2023 Ford E-Transit: Is An Electric Cargo Van Actually Practical?

Today I drive and review the 2023 Ford E-Transit 350 Cargo Van!

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Facebook: @benhardycar

[brianconnelly]

Guy I know that runs a Electrical company bought 3 of these to try out. Says the range is laughable once loaded up with tools and materials. Even worst in New England winter.

[cynic]

HVAC contractor here. We have one of these in our fleet. It’s been resigned for the shop guy to deliver parts and equipment to employees in the field.

Its range isn’t good enough for an average day of work. Not that it really matters, guys take their vehicles home and no one wants to charge a company vehicle at their house regardless of reimbursement.

Make matters worse is charging throughout the day not only takes longer but generally requires the tech to drive out of their way.

So not only are they “filling up” more often but it’s takes longer to do it all while they are being paid. This double hurts because we can service less customers.

Tracking the one tech we had use the transit numbers he was less profitable while servicing less customers (lower customer service).

There is a future for this technology in commercial vehicles but it’s not in the service industry. Few years from now when the infrastructure is better, the range is better and methods of employees using their own power to charge accurately and easily exist we’ll look into it again.

[michaelsheedy]

Ford definitely needs to increase the range which may be coming next MY up to 160 miles or so.

[TheJHP]

Ben be finding all kind of vehicles to review. The grind never stops

[AlexanderJRivera]

It's weird seeing a EV with a keyed starter

[michaelt.]

Kind of embarrassing that it only has a 68kwh battery. My lightning has almost 2x the battery size at 131kwh.

[westeed]

Why don’t they put a power boost in one. I think hybrid would’ve been a better option

[Randomgamer-tkzj]

Can’t imagine what the range would be like in the winter

[damienvoable]

If this had a gas generator back up like the chevy volt does, this would sell out in seconds

[vitalyyazamir]

100 miles range... the cargo van shouldn't be designed to go shopping, but for working and that 500 miles a day.

[Ruben-dryi]

If we were only able to get 90 to 100 mi with the extended-range battery on the lightning while towing, what's going to be the range on this van while loaded..
40 miles???😂

[ubermenschen]

@9:40, as to the range issue, Ford’s website said their researchers had done extensive study as how much range most Transit van owners need. Their finding is most Transit van owners need about 60 miles. The 2022 E Transit provided about 80 miles range, the 2023 E Transit boosted the range to about 125 miles. On the other hand, the ICE Transit uses a 26 gallon fuel that provided nearly 300miles range. Something isn’t right. Transit owners don’t change their vehicle range needs because they bought an EV instead of an ICE. Either the researchers for E Transit didn’t do the study correctly, or the marketing department forgot Ford has an ICE Transit.

[tehpanda]

It is nice that they changed the battery to a 89kwh standard size. They need to keep increasing the available battery pack size, the f150 lightning extended/towing is 131kwh- that size would get well over 200 miles of range and spend a longer time between 10-80% charge at a dc fast charger, yielding much higher average miles per minute charged to the battery. I am sure there is some trade off of cargo capacity they were accounting for, but maybe that means they need a total redesign instead of shoving an EV into a standard ford transit.

[mikeb]

Been widely reported that the quoted range is loaded. Didn't want commercial users complaining at less than stated range. Unloaded is much higher at 160+

[pl]

The video will be posted soon, more ben

[pin]

That back door would be ripped off by the wind where I live.

[buzzanderson]

In Sarasota Fla or Tampa you can easily be stuck on 75 for an hour because there are so many wrecks. Then you’d have to gas up a generator to charge it on the side of the road. It would be useless if you needed to evacuate from a hurricane. I like the idea but people have to drive to Tampa or Naples all the time here and you could get back but not get home unless you found a place to charge. Since the hurricane came through a lot of doctors offices have moved so I have to drive an hour for that. They should come standard with solar panels so they could get atleast 30 min more juice while someone was at an appointment. The other thing that is really important is how well it responds when having to swerve to not hit drunk drivers etc. there are a lot of drunk drivers here and people doing crazy stuff on the road. I have a 2022 Honda Pilot and it pauses when you want to go because it has to turn on again. People expect someone to go and honk or could rear end you. Also the air conditioning doesn’t remain cool when you are at lights and some of the lights can be pretty long. The Honda Pilot is like a tin can - it’s very loud. I have a lot of reasons to trade it in already. I don’t think it would be able to drive through water very well or if there w as standing water and I had to wait at a stop light. I was lucky it made it through the hurricane. Trees fell all around the house and my car but didn’t hit either.

[jaybirdsworld]

Well their new update just screwed our fleet. We get 80 miles for 80% charge. It is a joke. We were getting 105-110 miles per 80%. There charging network is also horrible. The van would be good if you can plug it in and your guys did not take the vans home. Yes, we have 5 of these. Evgo and electrify America have issues none stop as well. We have had employees leave because of these trucks and the charging situation.

[Theonestrongbusleader]

Wonderful job with my favorite van bestie.

[Jasmerinaa]

this must be the mid roof ? the high roof has 6' stand room im pretty sure