Ford Transit all-electric van in 2021

[bibbs]

If I could do 300 over the mountains, I would seriously be in the market. If it was to be used as a service truck then 125 miles is good

[jcl]

Originally Posted by waninae39

Most electric (charging) connections are made for a single EV car

I have not seen any suitable for an electric TV pulling any trailer.
They are not built like gas stations, instead they are built as parking spots.

I would not want to unhook, each time I get an EV charge

All you need is a pull through charging station. This isn't a complicated problem.



Or a truck charging station such as Daimler is putting in. Lots of BEV bus stations being designed now as well.



There are US gas stations being converted to charging stations, and they come with charging islands and pull-throughs already installed.

[smithcreek]

jcl, how long does it take to charge at one of the pull throughs? Are we still talking about hours?

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by jcl

You will have to get past your fixation on lead acid batteries.

I am 76 and have been driving since age .
Every time I was left stranded was due to battery failure.
When the EV craze came about the first thing Idid is researched the history.
I advise you all to do the same.
What is going on today with the EV is nothing new.
It is driven by ECO crazies lacking all common sense.
Just like wind and solar.
They have their nitch as well but never ever will they replace Nuclear or Fossil. Nor do they need to.

[gator.bigfoot]

Ford is planning on building their own batteries. They will be a pouch style. We are currently working with many of the automotive companies helping them achieve these battery packs.

[QC TORPEDO]

Oh goody, another vehicle that does not pay highway user taxes through fuel purchases to maintain roads. What will we drive on?

[jcl]

Originally Posted by smithcreek

jcl, how long does it take to charge at one of the pull throughs? Are we still talking about hours?

It isn't a function of the pull through, it is a function of how many kw the charger is capable of, how many kw the vehicle battery pack can take (often limited for thermal management), and so on.

Tesla superchargers came out at lower power levels, then they increased up to 150 kw. The latest are at 250 kw. The truck chargers Daimler is putting in are up to 350 kw. Compare that to a home-installed level 2 fast charger, which is typically 6 kw here.

The Tesla semi is likely to be capable of faster charging, but there aren't details out on power specs, at least that I have seen. I have read of 400 miles worth of charging in 30 minutes, so that is a lot of power, much more than current chargers.

The battery electric full size city transit buses operating where I live have drive through bays for charging. They have a robotic pantograph that makes contact above the bus (no cable to plug in) and they charge at each end of the route while the passengers load, measured in minutes, but that isn't a full charge from zero. They typically charge at 300 kw, but can push it to 600 kw.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by franklyfrank

I am 76 and have been driving since age .
Every time I was left stranded was due to battery failure.
When the EV craze came about the first thing I did is researched the history.
I advise you all to do the same.
What is going on today with the EV is nothing new.
It is driven by ECO crazies lacking all common sense.
Just like wind and solar.
They have their niche as well but never ever will they replace nuclear or fossil fuels. Nor do they need to.

When you label people you are having an online discussion with as "eco crazies" the usual effect is that your comments don't get read. Have a nice day.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by QC TORPEDO

Oh goody, another vehicle that does not pay highway user taxes through fuel purchases to maintain roads. What will we drive on?

I think it is pretty clear that if governments want to maintain a revenue stream from vehicle use, they are going to have to move to either road fees ($/mile), or higher licensing fees by operating zone. Probably a combination; the first to replace fuel taxes and the second to manage congestion.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by jcl

I think it is pretty clear that if governments want to maintain a revenue stream from vehicle use, they are going to have to move to either road fees ($/mile), or higher licensing fees by operating zone. Probably a combination; the first to replace fuel taxes and the second to manage congestion.

They have started. My state raised the license fee for my Volt this next year. Still isn't the answer. To be accurate for state and fed road taxes, a separate meter should be used at home for car charging and tax assessed by kwh. Same with public stations. But a lot of infrastructure changes would have to occur. Who's paying for that?
Our new governor tried floating the per mile charge, and wanted to install "spy" boxes in all electric vehicles. That didn't go far, due to privacy issues. He'll try again, I'm sure.

