The Geely subsidiary Farizon has announced further details about the development of its new SV transporter. The fully electric large-capacity van has been specially designed according to European standards. During the development of the SV, which is set to be launched in the European, Gulf, and Asia-Pacific markets throughout 2025, the research and development teams conducted intensive benchmarking in Europe. The goal was to exceed the expectations of a wide range of customers, from large fleets to small businesses and independent tradespeople, according to the ambitious Geely subsidiary.
"Most of the electric vans currently on the market are based on platforms originally designed for internal combustion engines, which entails numerous compromises. Our approach was therefore to design and develop a custom platform for electric delivery vans that offers impressive range, agility, sophistication, and payload to meet the demands of the most demanding van operators and users worldwide. We aimed to build the best transporter in the world," explains Li Mingyi, technical director at Farizon, on the new approach, which similar companies such as Maxus, Kia, or Flexis are also pursuing.
The Custom Platform
The brand began developing the SV based on its experience with electric car architectures within the Geely group, which includes Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co, ZeekR, and Lotus. The vehicle should be able to travel up to 390 km on a single charge, offer exceptional charging capabilities, and be easy to drive regardless of the load. The result is the custom GXA-M platform. The development team mainly focused on the high expectations of discerning users in the mature, highly competitive European market, according to the manufacturer.
Drive-by-Wire Debut in the Van
The Farizon SV features the world's first drive-by-wire platform with
dual redundancy in serial production on the global van market and was designed to offer faster response times, higher energy recovery, and improved safety. The SV has been rated five stars by Euro NCAP. To ensure optimal rigidity and sophistication, the SV combines high-strength steel and aluminum-steel hybrid materials used for the chassis and body with the so-called cell-to-pack (CTP) battery technology.
In this technology, the individual battery cells are directly connected to the battery pack instead of relying on individual modules. The result is a 20 percent improvement in body rigidity compared to conventional battery module packs. Additionally, the driver benefits from improved driving behavior and higher stability due to the vehicle's lower center of gravity, according to the promise. The flat, modular packaging of the battery pack is only 149 mm thick—claimed to be a class best.
Pure Electric Platform
The pure electric GXA-M platform accommodates a range of high-performance, energy-dense batteries. The SV is available with lithium-iron-phosphate batteries (LFP) of 67 or 83 kWh. For the L3 H3 model, a nickel-manganese-cobalt battery (NMC) with 106 kWh is also available in certain markets. The result is a WLTP range of up to 398 km, depending on the model and battery. As short downtimes are crucial for commercial users and fleet operators, the competitive fast-charging feature of up to 140 kW allows charging from 20 to 80 percent in just 36 minutes.
Simultaneously, they aimed to offer high cargo capabilities: the smallest variant L1 H1 offers a cargo volume of 6.95 m³ and a maximum payload of 1,265 to 1,350 kg, depending on the installed battery. The most spacious model, the L3 H3, offers 13 m³ of cargo volume and a payload of
1,035 to 1,045 kg, depending on the battery option. Again, they claim a best-in-class ratio of space to payload. All models feature an extra-low loading height of only 550 mm.
Different Expectations
During development, differences emerged in how European customers use their vans compared to Chinese customers. They place more emphasis on payloads and mainly drive in inner-city environments at low speeds. European van drivers place a special emphasis on comfort and quality, and since they drive on highways more frequently, steering precision and stability at high speeds are just as important to them as maneuverability in the city.
To improve stability during cornering and lane changing, engineers developed a chassis with a front double-wishbone independent suspension, a world first for an electric van. This is said to offer the comfort and driving behavior of a car, additionally providing more cornering stability, even when fully loaded with a high center of gravity.
Development in the UK, Germany, and Norway
During its development, the SV underwent more than one million kilometers of stringent testing and trials worldwide, including in the UK, Germany, and Norway. Besides the dynamic tuning and durability tests, the ADAS systems of the van were optimized for European roads and user preferences.
"Even after our extensive tests of safety and driving assistance systems, feedback from our European users provided valuable insights that were incorporated into various adjustments", Mingyi continues.
Thus, some unnecessary acoustic warnings were "silenced", while the frequency of warnings for certain features like lane-keeping assist (LKA) was reduced. Due to the supposedly significantly improved results and positive reactions from the first European customers, the same features have been adopted for the SV model sold in China and other export markets,
Mingyi further reports.
AI-Optimized Development
The research and development team at Farizon also utilized artificial intelligence (AI) tools to optimize the steering and braking characteristics of the SV, controlled via cable. During the test and development program, driver inputs such as steering wheel angle, steering wheel speed, accelerator position, and brake force were uploaded to the cloud. These collected data were processed using AI to achieve finer granularity of precise data, leading to much more accurate understanding of driving behavior, characteristics, required performance, and vehicle response, sketches the manufacturer. This resulted in stricter and more comprehensive fine-tuning of the vehicle systems' responses to driver inputs, ultimately leading to safer operation.
Refined Regeneration
Additionally, AI helped optimize brake force strategies to reduce stopping distances and maximize range. AI algorithms monitored and analyzed test data to adjust the strength of regenerative braking and analyze the impacts of different strategies on the braking and battery management system. In this way, they claim to have achieved maximum regenerative braking while minimizing hydraulic braking when decelerating the vehicle, ultimately improving range. By sharing and intelligently merging data from the electro-hydraulic braking system (EHB) and the battery management system (BMS), this process has improved the regenerative braking characteristics and performance of the SV, according to the promise.
Depending on the market, the Farizon SV is available in configurations L1 H1, L1 H2, L2 H1, L2 H2, L2 H3, and L3 H3, meeting the needs of a wide range of fleet operators and users of small and medium transporters. The SV is equipped as standard with a range of innovations, including drive-by-wire technology, a unique hidden B-pillar design integrated into the passenger door, a cell-to-pack battery package, and a payload monitoring
