Sky Adds 151 Ford Transit Custom PHEVs to Fleet
Photo: Ford
Sky, Europe’s entertainment and media powerhouse, is aiming to be net zero carbon by 2030. To help with that goal, Sky is turning to another titan: Ford Motor Company. With a fleet of 151 Ford Transit Custom PHEVs at its disposal, Sky aims to cut fleet emissions to nil within the next decade.
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Sky made the choice to link up with Ford after the automaker’s successful trial in London. Over 12 months, a fleet of Transit Plug-in Hybrid test vehicles covered 150,000 miles—70 percent of that using battery power only. The Sky vehicles include a geofencing module that automatically senses when the van is entering a low-emission or zero-emission zone. This allows the vehicle to comply with regulations and cut fuel costs.
“Our new plug-in Ford Transit works for businesses driving in towns because its development included input and learnings from city-based fleets including Sky,” said Ford Fleet Director Neil Wilson. “They had one of the 20 prototypes Ford loaned 17 London fleets in total, to understand real-world usage by collecting data on the test vans’ performance. I’m delighted that this early access impressed Sky enough for Ford to win this important and valued order.”
Sky Group Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch calls the move a step toward cutting emissions today and building toward full-electric solutions in the future. Ford recently revealed its E-Transit battery-electric van, which delivers a max range of 126 miles on a full charge.
Photos: Sky Ford Transit Custom PHEV
The Ford Transit Custom Plug-in Hybrid delivers 35 miles of all-electric driving even when carrying a full payload. Sky says that using the 151 Transit Custom PHEVs will cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent. The vans will be used by low-mileage customer engineers and feature a Sky Zero livery that makes them easily identifiable.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.