By Gary S. Vasilash

Since the start of the contemporary minivan with the Chrysler Voyager, Dodge Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager in November 1983, that type of vehicle has had its ups and downs in the market. Mainly downs after the notion that it was a vehicle for “soccer moms.” One can imagine that when that meme was established Landon Donovan’s or Mia Hamm’s mothers probably didn’t want to be seen in one.

But from a packaging point of view, it is hard to think of anything better than the configuration of the minivan.

Perhaps the forthcoming VW ID.Buzz electric minivan will change the perceptions of what a minivan is.

In other parts of the world, there is nothing diminutive (i.e., “mini”) about the boxy vehicles (no matter what aero effects are deployed, let’s admit it: these are shaped more like shoeboxes than Stingrays).

Elsewhere they are called “MPVs,” or “multi-purpose vehicles.”

The purposes seem to be carrying people and stuff, so there isn’t a whole lot of multi about them.

LEVC—the London Electric Vehicle Company, the firm that produces the TX, the hybrid-electric (it has a range extender) black cab that is rolling through the streets of London and elsewhere—is extending its transport offerings by putting into pilot production in a plant in Yiwu, China, the L380, a fully electric MPV.

Alex Nan, LEVC CEO, described the vehicle as “the next step forward in the company’s globalization strategy, as we rapidly accelerate our transition from manufacturing the world’s most advanced and iconic taxi, to becoming a leading e-mobility technology company.”

LEVC is a Geely Holding Group company. Which means it is related to Volvo and Polestar, Lotus and Lynk & Co., and others.

The L380 is based on the Geely Space Oriented Architecture (SOA), which is an underpinning that can be deployed for lots of vehicles, including those that aren’t vans.

The L380 will initially launch in China and then is expected to be delivered into the U.K. in about two years.

After that. . . ?