Louth Motors: The Transit-ion to electricity

I adore vans. They give real purpose to driving because they’re needed to carry equipment for work or to deliver something. Our roads are full of them and are the lifeblood of the economy.

They communicate the products of companies and are a very potent optic of the ethos of a company.

Nowadays, with the carbon centric aspect to everything in our lives, vans using energy contrary to the reduction of carbon is not a good image for companies so the future for electric vans looks secure.

And vans, believe it or not, are quite good contenders to be all-electric based on the use they are usually used for.

A drive to and from a job and parked all day as well as for light urban deliveries on a delivery round.

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With range and recharge times getting better and better, carbon conscious companies can garner consumer favour by undertaking their business using eclectic vehicles, in the case of this week’s test, a Ford E-Transit.

The Ford Transit is iconic in the commercial sector and is still the go-to van.

It’s the one they all want and if the budget allows the one they opt for. Ford has 25% of the commercial sector here in Ireland and whilst they have the Courier and Connect in the range, I’m pretty sure the Transit accounts for the bulk of all sales.

A close friend of mine has always driven Transit’s and is nearing retirement.

His “last” Transit van has nearly every option ticked. He reckons he spends so much time in it he needs all the luxury and toys available opting for 4WD, high roof, automatic transmission and for a bit of bling - alloy wheels.

Can’t fault his logic, apart from his sticking to diesel as he travels regularly to Scotland and Europe, that he needs to be pampered.

Having driven the E-Transit I can attest to the level of comfort and equipment. I should not have to report that it has all the features you’d see in a modern car as well as all the safety systems, but it has.

And the range of options available to the Base and Trend is also vast, taking more selling cues from the car sector to sell you more. Standard on all models is Lane-Keeping System, Driver Alert, Pre-Collision Assist with Auto Emergency Braking, Post-Collision Braking, Hill Start Assist and Auto High Beam, as I said car-like with pricing starting at €67,563.

There are 25 variations available between length, height and motor power so Ford are not simply dipping their toe into electrification, this is full on.

So what can a driver expect? The electrification of the Transit is a major step and it seems the way forward but I’m sure the impact for drivers will not be as transformational as they might expect.

OK, gone is a manual gearbox but other than that the way Ford have gone about it is to make it look and feel the same as an “ordinary” Transit.

They even kept the old style “fuel” gauge - they shouldn't have. It moves along nicely and feels quite potent.

Granted mine had an empty payload which can carry a massive 1685kgs for the longest and tallest variant.

There’s a usable battery capacity of 68 kWh giving a claimed range of up to 317 km and can be recharged to 80% from 15% in 34 minutes at a rate of 115kW/hr.

That’s tea break time and if the infrastructure was widespread this will easily fit into the working day.

I recharged the van using a 50kW charger taking 64 minutes to go from 11% to 70%.

My DW WLTP figures show the battery dropped from 65% with an indicated range of 120 km dropping to 41% and a range of 73 km after a measured trip of 46 kms. All of this was with an empty cargo bay.

The level of comfort in the Transit is astonishing and I’d happily carry my elderly parents in one as you can have three seats in the front.

I even reckon getting in and out of it would be easier for them too. There was no resonance from the side panels at all and when on less than perfect surfaces, wind and road noise was well suppressed delivering a very refined cab.

Commercial van drivers need not fear the onset of electric vans other than making sure the battery, the range and the recharging times can be accommodated into the working day.

This requires a bit more effort but will if it works for your circumstances then the Transit-ion will be relatively painless.

Ford’s jewel needs to have no fear facing into the future and using electricity to power the lifeblood of the economy, the humble (although not anymore) van.

I’m in the latest Mazda next week, the CX-60 PHEV