Ford EV Transit Partners Disconnect; New Partner Plugs In
The dance of EV partners has a new breakup: in a sign of the quickly changing and consolidating EV landscape, Green Car Congress reports that Ford and Smith Electric Vehicles have terminated their partnership to build the electric Transit Connect for the US. UK based Smith, which is gearing up production of its electric Newton truck, has decided not to dissipate its energy and development dollars on the light delivery Transit Connect, and stay focused on its larger truck and existing Ford partnership for the UK . Smith expressed concern that the market for electric car-derived vans would become increasingly competitive; a competition that’s being fueled by the numerous DOE loans to battery and EV makers. And leading inevitably to competitive advantages to those with the largest scale of production efficiencies. Ford announced it will instead partner with with Azure Dynamics Corporation to deliver a pure battery electric Ford Transit Connect van for the United States and Canadian markets in 2010.
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Ho-Hum....As a young city kid in the 1930's, I remember electric delivery vehicles all over the place. Home milk delivery wagons were particularly popular.
Haven't poked my bulbous oblate-spheroid-shaped head inside a Transit to ascertain its viability as a machine that can be lived inside during an economic emergency to avoid abject homelessness. Maybe the economic realities of today entered the minds of a few higher up the socio-economic pyramid that there is a market share of folks such as I big enough to appeal to who look at a possible new vehicle purchase while considering the vehicle's viability as being able to be lived within. My current 5-year-old long-bed camper-shell-topped Silvarado is partially present due to my ability to live/sleep/etc within the truck bed. A long-wheelbase van would have been preferred but the truck was much cheaper, not much more than a car that would have been tough to live in. Time to amble by a Transit for a peek.
We used to joke about it but we keep a late 70s VW Westfalia for the same reason. If we need to, we can live in it. Camping gear for the same reasons. Oh yeah, we are joking - mostly. I like the Transit. I'd like a viable electric Transit even more for local driving.