The battery-electric model will have the segment almost entirely to itself for a while, as Ford seeks to boost output.
- Customers are taking delivery of the first battery-electric 2022 Ford E-Transit cargo trucks, produced (along with their batteries) at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant.
- The E-Transit is offered in chassis cab, cutaway and several cargo van versions, including in three lengths and roof heights for the latter, with a starting price of just over $40,000 for the cutaway model.
- The E-Transit will be among the first battery-electric vans to go on sale stateside in any large volume, with a number of competitors being about a year behind at the earliest.
Ford has begun delivering the first battery-electric E-Transit vans to customers, with the vehicles produced at the Kansas City Assembly Plant. The start of deliveries marks an important milestone in Ford’s electrification strategy, and is taking place ahead of the start of production of the Ford F-150 Lightning later this spring.
The automaker offers the E-Transit in a variety of versions, including three wheelbases and three roof heights, as well as in cutaway and chassis cab forms, with a top estimated range of 126 miles. All versions of the van use a 68-kWh battery powering a single rear-mounted motor producing 266 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque. The model starts at $43,295 in cutaway form, prior to destination charges and the $7500 federal tax credit, while the lowest-priced cargo van starts at $47,185 before destination charges and incentives.
Ford says it currently has orders from over 300 business customers for over 10,000 vans, with Ford estimating it will have the global capacity to produce 600,000 battery-electric vehicles per year by the end of next year. The automaker has invested $100 million in the Kansas City plant, which is Ford’s first U.S. facility to assemble both the vehicles and their batteries in-house. Ford is trying to boost E-Transit production.
The automaker offers the E-Transit in a number of lengths and configurations, aimed at contractors and other types of businesses.
Ford
“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, Ford’s president of The Americas & International Markets Group.
For now, the E-Transit has no direct competitors in the US, with the exception of GM’s BrightDrop EV600, production of which began in late 2021. But GM’s Ultium-based EV600 and the EV410 are almost a year away from full-volume production. So it might be a while before we see BrightDrop vans offered in a comparable number of versions and outfitted for a variety of tasks.
Meanwhile, Stellantis is certainly building battery-electric work vans at the moment, but it’s only offering them in Europe under Opel, Vauxhall and Citroen brands, and is not expected to offer a version of that particular vehicle family stateside. Rather, Stellantis will launch a battery-electric Ram ProMaster model in 2023. In effect, Ford will have this segment largely to itself for about a year, which is a pretty good position to be in.
“Ford Pro is committed to driving businesses forward—from the Transit vans and F-150 trucks assembled right here in America by American workers, 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.
Keyword: Ford Starts Delivering E-Transit Electric Vans to Buyers