Ford launches European-wide trial of E-Transit

Customer trials of Ford’s all-electric Transit have started across Europe with a selection of fleet operators, ahead of the volume sales launch next spring.

The trial kicks off with ten E-Transit prototypes being put to the test across a variety of operating scenarios in the postal, municipal and utilities, last mile and grocery delivery sectors within Germany, Norway and the UK. Among the trial partners are AWB waste disposal, Balfour Beatty, the City of Cologne municipal fleet, DHL Express in the UK, DPD, Norwegian Post, Ocado and Recover Nordic.

The trials fleet features a full range of E-Transit variants including van, double-cab-in-van and chassis cab derivatives with gross vehicle masses from 3.5 to 4.25 tonnes, and a variety of conversions.

“We want to demonstrate that helping customers reduce their environmental impact can go hand-in-hand with improving their productivity,” said Dave Petts, market lead, urban electrified vans, Ford of Europe.

“Real-world mileage in customer hands helps us to show the business benefits that E-Transit can deliver, as well as providing valuable feedback on usage patterns and charging behaviour so that we can refine the operating experience.”

The trials mark the latest phase in Ford’s development of the new E-Transit, following a testing programme at Ford proving grounds and engineering facilities. Trials partners will operate the E-Transit prototypes over six- or 12-month periods.

E-Transit has been engineered to allow conversion using the same fixtures and fittings developed for existing Transit models. A selection of the trial vehicles have been converted to help demonstrate the versatility of the E-Transit platform, including: • Refrigerated box body for grocery delivery, powered by 2.3kW ProPower Onboard system • Dropside body for construction with light beacons and weight sensors • Caged tipper for refuse removal • Last-mile delivery box body with walkthrough bulkhead and rear air suspension • Last-mile delivery van with internal racking, walkthrough bulkhead and front jump seat

Fiat Professional’s E-Ducato features battery architecture that allows the vehicle to continue its journey even if one of its battery modules drop out. Fiat Professional says its Recovery Mode is unique in the LCV market.

The E-Ducato has three to five battery modules in parallel depending on the size of battery fitted. The 47kWh and 79kWh batteries both come with Recovery Mode as standard.

Connecting the batteries in parallel means that the current flow cannot stop because the current is taken from each individual battery.

Kickstarting the Fiat brand’s foray into 100% electric vehicles, the E-Ducato has a range of between 113 and 230 miles, depending on the variant. Like its diesel-engined counterparts, E-Ducato receives a best-in-class payload of up to 1,950kg and maintains the same volumes of between 10m3 and 17m3 .

The year by which driving on public roads could be outlawed. Autonomous cars will match or exceed human safety by 2024, after which they will grow rapidly. By the 2040s, they will be capable of fulfilling the world’s mobility needs without a single collision. Source: IDTechEx’s report Autonomous Cars, Robotaxis & Sensors 2022–2042

Owners of electric vehicles may be in for a shock if they don’t pay close attention to the tyres they choose when the originals need replacing, the TyreSafe campaign is warning.

TyreSafe says that, increasingly, the tyres fitted are specifically designed for use on EVs and can be significantly different. TyreSafe is warning EV owners that fitting the wrong type of tyre could result in loss of range, extra noise, accelerated wear and the risk of failing while being driven.

TyreSafe has released detailed advice for EV owners in the ‘About Tyres’ section of tyresafe.org and advises drivers to familiarise themselves with the technology.