[Kanusport]

I hate to be the guy peeing in everyone’s cereal this morning but the transit isn’t a very capable tow vehicle. I own a 2015 Transit with the 3.5 ecoboost. It can tow but it maxes out at @7000 lbs with a low tongue weight and inability to use a WDH, as far as I understand it. I don’t own a WDH but I recall reading it’s not suggested by ford to use one.

I’ve towed a car trailer with a Jeep on it with mine and it did fine.I was well under spec at @5000 lbs. It would probably tow my 22 sport ok but I’ve never tried. What it won’t do well is tow a large air stream with a big tongue weight.

Also, I’ve struggled with drive shaft couplers and there is an active recall that ford has no solution for regarding this problem. My van is at 65000 miles and it’s been through 4 drive shaft couplers and had the interim repair for the drive shaft recall performed twice. The first time the recall was performed by Lithia ford Of missoula Montana they used the wrong recall parts and also lifted the van by the unibody causing over 3300 in body damage. Don’t go to Lithia ford ever!

A different ford dealer caught the mistake and re performed the recall but I still have driveline vibration.

This van will not be a panacea that’s for sure. I do love the van but I love it for the 3.5 ecoboost which is a very powerful engine. In fact when the van is empty it’s almost to much power.

Lastly I watched some engineering videos which pointed out for the Tesla semi to work on flat ground it would require 20000 lbs of batteries which would consume 20% of the payload. Extrapolate that to the van and you probably don’t have anymore than 1500-2000lbs payload. My van says 3500lbs on the doorcard but it’s burning through driveshaft parts at 2500?

Best of luck in your decision on buying a van.

[panamerican]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

They have started. My state raised the license fee for my Volt this next year.

Well, if you have a Volt in the State of Illinois and that is where the car is titled and licensed, that is a PHEV and not subject to qualifying for the EV plate that initially cost between $15-$35 and will now be about $250.

Volt as with all passenger vehicles had the standard plate that was about $102 going up to $150, but that increase is all passenger vehicles. It's cars that are pure EV that are going to $250. There is an exemption in the law for cars like Volt because they have a backup generator that runs on gas and the car is rated at between 35-53 miles (depending on what gen/model year) of range per charge, which makes them not legally eligible for the EV plate that all pure EVer are gonna see at there renewal with the monster increase beyond the $50 or so the average passenger vehicle will see.

[panamerican]

Originally Posted by franklyfrank

I am 76 and have been driving since age .
Every time I was left stranded was due to battery failure.
When the EV craze came about the first thing Idid is researched the history.
I advise you all to do the same.
What is going on today with the EV is nothing new.
It is driven by ECO crazies lacking all common sense..

I have to say, that comparing being stranded by a 12v battery to a modern EV is like comparing apples to rhinos. It's not even in the same universe, let alone same street.

Also when you make generalizations like this, it defines your character.

I am a conservative and I drive an electric car as a daily driver. By your definition, I am an ECO crazy lacking all common sense. Ok, let's look at it. Also my comments here are not about towing with and EV (though I do see it not only possible but highly probable in the future), just as a daily driver with some longer haul trips...and I get that EVs or PHEVs are not for everyone.

Comparative to the V8 daily driver my electric car replaced, I have saved around $5k in fuel costs (already reduced by my electric costs of .15/day to go 40 miles) in about 8 years time. That's conservatively $50/mo factoring gas price of $2/gallon. I keep my cars for over 10 years, and so you do the math. This doesn't even take into consideration nearly zero oil changes (EVs still need this every 50k to $75k miles for the elec drive unit), zero tune ups, zero trans maint. I bought the car preowned and it was nearly 1/2 off new and have all the comforts my old car had with virtually no compromises just a bit less power (and fuel costs). So yea, you're right, I must be crazy, lacking all common sense.

[ohmman]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

They have started. My state raised the license fee for my Volt this next year. Still isn't the answer. To be accurate for state and fed road taxes, a separate meter should be used at home for car charging and tax assessed by kwh. Same with public stations. But a lot of infrastructure changes would have to occur. Who's paying for that?
Our new governor tried floating the per mile charge, and wanted to install "spy" boxes in all electric vehicles. That didn't go far, due to privacy issues. He'll try again, I'm sure.

