- Chinese automotive group Geely, the company behind brands such as Volvo, Polestar, ZEEKR, and Lotus, has made a £120m investment in the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC).
- LEVC are the manufacturer behind London’s electric take on the iconic black cab, and have been roaming the streets of London in electric form since 2018.
- Geely’s fresh investment, on top of the £500m it has already invested into LEVC, will be used to help develop its new space-prioritising EV platform.
LEVC gets some fresh investment from Geely
The new investment will be used to aid development of LEVC’s new ‘Space Oriented Architecture’ (SOA) platform, which has already been co-developed so far with Geely. As its name suggests, the platform is based on the principles of maximising interior space, allowing a completely flat floor. This makes it ideal for maximising passenger space, cargo space, or a mix of both, depending on the application.
This new platform has already been employed on LEVC’s fully-electric L380 luxury MPV. Currently on sale within China at a starting price of 379,900 RMB (£41,860), the EV is set to launch in global markets, including the UK in the next two years. LEVC plan to release more private EVs on the SOA platform in the coming years, in addition to its portfolio of electric taxis and vans. While the L380 is currently produced in China, manufacturing may also take place at LEVC’s Coventry-based UK factory, which is rumoured to have spare capacity, on top of the LEVC TX and VN5 models it currently manufactures.
