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This isn't particularly new news, but I haven't seen much mentioned about it so I thought I'd start a thread.
Chevy is the last company making the old American-style vans. They've been cranking out basically the same style for almost 40 years. Well it finally appears that they might be thinking of retiring the old girl and going with a new design. This of course isn't a shock to anyone, but what I do find rather surprising is that after they retire it in 2025, the replacement model will be ELECTRIC ONLY.
Apparently GM is now making a larger format electric van and selling them mostly to FedEx, so I guess that will be their testing platform.
Yes, the gas mileage of the V8 in their current Express Van isn't good, but a full tank of gas will be enough for almost a week of driving around town all day. I drive one of these for work as a HVAC technician. It's a company vehicle that I take home every night, as is the same story for most other HVAC techs, plumbers, electricians, and other trades people who I know that drive a company van. Not sure how this is going to work if everyone is required to get a high powered charging station installed at home. Especially since these vehicles don't fit into most garages.
I guess we'll see. Hopefully Ford or Mercedes or Stellantis or whatever they're called will keep selling gasoline models for a while. I guess we'll see.
Thats easily solved by requiring techs return the vans to the service center each night. 1 person could be in charge of moving vans around and making sure they are all charged. It will not be as difficult as some people want to make it.
Thats easily solved by requiring techs return the vans to the service center each night. 1 person could be in charge of moving vans around and making sure they are all charged. It will not be as difficult as some people want to make it.
That might not be feasible nor practical in a lot of these situations.
I try to be open-minded towards electric vehicles even to the point of considering one. However, I think the push for mass conversion can be a bit over the top and obsessive at times.
Electric isn’t the answer to everything automotive, especially when there are still loads of environmental concerns surrounding them. A steel box with 4 rubber wheels for every man, woman, and child will never be the most environmentally friendly proposition.
Anyway, a 60’s vintage Econoline, Corvair, or A-100 would be sweet. Probably the golden age of domestic van design.
Thats easily solved by requiring techs return the vans to the service center each night. 1 person could be in charge of moving vans around and making sure they are all charged. It will not be as difficult as some people want to make it.
You would need to hire a person to work the night shift to charge the vans? Keep in mind that the new hire must be paid a salary, health insurance, and work benefits. Also, unless you also hire one or two more employees to do the same work, that employee would have to work 7 nights per week with no vacation, sick leave, and so on.
Thats easily solved by requiring techs return the vans to the service center each night. 1 person could be in charge of moving vans around and making sure they are all charged. It will not be as difficult as some people want to make it.
Stand-by workers usually drive their trucks and vans home when on stand-by. In such case they can be called for emergencies any time during the weekends and night. However government fleets should not have any trouble since the taxpayers take care of their wages and benefits. This is more difficult to do for an employer in the private sector, since it is he (or she) that has to pay for all employees, their benefits, annual and sick leave, utilities (electricity, water, sewage, telephone, office equipment), plus fleet purchase and insurance, fuel, work equipment and tools, etc.
This isn't particularly new news, but I haven't seen much mentioned about it so I thought I'd start a thread.
Chevy is the last company making the old American-style vans. They've been cranking out basically the same style for almost 40 years. Well it finally appears that they might be thinking of retiring the old girl and going with a new design. This of course isn't a shock to anyone, but what I do find rather surprising is that after they retire it in 2025, the replacement model will be ELECTRIC ONLY.
Apparently GM is now making a larger format electric van and selling them mostly to FedEx, so I guess that will be their testing platform.
Yes, the gas mileage of the V8 in their current Express Van isn't good, but a full tank of gas will be enough for almost a week of driving around town all day. I drive one of these for work as a HVAC technician. It's a company vehicle that I take home every night, as is the same story for most other HVAC techs, plumbers, electricians, and other trades people who I know that drive a company van. Not sure how this is going to work if everyone is required to get a high powered charging station installed at home. Especially since these vehicles don't fit into most garages.
I guess we'll see. Hopefully Ford or Mercedes or Stellantis or whatever they're called will keep selling gasoline models for a while. I guess we'll see.
Where I live FedEx delivers WAY out in rural areas, so I'm not sure how well an electric van is going to work.
I have a 2006 Express 2500 with 235k miles that used to be owned by an HVAC company, but I use it for my rental business. The cat converter has been cut off and the paint is falling off in sheets, but it still runs great.
We have had full size converted vans since 1988. Tested the new styles and disliked all of them a lot. We finally settled on the Express for our last three. It is absolutely the best. Our current van has 270,000 miles on it. It has been on a ten day trip from Metro Detroit to Seattle and back, At least a dozen round trips to Texas and back. Ten or more trips to the east coast (Boston). It rides nicely, handle well, even accelerates decently. While it gets under 20 MPG, there are no other vehicles that can comfortably move seven people, one or two giant dogs luggage and/or beach or hiking stuff, and still be roomy and comfortable. The current one will be our last, but we will miss having one. I am glad we no longer need one, I do not like any other van available today anywhere near as much as the express.
The so-called "conversion vans" based on any of the Big 3 were also cool. Daily drivers you could take camping or at least stop and sleep comfortably on long road trips.
