Legendary Rally Car Maker Prodrive Builds an Electric Cargo Van Now

Prodrive makes cool stuff. The Oxfordshire, England-based engineering firm gave us the stunning P25 Subaru 22B restomod, several Le Mans-spec race cars, a handful of Dakar trophy trucks, and of course, Colin McRae's legendary Subaru rally cars. Now Prodrive is teaming up with Astheimer Design for an adorable utility van.

The joint project is called Elm Mobility, and the first product out of that partnership is the pint-sized Evolv electric van. Designed for use as a "last-mile" delivery vehicle, the Evolv van is a mere 128.0 inches long, 57.0 inches wide, and weighs just 1,874 pounds.

The van's main cargo area can hold freight up to 5.2 feet tall and weighing more than 660 pounds. A secondary cargo area (accessible via rear "barn doors") offers another 3.9 feet and 440 pounds worth of capability. It even has a turning radius of 25.6 feet—just shy of a London taxi cab's 25.0-foot turning radius.

The driver sits in a single-seat cabin with a huge wraparound windshield for maximum visibility (it even has two windshield wipers). But don't worry, Elm says the Evolv meets N1 (small van) safety crash standards in Europe. It also promises to be one of the most capable and efficient vehicles in the L7e category.

The proposed battery is a 20.0-kilowatt-hour pack with about 100 miles of range—just enough for short-distance deliveries. Plugging into a level 2 charger would refill the van from 20-80 percent in less than two hours. The listed top speed is just 50 miles per hour, but Elm says that other battery configurations are "under consideration."

The Elm Evolv van is just a concept for now, but production is planned for 2028. The company is currently working with an investor in the US to bring a small fleet of electric vans Stateside, but the majority of them will remain in Europe. Elm wants to build 10,000 units annually by 2030, with pricing estimated to be somewhere in the $30,000 mark (£25,000).