It was, of course, inevitable that electric cargo vans would fall in price. Even allowing for the front-loading of running costs inherent in an EV, the fact that many cargo vans are company-owned and, therefore, purchased largely on price, meant somebody would hit the market with a cheapie that did the job.
In Australia, the cut-price last-mile vans include the Kia PV5 EV and Farizon V7E, both with price-tags under $56,000. The Farizon was the title-holder at sub-$50K drive-away, but a newcomer called the Cavan C1 rewrites that script with a starting price of under $45,000, drive-away, for the cheapest version.
A sub-brand of Chinese behemoth Foton, the Cavan brand will be distributed and retailed in Australia by a separate company to Inchcape (the local Foton distributor) and at the moment, there’s but a single dealership (in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs). That will surely change, however, as deliveries ramp up and the word gets out. In fact, as we go to press, a second dealership, also in Melbourne, has been announced.
Cavan C1 2026: Plus
| Engine Type | |
|---|---|
| Fuel Type | Electric |
| Fuel Efficiency | |
| Seating | 3 |
| Price From | $47,990 |
Price and features – Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with?
9 / 10
Razor-sharp drive-away pricing is certainly a highlight of the entire Cavan experience, but it’s worth mentioning this appears to be launch pricing and could increase as time goes by.
Also, that headline $44,990 sticker applies to the entry-level C1 which has less cargo-bay length (and a shorter wheelbase) less payload (1000kg plays 1200kg for the other variants) and a smaller range thanks to a smaller battery capacity.
In any case, the version you’d buy would be the C1 Plus which gets the larger battery, greater payload and longer wheelbase. That costs $47,990.
The next, and final, step up is the C1 Max which is the high-roof variant of the C1 Plus and costs $48,990.
The version we’ve tested here is the C1 Plus, and as part of the C1 deal, that gets you automatic LED headlights, a multi-function steering wheel, steel wheels with hubcaps, a four-way adjustable driver’s seat with its own suspension (more on that later), reading lights in the cabin, a solid cargo barrier, electronic air-conditioning, digital radio, a decent sized centre screen with touch control and a driver’s screen with configurable display settings.
There are also drive modes for economy versus performance, although it’s worth mentioning the C1 reverts to Eco mode every time you start it. The central locking is also fob-operated but there’s no keyless entry function. Instead, you open the vehicle with the fob, at which point it’s ready to select a gear and take off… no power or on/off button.
Interestingly, there’s also a dashcam system that possibly says more about traffic conditions in the Cavan’s home market of China than it does about anything else.
The seats are strictly fabric covered, the cabin floor is a hard plastic as are many (all?) of the touch-points in the cabin. It’s also the case that the interior fit and finish will not have anybody at Lexus losing sleep. And that’s despite the Foton tie-up with Mercedes-Benz delivering some very M-B-like controls including the steering-column wands and climate-control buttons.
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Design – Is there anything interesting about its design?
8 / 10
A cargo van will never be judged on its looks. That’s lucky then.
However, on the basis that the biggest box shape for the footprint should be the aim of every van designer, the Cavan C1 does a good job.
The angled nose is about the only line that’s neither completely vertical nor horizontal and the minimalist lighting units likewise do their best to hide any shape. An art critic might call the overall effect 'naive'.
But does it matter that a minimalist with a trowel styled the C1? Not one bit. Although, while the C1 is clearly a head turner in traffic, basic lip-reading reveals that to be for the wrong reasons.
Practicality – How practical is its space and tech inside?
7 / 10
Let’s split this into two parts and start with the cabin. In an age where cabin design is aimed at placing driver convenience and comfort a long way forward of where it used to be, the C1 is a slight disappointment. While there are two glove boxes, they’re both small (one is tiny) and although the doors have huge bins, there’s not a single dash-top or overhead stash space or cubby hole.
The power window switches are placed too far back on the armrest to be comfy to use and since there’s no back window (and therefore no interior mirror) and no visor-mounted mirrors either, there’s absolutely no way to check your lippy/groom your moustache or whatever it is delivery drivers use mirrors for.
Beyond that, it improves. There’s a huge storage bin under the passenger’s seat and that seat is a three-perch unit with headrests and lap-sash seat-belts for all. There's a single USB-A charge port and two USB-C ports, a take-away hook lives in the dashboard and the C1 even comes with a hi-vis vest.
