Ford has opened the order banks for its 2025 E-Transit, which now costs the same upfront whether you order the electric or gas model – and the electric one is even cheaper when you take into account savings on fuel, maintenance, and possible incentives.
The E-Transit got a pretty big update this year (after significant delay), increasing battery capacity from 67 to 89kWh, and gaining faster AC and DC charging performance as well. This came along with just a $1,100 price bump, quite small compared to the increased battery capacity.
2025’s model isn’t getting nearly as big of changes, but does gain a few extra options. The most interesting of these is the addition of “trade packages” straight from the factory.
There is a significant ecosystem of commercial vehicle “upfitters” who will take in a factory-configured van and rebuild it with interior and/or exterior changes for whatever specific niche the van needs to fit into. Businesses will buy a plain van and take it to someone to build the specific cabinets they need for their job.
This is still possible with the 2025 E-Transit – which is indeed still available in chassis cab and cutaway configurations – but now Ford will sell you a van straight from the factory built for four specific common industries, with components from Ranger Design, a commercial van upfitter.
The new trade packages include:
Electrician trade package, which includes drawers and bins to store parts and reels to hang bundles of wiring – MSRP starting at $4,370
HVAC trade package, featuring large shelves and storage bins, but also specialized refrigerant storage racks and restraints – MSRP starting at $4,440
General Contractor package, mix of multipurpose shelves, bins, drawers, and hooks – MSRP starting at $2,900
Foldable Shelving Package, with deep, large-capacity folding shelves intended for delivery services – MSRP starting at $3,300
While established fleets might already have relationships with their upfitters and have solutions that work for them, this should simplify the process for smaller or new businesses that just want the easiest solution.
2025 Ford E-Transit is much cheaper than gas after incentives
In addition to these options, the 2025 E-Transit now starts at an even $51,000. At least it’s a more attractive number. The chassis cab version starts at $46,200, and cutaway starts at $45,700.
Importantly, Ford says that “comparable gas Transit models” start at the same price as the E-Transit in all three configurations, so not only do you get the fuel and maintenance savings of using electric drive instead of gas, but you don’t even have to pay a premium for it upfront.
But even better than that, the E-Transit should qualify for various green vehicle incentives. You’ll have to check what’s available in your area, but it qualifies for the $7,500 commercial clean vehicle tax credit (which doesn’t have the same sourcing requirements as the personal credit) and likely for other incentives, so once that’s taken into account, it’s even cheaper upfront than going gas, alongside the TCO benefits.
Better yet, Ford is offering a “$2,000 commercial charging cash incentive.” Since many businesses will have to install some method to charge their electric vans, this can be combined with various government or utility incentives to help with charging installation and bring the price down quite a bit.
The order banks for the 2025 Ford E-Transit are open today, so reach out to Ford Pro to go electric with your business.
Electrek’s Take
I’ve argued before that the EV cost parity conversation doesn’t make any sense, and I still hold that position. Especially for commercial customers who are often more spreadsheet-driven, where the benefits of longer-term fuel and maintenance savings are more clear than they are to the mercurial consumer.
But commercial EV prices can still be quite eye-watering. There are a ton of incentives available (though the really big ones are for heavier-duty vehicles than the E-Transit), but navigating one’s way through all of these can still be complicated for a business that just wants a truck.
And it’s still important to offer a choice with a little friction as possible. If buyers can call up Ford Pro and just as easily pick gas or electric, with no difference in base price, and with factory upfitting options, and get help installing a commercial charger (perhaps one of the ones that Ford Pro itself sells), that gets rid of a lot of the confusion and calculation with going electric.
So moves like this are a great way to ensure more businesses can convert to electric as easily as possible. No wonder the E-Transit is the best-selling electric van in America, Ford seems to be doing it right over there.
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Picture taken on September 4, 2023 shows windmills at the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm constructed by Danish windpower giant Orsted in 2002-2003 in the Baltic Sea near Gedser in Denmark.
Thomas Traasdahl | Afp | Getty Images
Norwegian oil giant Equinor on Monday pledged to support Denmark’s Orsted with almost $1 billion of fresh capital, backing the beleaguered company amid sustained attacks on offshore wind projects from the Trump administration.
In an apparent show of confidence in the world’s largest offshore wind developer, Equinor signaled its intention to participate in Orsted’s planned 60 billion Danish krone ($9.4 billion) rights issue and said it intended to hold on to its 10% ownership in the company.
Equinor said its strategic support of the rights issue reflects its confidence in Orsted’s underlying business and the competitiveness of offshore wind in the future energy mix. The state-backed Norwegian energy group is the second largest shareholder in Orsted, behind the Danish government.
As part of the move, Equinor said it would nominate a candidate to Orsted’s board of directors.
Shares of Orsted rose 3.6% on the news, before paring gains. The stock price, which is down nearly 90% from a 2021, peak notched a fresh record low last month after the Trump administration ordered the company to halt work on a near complete windfarm.
