Mustang Mach 1 Heritage, Due in 2020
Ford announces an all-electric performance vehicle for 2020, but questions remain.
Video Day
At the Detroit Auto Show this year Ford unveiled a video heralding a new electric vehicle in connection with the name Mach 1. The vehicle, which isn't shown in the video, is set to arrive in the year 2020 and will be strictly battery-powered, as opposed to some sort of hybrid. The video featured both a Mustang and an SUV driving into a garage in the Corktown section of Detroit. The overhead door closes behind the vehicles, and when it opens again smoke escapes, there's a bright light, and a growl, the next thing we see is a streak of light blazing through town. In response to Ford's presentation, Jalopnik wondered aloud, calling the vehicle "an electrified performance car," and quoting Ford Executive Vice President Raj Nair saying, "a Mustang-inspired crossover is certainly something you can expect to come out of Team Edison," (Team Edison is Ford's dedicated battery-electric development group).
Clearing the Smoke
Minutes after the Jalopnik story hit the web, Ford PR representative Mike Levine tweeted something of a clarification, saying: "Is that all the news? Heck no. High-performance battery-electric SUV coming soon!" The internet was, to put it politely, confused about an electric SUV with the name Mach 1, and, still, on the same day, Levine contacted Jalopnik to say: "researching the name Mach 1 to see how customers respond." Days passed and details emerged, and as the video seemed to suggest with the combination of car and truck, the Mach 1, or the vehicle on which Ford is testing that classic name, will be a crossover vehicle. Car and Driver called it an "affordable crossover electric vehicle," and quoted Sherif Marakby, Ford Motor Company Vice President for Autonomous Vehicles and Electrification, thusly: "There is a possibility; we’re testing that." Marakby also reiterated that, as C&D put it, "the Mach 1 name is intended as an inspiration for the EV project in terms of design, performance, and significance."
What We Know
So with that story-about-the-story out of the way... what is it? The vehicle is being designed from a clean sheet of paper and won't share its platform with any existing Ford. This approach enabled it to be designed around an optimized battery location, one that maximizes interior and cargo space. The battery itself will be liquid-cooled, which should allow for increased performance and charging capability as compared with ambient-air cooled battery vehicles like the Nissan Leaf. Marakby said that Ford won't be using a solid-state battery pack, at least on the first version of the vehicle, though he's not ruling it out for future versions, stating that the motor company is researching solid-state battery systems and finds them, "promising for a next generation." With Ford promising 16 fully-electric vehicles by 2022, those generations are already lining up.
What it will Do
Team Edison's current goal is for the vehicle to have a range of 300 miles on a charge. That's a significant improvement over Ford's only extant electric car, a Focus variant that offers a range of only around 100 miles. Ford is also shooting for the battery in the new vehicle to maintain consistent performance over time, and also for it not to suffer reduced capability when exposed to environments of either extreme hot or extreme cold.
A New Generation
Murakby said that the platform will be somewhat modular, which makes sense in a crossover-type vehicle, and would facilitate battery systems of differing sizes. With 2020 only two years away it's likely that Ford has already made significant headway creating components for the upcoming all-new platform. In Murakby's words, "This is the next generation of all the different pieces: the battery, the motor, the inverter, the gearbox." Whether it will turn out to be the next generation of Mach 1 remains to be seen.
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