Kia has waded into the commercial vehicle sector with an electric van that will come in cargo, crew and chassis-cab configurations.

It’s called the PV5, and the cargo version will be the first to arrive, fitted with either a standard 51.5kWh battery pack that will propel it up to 181 miles to a charge, or a long-range 71.2kWh assembly reckoned to be good for 247 miles.

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Each of these powers the front wheels only and, although the former has a single 120hp motor and the latter a dual 160hp setup, they deliver the same 250Nm torque figure.

Both models are large enough to swallow a pair of Euro pallets, but the penalty for the long-range model’s performance is a reduced payload of 690kg, compared with 790kg for the standard variant.

All PV5s have a simple yet smart interior with cloth seats, a 12.9in touchscreen display and large digital instrument cluster.

Order books are open, with prices starting at £27,645 for the standard model and £30,145 for the long-range.

Pricing for other iterations will be available later in the year.