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Even though a clean-sheet design may have its advantages regarding some EV-specific conditions, resorting mostly to off-the-shelf components would make it easier for commercial operators (including state-owned companies such as post offices) to increase the usage of EVs and assimilate all the eventual changes to the maintenance routines. Cutting the R&D costs for manufacturers is another advantage which is hard to neglect.
On a sidenote, the 1st generation of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class was meant to be electric, relying on the weight of the batteries as some sort of ballast weight which could prevent the widely-reported failure at the moose test in '97 for the ICE-powered production model.
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