Commercial clients in the US can register for Ford E-Transit van

Following the announcement of real-world trials in Europe, Ford now details its E-Transit strategy in the US. The company released updated pricing for the electric van range alongside a website for customers to register their interest in going electric.

As in Europe, where testing in customer operation will begin by late summer, Ford will also trial the E-Transit at select clients in the US. At the same time, interest has been high, with Ford claiming more than 450 commercial customers spanning 45 vocations were already raising their hands to share purchase intentions.

To channel the demand, Ford today opened its website for commercial clients and says they may register interest in learning more about its first-ever full-size all-electric van ahead of order books opening by July.

“We’ve had so much interest early on, we wanted to open this registration site to serve customers with a building mix for their needs across all van body styles,” says Ted Cannis, general manager, North American commercial business.

The Ford E-Transit offers eight configurations, including a cargo van with three roof heights and three lengths, plus a chassis cab and cutaway model. The manufacturer says preliminary conversations with commercial customers indicated a “healthy mix for demand across all eight configurations,” with roughly 40 per cent leaning toward high-roof vans and 60 per cent pointing to medium-roof, low-roof, cutaway and chassis cab versions.

“Some customers want high-roof vans to maximize internal cargo space, while others need to install bodies on cutaways and chassis cabs. Customers will have an all-electric solution – from box truck delivery to parking structure-friendly utility service vans and everything in between,” adds Ted Cannis.

The new registration website allows for configuration and also includes new pricing. In the US, Ford initially aimed for prices below 45,000 dollars for the electric van and appears to deliver on the promise. New MSRP now published suggest $43,295 for the cutaway version and up to $52,690 for the high-roof extended-wheelbase cargo van. No deposit or purchase commitment is required when registering interest.

As in previous communications, Ford says it designed the E-Transit with insight from 30 million miles of customer telematics data showing that the average commercial van drives 74 miles per day. With a usable battery capacity of 67 kilowatt-hours, the low-roof E-Transit cargo van has a targeted driving range of 126 miles, according to EPA estimates.

Further trials such as those planned in Europe will also happen in the US through a pilot programme this summer. Key customers will test the electric van across a variety of vocational use cases, Ford suggests. The company adds more information about the pilot would be made available at a later date.

Ford will build the e-Transit for North America in Kansas City, where the company is investing €100Mn in the conversion of the production facilities.

According to Ford, the Ford E-Transit will be made available at 645 Ford Commercial Vehicle Center dealers across the US, about 90 per cent of which are electric vehicle-certified for easy sales and service. Deliveries are set to start in November.

ford.com, fleet.ford (register for E-Transit)