Ford Mustang Mach-E

[Dr Mordrid]

Details about performance, battery size/type, range, etc. TBA



https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...-e/2563888001/

Ford pins electric future on new Mustang Mach-E

Fifty-five years after Ford Motor Co. introduced the first-ever Mustang, the automaker plans to again leverage that nameplate to propel itself into the future but this pony car will be an electric SUV.

Officially named the Mustang Mach-E, Ford's first-ever fully electric SUV debuts in Los Angeles on Sunday night nearly two years after the Dearborn automaker first teased the "new all-electric performance SUV" at the 2018 Detroit auto show. The vehicle is expected to be a four-door crossover that borrows design cues from Ford's most iconic model.
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The vehicle would be the cornerstone of a new push into electrification, and Ford would push further there than it ever had before because it had to. Global automakers expect electric vehicles over the next few decades to become more capable, viable stalwarts in lineups. Ford alone plans to invest $11 billion and bring 40 new electric products to market by the early 2020s - and it needs to set its vehicles apart from competitors.

"It's critical," said Mark Kaufman, Ford global director of electric vehicle marketing. "This product is our first proof-point out the door. This sets the tone for what we're capable of delivering. This sets the tone for what to expect from Ford going forward."

[UtwigMU]

Some photos in this article:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ford-starts-taking-500-deposits-all-electric-mustang-mach-e

OT
The problem with SUVs is they are like nukes. Once everyone has them you have to have one too to have visibility and be more imposing. I don't need an SUV for my 8km/5mile commute (when I had a crash last month and my car was being fixed I rented a 20y old Citroen Saxo for 8 EUR a day and it was adequate) and an SUV is not well suited for highway trips (higher fuel consumption than a sedan/hatch/wagon but I might have to start looking into one for my next car.

Also the Ecofascists have ruined the petrol cars as now they most all have 1.0 3-cylinder engines. I had VW Polo with 1.0 turbo 3 cylinder for a couple of days and when you are standing still it's vibrating like an old diesel. I don't think those engines will last much longer than 160-200k km or 100-120k miles.

So hybrids, EVs and perhaps Mazda with their Skyactive are reasonable buys going forward.

Also OT:
Yesterday I saw first Tesla X in the wild which anecdotally makes the X about as rare as a Ferrari.

[Dr Mordrid]

Model X's price makes it scarcer.

OTOH, Tesla's Model 3 was the top-selling luxury sedan in the US in 2018. The Model Y is being set up to sell even more.

Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai is licensed for full production, and Gigafactory 4 is to be built outside of Berlin. GF4 is due to open in 2021.

[UtwigMU]

Light Year One is another interesting EV car concept

Comes from team which won solar power races, has solar roof and can add around 10.000km/year range using solar cells in Netherlands.

[VJ]

Sono Motors is coming out with the Sion, an EV with solar panels

http://sonomotors.com

My favourite EV is still the MW Motors Luka, based on a Tatra prototype:

http://mwmotors.com

[UtwigMU]

In one of business books I read the technology cycle was described:
innovative company creates new technology
new technology is not yet good enough for mainstream and high end but starts to become adopted (think 5.4 > 3.5 > 2.5 > SSD > nVME hard drives or CRT > LCD)
technology becomes good enough even for high end, innovative company optimizes for cranking out products, taking less risks and becomes worse environment for innovators (like MS became after WinXP or what Apple is becoming now, Gates > Ballmer, Jobs > Cook)
some new company starts new technology, the company which optimized for not taking risks is harder to shift, thus in next technology cycle different players become leaders

So with EVs we will definitely see some new players emerge.

[Dr Mordrid]

New players will come, yes, with the Mach-E being a good effort. OTOH, Tesla has serious advantages.

The tear-down analysts for German auto companies, and US based tear-down analyst (business & govt) Sandy Munro, put Tesla's tech at least 5 years ahead in power trains (esp. Model 3's motor), batteries and software.

And they aren't sitting still.

They're eliminating cobalt from their cells, which alone should lower battery costs to below $100/kWh and lower vehicle prices. Their next-gen batteries (2020) will take their range to 400-600+ miles, and after that is a solid electrolyte battery made without Panasonic (part of the mergers with Maxwell & Canada's Hibar Systems, and work with Dalhousie U in Nova Scotia).

Then there's the driving data they receive from every Tesla on the road 24/7/365. Autopilot alone has reported over 2 billion miles; road conditions, sensor data, mapping data, battery system, vehicle performance, etc.

Model Y's skateboard chassis will consist of 4 parts; 2 large castings and 2 fasteners. This will soon iterate to a single casting.

They've also reduced the total length of the wiring harness. In 1948 an average cars harness was about 50 meters. Today an average cars harness totals about 1.3-1.5 km of wire. A 2014 Model S had a 3km harness, Model 3 has 1.5km , and model Y will cut this to a rigid (robot installable) harness totalling 100m.