This past month has seen the unveiling of two highly-anticipated EVs. Each carried lofty goals and equally lofty expectations.
Neither was well received.
November 17th was the big introduction of Ford’s Mustang-inspired, all-electric crossover, the Mach-E. Capitalizing on the cultural cachet of one of it’s few successful products, Ford built hype by attaching their famed muscle car nameplate to a platform that’s increasingly associated with performance. An EV Mustang. What could wrong?
Yet, to say that the reception was underwhelming would be an understatement. With official specs yet to be released, audiences were left to judge the new vehicle on the expectations Ford had set. So, where a Mustang had been promised, a crossover was what was delivered. Sure, there’s a racing pony on the front non-grill, and those taillights are familiar, but it’s still a crossover.
There’s still plenty of opportunities for Ford to deliver a truly impressive Mach-E variant (would the public accept a battery-powered Shelby?), the current model isn’t it. It’s not that it’s unattractive. It’s that it’s a crossover. A good ol’ practical crossover. Where it not for the Mustang named being duct-taped to its press materials, its unveiling would’ve come and gone without notice.
While the attention may have been the point, it’s also what’s prevented the Mach E from being judged on its own merits.
The other big reveal was Elon Musk, himself no stranger to setting too-high expectations, finally introducing the Tesla pickup truck. And what a reveal it was:
So, yeah. Cybertruck. Sure. Why not.
At the very least, it’s not conventional. Whereas Ford played it safe with their new EV, Tesla did what Tesla does. They went bold. (Note: bold doesn’t necessarily mean good.)
Now, the specs on the Cybertruck thing are predictably impressive. The incredible torque inherent in Tesla’s motors lends itself readily to a utility vehicle. An EV pickup makes sense, and this will just be the first of many, across all brands. Hopefully, this design doesn’t spread as pervasively.
The Cybertruck is Striking: All Sharp Edges and Shattered Windows
To be fair (and we here at the Clutch are nothing if not fair), the, um, unconventional design of the, er, Cybertruck should be lauded. Not the design itself, so much, but the approach. After all, an EV powertrain offers designers and engineers all-new opportunities for new vehicles.
Internal combustion engines demand a certain design to work. Whether the engine’s in the front, middle, or back, it requires a significant chunk of space. All the supporting components, from the transmission to the fuel tank to the exhaust system, all require space as well. That’s why so many cars look, generally, the same.
EVs don’t have to look like that. The only space they demand, from an engineering standpoint, looks pretty much like a skateboard. Your batteries line the floor, while the motor or motors sit at the wheels. That’s all that’s needed for it to run. From there, anything goes, really.
Sure, the design needs to incorporate safety standards. Aerodynamics matter, too. And you’ll want to make a cabin that’s comfortable and well laid-out. But to think that these can only be achieved through a traditional two-box or three-box design speaks to a striking lack of imagination.
Tesla, for example, chose to incorporate all of that in a wedge. For some reason. But the why doesn’t matter. What matters is that they could, so they did. Of course, they could have chosen a better shape. Or, really, any other shape. But at least they saw that there was room for something new, and they took it.
Ford, on the other hand, played it safe. They thought that slapping a Mustang logo on the front would shake things up on an otherwise generic-looking vehicle. It didn’t. It just supports the idea that Ford is the old-guard and that Tesla is the new. So new that they’re clearly still at the toddler stage of development.
A wedge. Goddamn.