In the past year, Ford Motor Company has shown big resolve and determination to push its electric cars to market.

Rather controversial, but totally understandable, Ford is leveraging it’s two biggest nameplates – the F-150 and Mustang – to help market the new products.

Last July, we saw the introduction of the electric F-150 prototype, which pulled a train composition of 1.25 million lbs. Of course, it was impressive to see, but nothing more than a cheap gimmick. We’re not stupid Ford! We know about rolling resistance.

Either way, the Blue Oval has since tripled down on their EV efforts and introduced 3 different electric Mustangs in the last 6 months.

Let’s briefly recap on each one and then see what this all means for the bottom line of the muscle car.

Ford Mustang Lithium

SEMA, November 5th, 2019. The world’s biggest auto show for custom vehicles has taught us to expect literally everything. Yet, nobody expected Ford to unveil an electric Mustang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDur-3G30Uo

The Mustang Lithium is a joint project between Ford Performance and Webasto – a company best known for manufacturing roof systems for various automakers. Webasto also deals with heating and cooling systems, as well as battery technology and charging solutions.

The Lithium is essentially an EV conversion of a track-prepped Mustang.

Powered comes from a Phi-Power, dual-core electric motor, dual power inverters, and Webasto’s 800-volt, 75 kWh battery system. The battery is split with ⅓ positioned in the engine bay and 2/3rds fitted over the rear axle for a near 50/50 weight distribution.

The setup produces 900 horsepower as well as 1,000 ft-lbs of torque.

Interestingly, power is transmitted through a regular drivetrain. A race-ready Getrag MT82 6-speed manual gearbox sends the torque to a Super 8.8 Torsen differential and Ford Performance half-shafts. Finally, a set of lightweight Forgeline wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires put it down to the pavement.

The Mustang Lithium also has the Track Handling Package from Ford Performance, including springs, sway bars, strut tower brace as well as brakes from the GT350R.

Webasto won’t share performance stats just yet, but this thing is fast, really fast.

Drive modes are available through the 10.4-inch touchscreen display. You can choose to kick clutches and bang gears just like your petrol-powered Mustang GT350 or put it in 3rd and one-pedal it like any other EV.

Although this build is mostly independent of Ford, the Blue Oval used the opportunity to hype the audience for their upcoming abomination.

“Ford has made no secret of the fact that we are electrifying our most popular nameplates,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s Chief Product Development and Purchasing Officer. “This one-off Mustang prototype is a great opportunity for us, together with Webasto, to showcase to our customers what new electrified powertrains can do for performance in a car they already know and love.”

Ford Mustang Mach-E

I’ve never thought I’d see the Mustang – America’s all-time and the world’s 2019 best-selling sports car – become an SUV. After two years of hyping the public, Ford officially revealed the Mustang Mach-E on November 17th, 2019, and brought universal cringe to all performance enthusiasts.

Four doors? All-wheel-drive? All-electric? Upright seating position? None of these have ever featured in a Mustang, until now.

Nothing is more sacred than money, I guess. If Mitsubishi can revive their best nameplate as an electric SUV, so can Ford.

Developing a new car, especially an electric one with emerging proprietary architecture, is mind-blowingly expensive. The only way any company can justify such an expense is by creating a mass-market vehicle that appeals to everybody – your mom, your dentist, your dog.

Honestly, it’s decent looking and the performance version comes with 459 hp and 612 ft-lbs of torque. That’s almost as much torque as the 2020 Mustang GT500, which carries Ford’s all-time most powerful production engine.

But did they have to call it a Mustang?

Well, they sort of did.

It’s Ford’s greatest nameplate and the most popular sports car name in history. Calling it a Mustang will prompt consumers’ curiosity to at least check it out. After that, Ford’s marketing teams will make sure the offer is compelling enough to hook their targeted buyers.

And, controversy helps a lot. With all the Mustang owners and performance enthusiasts bashing on it, and the EV community evangelizing it, Ford gets more publicity than it can ever generate on its own.

Mach-E will sell much more because it’s called a Mustang, rather than a Fusion eSUV or an Escape Fastback-E, both of which are much more fitting.

You hate it, I hate it, that’s how money is made.

Ford Mustang CobraJet 1400

Back to current days. Last week, Ford introduced its electric prototype Mustang CobraJet 1400. This one is a turnkey, NHRA-certified, drag racer.

Its electric powertrain is capable of producing 1,400 horsepower and 1,100 ft-lbs of torque. Supposedly, that should be able to propel the Mustang down the quarter-mile in mid-8 seconds at 170 mph.

