BRAND NEW VAN - Flexis coming with the Step in Van! Cool Tech, great charging, driver focused #ev

Electric Vehicles Are Coming

05.05.2025

This #review is exciting because it gives us a glimpse into the mind set of new manufacturers looking to disrupt and come with a different approach!

What we know is the vehicle will have 9m cube, 200+ miles range and super fast charging giving v fast 10-80% charging speeds. Also great to hear how this vehicle will be connected so provide all the data the customer/operators will ever need!

We have about 12 months before we expect to see this on the market but you can see it for the first time this year at the ‪@TheCommercialVehicleShow‬

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00:00The powerhouse startup Flexis are bringing three brand new vehicles bristling with innovation.

00:09Join me as I consider the first of these and get insights from the people responsible for

00:15bringing them to market. So the first van that we're going to consider is the step-in van,

00:23which is an L2 version. L2 meaning that it's 3.55 meters between the wheel arches and 5.27 meters long.

00:31What does that give you in practical terms? Well, in the load area there you get nine of your cubic meters,

00:39plenty of room to stand up just under two meters in the back there, which means that you can jump in

00:45and jump out very effectively. In terms of weight in carrying capacity, you've got 1100 kilos. So

00:53is this meeting a need for you? Well, the urban logistics environment, I think, is crying out

00:59for this smaller but spacious van. But is this something that can meet a need in your business?

01:06For me, the ease of access, the in and out, which we'll test over in the Mule, as they call it,

01:12because we can't get into this one. We'll show you how that all works. It does make a lot of sense.

01:19There are a lot of vehicles that have tried this kind of solution, but have yet to really be able

01:25to make their mark in the market. From an electric credentials point of view,

01:31this has a charging speed of 240 kilowatts. That's blooming quick. How quick? It's 15 to 80 percent

01:41in just 20 minutes. That is exceptional. Now, this is the first van that I'm aware of.

01:49Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the first one that is utilizing the 800-volt architecture.

01:55Paul, what does that matter? Well, it means that you can get energy into the vehicle quicker.

02:01This is what other brands have been using to give us these really fast charging speeds in the car

02:07world. Haven't yet got into the van world, but now we're beginning to see it. And this makes sense,

02:13because of course, urban logistics, you need to be able to stop, quick charge and crack on with your

02:19day. So what about the range, Paul? Well, let me tell you about the range. The range is 350 kilometers.

02:27Well, we are in France after all. But let me tell you, it's around about 217 miles.

02:34So 217 miles. If you're in urban logistics, you're not charging that every day. Let's be honest.

02:40But when you do need to charge, if you get caught short, you're out on the hoof,

02:44if you find the right charger, you're charging extremely quickly and cracking on with your day.

02:50The charging port is here and the front offside, which means you can pull in and then hopefully

02:56there will be cameras fitted, which I think are standard when the vehicle comes to market. So

03:02that as you're reversing out, you'll still have a clear picture, which is really important.

03:07You might be able to see a steering wheel there through the window, but there's little else in

03:11that it's a model. So why don't we go and have a little look about what it might look inside.

03:18Now, while this is just a mock up, it is very lifelike, I'm assured. And if you're the driver

03:26here, I think you're getting a reasonably good experience. I'm expecting that we'll see an arm rest

03:33on the driver's seat. The steering wheel seems and feels very nice. And you've got all the controls

03:41that you would expect on the dashboard. There are places to fix equipment so that you can have your

03:47PDA. And I'm sure with the connected services that Flexis promised to come with, this nice screen here

03:55is going to be able to access all of your parcel deliveries and all of that good stuff.

03:59The idea initially, and the idea is to, the motto that we have is to reduce the mental load and the

04:07physical load of the drivers. We know that a typical driver, he can afford 80, 100 deliveries a day.

04:16That means 80, 100 stops a day. A stop is a stress. What do I need to do? You have probably a lot of

04:25actions to do to realize. So we help them not to care about driving, to care about only their job,

04:33and not to care about some other aspects of the vehicle. So we help them to do their job to execute

04:38in a very safer environment. Safe and simple, it seems. I mean, the button is a great thing.

04:46What I loved about what Seb was saying was that reducing the mental load and you're reducing the

04:53physical load. Talk to me about their mental load, especially in context with this lovely little

04:59button here. Tell me about that. Yeah, so we've incorporated what we call a delivery button into

05:03the vehicle. And the delivery button is designed to be fully configurable. So it goes back to the

05:08whole point about a software-defined vehicle and the advantages that you get from that. You know,

05:13it would be really easy to design a button that we call a delivery button and say, well,

05:17it does X, Y, and Z. But actually what we've done is kind of flipped that on its head and gone,

05:22we've designed a delivery button, Mr. Customer. What would you like it to do? And there's a whole

05:27range of things that we can configure that button to do that sit in line with the values and the

05:32requirements of the fleet that's going to be operating the vehicle. So it could be things like

05:36putting hazard lights on, putting the parking brake on, opening the bulkhead door, locking the exterior

05:41doors, and a whole range of other things. Interior lighting is an example. And that button can really

05:47do whatever the customer wants to do. So back to the project sales approach, part of what we want

05:52to do is work with our customers, really kind of shadow drivers and understand what the challenges

05:57they have in their day-to-day operations. And then we can take that back to the fleet and say,

06:02if you were to do this with the delivery button, actually we can save your drivers 15 seconds per drop.

06:08If you can save that 15 seconds by 100 deliveries per day and take away all of that mental fatigue for

06:15the driver, the benefits are huge. This is going to be built around the driver and that is going to be

06:21making it a very comfortable place to be. For me, the fact that you've got this nice free and easy

06:29exit and entrance at the side and also at the back with a sliding partition which comes as standard with

06:36the vehicle and then it all configured to your needs with regard to your parcel delivery function,

06:43whether it be large parcels, small parcels or even some different form of delivery. Everything is going

06:49to be catered for. So easy access in and out with nine cubic meters and 1100 kilos. This is looking like

06:59a pretty solid option for those urban logistic environments. When I first saw this vehicle at the

07:04IAA, it wasn't actually this vehicle, but a version of it. I like the looks of it. It's quite striking and

07:13they've toned it down a bit. There was a lot of yellow everywhere. This is more industrial and that's

07:19where it should be. But certainly it is immediately identifiable as a particularly interesting looking

07:27brand. And these headlights, if they come and make it to market, could look really kind of funky.

07:33I'm imagining a digital signature across the front there. You will know when this vehicle is coming.

07:39One of the other things that flex its price is a 10.3 meter curb to curb turning ability,

07:47turning circle, you might call it. That is across the L1 version of all of these versions and just

07:5311.4 for the longer wheelbase. Now that's pretty impressive and compares with like a Clio car,

08:01for goodness sake, or a Caddy van is less, much less than the Caddy van. So this is going to be

08:09perfectly suited for the environment for which it's been designed. This is our halo. This is the vehicle

08:14that's really been designed specifically for that urban logistics driver to maximize time saving,

08:21to maximize efficiency, to minimize kind of downtime in the day-to-day operation. But also to really put

08:29the driver at front of mind because it's so important that those drivers are able to stay healthy. They're

08:34able to stay motivated and they're able to stay comfortable because this is their office that they're

08:39working about working in it day in day out. So if you want to see more of this vehicle and get under

08:45the skin of it, get yourself along to the CV show on the 29th and 30th of April and the 1st of May.

08:51And you too can have an up close and personal experience with the new Flexus step-in van.

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