The Ford Transit is celebrating its 10th anniversary in America this year, and to mark the occasion, the automaker is making the electric version of the van better. For 2024, the E-Transit gets more range and faster charging speeds to make it more useful for customers. Whereas the van previously had to make do with a 64 kWh battery, for 2024 it can be equipped with an 89 kWh battery pack, which provides drivers with up to 256 km of range. That’s significantly more than the 119 km of distance commercial vans typically travel in a day (per Ford’s telematics), and is 26 percent more than the 2023 E-Transit could offer in its low-roof guise, and 32 percent more than the high-roof model could manage.
In addition, Ford has added a new
dual-onboard charger to the E-Transit, which means that it can charge at a peak
power of 176 kW. As a result, the automaker estimates that the van will be able
to recover up to 67 miles of range in just 15 minutes of DC fast charging.
That’s a 49 percent increase over the 2023 model. To fully charge the E-Transit
while it’s plugged into a Ford Pro Series 2 80A charger, it takes six hours and
11 minutes. That’s 22 percent faster than the electric van could previously
manage, and makes it easier for fleet owners to charge their vehicles
overnight.
Introduced in 2022, Ford reports that the
E-Transit is now being used by more than 5,500 companies nationwide in as many
65 industries. Since joining the lineup, the van has saved more than 3 million
gallons of gas, and avoided the emission of 55 million pounds (25 million kg)
of CO2. The Transit family of vans entered the U.S. market in 2014, and became
the country’s best-selling commercial van after just six months. Ford claims
that of the 1.2 million Transits that have left its Kansas City Assembly Plant
in the last decade, 99 percent are still on the road.
Sales of the 2024 E-Transit commence this
spring, and prices start at US$ 51,095 (excluding destination charge) for
models equipped with the enhanced range option. Buyers may qualify for up to US$
7,500 in incentives as part of the Commercial Clean Vehicle Tax Credit.
