At the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, an iconic Ford Mustang was on display for all to see. The shiny black car looked just like any ‘American muscle’ car that growls loudly and consumes gasoline like water, but look a little closer and you notice the words ‘Charge EV prototype’ written on the side. Indeed, it is an electric car.
In what might be considered a monstrosity to classic car lovers, a British startup by the name Charge is taking the classic 1960s Mustang design and replacing the roaring engine within in it a powerful electric one that doesn’t make a peep. The question is: why make electric cars using the inefficient design of the Ford Mustang?
Well, Charge knew it would be a head-turning project. The car’s enormous size, though, also made it easier to squeeze in all of the necessary EV components. An old Jaguar E-Type or Mini would have been considerably harder to pull off. There is, of course, one huge advantage to owning Charge’s Mustang over the 1960s original: reliability. People who love classic cars can simply enjoy almost all the things that make the Mustang unique without having to get the muscle car repaired all the time.
While a startup that makes muscle cars with electric motors isn’t going to make a huge impact on the environment, it does the show just how far automakers are going to convince people to switch to electric.
