Zac Quinn 
EV cars are excellent for clearing your conscious when it comes to vehicle emissions if you’re concerned about that sort of thing. Sure they have a lot of torque, and the Tesla Model S Plaid is a fantastic demonstration of how fast they can be. But according to top Ford performance engineer Carl Widmann, there’s still a lot to be desired when it comes to electric performance cars.
Ford Performance: Testing The Competition
Widmann was in Australia to review the deployment progress of the Ranger Raptor. According to EV Central, he made it very clear he wasn’t a fan of the driving character of electric vehicles. Wildmann oversees the development of Ford’s most aggressive road vehicles at Ford Performance which includes the Mustang GT350 and supercharged GT500. However, he stated that he and his team have been working to figure out how to give EVs some character.
Ford is heading down a path of electrification, putting pressure on Widmann and his crew to produce some exciting EVs. Ford already sells the Mustang Mach-E, which offers some pretty quick 0-60 numbers, but it misses substance as there’s no roar from a V8 engine when accelerating. Widmann revealed that Ford Performance has sampled some high-performance vehicles and noted that the Porsche Taycan “is getting close,” but for the price, “you can buy two GT500s for that.”
He was less complimentary when asked to assess the Tesla Model S Plaid and opted to pass on his commentary on the car. Ford Performance plans to evaluate the BMW i4 next as they work to understand what is out there and if anyone is able to deliver the great experience that comes with a performance car. The engine noise is a significant factor working against EVs, along with the loss of gear-changing and the longer wheelbase needed to accommodate batteries.
