Ford trialling range-extender hybrid Transit
US car-maker testing a fleet of 20 vans in London ahead of launch in 2019Ford has announced it has begun developing an advanced range-extender hybrid powertrain for its Ford Transit van, which will be on sale in Europe by 2019.
Created to help improve local air quality in city centres, the new low-emission delivery van combines a front-mounted electric motor with a lithium-ion battery and a 1.0-litre EcoBoost turbo-petrol engine that acts as a generator.
Ford hasn't revealed the precise technical details but says that, currently, the 20 Transits it plans to test on the streets of London will come with a pure-electric range of around 50km.
Developed in partnership with German supplier Bosch and built by motorsport and engineering firm, Prodrive, the public London trial has been designed to feed real data back to engineers to help fine-tune the range, performance and driveability.
Capable of still carrying one-tonne, the range-extender powertrain cuts the plug-in van's payload by around 200kg -- but the load area remains largely untouched.
Instead of focusing purely on CO2 emissions, engineers say they are working hard to slash NOx emissions.
Current prototypes produce 0.06g/km of NOx (when the generator is running) compared to the 0.08g/km the firm's 2.0-litre TDCi engine produces.
On the standard NDEC cycle, CO2 emissions are claimed to be "less than 50g/km".
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