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The What Van? Road Test: Ford Transit Custom PHEV (2020)
Date: Monday, November 30, 2020
Engine and gearbox
Power is delivered by a 92.9kW electric motor, which drives the front wheels through a single-speed auto gearbox.
With 355Nm of torque on tap, the motor is supported by a 13.6kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery positioned beneath the load floor. Its charging point is concealed by a flap just below the van’s nearside headlight.
Battery and motor are backed by a 1.0-litre Ecoboost petrol engine, which acts as an onboard generator. If the battery becomes depleted then the generator allows the van to keep rolling, enabling the PHEV Transit Custom to achieve a claimed total range of over 310 miles.
Driving
Think about which setting you are going to use before you move off, and deploy the four-position mode switch on the dashboard accordingly.
EV Auto is the default setting. It means you will start off using the battery – artificial noise is generated so that cyclists and pedestrians about to cross the road know you are heading their way – while an algorithm monitors its energy levels.
If necessary it activates the range extender, and will take the sort of work you are on into account before it does so. You may be on a slow stop-start urban run – ideal for a battery-electric vehicle – or you may be tackling a high-speed intercity dash, which means help from the range extender will be essential.
EV Later means you move away on petrol power, allowing you to conserve the charge in the battery so you can revert to it if you are heading into an emissions-sensitive city centre.
Two other settings can be deployed.
Flick to EV Now and you go straight to battery power immediately, while EV Charge uses the engine to recharge the battery while you drive. Use the last-named setting with caution because it means you will burn a lot of petrol.
Geofencing is available, which switches the van to EV Now if you are entering an environmentally sensitive area, such as London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.
If there is insufficient charge in the battery – i.e. if it is below 60% – then EV Charge will be triggered before the zone is entered to give it a boost. Once the battery is depleted then the Custom PHEV defaults to EV Auto.
The leather-trimmed gear selector is not all that precise, and you can easily find yourself in neutral rather than reverse. Worth exploring, though, is its L mode, which boosts the van’s regeneration system.
Every time you slow down it helps recharge the battery. Its effect is such that in some situations you can use it as a retarder, enabling you to reduce speed without having to touch the brakes.
They suffer less wear as a consequence. The brake lights illuminate to warn drivers following the van that it is losing speed.
With all the torque availability instantly, a Custom PHEV in EV Auto mode will rocket away from rest the minute you touch the loud pedal. Acceleration slows markedly after the initial rush, however, and performance becomes more far pedestrian as the petrol engine kicks in.
Run on battery power and the van wafts along silently. That changes markedly as soon the petrol engine fires up. And it can be noisy.
Something that cannot be criticised, though, is the handling: it is exemplary and could hardly be bettered.
Adequate rather than outstanding, the ride is nowhere near as impressive, especially when the van is empty.
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