Ford Explorer EV

Author
Discussion

Mammasaid

Original Poster:

4,321 posts

104 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
I've threatened to do this so here goes, I've got my anti-EV flame suit buttoned up and gone and leased a new Ford Explorer EV.

It's an Extended Range Select rwd in Rapid Red and it arrived this morning.





Any questions fire away.

One little nugget though, it's on staggered wheels, 235 front and 255 rear. I don't know of any 'normal' car with that outside of say a 911 or the like.

Martyn76

716 posts

124 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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Looks great in the red!

Re the staggered setup my old BMW 330d was on a staggered setup, I'd imagine it is to do with it being RWD?

Didge3

67 posts

87 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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Think lots of BMWs have staggered wheels, my E46 certainly did, 225 up front and 245 rear if memory serves correctly.

Scoobydrew95

298 posts

26 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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I feel when they did the original ad marketing 6+ months ago, to recently, they had to heavily reword some of their spiel but i can't remember to why and what.
However, this looks far greater then the retched Mustang. Hope it's living up to expectation? Any User interface gripes yet?

normalbloke

7,712 posts

226 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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sutoka

4,702 posts

115 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
Soulless, dull, boring, that's a few simple terms I'd use for it.

jezhumphrey75

254 posts

155 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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lease? nobody would want to own it lol

Calza

2,044 posts

122 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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I had one of these for 4 days in America and thought it was a really nice car.

Do the UK ones have the weird code in the doors too? That stumped me!

Martyn76

716 posts

124 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
Calza said:
I had one of these for 4 days in America and thought it was a really nice car.

Do the UK ones have the weird code in the doors too? That stumped me!
Not legal in the UK\EU I think, not sure what scenario the door code is used in, leaving your car running while you are in the house?

GM182

1,314 posts

232 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
I had a look at one of these today. I wasn't intending to, actually checking out a second hand Kia EV6, but sales guy wanted to steer me back to Ford obvs. I quite liked it. Chunky styling, decent specs and the interior felt more luxurious than any other Ford I've sat in.
Congratulations on your new car. I look forward to hearing about it as it's on my short-list.

Earthdweller

14,385 posts

133 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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The front looks like a character from the film "Cars" and the rear like a citroen C4 picasso

Luke.

11,203 posts

257 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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Martyn76 said:
Not legal in the UK\EU I think, not sure what scenario the door code is used in, leaving your car running while you are in the house?
Pretty sure the UK Mustang has the door keypad thing too.

Mammasaid

Original Poster:

4,321 posts

104 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
Martyn76 said:
Looks great in the red!

Re the staggered setup my old BMW 330d was on a staggered setup, I'd imagine it is to do with it being RWD?
I would say so, it just surprised me, but it helps get the power down driving

Scoobydrew95 said:
I feel when they did the original ad marketing 6+ months ago, to recently, they had to heavily reword some of their spiel but i can't remember to why and what.
However, this looks far greater then the retched Mustang. Hope it's living up to expectation? Any User interface gripes yet?
Not at such, however it's early days, still learning it. However I do like the slidey screen biggrin

normalbloke said:
Ha Ha!

Calza said:
I had one of these for 4 days in America and thought it was a really nice car.

Do the UK ones have the weird code in the doors too? That stumped me!
Different car (same name), it's based on the VW MEB platform, but Fordised, if that make sense.

GM182 said:
I had a look at one of these today. I wasn't intending to, actually checking out a second hand Kia EV6, but sales guy wanted to steer me back to Ford obvs. I quite liked it. Chunky styling, decent specs and the interior felt more luxurious than any other Ford I've sat in.
Congratulations on your new car. I look forward to hearing about it as it's on my short-list.
So far I've done around 100 miles and range works out at over 300 miles, it may well increase once it's run in. Very comfy though, and quiet, even on the motorway.

andy43

10,589 posts

261 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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Our Honda E has staggered tyre sizes so there are EVs out there with them.
Looks nice. Not sure the Explorer name is applicable though… the entire Himalayan mountain range has no fast chargers.

samoht

6,286 posts

153 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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Looks good in red, how does it drive?


