LIVONIA, Mich. — The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf have gotten nearly all the attention, but they are not the only electric vehicles making their way to customers this month. þþThe Ford Motor Company said on Tuesday that it had started shipping a battery-powered version of a delivery van, the Transit Connect Electric, to a handful of business customers. þþThe Transit Connect is Ford’s first electric vehicle, coming to market about a year before it plans to challenge the Leaf and the Volt with a battery-powered car, the Focus Electric. The first electric vans are being delivered to several companies that agreed to be early users, including AT&T, the Canada Post, the New York Power Authority and Southern California Edison. þþFord will ramp up production in April and produce about 600 or 700 a year initially. In comparison, General Motors is building 10,000 Volts in the first year. þþFord started with the Transit Connect because it wanted a vehicle that it could develop quickly, in part to play catch-up. Development of the electric van began 13 months ago — about three years after G.M. had started work on the Volt — and offers Ford a chance to test its technology in a limited number of vehicles before putting it into a large number of cars. þþ“You have a defined route for most businesses that they’re driving,” Sherif Marakby, Ford’s director for electrification programs and engineering, said. “It lends itself nicely to having a battery-electric that can cover that range.” þþFord says the electric Transit Connect has a range of about 80 miles on a 28 kilowatt-hour battery that can be recharged using 240-volt systems in about six to eight hours, which matches the needs of most businesses that operate delivery fleets. þþThat is similar to the range of the Leaf and roughly double the range of the battery in the Volt, though the Volt has a gasoline engine so that it can be driven nearly 400 miles between recharging and refueling. The Transit Connect, like the Leaf, has a limited range because there is no secondary power source. þþRonald V. Iacobelli, chief technology officer of Azure Dynamics, the company that is supplying the electric propulsion system for the Transit Connect, says the predictability of the delivery routes makes for the “ideal use of electric vehicles.” þþThe electric Transit Connect costs $57,400, more than double the price of the gas-powered version even after federal and any state or local incentives for electric vehicles are factored in. þþFord and Azure estimate that an average buyer would recoup the additional cost in six to 10 years, which is about the length of time each vehicle can be expected to remain in service. Though that means customers have little opportunity to save money over a traditional vehicle, the likelihood of breaking even while testing an energy-saving vehicle means “they’re willing to bet on it,” Azure’s chief operating officer, Curt A. Huston, said. þþFord has little competition in the battery-powered commercial vehicle market, as most automakers focus on developing cars. Mercedes-Benz planned to deliver 100 of its Vito E-Cell electric van in parts of Europe by the end of 2010. Nissan is planning an electric commercial van, but not until 2013. þþFord has sold about 30,000 of the gas-powered Transit Connect vans, which are built in Turkey, since introducing the model about a year ago. þþFor the electric version, it builds “gliders,” which are vehicles without the engine and other related parts, and ships them to Michigan. The electric drive system then is installed by A.M. General, the company best known for building military humvees and for creating the Hummer line of sport utility vehicles that G.M. recently shut down. þþ
Source: NY Times
