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EV Van vs Reality: My Brutal Opinion 😬 Ford eTransit Custom

Artisan Electrics

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EV Van vs. Reality: The Honest Test Review - Ford eTransit Custom

Can This Electric Van Convince Us to Ditch Diesel Forever? 🚐⚡ | Real-World Ford e-Transit Custom Test

A few years ago, I tried using an electric van on a road trip to Paris, and it was a complete nightmare. 🔋💀 Low range, freezing cold, and constant charging stops. But EV tech has come a long way… so now we're back for round two.

This time, we're testing the brand-new Ford e-Transit Custom, the latest electric van built for tradespeople. The mission? Drive 200 miles from Cambridge to Surrey and back, through central London, without recharging. 😬 Will it make it? Or will this end in another EV fail?

🎯 Along the way, we stop at a secret London location to meet a very special guest: Adam from Heat Geek 🔥—one of the UK’s top heat pump experts. We chat about the future of renewables, electrification, and the heating industry. You don’t want to miss it.

🔧 Is this the beginning of an all-electric future for Artisan Electrics? Or just another EV headache? Watch to find out.

Don't forget to subscribe 📺 for more expert content from Artisan Electrics and join our community of passionate electricians. ⚡

Heatgeek Website - https://www.heatgeek.com/

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𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬
🛠️ Check out our recommended tools on Amazon

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𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐬:
00:00 The Electric Van Journey Begins
01:31 Range Anxiety on the Road
03:11 Cynicism Meets Curiosity
06:01 Navigating London Traffic
08:01 Meeting a Special Guest
10:22 Assessing the Electric Van’s Performance
12:45 Unexpected Detours and Challenges
14:11 Charging Infrastructure Insights
19:39 Cost Analysis of Charging

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𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐔𝐬
Have questions or need media inquiries? Get in touch: contact@artisanmotion.com

Disclaimer
⚠️ This video is for entertainment purposes only. Do not attempt to recreate any of the actions or work shown. Always hire a qualified professional for electrical tasks.

#SparkyLife #ElectricianLife #Artisanelectrics

20 Comments

@artisanelectrics Creator 1 year ago Pinned

Check out the Heat Geek channel here! - https://www.youtube.com/@HeatGeek/videos

Join Our Community: Connect with other electricians and learn more about starting your own business by joining our Skool community: https://www.skool.com/electricians

@Sm7Gspark 1 year ago

No roof rack, no ladders, no payload, and still can’t hold the advertised range 😬

@localboy9385 1 year ago

If the daily journeys are less than 100 miles in total and you can charge them overnight at home it makes so much sense. But the trick is always to charge little and often to keep it topped up, much quicker than charging all the way to 100% when it's nearly empty.

@davidbass123 1 year ago

I’ve been daily driving an e-transit (L3H2 68kwh) and average 40 miles a day for 18 months now: I’m a carpenter, plumber and tiler = 850kg of racking, tools and materials; i put solar and battery in loft 2 years ago: my experience is that this has made 100% business sense for me…. I save £5k a year on fuel spending at 2021 prices: yes it was a big investment but it’s actually paying itself off.

@ejecea 1 year ago

We have 25,000 miles on our 23' E-Transit and I totally love it. I had no idea the cost savings of an EV Work Van are honestly close to 10:1. Yeah, you read that right... 10:1. Operating costs are nothing more than electricity ($50/month, down from ~$300 in gas) and washer fluid. No oil changes or repairs. The driving experience is amazing (for a van), plenty of power and we tow with it. Two complaints: 1) We NEED all-wheel-drive and it's not available. 2) "Power Power On Board" shuts off after thirty minutes... a real pain in the ass when you're trying use it for just about anything. We will change all our vans to E-Transit when AWD is available.

@sapphiregas 1 year ago

Im a plumber , work locally & had a small nissan ev200 for around 3 yrs - its perfect for my job , yes its crap if i go on the motorway - but i hardly do that

@paulkent5933 1 year ago

I’ve just bought 1 paid £4.50 to charge from 7% to 100 and got 223 miles from it, whilst paying 26,199 + vat for brand new van, driving getting the vat back, get the £26,000 off my top end over the year. It’s under 2pence per mile to run! So far so good

@LambdaWave84 1 year ago (edited)

I think the new gen of Renault EV vans (Goelette, Estafette, Trafic etc) will be a LOT better (800V architecture, very fast 10-80% charging, about 400km WLTP range)

@JoshuaStringfellow1 1 year ago (edited)

Note: the advertised 'targeted' range is 163-204 miles, not just 204 miles.

