Ike's Nimble Ford Connect Electrical Service Van

I've driven plenty of other service vehicles, from full-size Chevies and Fords, and this one is, by far, my favorite van.

Benefits of Being Small

Ike really likes this van because:

• It's easy to get around the city.
• It's easy to park.
• It's gets great gas mileage.

He points out that one drawback is that it's a little low on power, so it takes a little strategy to drive it on the interstate.

Easy, No-Climb Access

Because of the van's small size and its dual side cargo doors, Ike says that he can reach anything he needs from outside the van without climbing in.

Commercial metal shelving mostly holds materials like electrical boxes and breakers. On the shelves, simple wood dividers keep components like breakers separated.

A roof rack holds Ike's extension ladder, 6' step ladder, and a tube for carrying conduit. The interior of the van is short, so the conduit tube is absolutely necessary. Because it has a locking cap, racking and unracking conduit is fast since there aren't any fiddly straps or bungie cords.

Where Wire Goes

Coils of wire are stored on hooks on the back of the shelves. This is mostly NM. The thicker and bulkier MC cable rests on a shelf.

A small amount of Sealtite is mounted on hooks on the front of the passenger side shelf.

Dual Side Cargo Doors

At the driver side cargo door, Ike keeps some tool bags on the floor and a conduit bender mounted out of the way on the shelf front. A large power inverter and battery chargers are mounted here. Grabbing tools from the driver side is very quick since everything is right there.

A Milwaukee vacuum is simply mounted on a DIY shelf in the top middle of the bulkhead and is still easy to reach from either cargo door.

At the passenger side cargo door are some stacked organizers that are easy to take on to the job site.

Big Power in a Little Package

While he has the smaller battery-powered Milwaukee SDS hammer drill, Ike sometimes needs to run a big corded Bosch hammer drill from the van's power system. To do this, he installed a 2000W pure sine wave inverter.

The inverter is mounted to the bulkhead and provides power to the battery chargers plus an auxiliary 12V battery mounted on the driver's side shelves in a battery box.