US car maker Ford Motors has begun shipping the brand new all-electric e-Transit van to customers across the United States, with more than 10,000 orders already from businesses of all sizes across the country.
The news of US deliveries – and increased production – is hopefully good news for Australian fleet operators as well, after Ford announced in October that it would enter the Australian market with the e-Transit early this year ahead of four other EVs.
Shipping from Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant, the company’s first US plant to assemble both batteries and all-electric vehicles in-house, the e-Transit is a key pillar of Ford’s $US30 billion electrification strategy through 2025, alongside the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and F-150 Lightning Pro.
“E-Transit is a testament to the fact that an electric commercial fleet is no longer a vision of tomorrow, but a productivity-boosting modern reality,” said Kumar Galhotra, president of the Americas & international markets group, Ford Motor Company.
Built on a long wheelbase with a payload capacity of over 1.6 tonnes and gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 4.2 tonnes, the e-Transit boasts an all-electric range of around 317-kilometres thanks to a 68kW battery.
“Ford Pro is committed to driving businesses forward – from the Transit vans and F-150 trucks assembled right here by workers in America, to the many businesses it will help grow, to the communities that benefit from the jobs and revenue,” said Tim Baughman, general manager, Ford Pro North America.
But demand for the e-Transit – along with the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and F-150 Lightning Pro – has pushed Ford to look at ways to increase production. Ford has already received orders for 10,000+ e-Transit vans from over 300 customers across the United States.
Ford announced in November that it was planning to increase production of electric vehicles to 600,000 units per year by 2023 – including 200,000+ Mustang Mach-E SUVs and 150,000 F-150 Lightning trucks – in a bid to establish itself as the second-largest US-based producer of EVs behind Tesla.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.