For several weeks now, Sandy Munro, owner of engineering firm Munro & Associates and one of the faces of the company’s Munro Live YouTube channel, has been steadily disassembling a 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E. His team has taken a look at the undercarriage, front end, frunk, and cargo area, among other places. More recently, they focused on the Mustang Mach-E battery by completely removing the entire pack from the vehicle and taking apart its casing. While the team has yet to really teardown the battery, they analyzed the outer layers and found some interesting details about its construction that may indicate what lies in store for them in the near future.
For this Mustang Mach-E battery examination, Sandy Munro recruited battery expert Mark Ellis to help him figure out the eccentricities of the casing, the modules, and the other components that surround the pack. The first section of the video focused on the casing around the battery, and Munro had the Volkswagen ID.4’s case, which is situated on the left, on hand to compare it with the one Ford built for the Mach-E.
Both automakers used different materials for their cases. VW went for aluminum while Ford decided to employ a sheet-molded compound for the Mach-E case. Munro figured the sheet-molded compound would weigh less, but it turned out that VW’s aluminum case was lighter. That did not impress him much, but Ellis chimed in to say that it appeared Ford built in some extra NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) reduction into the case, while VW opted for a simpler setup.
The gentlemen understandably spent a decent chunk of the video looking at the Mustang Mach-E battery itself, and had some things to say about it. Ellis liked the overall packaging of the pouch cells and compared it favorably to the Chevrolet Bolt. Munro and Ellis seemed surprised that Ford went with plastic covers for the outer module casings instead of some sort of metallic material, but the mounting methods for the larger shell housing got high marks.
Munro had mixed reactions overall to Mustang Mach-E battery components, but did reserve praise for the base and side members of the pack and the battery’s ability to be recycled. In fact, he concluded that the packs should be easier to reuse than the packs Tesla installs in its vehicles, and thinks they can eventually see duty powering homes.
Perhaps the most interesting revelation about this Mustang Mach-E battery examination is the fact that the two men could not definitely conclude overall if Ford did a good or bad job with its battery pack and housing components. They’re holding off judgement until they tear the modules apart, although they seemed concerned about the amount of wiring and coolant lines scattered throughout the area.
We’ll have more interesting videos like this to share soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Mustang Mach-E news and ongoing Ford news coverage.
No Comments yet