When is a Ford Transit Connect not a Ford Transit Connect? When it’s a Smith Ampere. Smith Electric Vehicles, part of the Tanfield Group based in Washington Tyne and Wear already produces an electric version of the Transit and the latest addition to the range follows the same principals that Smith adopted for the larger van.
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The load area is exactly as it is in a standard Transit Connect, because the Lithium Phosphate batteries are all carried in a compartment built in beneath the load floor. And the Ampere can carry an 800kg payload, down some 100kg on the Transit Connect’s maximum because Smith has kept the weight of the batteries and electric motor down to around 80kg. Just a few years ago, an electric vehicle would have needed a heavy battery pack, which took up space in the load area.
Where the Ampere really scores is in its performance. The 50kW (67bhp) electric motor will whisk the van up to a top speed of 70mph. Like the larger Edison, the Ampere will travel for around 100 miles before you need to go hunting for a 13amp socket to charge it up again. As a zero-emissions vehicle, it is exempt from the London Congestion Charge and qualifies for a free road fund licence in the UK too.
As fuel prices surge ever upwards, Ampere customers can start saving the pennies reckons Tanfield Chief Executive Darren Kell, “Ampere uses less than two pence of electricity per mile, so the cost savings on fuel are enormous.”
Smith is pitching the van at delivery fleets operating in urban areas such as postal and courier services and utility customers. Ampere production will begin this autumn.
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