But they don’t seem clear on the PHEV concept.
American marque Ford had a lot to say during a recent announcement. In addition to letting out some air on their ‘Mach 1’ EV SUV and detailing the new Escape, they also announced the arrival of the 2019 Ford Tourneo Custom PHEV, a carbon-conscious way to move quite a lot of people around in a very fuel-efficient way. For the uninitiated, ‘Tourneo’ is what they call the Transit we’re more familiar with in North America.
The thing is, if you’ve already assumed you know exactly how this PHEV works, you’d be wrong. Rather than having a smaller engine augmented by an electric motor with a nominal amount of pure-electric range, the Tourneo Custom PHEV is actually a range-extender electric vehicle. With a (relatively) small 13.6kWh battery under the floor, the Tourneo PHEV can do 50km of pure-electric range. Once exhausted, a 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost petrol ‘generator’ kicks in to provide additional charge, which then gives the Tourneo Custom PHEV a total touring range of 500km.
Ford projects that the Tourneo Custom PHEV should be able to do a staggering 3.3L/100km while emitting just 75g/km of CO2. If you want to run it purely on electricity, you can, as there’s a plug-in point in the front bumper. With a domestic plug socket, full-charge is achieved in about 5.5-hours, though a fast-charger can drop that down to just 3-hours.
With the batteries mounted under the floor, cabin space has not been affected whatsoever, allowing the Tourneo Custom PHEV to continue to offer the full ‘conference-style’ seating option that the regular Tourneo Custom makes quite a big deal about. The PHEV can be driven in four selectable EV modes (EV Auto, EV Now, EV Later, and EV Charge), and regenerative braking can be adjusted via selecting either ‘Drive’ or ‘Low’ via the gear lever.
It’ll take an anorak to spot a Tourneo PHEV out of a crowd, with only the plug-in flap on the front bumper giving away its identity. Inside it’s virtually identical with the regular Tourneo, with only a new instrument cluster with the usual electrified addenda. As it’s based on the upmarket Titanium version, you get the SYNC3 infotainment system with its voice-triggered assistant, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with smartphone mirroring, the FordPass Connect on-board modem for internet connectivity, parking assistant, and lots of other things.
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