Last month marked a milestone for electric vehicles for Ford and Clay County. The first Kansas City-made electric vehicles just rolled off the line at Ford’s factory in Claycomo. And the buying public – including several large fleet operators – appears to like what they see.
Starting in February, Ford began shipping the 2022 E-Transit van, the electric version of the popular Ford Transit cargo van.
The E-Transit is Ford’s second electric vehicle, following the Mustang Mach-E. Ford spent a reported $100 million upgrading its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo and hired 150 new employees to build the new van.
The Claycomo plant is the largest manufacturing facility in the Kansas City area, with 7,100 workers and more vehicle output than any other Ford factory on the continent. In addition to the E-Transit, the local facility produces the gas-powered Transit and the top-selling F-150 pickup. The plant is also Ford’s only factory manufacturing both batteries and electric vehicles in-house.
Ford officials report strong demand for the E-Transit, with 300 customers already said to be ordering more than 10,000 vehicles. Though the vans are available for personal use, they are most often used for government or business fleets. Current customers include Walmart and the City of Orlando, according to Ford.
The vans have a range of 126 miles per charge with a suggested retail price of $43,295. The company says 40 percent of its vehicles will be electric by 2030.
