Ford and Stellantis began lining up orders today for their two newest electrified vehicles: the E-Transit and Jeep Wrangler 4xe, respectively.
The E-Transit, which made its debut last fall, will be the company’s first-ever all-electric commercial vehicle. Commercial vans aren’t cheap and that applies to the new E-Transit, which will start at $43,295 before adding destination and delivery costs.
Prices on the van, which will come in three different variants, rise to $52,690 for the high-roof, extended-wheelbase model. The vans are powered by a 67 kWh battery pack that offers 126 miles of range on a full charge.
If you run it to empty and plug it into a DC fast charger, you’ll get 30 miles for every 10 minutes of charging. Using a Level 1 or Level 2 charger will net 10 miles per hour in a best-case scenario. The van’s electric motor produces 266 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque.
Customers getting out their checkbooks
The company isn’t taking orders now, but offered up a new website, Fleet.Ford.com, where interested buyers can register to be “among the first notified when the order bank opens,” which is slated to be in July.
When registering, the site notes the “volumes you indicate below will be leveraged to guild Ford Motor Co.’s vehicle allocation process.”
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker says about 450 companies have expressed an interest in placing orders. Officials didn’t offer a number of vans or an approximate value of those orders, but did note that those 450 included the top 200 fleets and fleet management companies.
“We’ve had so much interest early on, we wanted to open this registration site to serve customers with a build mix for their needs across all van body styles,” said Ted Cannis, general manager, North American commercial business, in a statement.
Pick of the litter
“Some customers want high-roof vans to maximize internal cargo space, while others need to install bodies on cutaways and chassis cabs. Customers will have an all-electric solution – from box truck delivery to parking structure-friendly utility service vans and everything in between.”
The non-electrified model is the top-selling commercial van in the U.S. and Europe. It comes in a variety of configurations, which is one of the reasons for its popularity. That doesn’t end with the E-Transit, which can be ordered in eight different set ups with its three roof heights and three lengths. It can also be ordered as a chassis cab or cutaway model.
Preliminary conversations with commercial customers revealed a “healthy mix” of demand within all eight configurations. Ford officials said about 40% are leaning toward high-roof vans with the remaining 60% spread out among the medium-roof, low-roof, cutaway and chassis cab versions.
Jeep Wrangler Hybrid now available — in Europe
America’s go-anywhere brand revealed its first-ever plug-in hybrid Wrangler in the fall of 2020. Production began in late December. However, it’s not just becoming available for fans in Europe as the company officially opened its order books.
The company created a dedicated web platform giving customers in selected European markets to register to order the exclusive First Edition. Well, it’s now time to start handing over cash as “the wait is over and orders for the entire range of the Jeep Wrangler 4xe Plug-in Hybrid are open in Italy and will be soon opened in the other European markets,” the company revealed.
It offers a maximum combined output of 380 hp, courtesy of the pairing of two electric motor-generators, a high-voltage battery pack, a high-tech turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline engine, and the proven TorqueFlite 8-speed automatic transmission.
The advanced plug-in hybrid powertrain offers the option to drive in full-electric mode with zero emissions and a range of up to 50 km, or about 31 miles, making it perfect for everyday city use, officials noted. The hybrid makes its formal European debut May 21.
