“If Ford doesn’t do it ourselves, we’ll do it,” Olathe Ford of Olathe, Kansas, must have thought. The American Ford dealer, in collaboration with Optimal EV, is introducing a fully electric version of the E450 in chassis cab variant.
That sounds awfully specific, but it is secretly quite interesting. Olathe Ford is a dealer of Fords, Lincolns and Fords commercial vehicles. An important part of that commercial range is the E-series, a large ‘truck’ that, like the well-known F-series pick-ups, comes in different flavors. The E-series was always available in different variants, but at the time of writing the latest edition of the model is only on the price list as a so-called ‘Cutaway’. That is what we call a chassis cab in Europe, or a variant that has to be visited by a separate party for a specifically tailored body. The car itself has a complete cabin, but behind that cabin is a bare chassis.
One of the companies that can provide such a structure is Optimal EV. They not only make a fairly luxurious passenger bus from the E450, but also provide that bus with a fully electric powertrain. That did ring a bell at Olathe Ford: if that is possible with such a passenger bus, it should also be possible with other variants. For example, the Optimal EV powertrain may now be available in a ‘bare’ E450 Cutaway, allowing customers to build an electric bus, pick-up, truck, trailer, garbage truck or whatever they want.
In any case, that saves a whole lot of CO2, because the electric powertrain will replace the 7.3-liter V8 that Ford recently installed as standard in the E450. It is, however, important not to use the electric truck – because that is what it is, in fact – for too long distances. Optimal provides the large Ford with an impressive 113 kWh battery pack, but still promises a range of just 125 miles (200 km).