Electric offensive from the USA: The brutal Stromer – Auto & Mobil

Dearborn, USA, late August. Sweltering heat keeps Henry Ford’s hometown in a headlock. Nevertheless, the mood on the big lakes is not depressed, on the contrary: Ford wants to reinvent itself with electric cars and invest 50 billion US dollars to catch up with Tesla. For years, the Big Three (Ford, GM and Chrysler) watched the climber from California in disbelief and almost inactively. The money was and will continue to be made from heavy SUVs and pickup trucks. And the expiry date for the combustion engine is by no means set in stone, climate change or not.

But a rethinking is also evident around Detroit, in August Ford was already in second place behind Tesla in US sales of electric cars. “We’re leaders in trucks and light commercial vehicles,” says John Lawler, former chief strategy officer and now chief financial officer at Ford. “But that’s not enough. Everyone here in Motown has catching up to do in terms of electric cars, digitization and autonomous driving – including Ford must refill.” It’s not about slim city cars, the Detroit veterans leave this entry-level segment unresistingly to the Chinese. The electric models are – typical for the Big Three – a few sizes larger. While Tesla fans will have to wait until next year for the futuristically styled cybertruck, Ford delivered its first electric pickup a few months ago. The brand that has led the US registration statistics with the F-150 for decades simply owes it to itself.

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“Big Blocks” are the trademark for such wall-mounted cars with a length of more than five meters: Powerful V8 engines that are notorious as “gas guzzlers”. The yawning emptiness under the hood of the new F-150 Lightning (English: lightning strike) therefore has a high symbolic value. Instead of the eight-cylinder, a large trunk is hidden behind the cooler mountains. The space between the axles is packed with batteries. And the towing capacity, payload and torque of the high-powered vehicle make even big-block fans weak. Nice joke on the side: the fully charged battery of the Lightning can supply a family home with electricity for 72 hours without the risk of a blackout.

The emergency generator can also be different: one electric machine per axle delivers a total of 580 hp and 1050 Nm of torque. Enough to beam the four-seat F-150 Lightning from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds. The explosive intermediate sprint from 80 to 120 km/h, which lasts just 2.2 seconds, is just as surreal for a three-ton truck. In the truck with the temperament of a sports car, however, the brakes quickly start to sweat, the steering keeps the twist on the long leash and even the ESP anti-skid system occasionally starts to lurch at full power. In return, the pickup functions – loading area, variability, double cab – are fully retained despite the e-package, and the new rear independent wheel suspension creates in principle good constructive prerequisites for smoother driving comfort – if the coarse-treaded tires, the hard spring-damper tuning and the jerky -spongy interfaces between the lead frame and the structure would not be.

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The dream of a climate-friendly pack mule doesn’t last too long anyway: Around Detroit, where the cops still have to learn to recognize approaching electric cars at excessive speed by the noise, the range shrinks from a nominal 500 to a sobering 250 kilometers even at a maximum speed of 130 km/h . The basic model can tow 4.5 tons, and the tested Platinum Edition is a real bundle of energy even with up to 3.8 tons in tow. In contrast to the luxuriously furnished and all-round high-quality Rivian R1T, the F-150 top model is more reminiscent of Walmart than Tiffany – lots of dark plastic, thickly coated pressed leather, metal-free chrome and an off-the-peg dashboard don’t really go with the now 105,000 US -dollar expensive street furniture.

Not only the moderate range, but also the even more moderate charging infrastructure in the Midwest of the USA put the everyday suitability of the mega-electric vehicle into perspective. But all this should only be the beginning: The F-150 Lightning – and the even larger F-250 three-axle model – should only make the journey across the pond in exceptional cases. The family athlete Mustang Mach-e, on the other hand, is also selling well in this country. Following the example of Porsche, where the Macan, Cayenne and Taycan have long outstripped the 911, Mustang is also to be expanded as a sub-brand. A combustion-free coupe and convertible with the wild horse logo are planned for the second half of the decade. And then there is the cooperation with VW.

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This was preceded by a long history of suffering for US manufacturers in Europe. GM ended its losing streak with the sale of Opel and Ford, as a German car manufacturer, increasingly lost market share to the Koreans. Only the Transit and Tourneo light commercial vehicles are profitable. For passenger cars, the Fiesta, which expires next year, is a notorious subsidy deal. Almost nothing is earned on the Focus, which will be discontinued at the end of 2024. The only really profitable combustion engine model is the Kuga. However, the mid-range crossover will have to wait until the end of next year for a fully electric counterpart. Preparations are underway at the Cologne plant for a new all-electric model in Tiguan format – based on VW.

Ford Cologne wants to build more than a million electric cars on the electric platform from Wolfsburg. The modular electric drive system (MEB) with chassis, power electronics and electric motors is also in the VW ID.3 and ID.4. Ford wants to use this as the basis for the completely independent bodies of the Explorer E and the coupé-like Explorer E Sport. Because Volkswagen is working flat out on technical improvements that are to be incorporated into the series for the ID model update, Ford can also hope for a much improved operating concept and more powerful drives at the start. The deal with VW covers only those two vehicles – bigger cars like the ID Aero as a possible Mondeo successor, the iconic ID Buzz and the Trinity planned for 2026 are left out.

Despite the e-backlog, Ford is in the fast lane, the employees in Ford Lightning production are sure of that. During a casual small talk in Noah’s Deli on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, they clearly reject a long-term cooperation with VW. The profile of the GE.2 project is passed around by smartphone as proof. From 2032, Ford also wants to launch its own – supposedly much cheaper – electric architecture with this alias in Europe. The hardware positioned around it is said to be imported from America. System leadership for autonomous driving is also managed jointly with Argo and VW in Detroit. Ford is only going on a shopping spree to Asia for the batteries, where there are clear cost advantages.

Much better suited for Europe than the F-150 are the all-electric Escape crossover model and the new edition of the Bronco, which will start its journey across the Atlantic in the V6 version next year. Like the Jeep Wrangler and Chevy Blazer, the Bronco thrives on its illustrious past. As a two-door alternative to the everyday pick-up, the iconic Ford was the perfect city-country-river SUV, which only found its inglorious end four generations later as a fat getaway car for city dwellers.

In 2021, the angular off-road vehicle, which is also available as a four-door model for the first time, celebrated a much-noticed comeback. While image, emotion and a certain rustic originality are included at no extra charge, solidity and suppleness are not among its strengths. Similar to the Escape and Explorer, the Ford technicians have prescribed a medium-term battery cure for the off-road icon. It certainly doesn’t get any lighter or more streamlined.

Editor’s note: Some of the products presented in “Mobile Life” were made available to the editors by the manufacturers for testing purposes and/or presented on trips to which journalists were invited.