We’ve driven Ford’s other electric workhorse: the 2022 E-Transit

Enlarge / A trio of E-Transits in high and low roof configurations. (credit: Ford)

Ford provided two nights in a hotel and a flight from Washington DC to San Francisco so we could drive the new E-Transit. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

SONOMA, Calif.—The US commercial pickup market is often dominated by the many variations of Ford's F-series. But since 2014, Ford has had an alternative for commercial drivers who prefer something more van-like. That's when the company started building Transit vans in Kansas City, Missouri. Since then, Ford has built a million of them.

Now, Ford has created an electric version of the Transit—or rather I should say versions, since the E-Transit comes in eight different body styles, just like its dinosaur-powered predecessor. In fact, the ladder chassis is identical, which means that the E-Transit is entirely compatible with the vast ecosystem of upfitters out there. Ford says to think beyond last-mile delivery vans, which only account for 10 percent of the commercial van market—a not-so subtle dig at startup rivals, perhaps.

From this distance, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the E-Transit from any other Transit, and that means any upfitter will know what to do with it. (credit: Ford)

And Ford's not just here to sell your business an electric van, either. The company has come up with a whole plug-and-play telematics solution which will manage not just E-Transits but any other vehicles, electric or internal combustion, Ford or otherwise.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments