Unveiled: Ford Mustang Mach-E Is First Meat-and-potatoes EV For American Heartland

Unveiled: Ford Mustang Mach-E Is First Meat-and-potatoes EV For American Heartland

The massive global transition to electric vehicles entered a new phase 30 minutes ago. That鈥檚 when Ford unveiled its Mustang Mach-E all-electric SUV. The significance of the moment has little to do with a high-tech breakthrough or stroke of innovation. That was already achieved by a pioneering Silicon Valley EV company. What happened in Los Angeles tonight was a cultural leap of EV technology from early-adopting, high-tech elite drivers - to the heart of America. The big shift comes down to one word: Mustang. There is simply no American automotive brand name that carries as much recognition and passion as the Ford Mustang. By using that name, Ford just broke down the hesitation of millions of Americans who have resisted EVs as impractical and unattainable cars only driven by wealthy West Coasters. It was a ballsy move by Ford. But it put pressure on the company to deliver a vehicle deserving of the Mustang name - or else dilute the value of the priceless Mustang heritage and brand.

鈥淗ow do you make the Mustang into a BEV? How do you make it into an SUV when it鈥檚 never been one before? How do you modernize the Mustang and make it advanced looking? If you overlay all those tensions together, how do you come up with an emotive product that can win in the marketplace? Platto admits that halfway through the project, the design was falling short. The A-pillar was pulled back, and the long hood was extended to create a shark nose. The sweeping roof rail was better defined by a blackened top. The rear haunches gained heft. The interior dash got a double-brow that dips in the middle. And critically, the tail lamps took on a bolder treatment of the Mustang鈥檚 classic tri-bar design. The SUV weighs in at a relatively svelte 4,800 pounds. What resulted was a vehicle, electric or not, that any red-blooded, Mustang-loving American would proudly display in the driveway. Many of those same auto enthusiasts would previously not be caught dead in an EV.

Ford engineers also went back to the drawing board to create the Mustang Mach-E鈥檚 technical architecture. Anand Sankaran, director of electrified powertrain engineering, said, 鈥淭o really call it a Mustang-inspired vehicle, we had to change the proportions by redesigning the batteries, the motors, everything.鈥?All new software was written for motor and battery controls. Then Ford designed and built the most powerful electric motors in its history. 鈥淭o give you an idea, the Focus Electric had a 110-kilowatt motor,鈥?Sankaran said. Ford鈥檚 engineers, designers, charging specialists, and go-to-market folks - many of them relatively new to the EV game - benchmarked the Mach-E against the EV pioneers. 鈥淲e looked at all of Tesla鈥檚 products,鈥?said Sankaran. 鈥淲e looked at the Audi E-Tron and Jaguar I-Pace. I asked if the production-ready Mach-E will beat the competition. 鈥淎bsolutely,鈥?said Sankaran without hesitation. On my short test ride in the extended-range, rear-wheel-drive version, there was plenty of torque.

However, I was not thrown back in my seat as I would be in a Tesla Performance car. The test car was only halfway through development for calibration and tuning. So I鈥檒l reserve judgment on performance when I get behind the wheel of the production vehicle, choose its 鈥淯nbridled鈥?mode, and stomp on the go-pedal. I could only glean so much information from the back seat. Although I was pleasantly surprised by how much head- and leg-room was granted for my 6鈥?鈥?frame in the back row. But I鈥檓 almost certain that it will have all the quietness, superb handling, and get-up-and-go that the best EVs have. Let鈥檚 face it. The Mustang Mach-E gets those benefits strictly by making it an electric vehicle. All EV-makers use the same special sauce: batteries slung low beneath the cabin and powerful electric motors. As Sam Abuelsamid, a researcher at Navigant, told me after his test-ride, 鈥淭here is only so much you can do with an EV.鈥?Thankfully, Ford used the tried-and-true formula and infused it with Mustang DNA.

Among the things Ford got right was long range - from 210 to 300 miles depending on pack sizes of 75.7 kWh and 98.8 kWh. The onboard charger is rated at 10.5 kilowatts. Yes, perhaps Ford made a few small slip-ups, like the odd one-button door-pulls (especially when there鈥?nothing to grab in the back row). And inserting a big audio-volume button directly into the 15.5-inch center dashboard screen seems awkward. And it鈥檚 a bad idea to overpromise useful digital services for the patchwork of highway charging stations (that will remain years behind the Tesla Supercharger network). But let鈥檚 not lose sight of what happened tonight. The center of gravity of the EV market in the United States just shifted east. There鈥檚 a big, gorgeous, powerful, long-range, all-electric, all-American Mustang SUV coming in less than a year. And it will be followed by a pure electric Ford F-150. If there was any remaining doubt that electric vehicles are on the way to mainstream adoption, that ended exactly one minute ago. 500 reservation deposits. Are you signing up? FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.