Kia’s PV5 Chassis Cab Rolls Into View with Food Truck Dreams

Kia unveiled the PV5 Chassis Cab at Solutrans in Lyon, France last week, and the result is a quiet revolution for anyone transporting goods through congested city streets. This electric work truck is a significant step forward in the company’s pursuit for modular cars, vans, and trucks that can accomplish whatever job is required of them. This one measures less than 5 meters from bumper to bumper, making it easy to fit into compact urban spaces. Its turning circle is a convenient 5.5 meters, allowing you to glide past double-parked cabs without difficulty.

Based on Kia’s Electric-Global Modular Platform for Service (the E-GMP.S), this cab shares the same underpinnings with the rest of the PV5 range but strips down to just a bare chassis ready for any kind of bodywork you want to slap on. Payload is limited to just over 2200 pounds, and with a high box layout, cargo area expands to a very reasonable 283 cubic feet. This is the kind of capacity you’d expect from a full-size van, but in a vehicle that takes up very little space.

Dimensions are only half the story here, as its actual length ranges between 4.61 and 4.87 meters, depending on whether the rear underrun bar is installed (which it most likely will be); it has a wheelbase of nearly 3 meters for stability under load, and is 1.895 meters wide and 1.935 meters tall (all shod in nicely-sized 215/65R16 tyres that grip well). A twin steel exoskeleton strengthens the frame without adding unnecessary weight. The rear underrun bar protects against low-speed collisions, and there is plenty of room inside the cab for extended shifts. You get heated seats to keep the chill out, a wireless charger to keep your phone charged on the go, and a warm steering wheel on cold mornings, not to mention storage everywhere: little pockets on the dash and doors, and even a battery-powered cable to power tools or keep a site fridge running. Every feature implies that these items are intended for the daily grind, from farmers lugging equipment to couriers trying to meet a deadline.


Power comes from batteries that are built for the real world, not just a showroom floor. According to WLTP testing, the base model has a 51.5 kWh pack that generates 89 kilowatts and can travel around 185 miles on a full charge when using the cargo layout in a usual manner. In 2026, there is an option for a 71.2 kWh battery, increasing the range to 258 miles, with 120 kilowatts available this time, allowing merging onto the highway much quicker. And the battery recharges very quickly: you can plug into a 150kw DC station and be charged from 10 to 80 percent in half an hour. If you need to recharge from a lower-powered AC outlet, it will take longer, roughly five hours with the smaller battery, but this is normally not an issue because most depots offer power overnight. No petrol stations, no fumes, just the smooth, quiet draw of electric torque as you accelerate from a stop. And we’ve already seen a sibling model, the PV5 cargo carrier, set a Guinness World Record by moving 1,750 pounds of cargo for 431 miles.

Inside the cab, there’s a large 12.9-inch touchscreen that runs Android and has all of the features you’d expect: it can pull in updates over the airwaves and download dynamic maps that update on the fly without requiring you to stop. You can assign numerous drivers to share the vehicle and track all of their itineraries and preferences. And for fleets, we’ve got this new Business Solutions tool that combines everything into one neat package: access to over a million charging points across Europe, as well as a central dashboard for tracking mileage and diagnosing any issues that arise, and even the option to swap in a rental if one of your vehicles breaks down. You can even control up to five trucks from the same app, or add a Geotab module to any older rigs in your fleet. And we’ll back this thing up for seven years, up to 93,000 miles, and the battery itself has an eight-year warranty. And if you’re a high-mileage operator, we can even provide extensions to keep you going longer.

There are some excellent possibilities for customizing to meet the specific demands of your business. Kia collaborated with certain European builders to construct the chassis, which allows you to quickly convert between a dropside bed for dirt hauling and a tipper for rubbish runs. Their box vans are available in three various sizes to accommodate the size of the parcels you’re transporting, and if you require a refrigerated unit to keep your cargo cool, that’s also an option. Everything is geared to make your life as a business user as simple as possible.
[Source]