The all-new Ford Explorer EV was revealed for the European market this past March, and it’s also the first of two Blue Oval crossovers slated to ride on Volkswagen’s MEB platform. Production of the new Ford Explorer EV was originally scheduled to begin at the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany – which just underwent a billion dollar revamp – in early 2024, with around 30,000 total units planned to be built next year. However, The Blue Oval recently announced that it was pushing back its plans to build 600k EVs next year in total, and as Ford Authority reported yesterday, that news was accompanied by a six-month delay for the Ford Explorer EV, too. Now, we know precisely why this launch has been pushed back.
“One of the biggest growth opportunities for us was our plant in Cologne, Germany, where we’re going to launch the electric Explorer,” Farley told NPR in a recent interview. “And we weren’t happy with thermal propagation – the countermeasures around fire – with the vehicle. So we took a six-month delay to get the engineering right. That was the principal reason.”
This is an interesting development, as the prior report noted that the launch of the Ford Explorer EV had been delayed due to the installment of new global safety regulations related to the vehicle’s powertrain. However, the report failed to specify which regulations might have led to this delay, and there are no powertrain-related rules currently in the works in the EU at this time.
Regardless, those looking forward to taking delivery of a new Ford Explorer EV will now have to wait a bit longer than expected, as production was expected to begin this month, after which a slow ramp up would follow before sales began early next year.
We’ll have more on the new all-electric Ford Explorer soon, so be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Explorer news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comment
Don’t forget the inevitable recall for this vehicle sometime in the future. Under Failure Farley, Recall Motors will remain the auto industry leader in recalls due to horrendous quality. Even Failure Farley has admitted it will take years to fix the quality issues that’s plaguing Recall Motors.