Ford announced the opening of its order banks for the 2021 Mustang Mach-E electric SUV on Wednesday.
With that, Ford released tight power and torque specs for the Mach-E, reflecting a 3% to 4% increase in horsepower over previous preliminary estimates.
But in the world of electric cars, where Tesla’s acceleration videos have left us a little insensitive to the meaning of traditional power and torque, but well aware of the remaining load, the prevailing wisdom is that range is the new power. And so, another recently released specification for Mach-E stands out: usable capacity.
In both dealer order guides and the build and build pages for the Mach-E, Ford has started listing the usable capacity of the battery packs: 68 kWh for the standard range battery and 88 kWh for the extended range, rather than previously quoted gross capacities of 75.7 and 98.7 kwh, respectively.
Ford Mach-E Premium Build Configurations – July 2020
It also modified those latter capacities to reflect the actual installed capacity: 76.8 and 98.5 kWh, respectively.
“Ford is adjusting how it communicates the battery’s ability to align with EPA and WLTP certification test cycles and to be more transparent about usable power levels,” said company spokeswoman Emma Bergg. “The range of the Mustang Mach-E was based on the usable battery capacity, and therefore the figures for the estimated range do not change.”
That is an important change for several reasons. First, it underscores that Ford is potentially using less than 90% of the package’s total cell capacity and leaving around 10% for battery degradation and longevity. He claims that the Mach-E could still deliver at or near its advertised original capacity after six, eight, or possibly even ten years.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E Range Warning
Second, it highlights that the Mach-E is probably more efficient than the specifications suggested above. At 300 miles (or more) from the EPA rating range for the extended 88 kWh range, that’s better than 3.4 miles per kWh, not Tesla’s efficiency, but much better than the similarly-sized Jaguar I-Pace ( or anything bigger than the compact EVs from Hyundai, Kia, Chevy, or Nissan.)
In comparison, Audi initially got 83.6 kWh (88%) of the E-Tron’s usable 95 kWh, but has since expanded to 86.5 (91%), reaching the US in the E-Tron Sportback 2021.
Although Tesla has not formally released usable capacity for its packages, it tends to use significantly more of the gross capacity, for example, up to 96 percent of the package it used to list as 100 kWh.
And that leads to an important end point. Ford’s decision leaves an option open in the future to make the battery “bigger” without an expensive production change. If Ford decides that degradation is happening slow enough, it could allow for more battery capacity to be available, possibly through a wireless upgrade.
Ford has not yet verified that such an upgrade is possible, but revealed in May that almost every part of the Mach-E can receive OTA upgrades, “so your experience will never stop improving.”
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E
It has already improved the range speed it expects drivers to be able to bounce back at DC quick charge quick stops on 150kw connectors. In May, Ford also said that the Mach-E will be able to recover up to 61 miles of range in just 10 minutes, roughly a 30% improvement over the 47 miles cited above.
