The first trials of the Ford E-Transit will soon be underway in the UK and Europe.
The E-Transit is the all-electric version of Ford’s best selling large van, and Ford have assigned prototype vehicles to a range of businesses in UK, Germany and Norway. The businesses in question are being kept secret for now, but they include the supermarket, home delivery, postal services and utilities sectors.
Andrew Mottram, E-Transit chief programme engineer, Commercial Vehicles, Ford of Europe, said; “Real-world trials are an important step on our journey to deliver the all-electric E‑Transit and will give us an even better understanding of how to help customers across different industries enhance their productivity using zero-emission power.”
The upcoming customer trials are only one stage in an extensive development programme for the E-Transit, all leading to its official launch in Spring 2022. The customer trials have been designed to test the electric van against the capabilities of the diesel Transit in a range of operating scenarios.
Data from the trials will be used by Ford’s engineers to refine the connected vehicle technology of the E-Transit, to present the most optimised operating experience possible to customers.
As well as the standard E-Transit panel van, the trials incorporate some chassis cab variants with conversions including refrigerated bodies, box vans, dropsides and interior racking.
At launch, European customers will be offered a range of body, length, roof height and Gross Vehicle Mass options, with 25 possible variations available to start.
The load area of the E-Transit is the same as the diesel Transit models, to allow existing racking and conversion systems. Predicted payload is in the range of 1616kg in vans, and up to 1967kg in chassis cab models.
An all-electric powertrain gives the E-Transit up to 200kW of power that can provide a maximum range of 217 miles. This is achieved with range-boosting technology such as Eco Mode and Scheduled Pre-Conditioning.
The Ford E-Transit is expected to be available for van lease in Spring 2022.
