The zero emission midi-sized Transit Connect heads up Ford’s drive into electric vehicles in the UK. Ford has teamed up with American electric vehicle specialists Azure Dynamics to develop the electric engine which will be fitted to the vans in the UK.
It’s really good to drive and because there is no engine noise or vibration – you step out of the vehicle after a frustrating traffic jam in much better shape than you would from a diesel vehicle. Ford have included air conditioning as standard.
There are three settings and it would not take too long to work out the most economical, the lowest setting uses less power although it slows down faster one you take your foot off the accelerator.
It weighs 300 Kg more than the regular model but the torque gets you to 60mph in around 12 seconds . The top speed is 75 mph although logically travelling at this speed reduced official range of 82 miles on a single charge.
It takes 8 hours to for a full recharge this 1.7 tonne van ( payload 500 kilos) and this should only cost about £2.50. Ford maintain that although the vans cost around £600 a month to lease or £40,000 to buy, because the engine has very few moving parts and all the other advantages of going electric – it could save a skip full of cash over it’s lifetime.
The only note of caution is that this vehicle runs silent. The driver has to be aware that pedestrians using hearing as a tool of road safety would be disadvantaged – as well as the rest of us who don’t always cross the road with the greatest diligence.
This could be an ideal purchase as long as you are operating on a daily back to base schedule – it also confirms your green credentials to potential customers.
Azure are very keen to demonstrate that with the right kind of usage the Transit Connect will provide sunstantial savings. “Because no two drivers pay the same amount for electricity or diesel and it’s frankly anyones guess what the price of these commodities will be at any given time – linked to everyones unique pattern of usage, we have developed a spread sheet that allows potential customers to imput their own details ” Garry Whittam Azure’s sales manager told The Landscaper.
Tel 07562 767001
gwhittam@azuredynamics.com