Ford Has Started Testing E-Transit With Major European Fleets

It is no secret that Ford has gone all-in on electric vehicles with the launch of the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning, but one car that's also going electric is the E-Transit Van which is the electric avatar of the Transit van. It has now been spotted in Germany, Norway and the UK as a part of fleets. 

Of course, the plan is for a spring 2022 launch and overall ten E-Transit prototypes have already been in intensive real-world trials with key operators in postal, municipal and utilities for last-mile services and the delivery sectors. 

This trail is important for the entire lineup and variants of the E-Transit as there will be a van, a double cab-in van, chassis cab, box van, refrigerated box, tipper and dropside bodies - Ford has already announced that there will be 25 variants of the car offered in Europe. The vehicles that are being tested range between 3.5 to 4.25 tonnes and there are a wide assortment of fixtures that have been developed for existing Transit models. 

It could be the most powerful electric van in Europe

There are many trail partners like AWB waste disposal, Balfour Beatty, the City of Cologne municipal fleet, DHL Express in the UK, DPD and Norwegian Post, Ocado and Recover Nordic. 

"Real-world mileage in customer's hands helps us to show the business benefits that E-Transit can deliver, as well as providing valuable feedback on usage patterns and charging behaviour so that we can refine the operating experience," said Dave Petts, market lead, urban electrified vans, Ford of Europe. 

Ford has big plans for the E-Transit. It is targeting up to 1,616 kg of payload for the van and up to 1,967 kg for the chassis cab models. The electric motor also has a peak out of 198 kW which is equal to 263 bhp with 430-newton meters of torque. This will make it the most powerful electric van sold in Europe. It also has a 67 kWh battery with an estimated driving range of 350 kilometres as per the WLTP cycle.