As Ford’s first all-electric Explorer rolls off the production line at its new Cologne EV facility, the company is already looking toward its second EV. Ford will reveal its new sports EV crossover soon ahead of production later this year.
The Explorer EV is a five-seat family SUV aimed at the European market. Ford combined classic American design with superior German engineering to create the fully electric mid-size SUV.
Ford’s all-electric Explorer is based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform, the same one used for the ID.4. It’s the first of a 2020 partnership to revamp the Ford brand in the region. With 470 liters of storage and a massive 15″ movable touchscreen (with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support), Ford’s new electric SUV is built for family trips.
The Explorer EV can also fast charge from 10% to 80% in about 25 minutes, allowing you to get back on the road quickly.
Although production was expected to begin before the end of 2023, Ford delayed it last summer to meet new global safety rules.
Ford electric Explorer production (Source: Ford)
Ford’s first all-electric Explorer rolls out of assembly
After re-engineering the new EV with an updated NMC battery, Ford’s electric Explorer is ready to roll out.
Ford announced it started mass production Tuesday at its new dedicated Cologne EV center. The first model to come off the assembly line is Ford’s new all-electric Explorer.
Ford Electric Explorer (Source: Ford)
The Explorer EV is “a better vehicle now than we would have launched half a year ago,” according to Martin Sander, head of Ford’s Europe EV unit. The extra time was used to “get everything nailed down,” Sander explained, “to make sure that we’re delivering a perfect vehicle to our customers.
With a new battery, the electric Explorer can drive over 374 miles (600 km) on a single charge. Kieran Cahill, VP of manufacturing for Ford Europe, said the start of production (SOP) “marks the beginning of a new era for Ford in Europe.”
Ford Electric Explorer interior (Source: Ford)
Ford’s electric Explorer is available in a single-motor RWD and a dual-motor AWD version in Europe.
The single-motor model starts at £45,875 ($58,000), fitted with a 77 kWh battery. Ford’s dual-motor Explorer packs VW’s 335 hp powertrain (used for its sporty GTX models) and a 79 kWh battery. Both are equipped with an extended-range NMC battery.
Ford says a standard-range NMC battery will be available at a later date. Prices are expected to start at around £39,875 ($50,000).
Ford Electric Explorer production (Source: Ford)
The electric Explorer was the first to roll off the assembly line in Cologne, but Ford is already planning its second EV in the region.
Ford said a new sports EV crossover will be revealed shortly ahead of the SOP later this year. After the new EV was spotted testing late last year by Auto Express, the new EV is expected to be an electric Ford Capri. Check back for more on Ford’s new EV soon.
Electrek’s Take
Although Ford’s new Explorer EV is aimed at Europe, the automaker may be missing an opportunity on its home turf.
Larger electric SUVs are selling. For example, Kia had its second best-ever sales month in May in the US as its new three-row EV9 electric SUV gained traction. Kia has sold 7,766 EV9 models through the first five months of the year, nearly topping its first dedicated EV, the EV6, with 8,770 models sold.
Rivian’s R1S was the fourth best-selling EV in the first quarter with a 2.9% market share, just below Ford’s Mustang Mach-E with a 3.5% share.
However, the R1S starts at $74,900 while the Mach-E starts at nearly half that at $39,995. Despite this, Ford is delaying its larger electric SUV in the US as it shifts to smaller, more affordable EVs.
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley doubled down on smaller EVs this week. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Farley said Ford wants to compete with the best. Right now, Ford believes the biggest threat is from Chinese automakers like BYD.
What do you guys think? Would you buy an electric Explorer in the US? Or is Ford right? Smaller EVs are the way to go. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
Tesla has confirmed it has given up on plans to make a Cybertruck range extender to achieve the range it originally promised on the electric pickup truck.
It started refunding deposits for the $16,000 extra battery pack.
When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck in late 2023, two main disappointments were the price and the range.
The tri-motor version, the most popular in reservation tallies before production, was supposed to have over 500 miles of range and start at $70,000.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
Tesla now sells the tri-motor Cybertruck for $100,000 and only has a range of 320 miles.
The dual-motor Cybertruck was supposed to cost $50,000 and have over 300 miles of range. In reality, it starts at $80,000 and has 325 miles of range.
However, Tesla had devised a solution to bring the range closer to what it originally announced: a separate battery pack that sits in the truck’s bed. Tesla called it a “range extender.” It costs $16,000 and takes up a third of the Cybertruck’s bed.
Even though the Cybertruck has been in production for a year and a half, the range extender has yet to launch.
At the time, Tesla also reduced the range that the removable battery pack adds to the Cybertruck to “445+ miles” rather than “470+ miles” for the dual motor – a ~25-mile reduction in range.
Last month, Electrek reported that Tesla has quietly removed the range extender from the Cybertruck online configurator, where buyers could reserve it with a “$2,000 non-refundable deposit.”
At the time, we speculated that Tesla was most likely giving up on the product.
Sure enough, the automaker has now confirmed that it doesn’t plan to produce the range extender.
A Tesla Cybertruck owner contacted Electrek to share communication that Tesla started sending to Cybertruck owners who reserved the range extender, letting them know that the product is dead.
Tesla wrote in the email:
“We are no longer planning to sell the Range Extender for Cybertruck.”
