The blocky BYD E-VALI van is here to take on the Transit

A new player is about to enter the hotly contested light commercial vehicle game in Europe. Yep, BYD has just unveiled the E-VALI van – a rival for movers like the Ford E-Transit and Renault Master E-Tech.

Because of course, the E-VALI is powered by electricity. There’s a cobalt-free 80.64kWh battery that should provide a range of between 137 and 155 miles, and you’ll be able to spec a single-motor, rear-wheel drive variant with 201bhp or a twin-motor, all-wheel drive unit with 335bhp.

Worth noting that it’ll fast charge at an impressive 188kW too, so a 10 to 80 per cent top up takes around 30 minutes. Oh, and a heat pump is standard fit.

We’re told the E-VALI will come in two sizes, with the smaller of the two 5,995mm in length and the larger 6,995mm. You’ll get 13.9m³ of cargo volume in the former and 17.9m³ in the latter. Depending on size there will also be a max payload of 1,450kg.

BYD says that the E-VALI was designed specifically for Europe. It also says that shows off “new era aesthetics” although we can’t get over just how sad its poor little LED face looks. Won’t someone please give it a hug?

As you’d expect from BYD, the cabin is all very minimalist with a large touchscreen that gets Apple CarPlay/Android Auto compatibility and can be viewed in a split-screen format to display different information for the driver and passengers. There’ll also be electrically adjustable seats, a foldable table that pops out of the centre console, an in-car fridge, plenty of cupholders and many USB ports.

While you deliberate its merits below, we contest that the E-VALI's nickname should henceforth be... Frank. Geddit? Oh come on, that's gold people. Gold!