Ford Mach E to share battery with Transit van

MANILA: The much-talked-about Ford Mache-E will be sharing batteries with the upcoming electric Transit van. As a result, the American automaker's cell production line will be operating at its maximum capacity and also help in incurring a profit for each Mach-E sold.

Batteries for both the Mach-E and the Transit van are being manufactured at LG's plant in Poland. The manufacturing facility is has been set up by LG exclusively for producing batteries for Ford.

"Normally we develop each product program with its own market equation, then we see if we can share components. But because the battery is the most expensive part of the car, we looked at the battery cells' optimal costs, and look to see where we can share it across other products. It was the opposite way of thinking", said Ford's head of global powertrain purchasing, Lisa Drake.

Since the Ford Mach-E and Transit will share batteries, the production facility in Poland will run all day on all seven days of the week, and that's what Ford wants to happen in order to keep the cost low. "When you fill a cell line to exact capacity that is your lowest price. You never, ever want it to be idle", added Drake.

Ford uncovered the Mach-E in November 2019 in at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show. The EV will be produced at the Cuautitlan plant in Mexico and Ford aims to build 50,000 units a year. The price in the US starts $ 43,895. As for the electric Transit, the EV van will be up for grabs only in 2021.

Also Read: Ford PH to unveil the 2020 Transit, price starts at Php 2.5 million