When most automobile designers got down to design a brand new electrical automobile, they wish to make it stand out.
They’re typically excited concerning the prospect of extra acceleration. When you haven’t had the expertise but, chances are you’ll not know — electrical automobiles (EVs) speed up faster than gas-powered equivalents as a result of they’ve 100% of their torque accessible always, with no buildup.
Designers search for methods to make their EVs appear to be EVs, so the neighbors will know you took the large step.
They usually use new applied sciences to take advantage of vary, like low-rolling-resistance tires and heated surfaces fairly than heated air, each of which may stretch a couple of extra miles out of a battery.
Not this group, although. The crew that created the 2025 Ford E-Transit takes particular delight in doing none of that. A Ford consultant informed me the aim was to create a automobile that might disguise amongst a flock like a type of moppy sheepdogs that appear to be sheep.
When you don’t know what to search for, you would possibly by no means know the Ford E-Transit wasn’t a Transit. That, oddly sufficient, is genius.
I spent per week with the E-Transit, hauling a couple of hundreds to the dump and driving it totally on metropolis streets. I walked away, deeply impressed with what the engineering crew pulled off. You’ll be able to inform that is electrical, however solely in a couple of nice methods.
When you’re a fleet supervisor shopping for a couple of new vans a yr to combine into your current steady, that’s good news.
Ford even matches the costs. Each gasoline Transit and electrical E-Transit cargo vans begin on the similar value, to the greenback, for 2025. Evaluating cargo vans configured with a low roof and a protracted wheelbase (entry-level E-Transit), meaning $53,095 — a $51,000 base value and a $2,095 supply price.
My check mannequin had a couple of upgrades, together with a heavy-duty cargo flooring and the Professional Energy Onboard system, which provides energy shops within the cargo space. It carries an asking value of $55,920 after the $2,095 supply price.
‘We Modified as Little as Potential’
It might take a understanding eye to identify an E-Transit in a car parking zone of Transit vans. The distinction? The horizontal bars on the grille are blue. That and a door for the charging port situated useless heart below the entrance Ford emblem are the one variations.
Oddly sufficient, I bumped into a couple of understanding eyes in my week within the van. Twice, roadside work crews flagged me right down to ask concerning the vary.
There’s logic to the similarity. Ford Transit Model Supervisor Sean Masson tells me the aim was to make it straightforward for fleet operators to fold E-Transit fashions into current fleets of gas-powered Transit vans.
Ford in-built as many cross-functional components as doable. Each physique panel is identical, and even the tires are the identical. Ford might need gotten longer vary out of an EV-specific set of tires. However understanding that fleet managers purchase shipments of tires for the motor pool, they didn’t wish to burden them with the necessity to inventory two sorts of tires.
A Cabin You’ll Acknowledge, Too
Which means almost an identical controls as properly. The motive force’s instrument cluster has barely modified from the traditional Transit’s setup. A battery meter replaces the gasoline gauge, and the 12-inch multifunction touchscreen has an extra menu to trace the charging course of.
That’s it for adjustments. A driver used to the Transit may hop into the E-Transit with out relearning something.
Ford does advocate that the majority consumers select a bulkhead behind the rear seats. That method, you don’t should warmth or cool the enormous cargo house. Nonetheless, it’s an choice as a result of Ford intentionally desires as few “pressured options” as doable so consumers can construct out the cargo house to go well with their wants.
A Smoother Driving Expertise
Solely two instances will you discover you’re in an E-Transit as an alternative of a gas-powered Transit.
One is whenever you mash the accelerator. The E-Transit isn’t exactly fast. It’s nonetheless a full-size cargo van — a high-roofed one, within the case of my tester. Nonetheless, it’s faster than any gas-powered cargo van I’ve ever skilled.
The flexibility to merge effortlessly into freeway site visitors, even with little run-up, is refreshing.
The opposite comes on any kind of tough highway. A traditional gas-powered van has most of its weight up entrance with the engine. That may depart vans tail-happy and rough-riding when empty. The attribute squeak and crash of an empty cargo van’s journey comes from the rear suspension, designed to deal with the burden of cargo, feeling stiff with nothing a lot to hold.
That’s not an issue right here. The E-Transit has an 89-kWh battery centered below its flooring, distributing weight nearly evenly. It’s an astonishingly clean journey.
The bottom E-Transit is rear-wheel drive (RWD), whereas most gas-powered vans are front-wheel drive (FWD). The distinction is barely noticeable in follow, although it’d contribute to that smoothness.
It’s exhausting to upset the E-Transit’s suspension. It floats over pace bumps with liquid grace and barely a squeak from the springs.
Particular Functions, however for These, It might be a Higher Alternative
When you’re accustomed to Transit vans, the E-Transit asks nearly nothing of you. It simply offers you a extra nice journey and a bit additional energy, with no different considerable adjustments.
For fleet managers, its vary is a giant shift. Vary is an inexact science with vans — it’s going to fluctuate immensely based mostly on the buildout’s weight, whether or not you select a high-, mid-, or low-roof, and so forth.
I charged my high-roof, extended-length mannequin to full, and the meter predicted I’d get 129 miles from it. Its estimates appeared completely correct when driving round city.
That’s simply sufficient for many city purposes with fastened routes and dependable entry to charging off-shift. Nonetheless, it makes this mannequin impractical for some components of the nation and for rental fleets.
If it suits your wants, although, you must give lengthy, cautious thought to the E-Transit. Masson tells me the common E-Transit buyer spends 48% much less on upkeep prices for this than for a gas-powered equal. With a extra nice journey and no studying curve, that’s nearly all pluses and no minuses.
