If there’s anything the EV world badly needs, it’s more electric SUVs and crossovers. So the plug-in press is greedily devouring Ford’s new photos showing a prototype of the automaker’s promised electric crossover.
The new “Mustang-inspired” model will be Ford’s first native electric vehicle. The crossover is expected to have a range of 300 miles, and is being billed as a competitor for Tesla’s Model Y. It’s slated to arrive in showrooms in the fall of 2020, about the time Model Y is expected to drop.
The new photos and video show the prototype undergoing winter testing at the Smithers Winter Test Facility, where the battery was put through its paces at temperatures down to -40° F. Ford released the winter shots as part of a new campaign to “debunk EV myths,” one of which is that EVs don’t perform well in cold weather.
An effort from a major automaker to educate consumers about EVs is another thing that’s sorely needed. Ford’s new Electric Learning Zone addresses other common misconceptions. A Ford survey revealed that, while most respondents expect EVs to replace legacy cars in the near future, many think they can’t be trusted in bad weather or emergencies, and many believe EVs are slower, and have no towing capabilities (Ford’s got the answer to that one, too).