Ford builds a 1,400hp electric Mustang drag racer
The battery-powered Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype is purpose-built and projected to deliver over 1,400 horsepower and over 1,100 ft.-lbs. of instant torque to demonstrate the capabilities of an electric powertrain in one of the most demanding race environments. [credit: Ford ]
If you want to go from a standstill to very fast as quickly as possible, there's nothing quite like an electric motor. They're compact, powerful, efficient, and they can make all their torque almost instantly, so they're pretty darn good at drag racing. Which is convenient for automakers who still need to convince 98 percent of American car buyers that battery electrics are worth a look, given the emotional resonance of the quarter-mile among the nation's car enthusiasts. That's why Ford Performance has put together the Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype.
"This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into. We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 project as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race car package that we already had a lot of experience with, so we had performance benchmarks we wanted to match and beat right now. This has been a fantastic project to work on, and we hope the first of many coming from our team," said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports.
The specs make the Mustang Shelby GT500 we tested last year seem pretty tame. The Cobra Jet packs more than a megawatt of power (1,400hp) and 1500Nm (1,100lb-ft) of torque, with its electric motor and inverters supplied by Cascadia Motion, which also builds high-end electric motors and control hardware for race cars in F1, Formula E, Le Mans, and Pikes Peak. The powertrain software comes from well-known AEM, which recently added a new line of performance EV systems to its range of motorsport and tuning products.
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