Ford’s Transit Custom van is one of the most enthusiastically promoted vans in the New Zealand marketplace, and it also happens to be one of the most versatile, with a standard model, a Sport model, a double cab in vehicle model and the latest – a PHEV model.

The Plug-In Hybrid Electric from Ford is the first of application of range-extending technology in a commercial vehicle and it’s a winner! You’ll get 56 or so kilometres on the battery and electric motor combination, increasing to 500km when you add Ford’s ‘fabulous Fox’ 3-cylinder, 999cc petrol engine, all of which put out around 60gm per km of CO2 and return a fuel consumption figure of 2.7 litres per km combined.

You can still carry 6 cubic metres of whatever and retain a payload of over 1000kg in addition to Ford’s comprehensive safety suite which has earned a 5-Star ANCAP rating.  Core to the sophistication of the Transit Custom PHEV is the four-mode power management system, which is the real brains of the system and controlled by the intelligent driver. As a smart operator, the driver can lock the Ford into purely electric mode, tell it to use the engine to prioritise battery charging, delay the use of electric operation until it is required or leave the system to do its own thing.

To realise the maximum ROI potential from the PHEV, learning to use this function is a smart move, but the infrequent trips to your fuel supplier of choice – so long as you do the end of day charge up routine – will soon start showing up on your monthly accounts. And don’t think for a moment that because you aren’t buying a regular-engined Transit Custom, you are being short-changed.

You still get all the 6 cubic metre, low roofed van has to offer, including the connectivity of FordPass Connect, SYNC3, satellite navigation and voice command functionality. Heck, you even get heated seats, not to mention smooth and silent running for the largest part of your running around time.

So, if you need a van, and you ready to join the way of the future in alternatively powered vehicles, the Ford Transit Custom PHEV is the answer to your unasked question of “what should I be looking at?” And the place to find the answers? In this video of course, and what we haven’t covered, your Ford dealer certainly can!  

For more information go to https://www.ford.co.nz/electric/transitphev/models/custom-van-swb-phev/