Ford Unveils its Electric SuperVan in Goodwood

Ford promised it would bring something commercial and capable to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, and it delivered in the form of an electric van with – brace yourself – 1,973 horsepower, giving it a 0-100 km/h time of less than two seconds!

Ford’s new SuperVan is the fourth of its kind, but the first to adopt an electric powertrain, unlike the first three which relied on internal combustion engines and a good injection of motorsport to deliver extraordinary performance… for a commercial van!

It should be noted that this colorful prototype will not be marketed, the vehicle which was made in collaboration with the STARD firm specialized in car racing and the Ford Performance team of course.

To deliver nearly 2,000 horsepower, the new SuperVan is equipped with four electric motors and a battery pack with a capacity of only 50 kWh. For comparison, the Ford E-Transit Custom on which the prototype is based is equipped with a 68 kWh battery. It’s clear that the hyper-performance van was not developed for long-distance driving, but rather to impress the gallery. And while we’re on the subject of impressing fans, you should know that the top speed of this refrigerator on wheels is limited to 320 km/h!

Like the SuperVans of the past, the battery is located in the middle of the vehicle, where the big cars used to be not so long ago. The engines are located at the ends, one pair per axle, which makes the vehicle an all-wheel drive vehicle, a detail that will benefit driver Romain Dumas when he begins his climb up the famous Goodwood track.

The 2022 SuperVan isn’t quite like the one that came out of the automaker’s workshops, but Ford still made a point of saying that the floor of the van was the same as in the production vehicle. Unsurprisingly, the SuperVan is heavily modified to withstand the extra stress generated by the overpowering mechanics. What’s more, the van’s aerodynamics have been optimized with widened fenders to accommodate wider tires, while at the rear, the most prominent detail is this cutout in the cargo area to improve aerodynamic downforce. There’s also a large diffuser under the rear body and a spoiler over the roof in the same area.

The purpose of this prototype is not only to promote the potential of electric propulsion, but also to demonstrate innovations in logistics. Inside, the cabin gets the same touch screen as in the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which even allows additional driving modes like Drift, Rally, Track or Drag and three levels of regeneration for energy recovery when braking. Going back to the Drag mode, the SuperVan can also reduce its tires one axle at a time, since it’s a four-wheel drive van.