Ford unveiled the Mustang Mach-E First Editionin November 2019. While purists cried foul at the possibility of sullying the brand’s penchant for power with an electric version, reservations for the first year quickly filled. Now, Ford is trying to convert those reservations to orders.
On June 30, 2020, Ford announced that its online order banks are now open.
The company also updated and confirmed some performance specifications, most notably increased horsepower on standard and extended range models. The models have a range from 210 to 300 miles per charge, and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in five-to-six seconds, though the GT version will do it in about 3.5.
The Mach-E has multiple features that Ford hopes make it competitive in an electric vehicle landscape thus far dominated by Tesla.
One of the new features is Ford Co-Pilot360, a new driver-assist feature that, among other benefits, includes nearly 100,000 miles of highways on U.S. and Canadian roads that can be hands-free. It’s the first time that Ford has rolled out a hands-free feature – and it has its caveats. Recently, we have seenaccidents with Tesla’s hands-free Autopilot engaged. The incidents stem from drivers’ misinterpreting "Autopilot” to mean "autonomous.” Ford’s Co-pilot will allow hands-free driving as long as the driver is still paying attention, and the Mach-E is going to watch you.
The drive assist includes an infrared camera that watches the driver’s gaze and head position. If the driver isn’t paying attention to the road, the car will fire visual prompts on the instrument cluster to keep those eyes up or regain control.
The Mach-E will also include advanced blind spot assistance as well as cross-traffic alerts.
According to Ford, its engineers used the same 3D simulations that the Ford Performance division uses to develop race cars. The staff wanted to test ride quality in multiple conditions, as well as driving dynamics, to make sure they meet the expectations of the aforementioned Mustang enthusiasts.
