Ford's Electric Mach-E Takes First Place in the Inaugural ‘Electric Vehicle of the Year Award'

author: FutureCar Staff    

The 2021 Mach-E.

For an automaker churning out millions of gas-powered vehicles for over 100 years, Ford Motor Company's first mass-market electric vehicle, the Mach-E, represents a big achievement for the company. Now that work has paid off, as the Mach-E has received a coveted new award in the auto industry. 

The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E was honored by Car and Driver with the "Electric Vehicle of the Year Award", beating out some top-rated EV competitors such as Tesla's Model Y Performance, Model 3 Performance and the Audi e-tron.

"We could have made a boring electric vehicle, a compliance vehicle that looks like a dust buster," said Darren Palmer, Ford general manager, battery electric vehicles. "But we decided people need an EV with soul. So we built them an all-electric Mustang SUV that is disrupting the status quo in electric vehicles."

The battery-powered Mach-E was chosen from a lineup of 11 electric vehicles. The EVs were evaluated and rigorously tested by Car and Driver over a three-week period, including a 1,000-mile road trip to evaluate each vehicle in real-world conditions.

"We felt that if a carmaker was looking to convert people from EV skeptics to EV evangelists, there's not a better vehicle out there than the Mustang Mach-E," said Sharon Carty, Car and Driver editor-in-chief. "It's a familiar shape and size of crossover. It's in the sweet spot of what Americans love. It's beautiful. It's a design that gets noticed. It has a range and charging speed that is very competitive."

Car and Driver said it employed instrumented testing, subjective evaluation and side-by-side comparison in both practicality and entertainment value.

The newly created Electric Vehicle of the Year Award award uses the same criteria as Car and Driver's 10 Best Awards. For the electric vehicles evaluated, the criteria included that the vehicle must deliver exceptional driving engagement, offer indisputable value and/or practicality, fulfill its mission better than any of its competitors and, lastly, be fun to drive, which comes easy for the Mach-E.

The standard Mach-E GT offers a 0 to 60 MPH acceleration time of 3.8 seconds. The GT Performance Edition will deliver 480 horsepower with 634 lb.-ft. of torque and 0–60 acceleration time of 3.5 seconds. 

"Mustang Mach-E is the start of what we can do to compete in the EV revolution," said Darren Palmer, Ford general manager, battery electric vehicles. "Its continued success in the form of happy customers, sales and awards are all signs of the momentum we are building. Accolades like the Car and Driver Electric Vehicle of the Year are particularly rewarding for the team who designed this performance battery electric vehicle to be truly fun to drive. It can only get better as we continue to learn from and grow with our customers."

The Mach-E faced tough competition in the group of EVs it was up against. Other contenders for the Electric Vehicle of the Year Award included the Audi e-tron, Kia Niro, Nissan Leaf Plus, Polestar 2, Porsche Taycan 4S PBP, Tesla Model S Long Range Plus, Volkswagen ID.4 and Volvo XC40 Recharge.

In May, Ford kicked off a marketing campaign called "Ocean to Ocean Reimagined", which is a cross country road trip to demonstrate the capabilities and advanced technology of the Mach-E. In total, The Mach-E will travel nearly 6,500 miles across 20 states in a span of 50 days.

FutureCar Staff