As The Blue Oval has made abundantly clear, the Ford Mustang Mach-E is just the first generation of its all-electric efforts, a vehicle that wasn’t exactly engineered with optimum efficiency. However, the automaker continues to tweak the EV crossover in an effort to improve it continuously, while the second-generation model will ride on a brand new, dedicated platform that it will share with other models. Interestingly, however, Ford CEO Jim Farley noted that one of the issues with the current-gen Ford Mustang Mach-E is that its wiring harness is needlessly long, it seems.
“But the real driver of our future profitability on Model e is the second cycle products,” Farley said while speaking on the automaker’s Q4 earnings call with investors. “We didn’t know when we designed these first three products, we didn’t know that our wiring harness for Mach-E was 1.6 kilometers longer than it needed to be. We didn’t know it’s 70 pounds heavier and that that’s worth $300 of battery cost. We didn’t know that we underinvested in braking technology to save on the battery size.”
This is an interesting revelation from the Blue Oval boss, but not entirely surprising considering what we already know about the Mach-E. In fact, former Ford engineer and current owner of his own consulting firm – Sandy Munro – spent a significant amount of time completely disassembling a Mach-E back in 2021, and he had plenty of praise and criticism for the EV crossover. On the bright side, Munro praised the model’s body engineering, but he found other areas to be needlessly complex – including the rear motor and thermal system.
Ford has managed to reduce the cost of building the Mach-E since its launch, but there’s still clearly some work to be done, with the automaker’s EVs not expected to turn a profit until 2026. However, Farley noted that improving profitability and eliminating waste are a big focus moving forward following the company’s disappointing 2022 financial performance.
We’ll have more on the Mach-E soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Mustang Mach-E news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
1.6 kilometers? Really? 1.6 km is .994 miles, or 1 mile. You didn’t know the harness was 1 mile longer than it needed to be?
1 meter is approximately 3 feet. 1.6 meters is approximate 5.25 feet. If you told me the harness was over 5 ft too long I would think you were dumb.
But over 1 mile too long, what kind of dumb are you?
If you’ve ever seen a modern wiring harness, you know that its length can easily be measured in miles, so adding up all of the slack from individual wires can be a big number as well. In the case of the Mach E, it’s not just the harness – it’s all of the connectors, junctions, and modules that add needless complexity and cost. Each of those are also opportunities for failures. Simplifying the whole thing is a very good idea.
They should’ve called this car the Mach-E. The Ford Mustang is a two door muscle car, not an electric four door crossover SUV. This vehicle is the worst excuse of a “Mustang” since the “Mustang II” of the 1970s.
The downside of EVs, wiring harnesses that are needlessly too long. There will many more problems associated with EVs (Expensive Vehicles) in the near future. Stay tuned.
NOW THERE ARE PROBLEMS
The company has ordered 20 E-Transit cars
With frost, the range fell by half
5 vehicles are under repair and have problems with communication on the CAN bus
The service spreads its hands and Ford looks for a solution
Whatever this shows is management is pretty clueless…70 lbs for an extra 1 mile isn’t so bad. If really 5 feet, then the harness weighs 14 lbs per foot?
I can believe it. On an EV, the wiring harness diameter is measured in whole number multiples of inches. It’s not just electrical cabling, either; it’s also ethernet and other low-voltage signals that need shielding from the electromagnetic interference caused by components such as motors, etc.
Why keep showing photos of the e thing with a Mustang?. As an owner of the real ‘stang, it’s degrading.
LoL the mustang snobs don’t realize the original Mustang was a Secretary’s Car.
Also that mustang can be whatever Ford wants it to be.
Make a Maverick EV truck for 40k max with over 250miles of range and you won’t be able to make enough of those either. Problem is with all these auto makers they just don’t have enough capacity or ability. Tesla doesn’t have enough models.
I rather expect next Mav will be a BEV.
Some day we will use a Powered Fiber Cable System to save all that copper wire. It’s already CAN bus so it should be easy.
Glad to see Farley getting involved in technical issues.
I watched those episodes of Monroe disassembling the Mach E and over complicated was an understatement.
Mr Farley stop using German engineering companies if you want to (Keep it simple) and make a profit !
Bravo “Farley getting involved in technical issues ”
It just shows how poorly run this company is.
Why brag about such mishaps outside?
?
Rob, what German companies are you referring to?
Who signed off on the extra length wiring harness?? Didn’t this show up on pre-production models? Just as bad as when Chrysler signed off on the Chrysler 200 which had a rear door design that didn’t allow for easy entry/exit. What are all these people thinking?
Mach-E (and Lightning) are 1G products rushed to market to fill a gap, they were hardly optimized.
Love my Mach E. Only one issue…why do I lose the screen once a week. Very frustrating.