Base Platform of a Mach E

[ARK]

You are right. In my defense, someone opened a door into my temple yesterday.

Happens to the best of us ?

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[dtbaker61]

"A Mach E is just a heavily modified Ford Escape". Or so I was told on another blog. I have considered several EVs. I don't intend to reply to the person on that blog, it isn't worth it. But I am curious as to how accurate he was. My suspicion is that an automotive engineer would find the statement seriously misleading, almost to the point of being a lie.

general geometry and shape might be 'similar', but other than that...... not really even close. The 'white body' of the MME is incredibly strong and beefed up to handle added weight, and the completely changed front crush zone without an engine up there in a normal place in front of the wheels.

 

[hprose]

"A Mach E is just a heavily modified Ford Escape". Or so I was told on another blog. I have considered several EVs. I don't intend to reply to the person on that blog, it isn't worth it. But I am curious as to how accurate he was. My suspicion is that an automotive engineer would find the statement seriously misleading, almost to the point of being a lie.

My 2 daughters each have an Escape Titanium. All the bells and whistles including pano roof. I have driven them extensively. I have a 22 GT. There is no similarity. Not even close. With 11” longer wheelbase, 5 inches longer than an Edge. I do agree, all 3 have 4 wheels and are made with metal and glass.

 

[hprose]

"A Mach E is just a heavily modified Ford Escape". Or so I was told on another blog. I have considered several EVs. I don't intend to reply to the person on that blog, it isn't worth it. But I am curious as to how accurate he was. My suspicion is that an automotive engineer would find the statement seriously misleading, almost to the point of being a lie.

Add to prior post - I just told my wife about the comparison, she is still laughing.

 

[MellowJohnny]

And I suppose their point was to disparage the Mach-E somehow by insinuating it’s not on a purpose-built BEV platform? Whomever they are they need to learn a bit more about how the automotive world works these days.

Now, had they pointed out that the Audi eTron Q4 is just a churched-up ID.4 they’d have a pretty strong argument

 

[GreaseMonkey]

And I suppose their point was to disparage the Mach-E somehow by insinuating it’s not on a purpose-built BEV platform?

Mach-E is not a purpose built BEV, plain and simple. It’s a fact, regardless of what someone’s intentions are.

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

Mach-E is not a purpose built BEV, plain and simple. It’s a fact, regardless of what someone’s intentions are.

I disagree. GE1 is a heavily modified C2 platform, sure, but, other than BEVs, what else utilizes the GE1 specific architecture? Nothing ICE or even PHEV. So, its sole purpose in its current state is as a BEV platform.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Can’t put it on the internet unless it’s true.


The Mustang Mach-E is built on the Global Electrified 1 (GE1) platform, which is a heavily reworked version of the C2 platform that is used on the fourth generation Focus and third generation Kuga/fourth generation Escape.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang_Mach-E#:~:text=The Mustang Mach-E is,generation Kuga/fourth generation Escape.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_GE1_platform#:~:text=The Global Electrified 1 (GE1,vehicle team named Team Edison.

The heavily modified thing really bugs me because it really attracts the naysayers. The C1 Escape was the starting point, but the final product is worthy of being called a complete redesign. I don't think you can take any structural part off an Escape and have it fit the Mach-E. I've spent time under both C1 and GE1 platforms, they look almost nothing alike. The front suspension is a similar design, but again it was all completely modified for the Mach-E.

Anyone saying "The Mach-E is just a modified Escape" really needs a reality check.

Here’s another reference doc to explain some of the design limitations that @hybrid2bev mentioned above

https://www.batterydesign.net/ford-mach-e/

I didn’t know that the Mach-E was not a purpose built BEV, but the mods that Ford had to do contributed to the added weight and suboptimal body side structures.

Also note the energy density difference with Tesla: 147 watt-hr / kg vs 171.