The plastic flooring makes sense, the view forward is magic and the overall driving position is good apart from the pedals.
Connectivity is another mixed bag with Bluetooth for phone pairing (that didn’t like my phone) but if you want Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to work, you need to download an app from the car’s screen.
The suspension seat for the driver seems like a great idea, but you soon realise the markings for drivers of various kerb mass don’t seem to make much sense, and twirling the dial to firm the seat seems to have the opposite effect. And that will then annoy you when the seat bottoms out painfully over every speed-bump until you next stop and can access the knob again. The lumbar adjustment also seems to range from hard to very hard and the seat cushion is pretty firm, too.
Then there’s that pedal placement. Despite not having a particularly tight turning circle, the C1’s front wheel arch intrudes into the driver’s footwell in a big way. Aside from raising question marks over its lower-leg protection in a shunt, this means the brake and throttle pedals are very tightly packed. In a way, the one-pedal driving style the driveline promotes reduces the grief of this, but it’s still far from perfect.
Moving into the cargo area, things start well with twin sliding doors as standard; a feature that is often an extra-cost option on some vans (or not available at all).
The rear barn doors are split 50/50 and open to 90 degrees with a single movement. But to open the rear doors back on to the side of the van to allow for forklift loading, requires you to undo a catch on the hinge. And once you do that, the doors are free to flap about in the wind, as there’s no hinge détente to stop them.
Cavan’s solution is an elasticised strap on each lower door that clips on to the rear wheel-arch to stop the doors swinging in the fully open position. As engineering solutions go this is low-tech and vastly ergonomically imperfect.
The cargo bay has eight (nine, if you count the one hidden on the sliding door pillar) sturdy tie-down points that are mounted nice and low (which is where they work best). There’s a pair of cargo bay lights, but the bay itself is lined only half way up each wall (although the roof is lined).
Also, the checker-plate floor is never going to be as grippy as a proper rubber-matted floor, and could be very slippery once it’s wet. The spare tyre for our car also came in a cardboard box, loose in the cargo bay. There’s simply no mount provided for a spare inside, and the batteries preclude fitting it underneath the floor. We’re assured this will be fixed as a running change.
Unlike some cleverer designs, there’s also no removable or hinged panel in the cargo barrier to allow extra long items to slide under the front seat from the load area.
But the C1 features Vehicle to Load technology, enabling it to power tools and equipment on a job site or when camping, for instance. The C1 Plus has a cargo capacity of 7.4 cubic metres and a payload of 1200kg. But the lack of an ADR-approved tow-bar as yet means there’s no advertised towing capacity.
Under the bonnet – What are the key stats for its motor?
8 / 10
A 66.67kWh battery pack (50.23kWh in the base version) powers a single electric motor located between the front wheels giving a total of 125kW and 210Nm. Top speed is limited to 120km/h.
A single-speed transmission sends the drive to the front wheels only and while the front suspension is MacPherson strut, the rear end is traditional van stuff in the form of leaf springs. Four-wheel disc brakes are fitted, but there’s also strong regenerative braking in the default Eco mode, making the C1 a one-pedal drive.
Efficiency – What is its driving range? What is its charging time?
8 / 10
Cavan claims a 325km driving range in the C1 Plus and 275km for the basic C1 with its smaller battery. But those figures are based on the WLTC testing protocols which are generally regarded as more lenient and able to produce better numbers than some other testing standards.
Over two days of typical urban running (including an element of enterprising driving (not atypical of many courier drivers facing a deadline) we achieved 172km, using exactly 60 per cent of the battery’s charge in the process. That equates to a real world range of about 287km, or closer to 250km before range anxiety sets in.
We found that the C1 would accept charge at a maximum rate of about 90kW per hour on a 100kW charger, tailing off sharply as it approached full charge. Officially, Cavan claims a 20 to 80 per cent charge can be absorbed in 18 minutes on a fast charger. Either way, a wall-box back at fleet headquarters is a far more likely charging scenario for the Cavan.
Driving – What's it like to drive?
7 / 10
This is a bit of a mixed bag with some decent dynamics and some less than perfect ergonomics and interfaces.
