On the first two days when I attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed last week, I frantically searched for the Ford Electric Supervan, the 2,000 horsepower all-wheel drive Transit-based EV that they were going to reveal at the show. I did not find it at first, as it was either running up the hill, or it was being held in a paddock somewhere hidden from public view.
However, on the third day I finally got to see it, although not in motion - for that you can check out the multitude of videos made at Goodwood showing in action (like the one below by cvdzijden). What I managed to get was a look under the skin to see what made this mad van tick, and as expected, it’s a lot of racing-derived technology, lots of top-tier performance parts and plenty of cool design solutions too.
Gallery: Ford Electric Supervan at Goodwood FoS 2022
The Electric Supervan from Ford is loosely based on an e-Transit Custom, but one glance reveals that not much of the original van is left. This Supervan has a widebody kit complete with aero parts made out of carbon fiber, like the unique side skirts, front splitter, or that roof spoiler.
For me the most striking detail has to be the fact that behind the cab, the vehicle is actually hollow as the body tapers around to make it look like a real racing car. You don’t immediately notice this, and the illusion that this is still a van is only shattered when you see the two gaping holes in the sides of the vehicle - they make it look utterly unique and this visually works with all the rest of the modifications that have been made to it.
When I saw the Supervan it was opened up and you could see inside. The suspension id completely custom and it appeared to have a dual-wishbone setup at the front - not sure about the rear as it was not as visible, but with the kind of power this puts down, it would certainly need it, along with the massive brake rotors that are far bigger than on any current Transit van.
The cockpit was very interesting too, with a mix of Mach-E, Transit and Ford Performance parts it looked like nothing else. The driving position is low and sporty and the driver doesn’t appear to get a great view out, but this is one compromise of turning a van into a mad super EV made almost entirely out of carbon fiber, a vehicle that seems more at home in a video game than in the real world.
While it was parked, I also got to photograph the digital driver’s display which showed parameters like the battery pack voltage that was as high as 879 volts, among others. Even though this is a van, it’s such a unique vehicle and one that really impressed the crowds at Goodwood, especially since even though it’s all-wheel drive, it has a line-lock burnout feature that the Ford people on the stand were not able to explain to me. It does work, but apparently it’s down to magic, not engineering, at least based on what I heard in the paddock.
Finally, the real reason why Ford chose to make this super EV look like a van is because that the segment where the Blue Oval is actually doing alright - commercial electric vehicles, where it hopes to keep and extend its lead. It’s not doing so well for passenger EVs, although the Mach-E is a popular model, and it hopes that the models it builds on the Volkswagen MEB platform will bring it some kind of passenger EV success.
