Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Ford's 'Mustang-inspired' electric SUV: Everything we know

As said, the real EVs are now in the design phase and will soon be filling the market.  The real magic of an EV is that you can engineer in all the performance you want and that still matters when you are packing a load.  This all became possible forty years ago in terms of the actual electric tech.  We have all been waiting for the batteries to make it all practical.

Fuel based systems will now phase out and largely between 2020 and 2030. 

Long haul trucking will likely stay with fuel based systems for a lot longer though, but i also think innovation in self driving may also change that.  After all a self driving rig has no problem in convoying and in stepping out along the highway pullouts to recharge even over short legs.

Such innovation then will be plausible between 2030 and 2040 as the EV traffic will have caused the establishment of the necessary infrastructure.

Oil will then fully exit the rubber traffic market.  That is around twenty percent of the global oil market or 15,000,000 barrels per day.  However, i do think this is deeply understated as well.  As much as half of all oil produced is plausibly used as fuel, but that is not what they are telling us..



Ford's 'Mustang-inspired' electric SUV: Everything we know 


Ford has been pretty tight-lipped so far, but some information has snuck out. 

 
October 2, 2019 5:00 AM PDT


https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-mustang-inspired-electric-suv-details-rumors/


The ride height remains hidden, probably because enthusiasts need the idea of a Mustang-inspired SUV to be distributed in small, easy-to-process doses. Ford 

Given the popularity of crossovers in the US, it wasn't necessarily a surprise when Ford said it intended to build a utility vehicle that leaned heavily on the Mustang for inspiration. What was more surprising was the fact that Ford said it would be electric.
Since that initial announcement, the automaker hasn't offered up too much information, but as we march steadily toward its eventual reveal, let's take a look back and see what we know about this upcoming EV SUV so far.

Looks and variants

To date, we've only had one truly official teaser for the Mustang-inspired EV -- a dark rendering that shows, well, a whole lot of Mustang rear-end design and not much else. The traditional taillight area of the Mustang translates well to a larger body, but then again, all the true SUV bits remain shrouded in the teaser, so there isn't really much to go on.

Many people believed that Ford had teased the 'Stang-themed SUV in a series of videos discussing dispelling common electric-vehicle myths, and it would have been our best look yet, showing off an SUV shape shrouded in curve-covering camouflage. However, Ford threw some cold water on this theory when Motor1 found confirmation that the vehicle in the videos is not, in fact, the Mustang-inspired SUV.

That's probably a good thing, because the camouflaged car in those videos didn't look like much more than an Escape-based crossover, which would be rather deflating for folks hoping for the equivalent of a Mustang on stilts. 

Regarding potential variants, all we know thus far is that Lincoln will borrow the EV SUV's platform for something of its own creation. Ford's North American president confirmed in January that Lincoln will take the platform and build its own EV, although one shouldn't expect it to resemble Ford's vehicle in the slightest.
While many of us quickly jumped to conclusions and assumed this was Ford's Mustang-inspired EV, the automaker put the kibosh on that rumor. Ford

Powertrain/drivetrain

Well, we know this upcoming SUV will be electric, so that's a good start.

The underlying EV tech is still largely a mystery. The battery will likely be a lithium-ion unit, but we don't know that for sure, nor do we know if they'll use prismatic cells or another type. Thus far, all Ford has delivered on this front is a range estimate in excess of 300 miles. 

Earlier this year, Ford launched a new site for its European EVs and claimed the Mustang-inspired SUV would have a range of around 370 miles. That's a whole lot, but that figure is also based on European WLTP estimates, which are far more forgiving than the numbers the EPA puts out in the US. Thus, it'd be reasonable to expect its range to land closer to the 300-mile mark for us Yankees. There's also a possibility that Ford will offer different battery configurations for the SUV, giving buyers a more affordable choice at the expense of some range.

Otherwise, all we know is that Ford wants to try and bring as much of the Mustang's character into this SUV as possible. Green Car Reports talked to someone at Ford and claims it will be available in both rear- and all-wheel-drive configurations.

Name

Ford likely doesn't have the EV SUV's name set in stone yet, but there's at least one good idea for what its name won't be.

At the 2018 Detroit Auto Show, the automaker announced that it would revive the hallowed Mach 1 name as a possibility for the Mustang-inspired electric crossover. That ... did not go over well, especially with long-time Mustang fans who are not ready to follow the crowds to high-riding utility vehicles. The automaker has since stepped back on that nomenclature, leaving it mostly a mystery.

Ford might have a middle ground in the works, though. In late 2018, the automaker filed a trademark for "Mach E," which would blend the old and the new a bit better than simply reviving an old badge and slapping it on something new.

Potential release date and price

While nothing official is on the books, we do at least have an idea of when we'll learn more about Ford's Mustang-ish SUV. The Detroit Bureau reported in late August that Ford will give the public its first look at the vehicle in November. That could mean anything from another teaser to seeing a real-deal vehicle, but we're not quite sure what Ford has in store. That November estimate would align with the LA Auto Show, too.

That report aligns with an earlier Autocar report claiming that Ford will show off a concept version of the vehicle in late 2019, with the production version showing up in 2020. Ford hasn't confirmed either report, but multiple sources pointing in the same direction lends the notion some credence.

As for where it will be built, a Car and Driver report claims that production of Ford's Mustang-inspired SUV will take place at the automaker's plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico, which used to assemble the US-spec Fiesta. That doesn't mean Ford doesn't have EV plans for the US, though -- two other electric vehicles, one of which will likely be the Lincoln variant on the same platform, will be built in Michigan.

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