So, what’s right about the C1? A good start is the performance. While you’ll never mistake the Cavan for a dual motor Tesla, the C1 does have enough urge for normal city driving.
That said, you’ll find yourself using Eco mode (there’s also Performance and Auto modes) but these need to be selected every time you 'key' on. In any case, I couldn't find much difference between the modes in acceleration terms, which feels about the same as a budget diesel van.
The steering is pretty neutral although it seems to load up a little as you reach full lock, and the turning circle (probably due to the long wheelbase) is nothing to write home about, either.
Ride quality is pretty good for a cargo van, especially one with nothing on board and apart from the lack of any rear view beyond the camera and exterior mirrors, it’s not a difficult thing to pilot.
The problems start once you’re rolling, at which point the driver assistance stuff makes its presence felt in no uncertain terms. Stray just one km/h over the posted limit and the warning bells start pealing and the dashboard starts flashing. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the traffic sign recognition wasn’t so glitchy.
As it is, it picks up lower speed limit signs in service roads and applies them to the main road you’re driving on. Suddenly, you’re being warned about your speeding even though you’re 10km/h below the imit. It can’t discern between advisory limits for speed humps, either, mistaking them for actual limits and chiding you accordingly.
The lane-keeping assistance is over-eager to step in, sparking a dashboard display and then stabbing at the steering column, and the driver attention monitor’s default presumption is you’re asleep at the wheel.
Even the automatic headlight dipping is useless, preferring to randomly dazzle oncoming traffic and dipping the headlights for a milli-second whenever you use the indicators. Were you not able to disable the auto dipping feature, this car would be undriveable at night.
And it’s not as if the Chinese makers (and others) haven’t had time to borrow another brand’s car and reverse engineer the correct calibration. Which means we may have arrived at the point where we need to concede these driver assistance system failings are cultural more than technological.
Warranty & Safety Rating
Safety – What safety equipment is fitted? What is its safety rating?
4 / 10
We have no quarrel with the amount of driver assistance features built into the C1. They include:
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Forward collision warning
- Lane departure warning
- Lane centring
- Intelligent speed assistance
- Blind spot detection
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Rear cross-traffic braking
- Tyre pressure monitoring.
But we do take issue with the calibration, insistence and the way some of the warning systems manifest (see the Driving section).
The gaping hole in the C1’s safety portfolio is a lack of side-curtain airbags. As it is, the Cavan offers just a driver’s and passenger’s front airbag. This alone will be an issue for fleet managers with a brief to maximise OH and S. It probably counts out a lot of government fleets before anybody has even mentioned price.
There’s no crash-test data available for this vehicle and it’s unlikely to be locally tested.
Safety is the one area where Cavan is going to need to do better than it does right now.
Ownership – What warranty is offered? What are its service intervals? What are its running costs?
9 / 10
Cavan’s factory warranty for Australian-delivered C1s is a fairly basic three years/100,000km on the body and chassis. That doesn’t sound terrific, but it’s not an uncommon warranty period in commercial vehicles. Meanwhile, the electric motor and its controller are covered for five years or 200,000km, and the EV battery gets eight years and 400,000km of warranty.
There’s free roadside assistance for the first three years and free scheduled servicing for the same period.
Day-to-day running costs will depend on where and when you charge up, but the lack of a charging cord to suit a household socket means you either need to stump up for a wall-box, or use commercial chargers. At 72 cents per kWh on some chargers, that can be as much as $45 or even a little more if you’re charging to full from empty.
Verdict
The deliberately simplistic styling, sometimes weird cabin ergonomics and slavish devotion to pulling dollars from the end result make us wonder if the Cavan C1 doesn’t represent some kind of a revival of the white-versus-blue-collar occupational class system.
Socio-economic aspects aside, this would be okay if the C1 did everything as well as its peers. But it doesn’t. It does, however, get enough things right and enough things covered off adequately to be a viable tool for a business in the last-mile delivery industry or some other version of the courier game.
But it won’t be as easy to use as some offerings, nor will it be as comfortable over an eight-hour shift. And the way the driver-assistance features are calibrated means the Cavan will very possibly start to wear thin by about morning-tea time. This may bother its operators somewhat. But some fleet managers and CFOs? Not a bit. Which is where the return to that us-and-them thing comes into it.
A metaphor for the planet right now? Perhaps.
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