96 km) at full assistance and constant top speed—depending on battery size.
In April, EAV launched the 2Charge version of the 2Cubed aimed at the fast-growing arena of e-scooter share companies that operate public hire schemes as part of the UK Department for Transport’s managed-trial efforts. Co-designed with Ford’s Spin micromobility unit, the new vehicle will enable operators to achieve a more sustainable approach to their operations including deploying e-scooters when they need to be moved to meet local consumer demand and/or replacing batteries.
