If you’ve ever needed to get your sink fixed in less that 5 minutes from the time you called, you’d better hope your plumber has this. Meet the Ford Supervan. Why? Just because. 0-60 in less than 2 seconds, nearly 2,000 horsepower, and it’s a VAN! Based off the combustion supervans of Ford’s past, this chronogically named SuperVan 4 is Ford’s modern take. The 4th iteration features a liquid cooled 4 motor (yes… 4) AWD platform stuck next to a 50-kWh battery pack and addends taken from the high-performance cars in Ford’s lineup.
With an aerodynamic profile of something that matches a fighter jet, the SuperVan definitely doesn’t lack on personality. The van is personified by its unique features designed to make the van as slippery as possible underneath airstreams. The SuperVan 4 is a completely one-off piece made from the ground up with a carbon fiber body placed on top of a tubular-space frame. If you thought that was super futuristic, it is. The SuperVan sets the pace for the commercial van future with its willingness to go electric. The van shows Ford’s plans to look in the direction of electric based commercial vans as the replacement of their Transit medium-duty van.
Amazon and the USPS both currently use electric vehicles in their fleet and are gaining EVs within their collection every day. Amazon certainly hasn’t been reluctant to utilize the power of electricity with their own vans, as the company hopes to have 50% of their vans electric by 2025 and a full electric fleet by 2030. With Amazon using Ford vehicles, this could be a great opportunity for Ford to find a market for their new path of electric trucks thus solidifying their plans to swap out the internal combustion engine for an electric motor.
While the SuperVan will probably never be able to see city streets in the US as it was Ford’s subsidiary in Europe that developed the van, it sure can hit the drag strip. That 2,000 horsepower isn’t just good for the 0-60 time, it can also hit a top speed of over 200 MPH… in a VAN! In order to get to that speed, drastic aerodynamic engineering moves had to be made. Ford worked with European engineers in Austria in conjunction with STARD to create the van inspired race platform. The two teamed up to create the massive top mounted rear wing, the lowered profile of the van, and a bundle of air passages that reduce drag that had to be fitted onto the vehicle. On top of that, the underlyings of the van contain a performance EV-esque two speed transmission for the EV motors to attain the wicked acceleration and the astronomical top speed.
The van also contains a multitude of usable features on the track because somehow this Frankenstein of a car is street legal in Europe. Four-wheel steering where the rear wheels also turn in order to create a tighter turning radius, drive modes for a plethora of different environments, and a massive vertical center screen (same as the one in the Mustang Mach-E) to name a few.
The van premiered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year and is the 4th in a long line of previous SuperVans. Ford first produced the original SuperVan in 1971 with nuts and bolts from the original GT40 race car (yes, the one in Ford v. Ferrari). To the surprise of many, the original Ford SuperVan actually used the 485-horsepower mid mounted V8 that was used in the GT40, so this van was a true thoroughbred. That van back then was practical, and so is this one. Somewhere between all the roll cages and the double-wishbone suspension meant to keep this thing planted to the ground because at 200 MPH with all those packages, bad downforce means your FedEx Ground might just turn into FedEx Air, sits the cargo bay which Ford intentionally included. Hold on fellas, it’s not ALL mayhem.
Ford hopes that the SuperVan’s incredible technology can soon trickle down into usable commercial aspects. The technology used in the SuperVan 4 is stuff we have yet to see, or even hear of. Ford plans to add an electromagnetic cargo securing system… what in the Jetsons is this? Possibly the coolest feature is “tire-cleaning mode” which will let you do a burnout on an AWD platform by locking one axle. This could lead to a whole new segment of electric performance cars, I’m looking at you Dodge.
The entire van was built to FIA standards and if that doesn’t tell you how serious Ford was when building this thing in Cologne, I don’t know what will. I mean, come on, it’s Germany, home of the Nurburgring. Ford was so deadset on performance that they didn’t dare release a range figure. If we had to guess it would probably wouldn’t compete with Tesla numbers but that’s just our shot in the dark.
The trickle-down effect of the SuperVan to the new Ford E-Transit will be super interesting to see in future years. The SuperVan will not be available to the public, probably for the best. Upsetting but understandable, however mark my words… until I get a 2,000 horsepower panel van in my hands I’m not sure I’ll be satisfied.
