A production-ready version of the Ford Transit Custom PHEV (Plug-in-Hybrid Electric Vehicle) will be unveiled this week at Germany’s IAA Commercial Vehicles show from September 20th through the 27th. Pre-production examples of the commercial van have already been deployed in studies in the U.K. and Spain as Ford tries to better understand how plug-in-hybrid technology can best help lower emissions and conserve fuel in the field. The van’s water-cooled lithium-ion battery pack provides up to 31 miles of pure-electric driving range, and a 1.0L EcoBoost I3 acts as an onboard range extender, giving it more than 310 miles of total range.
At the show, the Ford Transit Custom PHEV will appear alongside a new, more-efficient version of the regular Ford Transit with a segment-first 48-volt mild-hybrid system, exclusive to manual-transmission-equipped examples. The mild-hybrid commercial van will launch in mid-2019, as Ford updates the entire Ford Transit product line with a new front-end design and a freshened-up interior with superior stowing.
Accompanying both models – although it isn’t quite a commercial product – will be the all-new Ford Ranger Raptor. That model, too, is slated to go on sale in Europe in mid-2019, boasting a 2.0L twin-turbo EcoBlue diesel with 210 horsepower and about 370 lb-ft of torque.
Finally, Ford will display the same connected-vehicle fleet solutions that it showed here in the U.S. back in June, which allow fleet operators to keep tabs on fuel consumption, driver location, driver behavior, and more through a web-based application. If Ford’s OEM solution isn’t deemed up-to-snuff, fleet operators will have the option of contracting with a third party for custom-tailored fleet solutions, getting constant, OEM-grade vehicle data through each commercial vehicle’s embedded modem.
Comments
electric plug in vehicles are still powered by a coal fired plant. If you want cleaner emmisions why not solar power but you are talking to a guy winning races with a 1963 406 headed fe in supergas, probably the only in the country
Do you get gasoline from the sky as rain? Gasoline production uses more energy than what it contains
starting with the extraction by electric pumps, refining, pumping to storage, pumping into trucks, then more pumping at every gasoline station.
Why go through all that hassle? Use electricity directly as energy! It is clean, portable (as in the battery of your cellphone or does your phone run on gas?), and available in every home just by plugging into an outlet. I bet that you waste more coal-fired energy in your own home than what an EV uses!
BTW, many EV owners use photoelectric panels to get free energy every day. You can NEVER get free gasoline, and there are electric vehicles that accelerate faster than your obsolete 1963 racer!
An energy engineer and I were conversing as to our current vehicles being the last fossil-fuel dependent ones we will ever own, save for collector cars. I have a Ford foundation, having grown up as a descendent of a Ford dealer and a Standard Oil (SOHIO) station owner in OHIO. This path of change is a significant paradigm shift which I have to double-clutch to accept and mesh with my 72 year-old science trained mindset. I remember a black (were there any other choices?) 1940’s Ford coupe with my Mom and Dad driving on snowy gravel roads at breathtaking speeds of about 45 mph. Dad had resurrected the (now) street racer from a crash with an Amish buggy and horse, both of which had left considerable damage to the near bullet proof military grade fenders and grill. We agreed in our conversation that this is progress toward a cleaner, more sustainable transportation future for our world, but the 2019-2020 Raptor and Edge models described herein represent a giant leap back to the future. Insane accelerations, humongous Trump-level disc brakes, and Elon Musk stratospheric prices that would embarrass us to our frugal friends in our Lutheran Church families: THIS HAS TO STOP! We can pay to watch rocket dragsters at our local Bandemeere Dragway in Denver. Yes, we both have done burnouts, doughnuts, and wheelies in high school parking lots and during downtown Saturday night cruising, but never at this price point and horsepower level. Who really needs 0 to 60 factory-sourced out-of-the-box launch times under 2 seconds & Saturn Rocket level acceleration speeds ?? Needs vs Wants:wants triumph again.