New Chinese electric Supervan to enter UK market in 2025

A fresh partnership is bringing the Farizon SV to the UK in 2025. An electric van with some eye-catching capabilities, can it perform in the competitive e-LCV market?

Farizon, the commercial branch of Geely group (home to Volvo, Lotus, and Polestar) has teamed up with mobility solutions provider Jameel Motors, to bring a new electric van to the UK in 2025.

It’s called the Farizon SV, which is short for Supervan, but you won’t find the same mythical GT40 chassis or F1 engine inclusions associated with its erratic Ford namesake here. No, this is shaping up to be a far more grounded commercial offering — although that’s not to say there aren’t some lofty ambitions behind the Chinese brand’s forward thinking zero-emissions van.

“The Farizon SV was developed for the van users and fleets of today and tomorrow, and several world-first advanced technologies means it offers more cargo space, greater range and a more convenient and comfortable driver experience.” — Andy Carroll, Country Manager, Jameel Motors Farizon Auto

On the outside

Looks-wise, the SV is a little bit retro-futuristic. Its minimally-grilled face is reminiscent of Kia’s upcoming PV5, minus the Korean EV’s hyper-modern, playful elements — and the panda-esque black and white colour scheme does little to draw away from this perception.

The staggered shelving of the front bumper is there, although in this case the layers are slightly less smooth and sculpted. This angularity gives a more aggressive feel to the façade, and this is only enhanced by the basic, yet slim and swooping headlights. Finally, the wheel covers may have a different twist to their orientation, but the echoes of Kia’s concept still run pretty deep there too.

However, rub your eyes and blink, and the SV’s overall silhouette reminds us of another popular van. The most popular in fact: the Ford Transit Custom. And to be honest, emulating the UK’s best-selling van does make a lot of sense, especially considering that the electric variant will shape up as a key rival once Farizon’s offering hits the market. 

Beneath the surface

Despite these external similarities, the SV has, in fact, been built from scratch — which is becoming an increasingly novel approach (case in point: the mildly controversial 2025 VW Transporter). Farizon boasts that over 2,000 engineers started with a clean sheet, harnessing advanced tech as part of ‘a rigorous one-million-mile testing and development programme’, to create a van specifically designed to meet the needs of the European market. 

On paper, this hard work seems to have paid off, with the SV’s bespoke ‘born electric’ modular platform bringing a handful of benefits. 

Some neat integration has allowed battery capacity to be upped by 10%, and weight to simultaneously be reduced by 4%. This means that of the two battery sizes which will be initially available — 67 kwh and 83 kwh — the latter will be able to squeeze out a range up to 225 miles. That’s 16 further than the E-Transit Custom, and if that’s still not enough to quell any range anxiety, a 106-kwh will join the party at a later date to boost these figures further.

Further weight reductions throughout the platform are touted as shaving 8% off the vans potential weight, not only increasing efficiency, but allowing for a higher payload of up to 1.3 tonnes. 

And there’s more. As a purpose-built EV, the zero-emissions powertrain is packaged in such a way as to not impede the load capacity or loading height. Using the flexibility of the modular platform, the SV’s cargo capacity ranges from 6.9m³ all the way up to a respectable 13m³ — not only out-carrying the E-Transit Custom’s 6.8m³ peak, but also stepping into full-blown E-Transit territory, coming within touching distance of the big Ford’s 15.1m³ limits.

No UK pricing has been announced as of yet, but as a market disrupter we’d expect some undercutting of the SV’s rivals to be on the cards. We’ll also withhold a final judgement until the full specs are revealed, but there does seem to be some potential — and some impressive utility — within Farizon’s ambitious UK bound electric Supervan.

Hero image credit: Newspress UK