Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Transit Connect electrical is touted by its vendor as a “piece of automotive history.” Let’s see if its worth units some kind of historic file.
The 2014 BMW 328d wagon we checked out yesterday featured BMW’s model of AWD, which the corporate oddly calls xDrive, as commonplace. However, X didn’t mark the spot for our automobile. That was as a result of its $15,900 asking worth was deemed too excessive, incomes the diesel Bimmer a slim however decisive 56 % No Dice loss.
Several of you made the case within the feedback yesterday {that a} hybrid could be a more sensible choice than a unclean diesel in the case of frugal driving. That’s most likely an correct evaluation, but when we’re making such issues, why not go absolutely electrical?
Fully electrical driving is simply what this 2011 Ford Transit Connect presents. And with a reported vary of 56 miles on a cost, it has the additional advantage of safety in opposition to getting misplaced far-off from acquainted environs.
You won’t have identified that Ford supplied an electrical model of its small metropolis van, and that’s not stunning. While absolutely sanctioned by the corporate, that is merely a blip on Ford’s timeline of electrical tasks.
The full title of this van is the “Azure Dynamics Transit Connect Electric,” and it’s the results of a short-lived collaboration between the Ford Motor Company and a small Canadian maker of electrical drive techniques referred to as Azure Dynamics.
The deal inked between the 2 firms noticed Ford sending the vans as drivetrain-less “gliders” from its manufacturing facility in Kocaeli, Turkey to a third-party builder in Livonia, Michigan—AM General (sure, the Humvee maker)—the place Azure Dynamics’ “Force Drive” electrical drivetrain was put in, together with a battery pack and all of the associated drivetrain equipment. This all began in late 2010, and as such issues typically go, ended simply two years later with Azure Dynamics submitting for chapter safety as a result of huge monetary liabilities it had amassed.
Before that, nonetheless, the corporate really managed to construct about 500 of those electrical vans. It’s a uncommon alternative when one comes up on the market, so we’ll want to check out this one and see what such an odd bit of electrical automobile historical past may be value.
The van itself doesn’t look all that particular and even very totally different from the skin. Oh positive, there’s no telltale tailpipe, however do folks really search for an attractive exhaust on a Transit Connect? There are a smattering of badges on the flanks and rear doorways, denoting this to be an electrical. Aside from that, it’s a white-painted high-roof Transit Connect, identical to all of the others.
There are solely 43,600 miles on this electrical Transit’s clock, and, per the advert, it comes with a clear title. The bodywork appears respectable for its age and goal, with simply a few dents and scratches to mar the general aesthetic. Plastic wheel covers conceal metal wheels and appear to be they’ve been evaded the curbs.
This being a piece truck, the cabin is extraordinarily utilitarian, with simply two seats fronting the massive cargo space within the again. The sprint is straight Transit Connect, though the Instrument Cluster in that sprint has been up to date as a part of the electrical replace, changing the tach with a variety gauge and the little gasoline pump on the vitality stage dial with a stacked battery.
That battery is Lithium Ion, and the 16-unit pack tops out at 28 kWh. That powers a 300-volt three-phase AC induction motor, which drives the entrance wheels by way of a single-speed transaxle. The EPA score forthe van claimed 56 miles of vary between costs. The vendor continues to be touting that, though what number of of these are literally left is anyone’s guess.
Regardless, that’s not a number of vary. Admittedly, it is sufficient to putt round city on journeys to the house middle and the like, one thing the vendor even suggests within the advert. This additionally may be an amazing alternative for somebody like Robert Dunn, the jovial madman behind the Aging Wheels YouTube channel to personal and play with. Dunn has been noodling with oddball electrical automobiles (and trikes and lawnmowers) for years, and sure would discover this Transit Connect a hoot and a half to personal.
However, the query for all of you is whether or not any of that is sensible in mild of this electrical Transit’s $9,999 asking worth. What do you say? Is this bizarre and sure stealthily quiet Transit Connect value that a lot? Or do the restricted vary and battery’s age make that worth a non-starter?
You determine!
Portland, Oregon, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
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Source: jalopnik.com