Ford’s Mustang Mach E electric crossover SUV gets unveiled tonight in Los Angeles, in advance of the LA Auto Show. Electrek is at the event and will bring you full coverage of everything you need to know about the car here.
Update: Find all our articles with impressions from the Mach E reveal here, then look below for more on the event/stream itself.
- Seth: Great artists steal: Why Ford’s Mustang Mach E was inspired by Tesla in all the right ways
- Bradley: Unveiled: Ford Mustang Mach-E is first meat-and-potatoes EV for American heartland
- Video: Ford Mustang Mach E – first video footage from Ford (updated: now with a first ride video from Seth!)
- Ford has started taking $500 refundable reservations for the Mach E. Head over to Ford’s website if you want to be one of the first in line.
- Bradley had an exclusive chat with Bill Ford: Exclusive: Bill Ford at Mustang Mach-E unveil, acknowledges being on Tesla’s turf
- Seth got a pic of a Ford-branded Tesla Supercharger lookalike, similar to the Lincoln-branded ones we’ve seen before:
Original post, including liveblog, embedded event replay, and videos, below here
While we already know most of the Mustang Mach E’s specs due to a leak on Ford’s website on Thursday, we’re bound to find out some new things at the event.
In particular, we already know that the car will start at ~$36k ($43,895 minus $7,500 US federal tax credit), though the “premium” and “first edition” models which launch late 2020 will be more pricey ($50.6k and $59.9k pre-incentive). Other models launch in early 2021.
The Mach E will have estimated 0-60 performance of between ~3-6 seconds depending on options, and Ford is targeting 230-300 miles of all-electric range. It will charge at a max rate of ~47 miles every 10 minutes on a 150kW DC charger.
We also know what the car will look like. After test mules, then renders, then spy shots, Ford’s website leak finally showed us a true look at the car without camouflage and we’ve even seen some real life photos screengrabbed from a leaked press video.
There are a few remaining questions, though: how big is the Mustang Mach E, compared to other crossover SUVs? How efficient is it, and what exactly is the charge rate? Will the interface allow for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto? And finally, where the heck are the door handles?
These questions and more will be answered tonight, in Ford’s livestream which you can view here. It goes live at 5:50pm PST/8:50EST:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0F9Uktpgtk
We’ll be following along with the livestream and updating this page with anything interesting that happens in the stream or at the event. Reload this page for more information as the event unfolds, or follow us on twitter for updates and instagram for live stories/video:
We are live from the Mustang Mach E event launch in Tesla's literal back yard. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for live images and video from the show. https://t.co/0zD5SvtlM2 pic.twitter.com/uLRhQrffd5
— Electrek.co (@ElectrekCo) November 18, 2019
— Electrek.co (@ElectrekCo) November 18, 2019
Here we go pic.twitter.com/TnZDq6fBuU
— Electrek.co (@ElectrekCo) November 18, 2019
- 5:50 – the broadcast has gone live! Ford is showing a few short promos for the Mach E inbetween a countdown to 6pm.
- 6:01 – Idris Elba, who will be featured in the Mach E marketing campaign and is a former Ford assembly employee, has taken the stage to start the event.
- 6:07 – after another promo video, Bill Ford, former Ford CEO and great-grandson of Henry Ford, is on stage for a scripted interview with Idris Elba. Ford is talking about the importance of both performance and the environment. He also gave a shout out to “Team Edison,” the internal EV team which Ford formed two years ago.
- 6:11 – Back to another promo video, this time with professional rally driver Ken Block. He’s “impressed” with the first time he’s ever driven an electric car.
- 6:13 – Jim Hackett, Ford’s CEO, takes the stage for a speech about the car.
- 6:14 – The Mach E will be a connected experience. 4G modem. Natural language voice commands. Driver profiles. Large center display with a custom UI. Big focus on user experience with the custom UI, to try to reduce the problem of using your phone instead of the car’s display, which is a reflection of how bad car UIs have been up until now.
- Center control is both touchscreen and has a control dial. Another screen in front of driver. Ford throws minor shade at Tesla by saying they know drivers want information in front of them, so they “kept it there…unlike others.”
- Interface will learn from your behavior, and make suggestions – if you call your wife every day on the way home from work, her number will come up to make it easy to start a call. Behavior saved on a per-driver-profile basis.
- Ford promises over-the-air updates, and says they will listen to early users’ suggestions to fix problems and add features. They’ll even add “performance enhancements.” Sound familiar?
- 6:22 – Ted Cannis, Ford’s global director of electrification, comes on stage to describe Ford’s “phone-as-a-key” function. Phones connect to the car to unlock it by bluetooth without needing a key fob. One of my favorite Model 3 features is now in another car. Fantastic.
- Cannis going over common EV myths, saying how easy it is to do long trips in an EV. Large battery (and optional AWD) will help the car do great in winter. Mach E comes with a Ford mobile charge connector for charging at home. Thousands of places to charge around the country, all easily found through in-car interface.
- 6:27 – another promo video and Hackett and Elba are back on stage. Talking about what happens when a “rebellious” Mustang owner grows up and needs 4 doors.
- EVs give freedom. Freedom from the gas pump and freedom from oil changes.
- Ford says that Detroit can change the world just as much as Silicon Valley can.
- 6:30 – here’s the car! Detroit Youth Choir is performing a rendition of the song “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
- It looks great, but we already knew that thanks to leaks.
- Our articles are now live! Check out Seth and Bradley’s impressions, and the first official video footage of the car.
- Ford is going over the car’s features and design. Handling feels planted with low center-of-gravity from skateboard battery. Human-centered design approach. Will set the pace not just for Ford’s EVs, but for “all vehicles”. Spacious rear storage and a frunk as well.
- Showing off the GT high-performance model. It will be available in Ford’s famous “Grabber Blue” bright blue color. Goes 0-60 in mid-3-seconds, fast as Ferrari Portofino.
- Ford closes out the event by telling us to go to Ford’s Mach E site and reserve the car for a $500 refundable reservation fee.
Electrek’s Take
Ford is finally taking electric seriously, and seems to be doing it in a big way. The Mach E is one of the few cars designed from the ground up with specs that look like they challenge Tesla directly with a quick, capable, well-designed electric vehicle at a reasonable price and launching into the same market at roughly the same time. We’re super excited to see how this all turns out.
What do you think about the Mustang Mach E so far? Let us know in the comments below throughout the day and as the stream goes live.
Update – Also check out Seth’s first ride video in the Mach E, after the event. In the video you can hear the fake engine noise which Ford has added to play through the internal speakers:
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