The data there is correct, but I disagree with their conclusion that the lower pack energy density of the Mach-E means it was designed from an ICE platform. That is clearly not the case for a skateboard battery pack. No explanation of where the Tesla value came from (Model Y?). The Mach-E pack was designed to be serviceable, vs. Tesla which is unserviceable. The extra space in the pack to make is serviceable will have the effect of decreasing the energy density. The Mach-E pack is also fairly structural, with large side rails to absorb side impacts. If Ford would have designed more of the structure into the BIW instead of the pack, then the pack weight would go down and the energy density would increase as well. It was just a design decision to make the pack extremely reinforced to avoid fires, I don't necessarily fault them for doing that because the pack still has enough capacity.

In summary, I really think of the Mach-E as its own new platform, which is also greatly reinforced against side impacts compared to some other EVs.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Mach-E is not a purpose built BEV, plain and simple. It’s a fact, regardless of what someone’s intentions are.

I know, and maybe they do too - my point was why bring it up? Like somehow that makes it an inferior vehicle? Just armchair quarterbacking on the poster's intentions. To me it sounds like a bit of FUD.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

The data there is correct, but I disagree with their conclusion that the lower pack energy density of the Mach-E means it was designed from an ICE platform. That is clearly not the case for a skateboard battery pack. No explanation of where the Tesla value came from (Model Y?).

The Mach-E pack was designed to be serviceable, vs. Tesla which is unserviceable. The extra space in the pack to make is serviceable will have the effect of decreasing the energy density. The Mach-E pack is also fairly structural, with large side rails to absorb side impacts. If Ford would have designed more of the structure into the BIW instead of the pack, then the pack weight would go down and the energy density would increase as well. It was just a design decision to make the pack extremely reinforced to avoid fires, I don't necessarily fault them for doing that because the pack still has enough capacity.

In summary, I really think of the Mach-E as its own new platform, which is also greatly reinforced against side impacts compared to some other EVs.

The question here is whether the fact that Ford used a heavily modified ice platform was suboptimal for use in a BEV and contributed to additional weight and other undesirable traits. And the answer is yes, about half of the 400 lbs weight difference between the MME and MY is explained by the biw + battery design choices. I don’t disagree that the MME has great real world side crash characteristics (and I’m thankful for that). But you can argue that even less stiff / lower weight design would have had similar results.

I’m a glass half full kind of a guy. I’d say look how much better the next gen of MME will be!

 

[Jimrpa]

Can’t put it on the internet unless it’s true.


The Mustang Mach-E is built on the Global Electrified 1 (GE1) platform, which is a heavily reworked version of the C2 platform that is used on the fourth generation Focus and third generation Kuga/fourth generation Escape.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang_Mach-E#:~:text=The Mustang Mach-E is,generation Kuga/fourth generation Escape.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_GE1_platform#:~:text=The Global Electrified 1 (GE1,vehicle team named Team Edison.

So, a Mustang Mach E is nothing more than a slightly retooled Focus Electric? ???

 

[HuntingPudel]

There is little to nothing the body of the MME has in common with any pre-existing Ford ICE vehicles. The original compliance design may have shared something with previous designs but that was mostly scrapped when Ford did an about-face and decided to make a Mustang instead of a Fusion (or whatever it was going to be). ?‍?

Are there compromises? Sure. Some are fiscal, some are packaging, some are safety… A couple of engineers I used to work with when I first got into the working world reminded me on a somewhat regular basis that Part of the art of engineering is compromise. You learn where to do things that make things better for the design intent without sacrificing much somewhere else. Making the better bargain, if you will. ??

 

[GreaseMonkey]

So, a Mustang Mach E is nothing more than a slightly retooled Focus Electric? ???

Careful now. The operative word is "HEAVILY": bold, underlined and all caps.

 

[EELinneman]

"A Mach E is just a heavily modified Ford Escape". Or so I was told on another blog. I have considered several EVs. I don't intend to reply to the person on that blog, it isn't worth it. But I am curious as to how accurate he was. My suspicion is that an automotive engineer would find the statement seriously misleading, almost to the point of being a lie.

I have to caution you with that famous Abraham Lincoln quote - Don’t believe everything you read on the internet

 

[ChehRob]

We really don't have to be so defensive. I quoted a poster on another site, and two posters responded with links that explains the origin on the that quote, and why, as I suspected (and wrote), it was seriously misleading. Opinions are always interesting, but data sometimes is better.

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