Ford’s prototype van ready for low-carbon future
THE Ford Transit and I go back a long way.
Like many people, I’ve owned my fair share of them over the years.
I’ve rented them, borrowed them off mates, owned one as a company car and tried out countless numbers from Ford’s press fleet.
But it goes deeper than that as the Transit is exactly the same age as me. We share a birthday and have grown up together over 53 years.
Last Thursday I got to drive a Transit of the past, a Transit of the current and a Transit of the possible future.
First came a 1984, 300,000-miler belonging to Ford’s pretty incredible Heritage fleet – a collection of every important old Ford you can think of. They’re housed in a leaky, old steelframed building in Dagenham.
Just getting into this 34-year-old van was a bit of a shocker. The driver’s side door is a slider while the passenger side’s is a conventional hinged affair. The massive plastic steering-wheel has column mounted indicator and wiper control stalks the width and length of chop sticks.
To put it bluntly it was bloody awful to drive – underpowered, slow and noisy.
But the atrocious handling was the real eye-opener. The steering was vague in a straight-ahead position but truly appalling once you enter a corner and needs last-minute, muscular adjustments to keep it on your chosen trajectory. Terrifying.
After two or three miles I’d had enough and turned around and headed back to base.
Next came a chance to drive the latest Transit Custom. Wow. Doors that close properly without daylight showing through the shut-lines, power-assisted steering and a driving position and ergonomics like those of any modern family car.
It was eyebrow-raisingly fast, quiet and super-comfy with powerful brakes and as much cornering grip as you’re ever likely to need.
As a powerful reminder of how far vehicle technology has come in the past three decades, this was night and day, right there.
And then I got a chance to drive what might be the future – a prototype allelectric Transit fitted with a 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine as a range extending generator in pretty much the same way BMW’s i3 or Vauxhall’s Ampera go about their business. For urban deliveries (read: London’s ULEV zones) this system makes a lot of sense.
It offers zero emissions where needed and there is no range anxiety when the delivery sheet states you’ve got to drive to Sunderland before making your Westminster drop off.
You can also plug it into a fast charger if using the petrol engine/ generator isn’t possible.
The engine sits high-up, fore-aft in the engine bay with the electric motor beneath it driving the two front wheels. The batteries occupy the space left by the original van’s fuel tank.
The biggest eye opener wasn’t the tech’, it was the driving experience. With no gears to operate, no clutch to press and no noise other than a synthetic humming designed to let the blind hear it approaching, it was ridiculously easy to drive. Like a big dodgem.
Torque was instant, strong and easy to control. Acceleration was brisk, but it’s not the performance that would make me prefer this van if I drove one for a living – it’s the ease of use and the near silence.
If you’re behind the wheel all day, every day then electric propulsion is a better option than fossil fuel.
The Transit PHEV isn’t on sale yet. It’s still undergoing field trials in and around London and the version I tried was very much a working prototype.
But if production versions are as nice as this, the plug-in future is far from bleak for white van man.
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