That middle ground doesn't appear to exist or must not be as common these days. They seem to go from passenger to full-camper with nothing for those who want to do both.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens
We have had full size converted vans since 1988. Tested the new styles and disliked all of them a lot. We finally settled on the Express for our last three. It is absolutely the best. Our current van has 270,000 miles on it. It has been on a ten day trip from Metro Detroit to Seattle and back, At least a dozen round trips to Texas and back. Ten or more trips to the east coast (Boston). It rides nicely, handle well, even accelerates decently. While it gets under 20 MPG, there are no other vehicles that can comfortably move seven people, one or two giant dogs luggage and/or beach or hiking stuff, and still be roomy and comfortable. The current one will be our last, but we will miss having one. I am glad we no longer need one, I do not like any other van available today anywhere near as much as the express.
I'm a little miffed as to why conversion vans have pretty much died off as well. Other than the gas mileage, they seem like they'd be the perfect long-distance road trip vehicle. Even when you take into account the poor gas mileage, it's certainly better than a motor-home or a truck pulling a camper.
They seemed to be fairly popular up until about the mid 90's, and then they pretty much disappeared.
Hmmm... Just thought of something. The time they started to become less popular is about the same time frame as when Chris Farley was making fun of living in a van down by the river on the SNL. I wonder if the 2 events are connected.
I'm a little miffed as to why conversion vans have pretty much died off as well. Other than the gas mileage, they seem like they'd be the perfect long-distance road trip vehicle. Even when you take into account the poor gas mileage, it's certainly better than a motor-home or a truck pulling a camper.
They seemed to be fairly popular up until about the mid 90's, and then they pretty much disappeared.
Hmmm... Just thought of something. The time they started to become less popular is about the same time frame as when Chris Farley was making fun of living in a van down by the river on the SNL. I wonder if the 2 events are connected.
I doubt it. As good as they were they were expensive. And if you look inside them, you can see why. A coachbuilder bought it from Chevy, then added a bunch of stuff including cabinetry and window treatments...it wasn't going to be cheap.
That period you're referring to saw the market for Minivans heat up in earnest, as well as the expansion of both expensive and upmarket full size SUV's.
in 1992 if you wanted a big spacious vehicle that would seat 7+, your options were the GM B body wagon (Buick Roadmaster,) A Suburban/Tahoe, or a Conversion van. There were a host of minivan competitors but all of them had a fair few drawbacks. Toyota had its Previa but it was expensive and it sucked gas and I don't know how thrilled the US was with the mid-engine/RWD setup. Ford had its Aerostars and GM it's Astro/Safari vans, both of which...need I say more? There were a couple of minivans just starting to compete with the Chrysler offerings, but they were both a joint venture between Ford/Nissan.
The mid 90's saw the Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, Ford Windstar, Oldsmobile Silhouette, and Nissan Quest all line up to compete with Chrysler Corp's minivan offerings; previous offerings had been more truck-like (think Chevy Astro, Ford Aerostar). Mid-Late 90's saw the Expedition (and Navigator), Dodge Durango, Cadillac Escalade, probably others, step in and compete in the 3 row full size SUV market.
We have had full size converted vans since 1988. Tested the new styles and disliked all of them a lot. We finally settled on the Express for our last three. It is absolutely the best. Our current van has 270,000 miles on it. It has been on a ten day trip from Metro Detroit to Seattle and back, At least a dozen round trips to Texas and back. Ten or more trips to the east coast (Boston). It rides nicely, handle well, even accelerates decently. While it gets under 20 MPG, there are no other vehicles that can comfortably move seven people, one or two giant dogs luggage and/or beach or hiking stuff, and still be roomy and comfortable. The current one will be our last, but we will miss having one. I am glad we no longer need one, I do not like any other van available today anywhere near as much as the express.
Interesting. I've owned a variety of full-sized domestic vans starting with a '71 Dodge. I've owned at least one from each of the big 3 and sold my last one a few years ago, replacing it with a new 2019 Ford Transit 350, LWB, Medium Roof, 3.5 Ecoboost. It is so vastly superior to any of the old-school vans I've owned (even newer ones) that it's almost unbelievable. Chassis dynamics, handling, braking, acceleration, ride comfort, access, NVH, fuel economy, etc. etc, are worlds better than the old school vans. I'm curious - what is it you disliked so much? The new ones are empirically better in every way except max towing capacity. One could argue that the newer ones are a bit goofy looking, but hey, it's a van, they're all goofy. There is no way I could go back to an old-style van after owning my Transit.
Interesting. I've owned a variety of full-sized domestic vans starting with a '71 Dodge. I've owned at least one from each of the big 3 and sold my last one a few years ago, replacing it with a new 2019 Ford Transit 350, LWB, Medium Roof, 3.5 Ecoboost. It is so vastly superior to any of the old-school vans I've owned (even newer ones) that it's almost unbelievable. Chassis dynamics, handling, braking, acceleration, ride comfort, access, NVH, fuel economy, etc. etc, are worlds better than the old school vans. I'm curious - what is it you disliked so much? The new ones are empirically better in every way except max towing capacity. One could argue that the newer ones are a bit goofy looking, but hey, it's a van, they're all goofy. There is no way I could go back to an old-style van after owning my Transit.
About the engines in the Transit vans -- are they dependable?
Last edited by NW4me; 07-28-2022 at 05:21 PM..
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