As first announced last year, Flexis, the joint venture between Renault Group, Volvo Group and CMA CGM to develop a new generation of urban logistics solutions, has become real.
At its new Operational Centre at Villebon-sur-Yvette, near Paris, their range of three light commercial vehicles and services were unveiled this week, attended by Fleet Transport, due for production in 2026.
The new collaboration project benefitting from €1 billion investment is focused on developing 100% electric, 100% connected, 100% urban-centric and 100% customizable urban logistics vehicles, based on a common Electric Vehicle specific skateboard platform. The development also includes a so-called Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) electronic architecture, to support logistics providers and to maximise the return on investment.
At the event Philippe Divry, CEO of Flexis announced ten letters of intent with logistics providers in France, the UK and Germany, with a potential vehicle demand of up to 15,000 vehicles over 3 years. Three of those logistics providers are Colis Privé (France), HIVED (UK) and DB Schenker (Germany) will work with Flexis to co-create solutions to meet their operational needs and those of their subcontractors.
“Our mission at Flexis is to support and accelerate the electrification of the urban logistics industry, which is looking to operate more sustainably, improve profitability and improve the operations security and safety for drivers in a sector that continues to grow,” explained Philippe. “Since the creation of Flexis, we have worked with customers and logistics players to co-create the services to meet operational needs and improve the B2B offer on the market with a solution that is 100% electric, 100% connected, 100% customizable and 100% designed for cities.”
Based on the low slung EV skateboard platform, with SDV electronic architecture developed by Renault Groupe partners Ampere, the Flexis design team, led by Louis Morasse, has developed a family of three vehicles, which are fully electric, urban proof, connected, and customizable.
The highly connected platform enables the vehicles to send real-time data to fleet management operators to maximize operational efficiency, as well as receive over the air updates, essentially making the vehicle a computer on wheels.
As the name goes – Flexis mean flexible! The fully EV range of vehicles featuring 800 volt architecture, are designed with logistics operations in mind to significantly improve efficiency. All vehicles have: a low floor height (-500mm) to ease the loading and unloading; the possibility of fully customizing the interior of the vehicles without the constraints of retrofitted hardware; the integration of high-capacity battery solutions allowing for fast charging (80% in less than 20 minutes); and the best range for urban operations (up to 450km WLTP per charge).
The vehicles are designed with superior ergonomics to increase driver safety and provide the comfort of a passenger car; for example, the driver seat is positioned at a height to reduce the impact on driver’s knees (reducing up to 250 up-and-down movements per day). An impressive 10.3m diameter turning circle has been achieved to increase efficiency.
Flexis has already invested €350 Million in the development of the product range and has now entered the pre-production phase in 2025. Serial production will start mid-2026 at Renault Group’s Sandouville plant in France. As part of the development process, twenty representative Confidential C prototypes have been built and being tested, cumulating more than 9,000 hours of driving, since March 2024.
The family is composed of three models: the Step-in van, the Panel van and the Cargo van.
The Step-in Van: The Step-In van features a new shape and size in the medium to large van segment featuring front sliding doors and a rear shutter door for loading optimization. The high volume fully integrated van features easy access between the cockpit and cargo areas with 1,90-metre height clearance allowing drivers to comfortably walk upright throughout the vehicle.
The Panel Van: A new take on the medium sized van class, with unique styling and multi-purpose design together with superior manoeuvrability and an overall height of 1.9m, enabling it to enter underground city parking and garages easily.
The Cargo Van: This chassis/cab variant is adapted to urban last-mile delivery needs and beyond with an easily convertible box, capable of integrating different widths, heights, and beds, as well as modular solutions including, but not limited to, refrigerated boxes.
Pertinent to the manufacturing process is that steel and sustainable composite materials are used, therefore assuring a lighter unladen weight, making them up to 300 kg lighter than traditional light commercials.
Flexis plans to sell its vehicles directly to logistics providers and fleet managers and will also supply the vehicles to Renault Group and Renault Trucks which will distribute them under their own brands in their sales networks.
Beyond the family of electric vehicles, Flexis is also developing a portfolio of B2B-oriented services to help logistics operators decarbonize and improve operational efficiency. The Flexis fleet management solution has been developed, based the Software Defined Vehicle platform to seamlessly integrate the vehicles in the existing digital environments already existing at customer operations.
Flexis services are centred around four main pillars: uptime management, operational efficiency, energy and charging infrastructure management, and financial services, and will be delivered through:
- A central digital platform for Flexis clients called the “FlexE Connect”
- Existing service networks across Europe supported by Renault Group and Volvo Group. In addition, a Customer Operational Centre, will offer clients a team of experts dedicated to conducting real-time fleet monitoring, providing diagnostics, proactive recommendations to customers, and sharing personalized performance reports.