Ford revealed an electric Type A school bus based on the E-Transit chassis at this year’s Work Truck Week in Indianapolis, Indiana, which happens between March 7-10 and is described as “North America’s largest work truck event.”
The news that Ford will build an all-electric school bus based on the E-Transit came via Wanda Young, the Global Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Ford Pro, who posted a photo of the zero-emissions kid hauler on her Twitter account.
According to her, this is the first time a full-line automaker is offering a Type A school bus package on an electric powertrain but stopped short of offering additional details, and Ford’s press-related website doesn’t mention anything about this new van.
However, we can make some educated guesses based on what we already know. The Type A school bus is the smallest category for this kind of vehicle, designed to carry between 10-20 passengers and with a weight rating of around 10,000 pounds, depending on the sub-type (Type A-1 has a weight rating lower than 10,000 lbs, while Type A-2 can accommodate more).
Usually built on a cutaway van chassis (like the E-Transit), a Type A school bus allows passengers to board through a door behind the front wheels, while the driver has another door on the left side of the vehicle.
As for the powertrain of the Ford E-Transit, the official configurator on the company’s website shows a single option for the cutaway version and that’s a rear-mounted, 198-kilowatt (266-horsepower) electric motor that’s also capable of delivering up to 317 pound-feet (430 Newton-meters) of torque. Additionally, the 68 kilowatt-hours battery pack offers up to 126 miles (202 kilometers) of range on a single charge.
Gallery: 2022 Ford E-Transit: First Drive
The Ford E-Transit all-electric van is the best-selling vehicle of its type in the United States, with the Blue Oval carmaker delivering around 6,500 units last year, a number that is expected to increase in 2023, considering the US Postal Service will purchase 9,250 E-Transits alone.
In related news, Ford’s all-electric van has reportedly saved some 745,000 gallons of gas that would have been necessary to power similar gas-powered vans.
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