On the tyre sizes, ordinary petrol cars have the heaviest component, the engine, mounted ahead of the front wheels. This gives a front-heavy weight distribution (55-60% perhaps). Thus under lateral load, given equal size tyres front and rear, the front tyres will tend to deflect more from the chosen line, giving stability / understeer, as the fronts have more mass to turn.

Most EVs have the heaviest component, the battery, mounted centrally under the occupants. This gives close to a 50/50 weight distribution. (VW states near 50/50 for the closely related ID4). This means that if you fitted equal size tyres, absent any other tuning the tyres would deflect equally at front and rear under equal forces. Put a couple of cases of wine in the boot and you could end up with an unstable car.

The wider rear tyres on your Explorer will deflect less from their line per unit of lateral force than the narrower fronts, thus ensuring stability. This is also why things like 911s have wider rear tyres.

TheDrownedApe

1,208 posts

63 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
Great looking car, enjoy. Is the central screen thingy a gimmick or genuinely useful?

Thankfully the thread isn't full of "those types" saying an EV car is soulless, dull or boring; it's a car, the same as any other.

NomadicTurbo

873 posts

81 months

Tuesday 3rd September
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One of my colleagues pulled up next to me in the carpark in one of these, I wasn't sure what it was at first but I liked the look of it


Silvanus

6,041 posts

30 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
Mammasaid said:
I've threatened to do this so here goes, I've got my anti-EV flame suit buttoned up and gone and leased a new Ford Explorer EV.

It's an Extended Range Select rwd in Rapid Red and it arrived this morning.





Any questions fire away.

One little nugget though, it's on staggered wheels, 235 front and 255 rear. I don't know of any 'normal' car with that outside of say a 911 or the like.
From that rear angle it looks like a Ssangyong Tivoli XLV


Mammasaid

Original Poster:

4,321 posts

104 months

Tuesday 3rd September
quotequote all
samoht said:
Looks good in red, how does it drive?


On the tyre sizes, ordinary petrol cars have the heaviest component, the engine, mounted ahead of the front wheels. This gives a front-heavy weight distribution (55-60% perhaps). Thus under lateral load, given equal size tyres front and rear, the front tyres will tend to deflect more from the chosen line, giving stability / understeer, as the fronts have more mass to turn.

Most EVs have the heaviest component, the battery, mounted centrally under the occupants. This gives close to a 50/50 weight distribution. (VW states near 50/50 for the closely related ID4). This means that if you fitted equal size tyres, absent any other tuning the tyres would deflect equally at front and rear under equal forces. Put a couple of cases of wine in the boot and you could end up with an unstable car.

The wider rear tyres on your Explorer will deflect less from their line per unit of lateral force than the narrower fronts, thus ensuring stability. This is also why things like 911s have wider rear tyres.
Thanks for the explanation, it tickled me a bit and as it's fully maintained, I'm not worrying too much about tyre wear.

It drives like a rwd car, decent turn in and you can feel being pushed on acceleration, if you know what I mean. I regularly drive front, rear and awd vehicles and this feels very planted and doesn't feel its weight.

The screen is a bit gimmicky, however it is useful to move it to eliminate glare and of course the area under the screen is useful for storing sunglasses, etc.

Oh, and I like the puddle lamps


Tractor Driver

141 posts

37 months

Wednesday 4th September
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Currently running a Kuga PHEV as a company car, with replacement imminent. The Explorer EV was a potential candidate, as the Kuga has gone about its business over the past 3.5 years without fuss or drama and I’ve enjoyed driving it.

Like how Ford have improved on the ID.4 on which it’s based and achieved better efficiency too. Rear wheel drive is appealing, though I was put off by the haptic steering wheel controls and the VAG (and now Ford too!) policy of wanting another ~£1k for a heat pump.

With sal sac company cars they always say ‘chase the deal’ and the Renault Scenic E-Tech was considerably cheaper on my work scheme, with quicker delivery times, so I’ve pressed go on ordering one of those.

Enjoy the Explorer and I’ll read with interest how you get on with it. You weren’t tempted by the Capri version then?!