The unique 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E employed motors from completely different suppliers for its entrance and rear axle drive programs, with one module incomes accolades for its simplicity and the opposite being criticized for its complexity.
When technical analyst Sandy Munro tore down a Mach-E, he was effusive in his reward for the Magna-supplied entrance motor’s design, however he was not impressed by the sophisticated BorgWarner resolution for the rear motor.
Ford took notice of that criticism whereas additionally fielding buyer requests for sooner acceleration from the automobile that’s flying the Mustang banner into the electrical age, defined Mustang Mach-E chief engineer Donna Dickson in a chat with Design Information.
Following the Mach-E’s launch, Ford sought the opinions of its prospects to press a quick program of enhancements that might be made within the first three years, mentioned Dickson. One portion of that effort has been the addition of the All the time On service in 2023 that lets drivers ship recorded voice feedback to the engineering staff proper from their automobile.
What they heard was that whereas the Mach-E was fast, it wasn’t fast sufficient to correctly defend the consideration of the Mustang badge it wears. “We heard, “We wish higher efficiency. And we positively need a greater quarter-mile time.” The brand new mannequin shaves 0.6 seconds off the quarter-mile time, attaining 11.8 seconds in top-of-the-line GT Efficiency Improve trim.
Ford’s in-house eMotor, as used within the F-150 Lightning. FORD
One strategy to accomplish that will be to substitute Ford’s personal in-house electrical motor utilized by the F-150 Lightning for the BorgWarner-supplied rear motor. The Lightning’s motor is lighter and makes extra torque (387 lb.-ft vs. 317 lb.-ft.), giving prospects the efficiency they sought. This whittles 0-60 acceleration to five.6 seconds for the bottom rear-motor-only mannequin, in comparison with 5.8 seconds earlier than.
Changing the BorgWarner drive motor would tackle Munro’s criticisms of that drive unit. Additionally, by growing the manufacturing quantity of the in-house motor, Ford may enhance the economies of scale of the bought elements it makes use of to construct the motors, lowering prices, Dickson defined. “We knew it was going to be a greater resolution for us,” she mentioned.
The BorgWarner-supplied rear motor utilized in 2021-’23 Mustang Mach-Es. BORGWARNER
A greater resolution, however not a easy one. That’s as a result of the Ford eMotor is formed otherwise than the motor used initially within the Mach-E. The Ford motor may match, however not effectively. That’s as a result of the mounting factors are completely different and its form interfered with fasteners for different essential components just like the rear suspension toe hyperlinks and decrease management arms.
“It was fairly tough, placing it in after we launched [with the BorgWarner motor],” Dickson recalled. “It’s a completely different form and becoming it into our bundle with the subframe was tough.”
Engineers from a wide range of areas huddled to handle the difficulty. “We spent a month with a cross-functional staff to suit it in throughout a month of workshops figuring out what we may do, 3D printing components to mock up the match,” she mentioned. “From there it was solely a 16-month growth program.”
The staff knew it was attainable to suit the 1T50L variant of the Lightning’s motor into the Mach-E as a result of the corporate was already utilizing one other model, the 1T40L in Chinese language-market Mach-Es, mentioned Dickson. The distinction is that the U.S. manufacturing facility is anticipated to run at a quick tempo utilizing automation, whereas the Chinese language plant can run extra slowly utilizing extra handbook labor that may address difficult entry to fasteners.
“They didn’t have a number of jobs per hour so they might put sources on it to suit it in,” Dickson mentioned. “We needed to stick with automation and never have or not it’s handbook within the plant.” Because it has turned out, utilizing the Ford motor continues to be a little bit of a producing headache, however not a lot as to constrain manufacturing pace, she mentioned. Seller service technicians will probably be pleased to know that the change makes no distinction to the serviceability of the automobile.
The Ford motor is an oil-cooled everlasting magnet synchronous section coil-wound motor, whereas the BorgWarner unit employed hairpin windings like we’ve seen in Rivian’s electrical motor. The motor is oil-cooled with coolant from the skin passing by way of the inverter to a warmth exchanger that cools the oil used contained in the housing.
Munro’s excessive estimation of the Magna entrance motor design might be a sign of Ford’s satisfaction with that motor as a result of Dickson mentioned the corporate has no plans to interchange the Mach-E’s entrance motors with in-house models.
