The Azure Dynamics Transit Connect Electric is an all-electric van developed as a collaboration between Azure Dynamics and

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

, but Azure was the official manufacturer of record. Due to financial difficulties, production of the electric van was stopped in March 2012, as the company filed for bankruptcy protection in the

Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...

. The official

US Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

all-electric range All-electric range (AER) is the maximum driving range of an electric vehicle using only power from its on-board battery pack to traverse a given driving cycle. In the case of a Battery electric vehicle (BEV), it means the maximum range per rech ...

is and has a combined city/highway fuel economy of 62 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent ( equivalent) based on the five-cycle tests using varying driving conditions and climate controls, with the same 62 mpg-e rating for both city and highway. The energy consumption for combined city/highway was rated at 54 kWh/100 mi.

Production

Production began in December 2010, and full capacity was expected to be reached in April 2011 to produce between 600 and 700 units a year. The Transit Connect Electric was produced using a vehicle glider at a

facility in Kocaeli, Turkey and then shipped to Azure Dynamics U.S. upfitter,

AM General AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract manufacturer, contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer H1, Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana. ...

Livonia, Michigan Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...

, where the Force Drive™ electric drive train and other components are added to the vehicle. Azure Dynamics partnered with

Johnson Controls Johnson Controls International plc is an American, Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in arou ...

-Saft to produce the

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...

pack used in the Transit Connect Electric. The vehicle was badged with both the Ford Blue Oval and Azure's Force Drive logos, with Azure Dynamics being the manufacturer of record. The company expected to produce between 600 and 1000 Transit Connect Electric vehicles during 2011, and planned to double that in 2012.

Specifications

According to Ford and Azure, the Transit Connect Electric has an

of up to , but the official

range is . The electric van has a speed up to . The EPA rated the combined city/highway fuel economy at 62 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent ( equivalent) based on the five-cycle tests using varying driving conditions and climate controls, with the same 62 mpg-e rating for both city and highway. The energy consumption for combined city/highway was . The three-phase AC

induction motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC motor, AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor (electric), rotor that produces torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding ...

is provided by

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

, operating on a nominal 300 V; it has a rated peak output of and continuous output of / . The wheels are driven through a Borg-Warner reduction gearbox with an 8.28:1 ratio. It draws from a battery with a nominal capacity of 28 kW-hr, composed of 16 modules divided into 192 cells in total. The onboard charger has a maximum rate of 3.3 kW.

Markets and sales

The first units were delivered to a select group through Azure's "LEAD Customer Program" in the

U.S The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in December 2010, among the first customers were

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...

, the

New York Power Authority The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is a public benefit corporation owned by the State of New York and is the largest state public power utility in the United States. It provides some of the lowest-cost electricity in the nation, operating 16 ge ...

and

Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximate ...

. The Transit Connect Electric was priced at , which more than doubles the price of the gas-powered version even after federal and any state or local incentives for electric vehicles are discounted. The Transit Connect Electric was targeted towards the commercial fleet market and other "LEAD" customers included:

, Toronto Atmospheric Fund (FleetWise EV300 Program),

Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is a U.S. regulated electric utility and natural gas delivery company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers across parts of eight states (Color ...

., and

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

. On March 22, 2011, Ford Motor Company and Azure Dynamics Corporation announced its first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an customer order of 20 Transit Connect Electric vehicles by the Norwegian Post. A test fleet of 14 was exported to the United Kingdom for the government's Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator program. As of October 2011 global sales reached 460 units since its introduction in December 2010. Around 500 units were sold before Azure stopped production in March 2012.

Passenger version

In November 2011 Ford and Azure announced the introduction of a passenger wagon version of the Transit Connect Electric. The passenger version would have a liquid-cooled 28 kWh

from Johnson Controls, that is expected to deliver a range of on a single charge depending on driving conditions and accessory use. The wagon version has a top speed of .

References

External links