The most astonishing thing about the all-electric version of Ford’s popular Transit commercial van called the E-Transit may be that… it’s a Transit. And, that’s the best possible scenario for the legions of businesses that rely on this vehicle. As the world starts to transition to EVs, Ford intends to make it as seamless as possible for its existing customers. Find out what they’ve done… or not done to make the 2022 Ford E-Transit an ideal commercial vehicle for the age of electrons and whether it will be ready to holds its own against competitors such as the Ram ProMaster and GM BrightDrop.
We’re here in northern california with ford to learn all about ford’s first commercial electric vehicle the 2022 ford e-transit the e-transit is part of a greater ford pro initiative to make it easier for buyers to electrify their fleets and control their costs so why are we in sonoma county sonoma county takes sustainability very seriously they’re one of the
First counties in the state to obtain a 99 sustainability score amongst all of the wineries in the county ford is partnering with some of the sonoma county wine growers in a pilot program to try out the ford pro telematics software and give them access to e-transit electric vehicles let’s take a few minutes to learn more about the ford pro program and then take
This e-transit right here out for a drive to see what it’s like the 2022 ford e-transit is available in three different lengths and three different roof heights this is just like the normal transit meaning there are no configuration sacrifices to going fully ev additionally e-transit will be available in cutaway and chassis cab models because the batteries are
Located in the floor the cargo van has up to 488 cubic feet of capacity and up to 3 800 pounds of payload nice a 67 kilowatt hour battery powers a 266 horsepower electric motor with 317 pound-feet of torque that power is then sent to the rear wheels ford claims up to 126 miles of range depending on roof height and length e-transit can charge up to 150 kilowatts
Charging from 15 percent to 80 in approximately 34 minutes employee safety is important in controlling costs and reducing downtime e-transit comes standard with autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection lane centering and lane departure warning auto high beams and a drowsiness alert system ford’s entire safety suite including blind spot monitoring and
Adaptive crews is also available forged transit is often praised for its driving dynamics and ease let’s see if that’s the case with the electric one before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel to see more in-depth ford ev news and our upcoming first drive of the all new f-150 lightning so now we’re out on the road in the all-new 2020 e-transit
And if you’re watching this as a already a transit customer whether it’s it’s personal or whether it’s a commercial you’re probably wondering what that experience is like when the platform is electrified really there isn’t much difference yes all of the ev centric ness is here um instant torque when you put your foot down regenerating electricity when you
Let off the accelerator when you brake but the the biggest takeaway that i have is that it is a transit it drives like a gas or diesel transit that you’ve already experienced which means that it has a very car like driving experience even on one of these longer wheelbase higher roof models like we’re in the the driving position is spot on yes you’re sitting
Up in the air so you’ve got good visibility outward but it feels like you’re sitting in more of a car than some of the competitors like the ram promaster which kind of has a a school bus driver sort of driving position this is much more car or truck like um which improves driver comfort especially if you’re going to spend some time in the vehicle uh fatigue
Will be less as well as it also being very maneuverable so the uh yesterday when we were out driving this we had to do an unplanned u-turn uh turning circle is great um you know it’s a rear-wheel drive transit so it tends to have a shorter turning circle than what like the all-wheel drive model would um and realistically what makes this thing kind of special
Is yes it’s electrified but you can replace your current transit with this with very little additional cost other than replacing the vehicle what do i mean i mean that if you have upfits already installed let’s say you’re an electrician or a plumber you maybe already have toolboxes and stuff in the back whatever like all of that will fit because dimensionally
This e-transit is the same as the gas transit that you can already buy it’s available as we said earlier in all three roof types all three body lengths as well as a chassis cab and a cutaway so it’s it’s that same tried-and-true reliable platform that you’re used to building on just with the electrification now some of the things built into the vehicle to kind
Of enhance that electrification is um there’s actually a driver sort of coach that will not only show you on an instrument cluster how well you’re braking and things like that but will also audibly say oh you’re accelerating too hard you’re braking too hard this is this is reducing the efficiency of the vehicle um all of that is trans transmitted back to the
Fleet manager through the telematics software but basically it’s designed so that whoever’s driving the vehicle if they are doing behavior that is not conducive to the most range then it will try to actively correct that along the way when you’re driving an electric vehicle especially a passenger car whatever one of the things you notice sort of right away is
That instant torque you put your foot down plants your head back he accelerates some cars do it quicker than others but it’s also not the smoothest way of driving and if you have 6 000 pounds of payload in the back uh regardless of what your business is you probably don’t want all of that your drivers throwing that all around while they’re trying to acclimate
To the ev driving experience so ford has built in a system that will smooth out acceleration and brake inputs so that when there’s a load in the van you become a much smoother driver thanks to the software so if somebody’s driving the van that’s new that doesn’t have a lot of experience in an ev um it will help protect and secure it adds the security of the cargo