93 kW is not an impressive charging speed anymore, or 120kW, but that shows how fast the technology is moving. >300kW and higher is already possible with some vehicles on the road today, and will be the norm in a couple of years, while there have been recent announcements of batteries charging at 1MW+ which could mean a 5 minute turnaround.

@timfontana2769 1 year ago (edited)

Best cure for range anxiety in a modern EV is to do a few longer journeys. The charging times are so fast now - I stopped for 8 minutes in a BMW i4 and added 35% battery, literally in the time it took me to go inside and use the toilet / get a drink.

However, do think it would have been beneficial for you to mention that the DC charging speed is on a curve and that speed of charge will slow down as the battery fills up. I get 205kW when I'm under 40% but that quickly drops off as you approach 80% and charging to 100% on a DC fast charger rarely makes sense.

Manufacturers generally publish a 10-80% charge time which is the most important metric.

@matthallwindowcleaner 8 months ago

Interesting video. I’m coming round to the idea. I’m a window cleaner and I do a maximum of 30 miles a day and it’s all stop start and low speed driving, exactly what an EV likes.

@mikeselectricstuff 1 year ago

Classic example of why destination charging is important - get to hotel, AC charge overnight at cheap rates, full & ready to go in the morning.

@dewarmc 1 year ago

Great content again, but when you look into the distances you travel before taking the plunge with an Electric Van, you also need to look at ways to save on charging too, such as the Multiverse card by Octopus, but Tesla also do a subscription, which means that you can also save if you prefer to use the Tesla chargers, and I don't know, but I would be surprised if Tesla didn't have a Business rate charging Tariff for businesses such as yours. Keep up the good work :-)

@TBOBrightonandHove 1 year ago

Great Video!

To answer your question, however, get/hire one for 3 months.

Run it in real life application alongside your diesel models, tracking all the relevant umbers. Any adjustments you make to your business processes (there will be some I am sure).

Then report on a comparison that actually makes sense for your business going forward.

@steved2136 1 year ago

Our local courier company looked at the ETransit, but it is priced ridiculously high here, with one of the shorter ranges looked at (they in the end went with the BYD T3 vans instead- literally less than half the price, and a longer range to boot....)

@andrewamidala 1 year ago

Been driving an electric Jag now for 3 years. My diesel Jag cast me £80 a week in fuel, £500 a year in tax and £900 for i insurance.
My lec Jag cost me £14k to buy and £10 a week in leccy. No tax (yet). Insurance was £1500 but.the saving far outway that and what a drive experience!!!!

@craigix 1 year ago

Paid £20k for a new 75kwh LWB vivaro last year, and it's been a total bargain, it really does do 180-200 miles, £3.80 to charge, loads more options than the diesel one. The advertised price for these vans are total fantasy, you can pick them up for less than the diesel models. You can also get electric vans which do 250-300 miles, anyone considering this should check autotrader - search for the battery size you want (ie 113kwh or 75kwh) and just look at the mad discounts!

@rhiantaylor3446 1 year ago

I am retired and run a small EV and an economical diesel SUV (BMW X3). I tend to drive at 60 in the X3 getting 55 to 60mpg and 56 on long runs in the EV getting 4.8m/kWh. Almost all my EV charging is done at home at 7p/kWh and I calculated this morning that over the last 19k miles I had saved £1900 in fuel costs though this is not why I bought the EV. I achieve the WLTP range regularly on 175 mile runs to/from Wales/London but this can drop 20% or more in winter without using the heater. Given what I know now, I would not buy an EV with much less than 250m range, or more if I expected to regularly drive long distances >60mph.

@maereanm 6 months ago (edited)

if the go-kart place had any chargers (even AC), that would have helped massively.

@houltmac 1 year ago

We are finally looking to get vans back at work after the pandemic but electric makes it tough. Incentives are all for electric making Diesel feel more expensive, yet some employees cants install chargers and in our rural parts the chargers are slow, expensive and rare. Some only allow 30 mins charge before moving and we regularly do 200+ miles a day. Sounds like it’s all going in the right direction but for now it’s not quite there for us and instead makes ICE cost more. Interesting as always Jordan, thanks.