Ford Transit Connect Electric European Launch

Ford is planning to have five electric vehicles on sale in Europe by 2013, but the first of them will be a light commercial vehicle; the Transit Connect Electric. And it can be ordered now for a fraction under £40,000.

Developed in conjunction with Ford’s American Electric Vehicle (EV) partner Azure Dynamics, which provides its tried and tested Force Drive powertrain, it’s based on a long-wheelbase van and has a gross payload of 575kg.

The 192-cell 28kWh lithium-ion battery pack is housed under the load floor so that the standard van’s 3.8m³ load space potential is retained. Plugged into a standard 13A domestic outlet it takes around eight hours to charge the pack fully.

Regenerative braking is employed to trickle charge the battery using the excess kinetic energy generated during deceleration.Power comes from a Siemens three-phase AC induction motor sited under the bonnet and provides continuous torque of 158Nm with a peak figure of 235Nm.

The front-wheels are driven via a Borg-Warner fixed-ratio transmission. Maximum range from a full charge is 80 miles and it is speed-limited to a maximum of 75mph.

On the Road
As with any EV, driving this Transit Connect is as easy as pie. Turn the key, wait for the instruments to flash into life, check the battery charge, shift the gearstick to ‘D’ and its ready to run. The only real difference is the silence and the lack of vibration emanating from under the bonnet.

It’s very spritely off the line and acceleration is as good as, if not better than, the standard 110hp diesel Connect.

Lift off the throttle and there’s a significant amount of ‘engine braking’ provided by the regeneration system. In reality it means the service brakes can be used less than normal, slowing the Connect by lifting off the throttle and recharging the battery in the process. Move the gearstick to the ‘2’ or ‘1’ position and the amount of regeneration increases.

Sufficient feedback is provided by the electric power steering and if anything it rides better than its diesel relatives; we suspect thanks to the lower centre of gravity and better front-rear weight split due to the positioning of the batteries. The same goes for the handling.

Verdict
There is no doubt that the Connect Electric feels like a well sorted product. It takes a little time to adjust to the lack of engine noise, but so long as its range is sufficient it’s well worth a look.