Automotive engineering and manufacturing start-up Morris Commercial has announced that it will soon unveil its new electric light commercial vehicle, the Morris JE.
Boasting a full electric, lithium-ion battery powertrain, the new Morris JE is designed as a premium product with excellent functionality and a practical driving range for business and pleasure. The vehicle has a lightweight, modular chassis, making it highly adaptable for future derivatives. The combination of advanced lightweight chassis with a complete carbon fibre body makes the Morris JE one of the lightest LCVs in the marketplace, which results in a power to weight efficiency that maximises the range of the vehicle.
The Worcestershire-based company behind the vehicle is a UK-based start-up that has acquired the rights to the Morris Commercial name and has a vision to revive the iconic British brand with a series of all-electric vehicles, of which the Morris JE is the first.
It takes its name from the Morris iconic J-type, which was introduced in 1948 and manufactured for many years afterwards. It was known as the archetypal ‘big’ little van, featuring what was then a ground-breaking load capacity-to-footprint ratio. Aside from its practicality and reliability, the J-type was exported around world to more than 22 countries. The original van still has international recognition, and today some are still in use as ice cream vans, for food retailing and in film and advertising campaigns.
The JE takes the essence of the original, iconic design and reimagines it as an all-new, sustainable vehicle for the 21st century, according to the company. The new vehicle is not a replica of a 70-year-old design but takes the DNA and values of the original van and brings it up to date with a contemporary design.
An experienced team of automotive designers and engineers from across Europe have led on the Morris JE project. The JE has been designed from the start as a full EV, and Morris Commercial says its ethos is to deliver products that utilise the best available zero emissions technologies with exceptional engineering integrity and beautiful craftsmanship with a retro feel.
Dr Qu Li, CEO and founder of Morris Commercial, said that the Morris JE had been in development for two years: “The working engineering prototype has undergone extensive road testing and the end of 2019 is an amazing conclusion to the first phase of the project. We still have a little way to go to bring the project to full production, but we have the team and the product to make this an enormous success.
“As a business we are committed to environmental sustainability and we are trailblazing a new approach to the production of appealing, fully electric commercial vehicles. We are very excited to unveil the JE to the public this autumn.”