Equinor shares were last seen 0.2% higher on Monday morning.
Both companies have been navigating challenges around the offshore wind industry, with Equinor saying it is closely monitoring developments in the U.S., and that it intends to remain in dialogue with Orsted.
The wind industry has been a target for U.S. President Donald Trump since his first day in office. The latest blow came on Friday when the U.S. Department of Transportation canceled $679 millionin federal funding for a dozen infrastructure projects that would support offshore wind power nationwide.
“Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said Equinor’s move to support Orsted could be seen as a first step for the company considering the possibility of a potential merger between the two offshore wind portfolios.
“The challenge with participating fully is that the company will effectively increase its net exposure to two 100%-owned US offshore wind projects, neither of which look likely to be farmed down in the near term, and where political support remains uncertain,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a research note.
“The incremental positive is that alongside its maintained shareholding, Equinor will now be having board representation, making the most of a challenging situation,” they added.
Spokespeople for Equinor and Orsted did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball & Ganesh Rao contributed to this report.
Japanese equipment giant Komatsu has added a not-so-giant electric excavator to its growing lineup of battery-powered construction equipment. The new Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator promises a full day of work from a single charge.
Komatsu says the design of its latest mini excavator was informed by data sourced from more than 40,000 working days of comparably-sized diesel excavators. The company found that, in 90% of its global customers’ mini excavator deployments, these vehicles are in active use for less than 3.5 hours per day.
“This defined the target for the required, reliable working time with the excavator,” reads the Komatsu web copy. “This result makes it possible for Komatsu to offer an attractively priced machine with a performance that exactly matches the requirements.”
Keeping costs down are relatively conservative specs. Komatsu chose to power the PC20E-6 with a 23.2 kWh battery pack sending electrons to an 11 kW (~15 hp), high-torque electric motors. Not exactly super impressive on paper, but the machine has an operating weight of 2,190 kg and enough juice for up to four (4) hours of continuous operation.
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More than enough, in other words, to have completed 90% of of those 40,000 work days the company analyzed.
Getting it done
PC20E-6 electric mini excavator; via Komatsu.
If, for some reason, that four hours’ runtime isn’t enough, an on-board charging option for 230V and 3kW charging power compatible with various plug adapters is standard, with an external DC quick charger for 400V and 12 kW charging as optional. In either case, it won’t be long before the machine is back at work.
To help the later adopters sleep well about their battery-powered investments, the PC20E-6 ships with Komatsu’s E-Support maintenance program, which includes free scheduled maintenance by a Komatsu-trained technician, a 3 year/2,000 hour warranty on the machine, plus a 5 year/10,000 hour warranty on the electric driveline. The company says the battery should last 10 years.
“The Komatsu E-Support customer program is included free of charge with every market-ready electric mini excavator and offers exclusive machine support,” said Emanuele Viel, Group Manager Utility at Komatsu Europe. “The bottom line is that the risk for the end customer is significantly reduced, especially when it comes to exploring the electrification advances in the industry.”
Komatsu hasn’t released official pricing quite yet, but has revealed that the P20E-6 will begin series production this October.
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Tesla has unexpectedly terminated a contractor’s contract at Gigafactory Texas, resulting in the layoff of 82 workers who were supporting the automaker’s production at the giant factory in Austin.
MPW Industrial Services Inc., an Ohio-based industrial service provider specializing in cleaning and facility management, has issued a new WARN notice, confirming that it will lay off 82 workers in Texas due to Tesla unexpectedly ending its contract with the company.
Here are the details from the WARN notice:
State / agency: Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
Notice date: August 27, 2025.
Employees affected: 82
Likely effective date: September 1, 2025
Context from the filing/letter: layoffs tied to an unexpected termination of a major customer contract (Tesla—Gigafactory Texas, 1 Tesla Road); positions include 61 technicians, 7 team leads, 7 supervisors, 7 managers; no bumping rights; workers not union-represented.
In April 2024, Tesla initiated waves of layoffs at the plant, resulting in the dismissal of more than 2,000 employees in Austin, Texas.
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Since then, Tesla’s sales have been in a steady decline. While the automaker is expected to have a strong quarter in the US in Q3 due to the end of the tax credit, sales are expected to decline further in Q4 and the first half of 2026.
Many industry watchers have expected Tesla to initiate further layoffs due to the situation.
Electrek’s Take
We may be seeing the beginnings of a new wave of layoffs at Tesla, as the automaker typically starts with contractors.
To be fair, Tesla could also potentially end the contract unexpectedly for other reasons, but the timing does align with the need to cut costs and staff ahead of an inevitable downturn in US EV sales.
I think it’s inevitable that we start seeing some layoffs. I think Tesla will have to slow down production in the US to avoid creating an oversupply, especially in Q4-Q1.
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