{"id":182554,"date":"2026-04-01T19:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T19:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182554\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T19:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T19:56:18","slug":"kia-just-unveiled-the-nyc-taxi-van-of-the-future-now-it-just-needs-to-be-built","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182554\/","title":{"rendered":"Kia Just Unveiled The NYC Taxi Van Of The Future, Now It Just Needs To Be Built"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever been to New York City, you\u2019ve definitely seen a New York City taxi cab. The bright yellow paint is synonymous with Times Square and the Empire State Building, but there\u2019s a surprising amount of variety when it comes to the cars themselves.<\/p>\n

These days, you can see cabs on the streets of New York ranging from boring Camrys to Tesla Model 3s to Nissan\u2019s NV200, a van once dubbed the \u201ctaxi of tomorrow,\u201d introduced in 2012 to take over the NYC taxi scene (which didn\u2019t exactly work out). That didn\u2019t stop The Autopian from buying one with 375,000 miles on the clock and driving it across the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

With the city\u2019s mandate to have all taxis either wheelchair-accessible or all-electric by 2030, Kia and BraunAbility, an Indiana-based business that converts vans to be wheelchair-accessible, have come up with something that meets both requirements: an electric minivan with space for a wheelchair-bound passenger in the back.<\/p>\n

A Match Perfect For NYC<\/p>\n

If you keep a close eye on New York City traffic for long enough, you\u2019ll inevitably start seeing yellow-painted Toyota Siennas with curiously high ride heights and awkward-looking tailgates out back. That\u2019s because BraunAbility has modified the rear to become a deployable ramp so that people in wheelchairs can get into the car without having to get out of their seats.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a video<\/a> of how it works in the Sienna, which is BraunAbility\u2019s most popular model right now:<\/p>\n

While the Sienna works just fine for this type of work, there\u2019s certainly room for improvement. Enter the PV5<\/a>, a five-door electric minivan introduced by Kia in 2024 and put on sale overseas last year. As it turns out, the PV5\u2019s upright, square shape is excellent for transporting wheelchair-bound passengers, according to Jake Craig, senior national account manager for BraunAbility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PV5 is an amazing platform to begin with,\u201d Craig told me at the New York Auto Show. \u201cIt\u2019s got vertical walls. For the driver, you\u2019ll have a cab-over type of vision. The turning radius is very quick, [and] your breakover, departure, and approach angles are amazing.<\/p>\n

\"ImgSource: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York City, sometimes you have steep driveways, so for wheelchair accessible vehicles, especially with the ramp in the rear, sometimes that can become an area that may drag. [The PV5] is actually seven inches shorter than the Sienna, which is a very popular option for New York City Taxi today. But there\u2019s a lot of space inside, vertical walls and cab forward [design] have created more interior space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ImgSource: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

Craig went on to tell me how the converted cargo space is wider and longer than the Sienna, allowing them to install a wider ramp that can be installed flat on the floor when not in use (versus the Sienna, where the ramp stays vertical with the hatch, restricting storage space). The straps that hold the wheelchair to the car are also integrated into the floor, streamlining the process for getting wheelchaired passengers belted.<\/p>\n

Will It Become A Reality?<\/p>\n

Being fully electric and a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV), this PV5 taxi concept feels like an ideal solution for New York\u2019s taxi fleet going forward. Whether it\u2019ll actually happen is another story.<\/p>\n

\"ImgSource: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

Craig told me that this concept PV5 taxi, which is fully functional as a WAV-compliant cab, was developed to gauge interest from government officials, fleets, and riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had private reviews of the vehicle, and that was to get the feedback from direct stakeholders. The disability community, the environmental advocate groups, the city, and the stakeholders who could potentially operate this vehicle,\u201d says Craig. \u201cSo some large fleets came and looked at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ImgSource: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

Craig told me that feedback so far has been \u201cvery, very strong,\u201d with some fleet operators already asking if they could place orders. Not only would the PV5 taxi be compliant with NYC\u2019s upcoming EV mandate for cabs, but the less stringent maintenance schedules afforded by EVs also appealed to buyers.<\/p>\n

Other operators, though, still had some concerns, due mostly to charging infrastructure, not the vehicle itself. \u201cCharging infrastructure is one that comes up,\u201d Craig says.<\/p>\n

\"ImgSource: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

Whether the PV5 taxi isn\u2019t up to BraunAbility, of course, it\u2019s up to Kia. It can only be made possible if the company decides to develop a version that\u2019s compliant with U.S. roadways, which hasn\u2019t happened yet. But there is some hope.<\/p>\n

The concept itself showing up in New York during the Auto Show at Kia\u2019s booth is a strong indicator that the company is at least considering importing the PV5 for American roadways. Moreover, Car and Driver<\/a> spotted a PV5 test mule equipped with U.S.-spec side marker lights and reflectors driving around on Michigan roadways last month.<\/p>\n

\"ImgSource: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

Non-U.S.-market cars are tested Stateside all the time, of course, so this isn\u2019t conclusive evidence. It\u2019s very likely the company is gauging interest from BraunAbility\u2019s customers and its own buyer base to see if there\u2019s a viable market, using the Auto Show as a stage.<\/p>\n

As a NYC resident, I\u2019d be very happy to see our taxis become tall, alien-looking electric Kia vans \u2013 if not only because I could buy one wholesale with 400,000 miles on the clock one day.<\/p>\n

Top graphic images: Brian Silvestro<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve ever been to New York City, you\u2019ve definitely seen a New York City taxi cab. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[73575,70287,9,56,63,65,64,73576,73577,5457],"class_list":{"0":"post-182554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-braunability","9":"tag-kia","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-nyc-taxi","16":"tag-pv5","17":"tag-taxi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}