Ford to launch four electric vans
The long awaited announcement that production of Ford’s all electric Transit has started is here and it will serve the European market from the Ford Otosan factory in Kocaeli, Turkey. Helping to celebrate this moment at the Gölcük plant, were Turkish government representatives, investors, employees and media.
Ford e-Transit 5000 Customer orders
Before production even started Ford had received over 5,000 customer orders and this is just from customers in Europe, as North American customers have their own production facility in the US and now Ford Otosan is to full mass production.
E-Transit is the all-electric version of the world’s best-selling cargo van and the new vehicle spearheads the launch of Ford Pro in the region; this new business offers customers a comprehensive suite of software, charging, servicing and financing solutions fully integrated into a portfolio of world-class electrified and internal combustion-powered vehicles to help improve productivity and uptime, lower costs, and facilitate access to everything operators need on one platform built for the electric and digital age.
“Ford Otosan’s Kocaeli plant is the heart of Transit production in Europe, and this celebration of E-Transit manufacturing starts the electrified next chapter in our already strong partnership,” said Hans Schep, general manager, Ford Pro, Europe. “This is the first step in a transformation of the Kocaeli site which will see it become a major centre for electric commercial vehicle manufacturing in Europe.”
Ford Otosan makes heavy investment in electric vans
To meet demand for future electrified Ford models €2 billion is being invested by Ford Otosan and growing employment by around 3,000 to increase vehicle production capacity, including for the next-generation Transit Custom model which will be announced later.
Indeed Ford’s move to an all-electric future in Europe has been helped by the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for a new, industry-leading joint venture in Turkey between Ford, SK On Co Ltd and Koc Holding . Subject to execution of a final agreement, the three partners plan to create one of the largest EV battery facilities in the European wider region with production is intended to start as early as mid-decade with an annual capacity likely to be in the range of 30 to 45 Gigawatt hours.
Ford have also announced that by 2024, E-Transit will be joined by four additional new fully-electric models in the Transit family as Ford moves toward its target of zero emissions for all vehicle sales in Europe and carbon neutrality across its European footprint of facilities, logistics and suppliers by 2035.
Ford Pro has already proven E-Transit’s durability testing around the world and the company is running a wider programme of customer pilots with a total of 60 pre-production E-Transits, including converted models, operating in typical daily use with customers across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and the UK, helping Ford Pro to optimise its always-on supporting products and services to deliver optimum efficiency and productivity for businesses.
