Ford Transit City: affordable, new electric van for the urban grind

On sale Late 2026 | Price from £36,000 (est)

If the Ford Transit Custom is the jack of all trades, then the all-new Ford Transit City is the master of one: specialised, efficient, and designed to do one specific job.

That’s because the Transit City is an electric van that’s been designed from the outset to be cheap to buy and cheap to run, and aimed squarely at van drivers tackling narrow urban streets for last-mile deliveries, postal collections and service and maintenance engineers.

It will sit between the Ford E-Transit Courier and the E-Transit Custom in terms of price, but when it comes to dimensions and capacities, it’s far closer to the latter – and is Ford’s answer to the growing financial risk to business in the face of tightening emissions regulations, clean air zones and diesel bans.

The van is new from the wheels up, and doesn't share any components with Ford’s current van range. When it goes on sale at the end of 2026, it will be available in low-roof, short-wheelbase L1 H1, high-roof, long-wheelbase L2 H2 configurations. The latter will be slightly shorter than the E-Transit Custom, but offer a healthy 8.5 cubic metres of load space – enough for three Europallets or 3m lengths of pipe. Maximum payload is rated at 1275kg. 

The panel vans have twin rear doors which open 180deg, and a kerbside sliding door. The floor of the van is low, too.

A first for Ford’s one-tonne models, the Transit City will be offered as a chassis cab ripe for a range of conversions. Indeed, off-the-shelf box and racking vans will be converted by partners, but available to order immediately and refrigeration units and tippers will join the lineup in early 2027, with more configurations further down the line.

That’s where the decision making stops though, because apart from four paint colours, there will be no options to choose from – a decision that reduces the complexity and cost of production, allowing its price to be pegged low. We’ll have until the Spring to find out how low, but it’s likely to cost from around £36,000.

Ford is remaining tight-lipped on whether crew van or mini bus versions could join the Transit City range; there are already multi-seat versions of the Courier, Transit Custom and E-Transit. Ford's bosses would not be drawn on any future four-wheel drive versions, either.

Under the floor sits a lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery in place of a more expensive lithium-ion unit. It has a 56kWh usable capacity, which is a lot smaller than you’ll find in the e-Transit Custom (71kWh), Vauxhall Vivaro Electric (75kWh) and Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo (77kWh) — all of which are substantially more expensive. As a result, its 157-mile range is substantially less than the Custom’s 209 miles, Vivaro’s 217 miles and the ID Buzz’s 258 miles.

However, Ford Pro’s European boss, Hans Schep points to the very specific use case for the Transit City, citing figures suggesting around 90% of drivers choosing an electric medium van travel less than 70 miles in a day. 

The Transit City will charge at an average of 67kW from a public charger – significantly slower than its Ford, Vauxhall and VW rivals – and will take 33 minutes to charge from 10-80%. However, it comes with an 11kW AC onboard charger – you’ll pay extra for that in the Vivaro – allowing it to accept faster charging at depots with three-phase power. At that rate, a flat to full charge will take just over five hours.

A one-pedal driving model, which is a more aggressive form of regenerative braking, is also fitted, reducing wear and tear on the van’s brakes and reducing driver fatigue in start-stop traffic. 

However, there is one trade-off for that urban focus: the Transit City has no towing capacity. Ford argues that for last-mile delivery and city maintenance, the extra cost and weight of towing capability simply weren't necessary.

Standard equipment will include keyless entry, electric windows, a heated driver’s seat and manual air-conditioning, plus a digital instrument display. A 12.0in infotainment touchscreen also comes as standard, and is based on China’s Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC’s) own technology with a Ford skin. There will be no native sat-nav apps, though, so drivers will need to lean on Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. 

While we are yet to see the Transit City in the metal, we were given a virtual reality tour. The interior looks to be ergonomically sound, although the interior materials are built to a price and are designed to be hardwearing rather than tactile. The Ford E-Transit Custom is streets ahead here, but the City is conceived as a tool rather than a mobile office.

Ford is aiming for a significantly lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared with diesel alternatives. Servicing costs are expected to be 40% lower, with generous 24,800-mile service intervals and an eight-year, 100,000 mile warranty.

The Transit City is the product of a joint venture between Ford and JMC, rather than via its current partnership with Volkswagen or its planned joint venture with Renault. Ford’s bosses say that while the journey times for Chinese-made components are longer than the firm is used to, it will stock and oversupply of components to ensure vehicles are not stuck in dealerships for repairs and maintenance.

Read more: Best electric vans

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