British manufacturing firm Helixx has today revealed its first-ever ‘Factory in a box’ electric delivery vehicle concept designed to simplify EV production.
Described as an entirely new EV category that sits between an L7e quadricycle and microcar – the demonstration vehicle will serve as a white-label platform fulfilling a specific need for small commercial EVs in rapidly developing cities such as Asia Pacific.
These regions do not carry a legacy of vehicle manufacturing and typically depend on vehicle imports, Helixx told Zag Daily.
Its contemporary cube-like aesthetic is designed to emphasise easy assembly.
The body is 3.2 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. It has a 2100-litre capacity and 500-kg maximum payload.
A unique feature is the central driving position, with a single seat that not only optimises load space but also ensures compatibility with both left and right-hand-drive markets.
Simplified EV production
The body system comprises just five key structural components that ‘click and bond’ together to significantly reduce manufacturing costs.
Zag spoke with Steve Pegg, Helixx CEO and Co-Founder, who said the body system sits at the heart of the Helixx manufacturing methodology and is key to the replication model and the decomplexified build.
“It is designed without the need for fixtures and framing, welding or treatment, trimming and post processing. Eliminating these labour-intensive process bottlenecks creates a simple assembly that virtually eradicates the need for engineering expertise.
“This unique set of architectural rules forms the foundation for Helixx’s assembly IP and ongoing patent applications. The body system not only optimises the assembly process, but it’s easily repeatable within different and bespoke designs if the customer requests a unique model. And at the end of its useful life the body system can be stripped and recycled with very little processing and parts can be fed back into the Helixx supply chain, delivering near 100% circularity.”
Helixx Mobility Hubs
Following validation and in-market feedback on the demonstrator vehicle, Helixx is scheduled to begin a limited production run of 100 vehicles in Q3 2024 from a new pilot hub in the UK at a location to be confirmed.
The license model is to incubate, replicate and then scale, so after this short production series, Helixx will then commission a volume pilot facility for 10K per annum production.
“The expansion strategy is all about commissioning customer licensed factories in their local countries and regions to enable domestic electric vehicle production capability in the world’s biggest emerging markets,” said Pegg. “The replicate model with the support framework in place will allow Helixx to scale robustly and consistently.”
These Helixx mobility hubs will be flexible enough to support white-label customer designs and localised branding.
