SSman

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Ford Mach E's battery cell sharing with Transit van will help profitability
Nick Gibbs

Ford Mustang Mach-E Mach-E Will Share Battery Cells with Transit Van To Be Profitable Ford Mach e web


Ford has said that every Mustang Mach E electric SUV it sells will make money for the company. The secret of its confidence? Sharing battery cells with the upcoming electric Transit van, thereby ensuring the cell production line is running at maximum capacity.

The strategy was essential to controlling the battery cost, said Ford's head of global powertrain purchasing, Lisa Drake, on the sidelines of the CES electronics show in Las Vegas.

The battery cells for the Mach E and Transit vehicles are made by LG at its plant in Poland where LG installed battery lines dedicated to Ford.

"When you fill a cell line to exact capacity that is your lowest price. You never, ever want it to be idle," Drake said.

The line for the Mach E and the Transit will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The strategy ran counter to Ford's normal way of working.

"Normally we develop each product program with its own market equation, then we see if we can share components," Drake said. "But because the battery is the most expensive part of the car, we looked at the battery cells' optimal costs, and look to see where we can share it across other products. It was the opposite way of thinking."

She said that the way the Ford architecture was set up means the Mach E could share cells with a "completely different product in a completely different segment."

Ford unveiled the Mach E at the Los Angeles auto show in November. It plans to build 50,000 units a year with production starting at its Cuautitlan plant Mexico later this year.

Ford has worked to increase the consumer of appeal of the car to attract customers who might be otherwise be put off by the price. The design was switched halfway through its cycle from what one Ford insider described as a 'Focus EV mark 2’ to an SUV that took design cues from arguably Ford’s most famous car, the Mustang. The Mach E's technology includes a giant, portrait-sized 15.5-inch screen.

The Mach will cost between from 47,000 euros ($52,131) in Germany, rising to 62,000 euros for the 300-mile (480-km) range model. U.S. prices start at $43,895.

Ford has promised performance surpassing that of a Porsche 911 sports car, with the fastest model said to accelerate to 60 mph (97 kph) in around three seconds.

Ford said last year the electric Transit would go on sale in 2021, without revealing more details.
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Dmcerm

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I guess I always worry about my beloved Ford and how they are approaching the Mach-E Gamble but lest we forget this isn't Ford's first rodeo and they do know how to profitably build cars.
This battery sharing idea is exactly what I would expect from them (just like they do/have done at Tesla) and I am glad to be reading these little tidbits we get every few weeks with each new article that is written. Cumulatively, this news, as well as everything else we know to this point, I think the Mach-E is as prepped for success as well as any product Ford has produced in a long time.
They appear to be doing everything right.
Time will tell.
#GoFord!
 

stmache

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Yeah, but, that means they could have made more Mach e's but decided to cap it and find another product to keep the battery line going. Then there's the rumored baby Bronco which has also been rumored to get an EV variant. Think Mach e with a different body on top with less performance.
 

Dmcerm

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Well whatever, they need to make money and they made the decisions to make that happen.
 

dbsb3233

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Yeah, but, that means they could have made more Mach e's but decided to cap it and find another product to keep the battery line going. Then there's the rumored baby Bronco which has also been rumored to get an EV variant. Think Mach e with a different body on top with less performance.
If the assembly plant has the capacity, maybe they could have produced more than 50,000/year. But they probably didn't want to. 50,000 is already a very optimistic number for a brand new vehicle and dramatic change in powertrain. There were (and still are) serious questions whether there will be enough mainstream demand yet. Everyone here thinks so, of course (it's a forum for fans), but the depth of the demand for a $50k-$60k BEV beyond the first-wave enthusiasts is still a big unknown.

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-n...-it-won-t-sell-that-many-anyway-ar187094.html
 


RobB

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If the assembly plant has the capacity, maybe they could have produced more than 50,000/year. But they probably didn't want to. 50,000 is already a very optimistic number for a brand new vehicle and dramatic change in powertrain. There were (and still are) serious questions whether there will be enough mainstream demand yet. Everyone here thinks so, of course (it's a forum for fans), but the depth of the demand for a $50k-$60k BEV beyond the first-wave enthusiasts is still a big unknown.

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-n...-it-won-t-sell-that-many-anyway-ar187094.html
Anything they can do to bring down the price, the vehicle(s) will find a larger market.

$53K (average pricing and/or after initial rebate) for a 4-5 small SUV is still on the expensive side for families. Just look at the survey on this site... 50-54 y.o. is the average buyer.
 

timbop

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I dunno, it's only January 2020 and they already have >35000 reservations. If they miss the first year's projections it won't be by much, and hopefully as the first cars get on the road the news is good enough to encourage those on the fence to pull the trigger. I know my wife is concerned with being on the bleeding edge, so we're compromising and plan to get the 4 year lease with the intention to buy it out at the end if all is well. If not, we can walk away. As for me, the timing is just about perfect - I pay off my convertible next february and I am res# 169xx for the select trim so anticipate delivery some time in april or may with eligibility for $12500 in tax credits (federal and NJ).
 

dbsb3233

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While the pace of reservations has slowed significantly (as expected) after the initial surge, I too think they'll sell 50,000 2021's without much problem. Even if 25% of the reservations don't follow thru on the purchase. So far the reception for the vehicle appears quite strong.

But it could have gone the other way too (and still could if early testers find issues). Always hard to say ahead of time whether a new vehicle will prove to be a winner vs a "what were they thinking?". But early reviews have been very positive. It all looks great on paper, and in prototype. Now we'll see if they work out as well in production and actual driver scrutiny.

Ford has the tax credit working in it's favor right now too. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably hold out for a 2022 just to get any bugs and design flaws worked out. I wish I could get one in 2020 before my state tax credit drops from $4000 to $2500, but with a reservation number of 29xxx I know that's surely out of the question.
 

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I dunno, it's only January 2020 and they already have >35000 reservations. If they miss the first year's projections it won't be by much, and hopefully as the first cars get on the road the news is good enough to encourage those on the fence to pull the trigger. I know my wife is concerned with being on the bleeding edge, so we're compromising and plan to get the 4 year lease with the intention to buy it out at the end if all is well. If not, we can walk away. As for me, the timing is just about perfect - I pay off my convertible next february and I am res# 169xx for the select trim so anticipate delivery some time in april or may with eligibility for $12500 in tax credits (federal and NJ).
Where does the 35,000 reservation numbers come from? Is this just USA reservation or does it included all world markets? If all world markets, then how many in the USA?
 

timbop

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Where does the 35,000 reservation numbers come from? Is this just USA reservation or does it included all world markets? If all world markets, then how many in the USA?
There's a thread on here asking for people's res#,which has people from the US and elsewhere posting their numbers and they appear to be consistent across the world by date. The most recent posts were in the 35k range
 

dbsb3233

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There's a thread on here asking for people's res#,which has people from the US and elsewhere posting their numbers and they appear to be consistent across the world by date. The most recent posts were in the 35k range
Looking like that 35xxx number was either a typo or something out of line. Another res was reported for just the day before that at 307xx.
 

phidauex

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Looking like that 35xxx number was either a typo or something out of line. Another res was reported for just the day before that at 307xx.
Another thing to consider is that reservation numbers may not be sequential. This is common now for order numbers on ecommerce sites - they don't increment one at a time, specifically to prevent this sort of analysis and give up more market data than they intended. I would be somewhat surprised if your reservation number was the exact number of reservations to date.
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