{"id":183770,"date":"2026-04-02T20:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183770\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T20:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:36:08","slug":"could-this-funky-electric-van-be-nycs-next-taxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183770\/","title":{"rendered":"Could This Funky Electric Van Be NYC\u2019s Next Taxi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve got a thing for Korean vans. We have a not-so-secret crush on the Hyundai Staria<\/a>, and have our fingers crossed hoping it might come to the U.S.-badged as a Chevrolet<\/a>. So, yes, we were super-pleased to see this Kia PV5 done up as a New York City taxi cab.<\/p>\n

Hyundai had a PV5 on its stand at the 2026 New York auto show<\/a>\u2014not just any PV5, mind you, but one done up as a wheelchair-accessible van in partnership with BraunAbility. (We tried out the BraunAbility Chevrolet Traverse<\/a> a couple of years ago, and learned a lot about what it takes to make an ordinary vehicle wheelchair accessible.) The PV5 taxicab is a \u201cproduction ready concept\u201d intended for real-world testing, and one of the reasons it was at the New York show was so that the NYC taxi commission and local livery companies could give it a closer look.<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

The PV5 is a battery-powered minivan with a single motor powering the front wheels. In Korea, it\u2019s available with either a 164-hp motor fed by a 51.5 kWh battery pack or a 192-hp motor with a 71.2 kWh battery. The latter returns 250 miles on the highly-optimistic WLTP cycle, which would likely translate to around 200 miles of EPA-rated range. It uses a commercial version of the E-GMP platform with a 400-volt architecture. That means it can\u2019t do the super-fast charging we\u2019ve come to admire in Kia and Hyundai\u2019s 800-volt EVs, but Kia says the PV5 can fast-charge\u2014which we interpret as 10\u201380 percent\u2014in roughly 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Accessible<\/p>\n

The PV5 is currently sold in South Korea and Europe, with firm plans to bring it to Canada in the not-to-distant future. That last factoid is telling: Canada\u2019s vehicle safety standards are largely identical to the U.S., so if the PV5 has been crash tested for Canada, it should meet our safety standards as well (and since it\u2019s an EV, emissions is not a concern).<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

Could the PV5 work as a New York taxi? Although 200 miles of range should be adequate, we would think an 800-volt EV with a 15-minute charge time would be better suited to a Manhattan hack. And while the taxi concept\u2019s blue-and-white interior looks nice, it\u2019s going to need something in a more vomit-proof style. Still, we can envision this yellow PV5 with a bit more Bondo and overspray, horn blasting as it cuts off a Chevrolet Suburban to grab a fare at the corner of 57th and 8th.<\/p>\n

If at First You Don\u2019t Succeed\u2026<\/p>\n

Incidentally, this isn\u2019t Kia\u2019s first attempt at a New York taxi. Back in 2007, Kia showed off a prototype of a cab based on the Rondo (pictured below), complete with an L-shaped driver\u2019s partition, a built-in child seat, and a swing-out front passenger seat for the mobility impaired. It did not go well, as evidenced by the number of Rondo taxis one does not see on the streets of Manhattan today.<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/p>\n

More than that, we\u2019d love to see the PV5 come to America in both standard and wheelchair-accessible form (especially the latter, as most accessible vehicles are fuel-inefficient minivans). Bring it, Kia, because\u2014Hey! We\u2019re vannin\u2019 here! We\u2019re vannin\u2019 here!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve got a thing for Korean vans. We have a not-so-secret crush on the Hyundai Staria, and have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-183770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183770","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=183770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}