Ford E-Transit — great but too late?
Ford has spent a lot of time recently talking about their commitment to electric Commercial Vehicles, actually honest-to-God BEV commercial vehicles not just hybrids of various forms.

The two big products that Ford need to successfully transition to electric are F-Series Truck — still the best selling vehicle in the USA — and Transit — the best selling van in the USA and market leader in Europe too.

We will return to F-Series and the exciting world of electric Pick-up Trucks another time. For now, I want to concentrate on the E-Transit in the UK, after all, Ford famously describes Transit as “The Backbone of Britain”, so what are the prospects for making it electric?

E-Transit offers lots of promise, certainly in terms of flexibility which operators have come to expect from a Transit. These include a good choice of body sizes and types, including chassis cabs. They have created a range of some 25 variants with Gross Vehicle Mass options up to 4.25 tonnes. While promised maximum payloads are 1616kg as a van and 1967kg as a chassis cab are competitive with the likes of Fiat’s eDucato.

Load volume matches the current RWD Transit with a maximum 15.1 cubic metres in L4H3 guise. In what Ford claims as an industry first — E-Transit can be used to power external equipment, providing up to 2.3kW, more than adequate for power tools and similar applications.

Speaking of power; E-Transit will have a 67kW battery with a single 266bhp (198kW) motor driving the rear wheels, with a claimed range of 217 miles (WLTP). It can handle 115kW (where available ) for rapid charging and charging at home will take around 8 hours with a standard wallbox. These are impressive figures, especially compared to the Mercedes eSprinter who posts a WLTP range of 96 miles! (Combined).

In the cab, things will be broadly familiar to current Transit operators, although of course there are some changes. Sync4 offers a 12.0inch screen along with various connected services and naturally, there is no gear change, which of course means more space.

Overall E-Transit looks attractive and competitively specified. To date, we don’t yet know the price in today’s market and therein is the rub! In Europe E-Transit is scheduled for a 2022 launch which has attracted some criticism from EV enthusiasts. It certainly begs the question; Will the combination of specification, dealer network and brand familiarity be enough at that stage, to ensure Ford and E-Transit are major players as fleets transition to electric? Especially as new players such as Arrival will also come to market in 2022 with designed from the ground up electric Commercial Vehicles?

With the pace the market seems to be moving, 2022 feels a lot like Ford are going to be a little late to the party. Will E-Transit be the life of the party or drinking alone in the kitchen while everyone hangs out with the cool new kids. Only time will tell!

If you have any thoughts on E-Transit, its specification, options or launch timing, I would love to hear your views in the comments section.
['Damien Scully']
['Commercial Vehicles', 'Ford', 'Electric Vehicles', 'E Transit']