The automaker says that it will start processing refunds for the deposits.
Here’s Tesla’s communication about the Cybertruck range extender in full:
Update to Your Cybertruck Range Extender Order
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for being a Cybertruck owner.
We are no longer planning to sell the Range Extender for Cybertruck. As a result, we will be refunding your deposit in full. The amount will be returned to the original payment method used for the transaction.
Thank you for your understanding.
The Tesla Team
Electrek’s Take
There could be many reasons why Tesla has given up on the product.
The range extender was confirmed to take 30% of the Cybertruck’s bed, and Tesla needed to install and remove it at a service center. Owners couldn’t remove them themselves. I think it was pretty much dead on arrival at $16,000.
But I think it could also be as simple as it’s not worth producing due to demand – both due to insufficient people reserving it and not enough Cybertruck buyers to create a market for the range extender.
Therefore, the range extender is dead for the same reason that the Cybertruck RWD now has the same battery pack as the AWD instead of a smaller pack for less money: the Cybertruck is a commercial flop, and it’s not a high-volume program enough to justify making several battery pack sizes, including a removable one.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) has denied Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi”. which it has been using to refer to its long-promised self-driving vehicles.
CEO Elon Musk has been using the term “robotaxi” for years.
At first, it was to refer to what its existing consumer vehicles (Model S, X, 3, Y and Cybertruck) would become once it finally delivers on its “full self-driving” promises– something that was supposed to happen by the end of every year for the last 6 years.
However, Tesla held its ‘We, Robot’ event in October 2024, where it unveiled two new vehicles, a dedicated robotaxi vehicle and a self-driving ‘Robovan’ – pictured above.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
Musk referred to the dedicated robotaxi vehicle as both a ‘Robotaxi’ and ‘Cybercab’.
Now, Techcrunch reports that USTPO has denied Tesla’s trademark application for being too generic:
Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi” in reference to its vehicles has been refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for being too generic, according to a new filing. Another application by Tesla to trademark the term “Robotaxi” for its upcoming ride-hailing service is still under examination by the office.
USTPO notes that other companies and media have used the term ‘robotaxi” to refer to other self-driving vehicles.
The decision is “non-final”. Tesla can still appeal the decision.
Tesla also saw its trademark application for ‘Cybercab’ halted as USTPO reviews other applications using the term ‘cyber’.
Electrek’s Take
I don’t think Tesla should get a trademark for ‘Robotaxi’. It’s indeed too generic. ‘Cybercab’ should be fine though. If Tesla was able to get Cybertruck, it should be able to get ‘Cybercab’.
I hope the Cybercab works out better for them than the Cybertruck has so far.
But it’s tough to make a steering wheel-less vehicle works if you haven’t solved self-driving.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
California and 16 other states have sued the government for illegally withholding $5 billion in funds that Congress earmarked for EV charging, calling the action “another trump gift to China.”
The federal NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) program was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, pushed for and signed by President Joe Biden.
Among other things, the IIJA dedicated $5 billion in funding to expanding EV chargers, in order to give more Americans access to EV ownership, and allow them to unlock the fuel cost and health savings that EV owners, and communities with high EV penetration, enjoy.
The NEVI program was even the main driver of Tesla opening up its charging port and creating the NACS standard, due to the law’s requirement that federal funding can only go to charging stations that have open access to multiple brands of vehicle. Tesla’s Superchargers used to be open only to Teslas, but after this law passed, Tesla started opening them up to other brands.
So, NEVI is a great program, and it’s helping Americans to save on fuel and maintenance costs, reducing barriers to charging, and making the world cleaner for everyone who breathes air.
So of course, the enemy of America currently occupying the White House (despite there being a clear Constitutional remedy for this crisis) opposes it.
In February, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), at the behest of convicted felon Donald Trump, froze funding for the NEVI program, even though that funding was already allocated by Congress for this purpose. Who knew a felon would break the law?
Now, states are pushing back against the illegal funding freeze, as 17 states, led by California, Colorado and Washington, are suing the FHWA to free up the funds that were allocated to them.
Among those arguments is something we’ve mentioned manytimeshereonElectrek: that republican efforts to diminish the US EV industry are a “gift to China,” who have well and truly taken the lead in the global EV industry, and other countries – particularly the US – are just not doing enough to keep up.
When America retreats, China wins.
President Trump’s illegal action withholding funds for electric vehicle infrastructure is yet another Trump gift to China – ceding American innovation and killing thousands of jobs.
Instead of hawking Teslas on the White House lawn, President Trump could actually help Elon – and the nation – by following the law and releasing this bipartisan funding.
Oddly, despite Mr. Trump’s clear opposition to the well-being of Americans, and particularly to the well-being of the American auto industry, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, perhaps America’s most high-profile auto CEO, donated hundreds of millions of dollars to this anti-EV candidate. He has used tortured logic to claim that raising the price of his products by $7,500 relative to the competition won’t hurt his business, but that’s just wrong.
Pausing that funding not only puts charger plans into chaos (something Musk is no stranger to), it also means that Tesla can’t use money that it created an entire charging standard just to get a piece of.
The lawsuit requests that a court stop Mr. Trump’s illegal actions and permanently halt the FHWA from withholding these funds.
Charge your electric vehicle at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.