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Ford is going to make Transit electric van in the US in 2022

Ford announced today that it is bringing an electric version of its Transit cargo van to the US in 2022 after announcing an European launch for 2021.

Last year, the American automaker announced that it will launch an electric Transit van in Europe, where they have to increase their electric vehicle sales in order to comply with the latest emission regulations.

They didn’t talk about bringing the electric van to the US, where emission regulations are a lot less strict for the automotive industry.

Today, Ford confirmed plans to bring an all-electric Transit van to the US for the “model-year 2022.”

The automaker also announced that it will build the electric vehicle in the US.

Jim Farley, chief operating officer, Ford Motor Company, commented on the announcement:

Commercial vehicles are a critical component to our big bet on electrification. As leaders in this space, we are accelerating our plans to create solutions that help businesses run better, starting with our all-electric Transit and F-150. This Ford Transit isn’t just about creating an electric drivetrain, it’s about designing and developing a digital product that propels fleets forward.

The automaker didn’t release many specs about the electric version of its best-selling van, but it did announce some connected features for fleet operators.

Ford says that the electric transit is going to have “smart technology built in” and it will help “optimize fleet efficiency and reduce waste, as well as improve driver behavior by providing insights into operator performance.”

Farley added:

The world is heading toward electrified products and fleet customers are asking for them now. We know their vehicles operate as a connected mobile business and their technology needs are different than retail customers. So Ford is thinking deeply on connectivity relationships that integrate with our in-vehicle high-speed electrical architectures and cloud-based data services to provide these businesses smart vehicles beyond just the electric powertrains.

Ford says that it will release further details about the all-electric Ford Transit and its features later.

Electrek’s Take

Electric cargo vans make a ton of sense. They mostly operate on planned routes and they don’t do that much mileage in a day since they are often required to do many stops.

It makes it a great candidate for an electric powertrain, which is going to greatly reduce the cost of operation.

I am glad that Ford is getting on board with its lineup of popular Transit vans, but I feel like they are a little late to the game.

They are going to have some competition. Nissan has the eNV200, Mercedes-Benz has the eSprinter, Rivian already has 100,000 orders from Amazon for its own electric van, and they are many more smaller companies with electric van options on the market.

But regardless, more competition is good.

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Avatar for Fred Lambert Fred Lambert

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