Ford Beefs Up Its Alt Fuel-Ready Line

Ford roars into the 2013 Work Truck Show with word that it’s expanding its line of vehicles delivered factory-ready for alternative fuels with gaseous-prep engines. Among them are all-new Transit chassis cab and cutaway
models, “engineered to tackle an almost unlimited variety of specialized jobs and vocations.”

Ford’s engineer Chris Brewer describes new Transit and Transit cutaway line – all vehicles to be available for alt-fuel upfits.

The Transit trucks come with 3.7-liter V-6 engines, available with a compressed natural gas/propane gaseous-prep kit allowing Qualified Vehicle Modifiers to install CNG or propane autogas fuel systems while maintaining Ford dealer availability and warranties.

Sales of Ford trucks with CNG/LPG-prepped engines have soared more than 350% since 2009, Ford said. Businesses are using CNG-fueled trucks to lower their operating costs, “with the payback period for recouping conversion upfit cost as fast as 24 to 36 months
of in-use service.”

“The transit chassis cab and cutaway models join the industry’s broadest lineup of commercial chassis,” Ford says. The line-up includes E-Series cutaway and stripped chassis, F-Series Super Duty chassis cab, F-650 and F-750 medium-duty chassis cab and F-59 stripped chassis.

And, Ford said, the next generation of the Transit Connect range will add yet another CNG-ready engine when it goes on sale later this year, offering a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. The smaller engine will make Ford-sanctioned QVM upfits available for a wider range of smaller vehicles.

A host of QVM upfitters including BAF for CNG and Roush CleanTech for propane, have vehicles at Ford’s
big display (Booth 3139).