Ford has revealed the plug-in hybrid range extender
version of the Transit Custom van which is set to take part in a London trial
designed to help improve city air quality. This is the company’s first plug-in
hybrid range-extender powertrain and it uses a 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine at its
heart as a generator to feed the battery pack.
Ford claims that their design gives the Transit
Custom a zero-emissions driving range of over 50 km, with the
company to trial 20 Transit PHEVs for 12 months in London, starting in late
2017. The total driving range exceeds the 500 km.
The trial is being supported by Transport for
London, with city-based businesses -including the Metropolitan Police- to
integrate the vans into their day-to-day operations. Each one of the 20 cars
will be fitted with a special telematics system to collect real-time data to
better understand how their benefits could be maximized.
The battery pack is a liquid-cooled lithium-ion
design mounted under the load floor, preserving the full cargo volume of the
Transit Custom van. Ford plans to put the Transit PHEV into series production
in 2019.