By protecting it from from flopping around thanks to to driver to driver inputs so um it’s a uni it’s a unique feature i haven’t seen it on an ev before it’s not like an eco mode that just dampens everything it’s very specific to stimulate the experience of their being a load in the vehicle and smoothing that out so it’s cool we like it um it’s defeatable so
If you do not want to use it or your fleet manager doesn’t want to use it it doesn’t it doesn’t have to be enabled so a lot of the electrification features built into this that nagging system that i talked to earlier the coach your driving habits all of that can be defeated by either the owner yourself or by a fleet manager if you’re if you’re set up that way
Other sort of ev features in here there you get a very large uh sync infotainment screen it supports wireless apple carplay and android auto so you’ll be able to bring your your music and your media and stuff with you it also helps that when you have a fleet driver or something driving it they can pair their own phone so they can be hands-free they can also
Use the system to find charging stations a lot of that’s built into ford’s navigation software if you’ve driven a maki or you’re a little familiar with that but if you haven’t it can tell you where the nearest charging stations are how much those charging stations are going to cost and can even coordinate payment through the system if it exists on one of the
Partner chargers that ford has partnered with um additionally the cool thing about being able to use android auto apple carplay is you can also load the electrify america app or the charge point app or any of the apps that you’re already familiar with and run it through that interface van comes with lots of safety features including autonomous emergency braking
And lane centering the auto steer when you’re buying this sort of as a single owner operator you probably just want to have that tech because it helps make your drive or your work day more relaxing as a fleet owner you’re also going to care about it because it’s going to help reduce operations costs because you’re going to have fewer accidents and fewer employee
Injuries so the active safety stuff is important and some of the fleet buyers that i’ve talked to in the past are really starting to emphasize protecting the driver throughout the work day other than that i mean it drives pretty well it’s i mean it’s a van um you kind of go in with that exp expectation but the the rear drive setup of the electric makes it feel
Predictable um steering’s lights without being overly light and there’s lots of space lots of cubbies lots of places to store drinks and equipment and paperwork and this particular one is outfitted with a box at the back um so there’s not an open cabin right behind us so the wind noise and back noise isn’t that loud nvh isn’t a super big priority in commercial
Vans but it’s pretty quiet in here overall i like it compared to like a promaster they we haven’t driven the electric promaster yet so you know that’s still an unknown but compared to a gas promaster i do tend to prefer the transit in that experience um when it comes to evs i mean ford claims most people are driving right around 70 to 80 miles a day on their
Transit so 128 miles of range should be plenty um if it’s not for you it’s not for you there’s still gas powered transits that you can buy but what you’ll start seeing over the next few years is these vans slowly starting to make their way into to fleets so eventually where they’re all replaced where they’re all electric um which is great and there’s some
Extra advantages ford likes the talent of being electric um if you’re if you do work in a city or a municipality that has noise ordinances after a certain time there’s no gas motor to run the on-board generator doesn’t make any noise so you can work during those hours you can also take the vans places where maybe you wouldn’t be able to take a gas powered van
Some city centers now are are banning at least on the retail side on residential people driving gas powered in the city centers in europe there’s still exemptions for commercial vehicles but eventually those exemptions will expire and you’ll have to have an ev to do work in the city so this is this is the future this is where we’re going and the great thing
About the way that ford has implemented electricity in the transit doesn’t diminish it being a transit the e-transit is part of ford’s new ford pro business in addition to the hardware elements ford introduces fleet telematics software to track usage and stay up on maintenance it’s even compatible with non-ford vehicles in your fleet ford pro telematics also
Covers charging let’s take a look at how if you decide that you want to add an e-transit to your fleet your next question is likely going to be where am i going to charge it now part of the overall ford pro solution is they’re going to have an expert either come on site and or at a dealership do an evaluation of how much energy you’re going to need based on the
Number of vehicles and stuff you have they’re then going to recommend a couple of different solutions for some business owners it may be something as simple as a couple of level 2 chargers at their office or at their work but it could also be building an entire custom depot with dc fast charging as well as level two charging it’s going to depend on your clients
Situation the the key element though is the management software that comes with it it speaks to the power company so it understands when the cheapest electricity is and will control when your vans are charging to save you the most amount of money by using the least amount of electricity that you need to use while still maintaining no downtime with your fleets
You’re probably wondering what the cost is the basic ford pro telematics essentials is included with the vehicle purchase a 2022 e transit cutaway starts at 42 295 and a tall roof long wheelbase starts at 52 690. your local ford pro expert will understand and explain all incentives and volume pricing the 2022 ford e-transit is everything that you’d expect from a
Transit just powered by electricity the bigger story here is the ford pro ecosystem which brings in the hardware the van with software and logistics business financing and the full support you need to convert your business to an all-electric fleet if you enjoyed this video please hit the like button and subscribe to our channel for in-depth coverage of the 2022
Ford e-transit visit our website at evpulse.com you
Transcribed from video
2022 Ford E-Transit First Drive Review | Range, Price, Payload & Telematics By EV Pulse
