Ford showed this week that it’s not going to be as easy for traditional automakers to catch Tesla in the race to build the better electric ve

Ford Mustang Mach-E has a mile of wires it doesn’t need. That’s a big deal

submited by

Style Pass

2023-02-04 17:00:19

Ford showed this week that it’s not going to be as easy for traditional automakers to catch Tesla in the race to build the better electric vehicle, despite what Tesla’s doubters think.

Ford CEO Jim Farley was rather blunt about the problems that Ford experienced as it rolled out its hot EV models, the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning pickup. While both vehicles have a long list of waiting customers, Farley admitted that Ford encountered numerous problems with their production.

“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 [cost an extra] $300 a battery,” he said on a call with investors Thursday. “We didn’t know that we underinvested in braking technology to save on the battery size.”

It’s a sign that those who predicted that Tesla would soon lose its advantage due to increased competition in EV offerings from the established automakers were getting ahead of themselves.