The development of an emergency return vehicle for lunar exploration is crucial for future manned Chinese lunar exploration missions. To meet the needs of emergency life insurance and short distance movement on the moon surface， this study designs a cubic emergency lunar vehicle of China （CELV） from the perspective of safety， comfort， operation reliability， and working space. Several modules， such as body configuration， folding mode， driving mode， chassis structure， suspension steering， and wheel， are designed and optimized. The results show that the vehicle can achieve a high folding ratio of more than 17， with a simplified steering structure， improved transmission efficiency， as well as greater adaptability， stability， and comfort during travel.