Skip to main content

London trials new Ford plug-in hybrid vans

Automaker Ford is launching a multi-million pound project designed to help improve air quality in London, as it accelerates its electrification plans with 13 new global electrified vehicles scheduled for introduction in the next five years. The project, supported by Transport for London, features a 12-month trial of 20 new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Transit Custom vans that are said to reduce local emissions by running solely on electric power for the majority of city trips such as deliveries or maintenance w
January 23, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Automaker 278 Ford is launching a multi-million pound project designed to help improve air quality in London, as it accelerates its electrification plans with 13 new global electrified vehicles scheduled for introduction in the next five years.

The project, supported by 1466 Transport for London, features a 12-month trial of 20 new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Transit Custom vans that are said to reduce local emissions by running solely on electric power for the majority of city trips such as deliveries or maintenance work.

Ford will provide the vans to a range of commercial fleets across London, including Transport for London’s fleet, to explore how such vans can contribute to cleaner air targets while boosting productivity for operators in urban conditions – the toughest working environment for vehicles. The project is supported financially by the UK Government-funded Advanced Propulsion Centre.

Scheduled to launch in autumn this year, the trial fleet will operate in everyday use across a cross-section of city-based businesses, using a Ford telematics system to collect data on the vehicles’ financial, operational and environmental performance to help understand how the benefits of electrified vehicles can be maximised.

The Transit Custom PHEV vans in the London trial are an advanced design that allows them to be charged with mains electricity for zero-emission journeys, while featuring an efficient on-board combustion engine for extended range when longer trips are required.

Related Content

  • January 6, 2022
    Arup picks 8 ways ITS can save the planet
    The solutions we need to accelerate carbon-free transport are known, available and ready to be deployed. Tim Gammons from Arup explains what the ITS industry can do now to help…
  • April 26, 2019
    London debuts three more low-emission bus zones
    Transport for London (TfL) and the city’s mayor Sadiq Khan have introduced three more low-emission bus zones (LEBZ) to help reduce toxic air in the UK capital. There are now 10 LEBZs in London, which are expected to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 90% along some of the capital’s most polluted roads. Buses operating within the zones meet the cleanest emissions standards and have been delivered through a combination of new and retrofitted vehicles, TfL says. The three new zones in Lewisham, Stratford and
  • May 16, 2018
    ACE report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report - and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas. Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently-published report Funding Roads for the Future. The 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) calls for a radical rethink about how to
  • May 20, 2019
    TfL to deploy 20 hydrogen buses in London
    Transport for London (TfL) is to deploy 20 hydrogen double decker buses in London next year in a bid to improve air quality in the UK capital.