Interesting article on the Ford Skunkworks project: https://insideevs.com/reviews/728293/ford-skunkworks-ev-specs-range/ There is a lot we don't know about 2027 models. While we now have two Mach E's (and love them) as well as a Smart fortwo ED cabrio and have been all-electric for 6 years, the first Mach E replaced a 2017 Focus Electric (115 EPA 50 kW max charging) and we would have been driving an all-electric Cmax if it were available instead of the Focus. Relative to the Mach E purchases, an all-electric smaller crossover vehicle would meet one of our use cases as well. From 1995 to 2018 most of our driving was in an Edge, Escape, Mustang, or Ranger.
Now, Ford needs a new model developed from the ground up, designed to go after its biggest competitors—all by going smaller and more affordable. ... likely a small truck and a compact crossover. Until I read the later paragraph, I thought Ford might dare to add a second car to their lineup so the Mustang isn't so lonely. Nope, Ford knows the foolish (IMO) US customers don't want cars anymore. I like sports cars. Ford should stick a low-profile, lightweight, car body on this platform and revive the RS200 nameplate. Definitely resist any temptation to call it the (ugh) "Mustang II."
I hope that Ford knows they will need a lot more than 3 BEV's for sale by or before 2027 to remain a top five BEV selling brand in the US. I drove close to 100,000 miles in a '77 Mustang II. Four cylinder and a stickshift for all 90 of its horsepower gearjamming from 0-60 in 13 seconds LOL. But it got me where I needed to go and through college. I also had two different '69's, a '90, and a '95. I don't know much about the RS 200 but found this https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/classic-cars/a28047/ford-rs200-history/ Something like that in a BEV would be pretty cool to compete with the Ioniq 5N hot hatch, the Rivian R3x, Kia EV3, and whatever else like these are available by then. I'm wondering if there are thoughts in Long Beach of maybe even a smaller modded version of the Mach E Rally? Here is another angle from Electrek https://electrek.co/2024/07/30/fords-new-ev-platform-spawn-electric-fiesta-focus-models/ Having two Mach E's, I wonder about pulling back the front end and narrowing the width a bit. The 2017 Focus Electric, for all its quirks, was pretty efficient and met our use case, except long road trips were a challenge. One of us in the house still needs the 300 mile range (150 kW charging speed) of the CA Rte 1 while the other finds the 225 mile base Select range and 110 kW charging meets needs. It will be interesting to see where the market goes, how the public charging landscape looks in 2027, and what influence that has on Ford's choices.
I'll say until I turn blue. One of these US Manufacturers needs to end this stupid dcfc charging 100kWto 200kW batteries..no one wants to spend 45minutes to 1 1/2 hours charging.(for the big batteries).and thats with chargers that are giving the cars all the juice they are asking for. You dont get mainstream to buy until they can charger or swap in 5 minutes and there is no charging that can do that or looks remotely capable of doing that at least in the next decade or 2. Swapping.. it has to be battery swapping ..NIO has done 50 MILLION battery swaps under their belt now.. it works very very well and half of the locations are profitable for them now. NIO isnt the only one either ..here is another swap company ..Taxis one right after the other Whoever is first in the US can then License thier battery swap tech to the other companies to reduce everyones initial cost. 30 minutes- to80 in my ID 4... thats the longest I want to wait..sometime I dont even want that and I would pay an xtra45 to swap instead of charge so I could get right back on the road. Imagine The F150,250,350 their most popular trucks with 400-500 mile range and 5 Minutes SWAPS VS Chevy Silverado 400 miles and 1 1/2 hours to recharge.. same money whci one would YOU choose! You can still charge at home,even use dcfc when needed ..but long distance or long days work ..just swap and get back to what you were doing. I do agree with Ford as far as smaller vehicles VOLUME sales 80kW batery max ..never more than 30 minutes and the smaller vehicle = less weaight more range cold probably still squek out almost 300 miles ...my Old chevy Bolt never had an issue doing 4 m/kWh or better If I had 75-80kW instead of 60 would have easily been 300-340 miles per charge
I feel that industry wide battery swapping is a much larger topic and I have seen the discussions in the general forum. In an attempt to stay on topic with what Ford and the skunkworks (or whatever it is called now) team could be developing, I found this article (and others) https://fordauthority.com/2024/06/ford-files-another-patent-for-ev-battery-exchange-system/ with the patent filing dated March 24, 2023. Interesting to me that filing is close to two years after the formation of the skunkworks team and I wonder if the two are related. Also that the form of the sketched vehicle in the patent filing looks a lot like a Ford Escape (currently not available in BEV form), and also a similar size and shape of the Puma, Capri, and the Explorer in Europe. The article also linked another article about a patent that was filed by Ford in 2018 but not published until 2024. There the sketched vehicles look like the (discontinued since 2018) Focus Electric with battery modules in the trunk and something like a F-150 Lightning with battery modules in the frunk. While Ford charging speeds fit my family '20-minute stop every 90 minutes' use case on a road trip and most of the time charging at home, a substantial percentage of people I talk to that are interested in EV's have use cases that want or need faster charging than what Ford currently offers. I have seen an interview with Darren Palmer where he hinted that Ford is working on 800V technology as part of the T3 project. Multi-voltage 400V/800V is also referenced in this article about a 2020 filed patent https://fordauthority.com/2024/02/future-ford-evs-could-utilize-800v-architecture/ Interesting that these three patents filed in 2018, 2020, and 2023, were all published this year in 2024. So hopefully the skunkworks team is looking into that.
Thats awesome Andy, and yes makes sense one of the things skunkworks team looking at. The last thing I want to do here in Minnesota when it's 10 degrees F snowing winding colder than snot is trying to get a dcfc working.. just let me pull into a small car wash size swap station, pull outa few minutes later with a full battery and be on my way.. I stay nice and toasty and so is my battery Though automakers – including Ford – continue to explore ways to speed up EV charging, the concept of swappable battery packs remains viable, given the fact that it’s akin to changing out the batteries in a remote control or any other type of electronic device. It’s unclear if this type of tech will ever actually catch on and become commercially viable, but it’s also clear that Ford plans to continue exploring ways to make it happen if that is indeed the case. We’ll have more on this and all Ford patents soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford patent news, Ford business news, and ongoing Ford news coverage.