This is roughly the same performance as Ford’s 50th Anniversary Mustang CobraJet, introduced in 2018. It’s also 1-second faster than the 2018 eCOPO Camaro and has twice as much power.

Here’s what Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports said about the car:

“We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 project as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race car package that we already had a lot of experience with, so we had performance benchmarks we wanted to match and beat right now.”

Ford has not yet revealed any technical details, however, they did list their suppliers, which gives us hints at the hardware packaged in the Mustang.

• MLe Racecars – Vehicle builder, designer, integrator and tuner
• Watson Engineering – Chassis support and development, roll cage builder
• AEM EV – Software and motor calibration and controls
• Cascadia – Inverter and Motor supplier

Forbes reportedly talked to a Ford executive, who shared details about the CobraJet 1400.

Apparently, the car is powered by four electric motors, which are arranged in a stack of two dual motors linked together and then coupled to a 3-speed automatic transmission similar to the one from the 2018 gas-powered CobraJet.

Looking at the official footage, the engine bay reveals a cylindrical motor construction with a distinct 5-rib radial pattern on the base. It looks just like this Dual Stack 250 Motor, found in Cascadia’s product catalog.

It can generate peak power up to 912 hp and continuous around 500 hp. It also produces peak torque around 630 ft-lbs and continuous torque 520 ft-lbs. We can assume the reliable performance range is somewhere in the middle, especially in such a complicated configuration. Thus, doubling the setup gets us to 1,400 hp and 1,100 ft-lbs of torque.

You can also hear and see the car shift towards the end of the run, so it checks out.

Furthermore, it makes absolute sense to use a conventional drivetrain in a one-off prototype vehicle. It’s cheaper to use off the shelf components and fit in your ready-made race car. It also makes it easier to evaluate the power unit, keeping other factors roughly the same.

There’s no information about the battery, but we can reasonably expect an 800-volt system is in place.

The CobraJet 1400 will be publicly unveiled in an NHRA event later in the year. If it’s doing mid-eights now, they might get it down in the high-sevens by the end of the year.

I would love to see how that shakes up the drag racing community. After all, Teslas are winning traffic light races for some years now. An EV dominating the drag strip will be a crucial blow to big-block V8s.

What does this mean for the future of muscle cars?

Now that we covered most of the juicy details, we can draw a few conclusions.

The faster we get used to the Mach-E, the easier it will be when they finally start rolling around in 2021. This is the vehicle that will pay for Ford’s electric vehicle program.

Ford’s in the money-making business

Everybody hated the Lamborghini Urus when it came out, yet it doubled Lamborghini’s sales within a couple of years. Because, of course, you wouldn’t drive your children to school in your Aventador. Plus, the Urus is actually very fast.

Before Ford dabbles in electric performance, the manufacturer will ensure their EV segment is sustainable and profitable. This means going after the mass-market vehicles.

The Ford electric F-150 pickup truck is scheduled for reveal next year, with deliveries starting in 2022.

Some Lincoln SUVs are planned for 2023, and there’s probably a bucket list of commercial vehicles, vans, and daily drivers to receive electric motors after that.

Ford’s EV tech is not there yet

I don’t believe Ford yet possesses the technology to build its own high-performance production electric vehicle to rival Tesla, Porsche, or Audi.

Both the Mustang Lithium and CobraJet 1400 were created in conjunction with external suppliers and so far remain one-off prototypes. In both cases, Ford supplied the car and performance drivetrain and suspension components. But it was their partners who brought in the electric motors, power electronics, battery technology and made it all work together.

Your gasoline muscle car is safe for now

Although it was named the world’s best selling sports coupe, Ford still only sold 113,066 Mustangs globally in 2018. That’s not even a dent in the manufacturer’s 5.5 million unit output in 2019.

I think both the Mustang Lithium and CobraJet 1400 are amazing vehicles and great demonstrators of the flexibility and potency of EV propulsion technology. But their purpose, at least from Ford’s view, is to hype up the public for the more modest Mustang Mach-E.

Ford might eventually attempt to build a true electric muscle car, but for now, their focus is to keep the money machine running.

What is the competition doing?

FCA confirmed the next-generation will be electric – at least partially. When is that coming is still unknown, but the company will likely keep its outdated Challenger model for at least a few more years.

GM revealed its new EV platform last month with a range of vehicles planned across all brands. And while no performance electric vehicles were announced, GM was first to put electric motors in the Camaro.

What do you think? Will batteries power the next muscle car war? Hit us up in the comments.