EFA-S, a German partner of Russian manufacturer GAZ, introduces electric conversions of GAZelle NeXT light commercial vehicles, produced at the Gorky Automobile Plant.

Europe currently experiences a tsunami of new electric vans, and it seems that the E35 GAZelle NEXT (available as a double cabin version, a van and a van bus with up to 9 seats) joins the party just in time.

The thing that caught our attention is that EFA-S equips its EVs with fairly big battery packs - 80 kWh (LFP) for expected 200 km (124 miles) of range and payload capacity of about 1,000 kg.

Moreover, the battery capacity can be higher if needed, up to 244 kWh! The range would be huge then, but we are not sure about the cargo capacity.

Who knows, maybe if the demand for EVs will reach a certain level, GAZ will decide to series produce electric vehicles right at its factory in Russia.

Gallery: E35 GAZelle NEXT

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Electric GAZelle NEXT vans go on sales in Germany

The E-35 electric series of commercial vehicles based on GAZelle NEXT has now new members in its family: a double cabin version, a van and a van bus.

EFA-S GmbH, a German partner of GAZ, is building electric vehicles on the Russian GAZelle NeXT LCV made at Gorky Automobile Plant. In addition to the basic E35 electric GAZelle canvas cover drop-side and insulated van versions unveiled by EFA-S last autumn there are now all-metal vans, van buses with up to 9 seats, and a double cabin canvas top version available in Germany.

EFA-S GmbH has added three new members to its family of electric vehicles based on GAZelle NEXT with their payload now almost doubled: all E35 GAZelle NEXT vehicles has a maximum gross weight of 3.5 t or 4.25 t thus increasing their actual payload by 750 kg.

Leonid Dolgov, Director, GAZ International:
— Thanks to partnership with EFA-S we are making a big jump into the future, taking our joint efforts we create absolutely noise-free eco-friendly and cost-efficient commercial vehicles based on our new GAZelle NEXT family. Last autumn EFA-S launched sales of E35 drop-side electric vehicles built on GAZelle NEXT while today we have new members in this family and we are the first in German commercial vehicles market to offer a 7-seat electric truck. Besides we are the only project in Germany to make electric framework vehicles, which means we can offer all kinds of superstructures to be added, thus creating a tailored commercial vehicle meeting all our business customer needs.

With more models in the electric lineup now EFA-S can offer tailored solutions meeting specific business needs of its customers.

Bastian Beutel, Director General, EFA-S:
— All basic versions of E35 GAZelle NEXT electric vehicles have a payload capacity of about 1t and can travel 200 km on a single charge which is enough for most uses. EFA-S uses a new generation of 80 kWh lithium iron phosphate batteries with ceramic separators for this purpose (LFP). If required by the customer, EFA-S will install even bigger batteries, up to 244 kWh. EFA-s offers silent eco-friendly and cost-efficient electric-driven vehicles based on GAZelle NEXT.

Lithium iron phosphate battery cells are really safe and do not require nickel and cobalt, which often cause some problems. With the new battery EFA-s offers twice the battery power that has been standard for electric vans ever before.

About EFA-S
ElektroFahrzeuge Stuttgart GmbH (EFA-S www.efa-s.de) specializes in conversion of trucks and buses with internal-combustion engines into eco-friendly vehicles run on electricity and is an electric technology leader in Germany. Since 2019 EFA-S has got new Russian trucks in its lineup which are based on the all new generation of GAZ vehicles.

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