News: Ford Marks Earth Day with Tire-Smoking EV

Teases Electric Drag Car Based on Mustang

Earth Day has become the obligatory annual eco-homage observation for many corporations, the one day a year where they tout environmental progress and highlight green tech. The day creates all kinds of conflicting feelings in the auto industry—built on fossil fuels but heavily committed to electrification and sustainability. A mixed message is the logical outcome of this schizophrenia, hence Ford’s all-electric Mustang Cobra Jet 1400.

Ford is teasing a one-off version of a Mustang full—some might say overfull—electric coupe, echoing the days more than a century ago when Henry Ford took his prototype chassis to local races to build its reputation (and make a few bucks). The Cobra Jet, which borrows a name from the annals of Ford’s performance history—the 1968 birth of the car that was a production line Mustang de-contented to reduce weight and featuring a monster factory engine that transformed a sedate coupe into a screaming track performer.

Unlike that pavement-pounding predecessor, the new generation Mustang Cobra Jet will use 1,400 horsepower and an incredible 1,100 pound-feet of instant torque to impress onlookers about its capabilities. Few details beyond those eye-popping stats were released. It’s a one-off project right now, but as Ford’s Global Director, Icons, Dave Pericak, said at its launch:  “Ford has always used motorsport to demonstrate innovation. We’re excited to showcase what’s possible in an exciting year when we also have the all-electric Mustang Mach-E joining the Mustang family.”

The car, which looks like a typical Mustang drag car, is predicted to turn in low eight-second quarter mile runs, topping out at 170 mph. Ford engineers set up benchmarks from the car’s gas versions and, in their self-effacing report—blew them away.

“This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into,” Ford Performance Motorsports director Mark Rushbrook said. “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,” he added. “This has been a fantastic project to work on, and we hope the first of many coming from our team at Ford Performance Motorsports.”

The car will debut live later this year, but a sneak peek at it in action will be presented on the Sunday, April 26, Motor Trend On Demand “Hard Cell” show. Ford promised it would appear at public drag races later this year, presuming such races return to active format.

As is usually the case with race cars, suppliers were critical to putting together the Cobra Jet. Watson Engineering helped with chassis support and development and built the roll cage for the racer. AEM EV did software and motor calibration and controls. Cascadia supplied the inverter and motor while MLe Racecars put the whole package together, designing, integrating and tuning all of the components marks a new chapter for Ford’s EV efforts.

What this means for an eventual electric Mustang remains to be seen, but it demonstrates Ford’s willingness to put its money and reputation behind its move to electrification. The Cobra Jet takes EV operations in a different direction than well-done, but more sedate, family-oriented Mustang Mach-E. To us it says Ford wants to build electric cars that, like its ICE lineup, will appeal to a broad spectrum of the public.  

Here’s a little taste of electric performance.

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