I volunteered in California to install one of these "spy boxes" for a pilot program. I think they're the best way to track mileage and to pay actual cost. They're more accurate than gas taxes and provide a real opportunity to scale road damage by vehicle type and weight. They don't have to report location, just mileage. My pilot program allowed testers to opt-in to location data if they wanted; in a real program that would allow them to avoid paying taxes for out of state travel.

I'm assuming those opposed to mileage trackers leave their cell phones at home whenever they drive. Because I hate to break it to them, but their cell phone is a much more robust spy box. My local government just used Google's cell phone location data to track traffic patterns all over the county. Many apps are constantly polling location information. I have more concern about that than I do about sharing my mileage data in order to pay road taxes.

[OTRA15]

OT

You can stop most of the location sharing in the phone's Setup menus, and there is always the option of putting your phone/tablet/etc. in a protective pouch which prevents any radio waves from leaving/getting to the phone.

Not sure how much each of our vehicles can be tracked electronically by the mfg./govt. agencies, but that is pretty far off-topic here.

Peter

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by franklyfrank

I am 76 and have been driving since age .
Every time I was left stranded was due to battery failure.
When the EV craze came about the first thing Idid is researched the history.
I advise you all to do the same.
What is going on today with the EV is nothing new.
It is driven by ECO crazies lacking all common sense.
Just like wind and solar.
They have their nitch as well but never ever will they replace Nuclear or Fossil. Nor do they need to.

Here we go again with the broad brushes . . .

Is it your wish to get this thread closed too?

Peter
[OP -- Original Poster]

[Rocinante]

I'm thinking that while an EV Transit probably won't be any better as a tow vehicle than a regular transit van, it could be an interesting platform for a van-sized motor home like Airstream's Interstate, etc. Will be watching with great interest.

[OTRA15]

Good point, with an AEK like the 1950's tract homes used to advertise! ["All Electric Kitchen" -- plus electric heat] No gas/diesel/propane tanks.

KISS

[jcanavera]

I guess the electric vehicle idea to me is probably more feasible in metro areas where you are using the vehicle for commuting and live in an area that has sky high gas prices and/or taxes. My neighbor had a Prius but when it came time to replace the batteries, the cost was so high that she decided to go back to a gas only vehicle.

I like the environmental side, but don't the studies say that you really aren't saving the environment dependent upon what the local utility uses to generate your power?

Just got back from Florida and drove a rental car through the various toll roads down there. They've got the license plate recognition down pretty good. Alamo just hit me for a $6.30 charge on my credit card for the toll road I accessed from the airport to where I stayed. To get the cost down for the balance of my trip, I went to the local Publix and spent $5 for a stick on the windshield transponder. I registered it through an app on my phone and for the balance of the week, drove on the toll roads with the transponder id'ing me to the toll folks. Worked pretty good and I got the lowest toll rates. That first $6.30 charge would have been only $.30 if I had gotten the transponder prior to driving that car out of the airport rental facility.

Maybe that transponder feature might be the future. You could have a built in one that ties into your vehicle's OBD-II port that updates sensors in your local area. Mileage driven info is collected monthly and you get a charge for your usage. Considering that our water, gas meters, and electric meters are all now transmitting usage data to receivers in our area, getting mileage info wouldn't be that difficult to obtain in this day and age.

Jack

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by gator.bigfoot

Ford is planning on building their own batteries. They will be a pouch style. We are currently working with many of the automotive companies helping them achieve these battery packs.

And ?

All it solves is the weight problem. In return for a lot of money, they are expensive.
Charging and unrelible range will remain a constant issue.
So why go through all this nonsense ?
And please dont start with it being more eco friendly because at the end of day all things considered you gain nothing in that regard over a modern ICE engine.
And we havent even considered constructing the vast infrastructure needed for recharging.
This is all driven by politics . A world of bs lacking common sense.