Allelectric Mustang a track monster
THE new hybrid versions of the revised Escape and Transit van ranges are just the start of Ford New Zealand’s charge towards the increasing electrification of the company’s model range, says managing director Simon Rutherford.
Backing up this commitment towards less gaseous motor vehicles are the newlyinked joint ventures that Ford has signed with Volkswagen and Mahindra. The German carmaker is expanding its EV range, while Mahindra develops and makes India’s bestselling EVs.
‘‘They’re the first products to reach us of what I call ‘the Hackett era’ at Ford,’’ says Rutherford, a reference to Ford president and chief executive, Jim Hackett, who has led the company since 2017.
‘‘It’s the beginning of an era of high innovation.’’
Of the two new plugin hybrids, it’s the van that most demonstrates Ford’s desire to innovate.
It has a “flat pack” 13.6kW lithiumion battery stowed below the luggage bay floor, which powers the 93kW/350Nm electric motor that does all the driving duties directly without the need of a transmission.
With the battery fully charged, the van can travel 50km before the 1.0litre petrol engine automatically fires up to extend the range of the battery. This allows the Transit PHEV to roam for 500km on a full charge and a full tank of petrol.
Ford’s realworld testing of a fleet of 20 Transit PHEV prototypes found that 75% of the driving around Central London and 49% of the travel in the Greater London area could be completed on electric power alone.
Four driving modes — EV Auto, EV Now, EV Later, and EV Charge — allow operators to choose a mode that most suits the driving scenario to further increase efficiency. Average fuel use can become as low as 2.7l/100km during a working day of deliveries and pickups on urban roads. The electrified Transit can also carry heavier loads than its dieselpowered SWB equivalent, with a 400kg higher gross vehicle mass rating and a 1130kg payload. The load volume of 6cu m is the same capacity as the diesel Transit.
Only available in the short wheelbase version of the Transit, the PHEV versions will cost $89,990 for the base model and $99,990 for the Tourneo coach version fitted with eight leathertrimmed seats.
They join a new plugin van sector that’s only just beginning to emerge, with only the fullyelectric LDV EV80 ($80,489, 200km range) and smaller Renault Kangoo ($74,990, 200km range) for company.
The new Escape range, featuring a longer, wider body with a lower floor based on the same platform as the Focus, includes two PHEV versions along with four 2.0 litre turbopetrol models.
The Escape PHEV powertrain combines a 2.5 litre fourcylinder engine with a 14.4kW battery to develop a maximum output of 167kW, dropping average fuel use from 8.6l/100km to 1.5l/100km.
This economy is boosted by the Escape PHEV’s ability to travel 56km on electric power alone. As with the Transit
PHEV, battery reserves can be maximised via the judicious selection of the same four driving modes. Based on the fuel use figures, the PHEV versions of the Escape emit 33g of CO /km instead of the 199g of their turbocharged siblings.
Starting at $60,990, $18,000 more than its $42,990 Ecoboost equivalent, the base Escape PHEV drives its front wheels through a CVT transmission. It is priced $8000 higher than the popular Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, but its Focus hatchbackinspired exterior design should be more attractive to most eyes.
FORD wanted to show what an electric car can do, so it created the allelectric Mustang MachE 1400. At 1400 peak horsepower (1044kW), this track monster should show quite a bit. By comparison, the Tesla Model S generates 503hp (375kW).
The prototype race car is powered by seven motors and a 56.8kWhour battery.
The betterequipped Escape STLine X PHEV will list for $66,990, and feature a larger touch screen, auto park assist, push button starting, a handsfree power tailgate, tyre pressure monitoring, a frontview camera to back up the rear view cam of the base model, 19inch wheels and sports suspension.
The PHEV version of the
It's a vehicle that should help generate continued interest in both the upcoming production version of the MachE, which is slated to be available later this year, and the $US11.5 billion Ford said it's investing in electric vehicles worldwide.
The car is a 10,000hour collaboration of Ford Performance and RTR Vehicles, which builds upgrade packages for Ford models, such as the Mustang, F150 and Ranger. The MachE 1400, which Ford called a oneoff, was built off a Mustang
Mitsubishi is the most popular choice of New Zealand Outlander buyers, but the two new Escape PHEV models arguably have stronger showroom rivals in the form of the nonelectrified Escape models.
The Ecoboost versions pump out 183kW and 387Nm maximums, and can be ordered in either frontwheel drive or
MachE GT body in white at RTR's facility near Charlotte, North Carolina.
The power and configurations available provide lots of opportunities for experimentation, Ford said.
‘‘The chassis and powertrain are set up to allow the team to investigate different layouts and their effects on energy consumption and performance, including rearwheel drive, allwheel drive and frontwheel drive. Drift and track setups have completely different
allwheel drive form. The latter allwheel traction enhancement is the preserve of the Escape STLine model tier, which costs $47,990 as a frontwheel drive, and $50,990 when made 30kg heavier by the addition of extra driveline hardware. An eightspeed automatic gearbox, enhanced by paddle shifters, is standard on all Ecoboostpowered front end configurations like control arms and steering changes to allow for extreme steering angles in drifting. Power delivery can be split evenly between front and rear, or completely to one or the other. Downforce is targeted at more than 2300lb at 160mph [235kg at 260kmh].''
Ford spokeswoman Emma Berg said the MachE 1400 is designed to be able to run for 45 minutes in order to showcase its capabilities. — TCA
Escapes.
New Zealand’s Ford dealers are gearing up to sell more electricallypowered new cars. Each dealership will soon have at least one charging station at the front, backed up by another at the rear, while showrooms will feature a dummy recharger so that customers can become familiar with plugging the cars in. — www.driven.co.nz