Despite Whitacre at GM Helm, AT&T Buys Ford Transit Connect Electric Vehicles
March 10, 2010
AT&T has agreed to buy two of the first electric-powered Ford Transit Connects, despite the 
fact that the company's former CEO, Ed Whitacre, is now CEO of Ford-competitor General Motors and, it was revealed this week, still flies AT&T corporate planes as his retirement perk.
GM, where insiders have criticized the Transit Connect for its raw simplicity, almost crudeness, has nothing to directly compete with Ford's clever compact cargo van. The Transit Connect is carving out a new segment for urban delivery vans and, largely for that reason, was voted by journalists as the 2010 North American Truck of the Year in January.
The Transit Connect is becoming increasingly popular with corporate fleets and small businesses. The electric version is available as a 2011 model. AT&T, which is adding more alternative-power vehicles to its fold, currently operates more than 77,000 vehicles in its corporate fleet, including 15 gasoline-powered Ford Transit Connect vehicles that AT&T began piloting in 2009.
"Cleaner, alternative-fuel vehicles are the future of our corporate fleet, and the Transit Connect Electric represents a real breakthrough and will be a strong addition to our range of alternative-fuel vehicles," said Jerome Webber, vice president of fleet operations at AT&T in a press release. "It's exactly the kind of vehicle we envisioned when we mapped our long-term vision to invest up to $565 million to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles through 2018."
The electric-powered Transit Connect goes on sale later this year, has a range of up to 80 miles on a single charge and will be rechargeable by using either 240-volt or standard 120-volt outlets, according to Azure Dynamics which is providing its patented Force Drive electric drivetrain with a Johnson Controls-Saft lithium-on battery for the vehicle. The Transit Connect Electric has a top speed of 75 miles per hour. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:30 AM under Business , Ford , GM , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Sort of ironic the GM insiders are calling the TC as being crude, when their vans virtually redefined the term.
Posted by: rsholland | March 10, 2010 at 8:01 AM
Hey Jerome! About those Cavaliers we're still driving...how about a nice new Fiesta or Focus?
Posted by: dg0472 | March 10, 2010 at 11:11 AM