Yahoo Autos Ford Electric Vehicle Charging Up on Mustang Mach 1 Heritage, Due in 2020
Amid a series of Mustang reveals at the Detroit auto show this week, Ford hinted that the name Mach 1 is being considered for its affordable crossover electric vehicle, due in 2020.
Sherif Marakby, Ford Motor Company vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification, confirmed it: “There is a possibility; we’re testing that,” he said. Marakby added that the Mach 1 name is intended as an inspiration for the EV project in terms of design, performance, and significance.
The architecture of the vehicle and all its elements—even a component level—are being developed specifically for this application. “This is the next generation of all the different pieces: the battery, the motor, the inverter, the gearbox,” Marakby said.
For the powertrain team, the aims include a 300-mile range, consistent performance, and reducing any degradation of the battery under adverse weather conditions and over time. Marakby said that Ford is staying away from ambient-air cooling of the battery pack (such as used by the Nissan Leaf) and instead will use liquid cooling.
Ford is not going to use a solid-state pack, Marakby said, but he confirmed that the company is researching solid-state batteries and thinks that they’re “promising for a next generation.”
All-New Floorplan
The all-new architecture is specific for this EV, which means it won’t necessitate packaging sacrifices to fit a large-capacity battery pack. Murakby said that the modular platform can accommodate different battery sizes.
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The EV’s development path hasn’t followed normal company channels. Although the effort started out within Ford’s larger development framework, more recently it has been spun off to a smaller, dedicated group called Team Edison, which adds a Silicon Valley feeling to the project. The team is in the process of moving (together with Ford autonomous-vehicle teams) to a separate industrial complex in Detroit’s hip Corktown neighborhood.
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