What chance Ford might yet add in a fully electric version of the country’s favourite ute, potentially within a similar timeframe proposed for the just-unveiled Transit E-Custom?

FORD has put the spotlight on the E-Transit Custom, a smaller alternate to the E-Transit Cargo it intends to have on the local beat from late this year, just a week after the brand’s boss dropped a juicy hint about the best-selling Ranger utility going fully electric in its soon-to-land second generation.

Comment out of the United States from chief executive Jim Farley has left impression Ford has already charged the Melbourne, Australia, design and development centre that created the new Ranger T6.2 on sale here from June – and on display at a boat show in Auckland now – to work up the fully electric derivative, which some see as a rival for the Tesla Cybertruck. Ford already has a plug-in hybrid Ranger in the schedule.

At an event celebrating the start of full-scale production for the F-150 Lightning (below), Farley made it clear that large US-centric model will be joined by a second electric truck.

“This (the F-150 Lightning) is not our only truck. We said very clearly we want to be the leader in electric pickup trucks.”

His affirmation that it “will be a new truck” and “another truck” has US media firmly convinced that Farley is talking about a ‘Ranger Lightning’.

In the more immediate future, though, the battery push centres on the E-Transit Custom unveiled overnight and its larger Cargo sister ship, because Ford believes high utility electric vans are the best profit centres.

The idea is to have two wholly electric Transits, sharing common running gear, supported by a plug-in hybrid Transit that’s already available. However that plan won’t realise for several years yet. Ford says the electric Custom is going to be an early 2024 delivery here.

The Auckland-based has used Custom’s unveiling as a chance to reiterate its intent to have “at least seven” electrified vehicles in operation nationally by the end of 2024. The statement requires careful translation. It likely also means the hybrid and plug-in hybrid fare also in the wind.

It is soon implementing PHEV technology in the Escape, and has non-mains replenished hybrid versions of the Puma and Focus incoming, to join a hybrid Escape already here.

In respect to full electric drivetrains, the push is still so far exclusively in the commercial sector, with no word about when the Blue Oval’s only completely electric car, Mustang Mach-E, might show.

Ford NZ has also said nothing about the electric Ranger or how it deciphers Farley’s comments, made to media at an event to signal production start for the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Internationally, all battery-involved light workhorses – a category not only Ranger and Transit slip into, but also F-150 - are represented by Ford Pro, the company's newly-formed commercial vehicle division. Whether that distinction will be made in the NZ market is not yet clear.

Ford Pro is aiming for 600,000 EV sales by 2026, with the fleet becoming fully electric by 2035.

Although the E-Transit Custom was revealed overnight, many details are still to be shared, including battery specifications. Ford says that will happen in September.

It also says that while the model has been shown now, production is not expected to start until the second half of 2023. The sourcing point for NZ stock is a plant in Turkey also set to supply the United Kingdom.

Ford is aiming for the E-Transit Custom to have a range of almost 390 kilometres, 40 miles more than the best offered by rivals from other European makes.

The E-Transit Custom’s styling is unsurprisingly an evolution of that seen on the fossil fuelled Transit Custom. The grille has been smoothed off to boost aerodynamics and the electric is more hunkered, to become less than two-metres tall. This is to boost aerodynamics.

Overseas reports say Ford is aiming to maintain payload weights in excess of one tonne, while full towing capability is expected to feature, too.

The charging flap is located in the front bumper - similar to the configuration used by the Transit Custom PHEV. A three-pin plug socket will be offered in the cargo area, allowing users to run high-power tools and other items off the van's main battery.

As with the E-Transit, the Custom has telematics and 'always-on' connectivity to allow fleet users and businesses to monitor their vans in real-time.

Ford NZ boss Simon Rutherford says the model is designed to set a new benchmark and will help commercial users in their transition to electric.

“The E-Transit Custom is exactly the kind of versatile, practical van business customers are looking for, with the benefit of zero-emissions efficiency.

“We are focused on understanding and meeting the needs of commercial vehicle customers and bringing them the best of our global line-up.”

Ford’s battery partner is SK Innovations, a leader in the industry. It has been signed on to create a state-of-the-art new facility in the US that will build both the next-generation electric F-Series and also batteries for the EVs.

Ford and SK are spending more than US$11.4 billion to create the new operation, so ensuring appropriate economies-of-scale and market coverage will almost certainly mean a wider range of electric utes beyond just the F-150 Lightning.