While many may not consider the Mach-E to be a “true Mustang,” the fact of the matter is that Ford attached the name to it. Perhaps because of this, the blue oval has seen significant sales of the electric SUV, despite the segment filling up rapidly as manufacturers are starting to get their feet wet in the EV market. In fact, the EV SUV segment has become not just an EV segment, but the EV segment where the fiercest competition resides.
Consider that for the longest time, the only “true” EV SUV was the Tesla Model Y. Now, there is the Mach-E, the VW ID.4, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6, and with the recent addition of the Macan EV SUV from Porsche, it will be even more competitive in 2025. The question comes up, then: Which of all of these are the best? More poignantly, how does the Mustang Mach-E hold up to each of these competitors?
Today, we’ll investigate just where the Mach-E wins, loses, or comes to a draw with all the other EV SUVs of significance on the market.
The Mach-E vs Its Biggest Competition
Sales Numbers
Despite the Mach-E selling well, moving a total of over 70,000 units globally in 2023, with over 40,000 in the US alone, it still pales in comparison to the big T. The Tesla Model Y shipped no less than 1.22 million units in 2023 around the globe.
In terms of domestic sales in the USA last year, the numbers are:
- Tesla Model Y: 385,897
- Ford Mustang Mach-E: 40,771
- Hyundai Ioniq 5: 33,918
- VW ID.4: 28,031
- Kia EV6: 18,879
Range
Aside from price, the biggest thing consumers want to know about their EVs is the range estimate. “Range anxiety” is an actual term in the EV space, and is partially why the sales of hybrid cars has shot up in the past three years as they combine EV tech with ICE reliability.
In terms of the Mach-E, depending realistically on how you drive it, it does score a decent win here against all of its competitors save the Model Y, which it draws with. The Mach-E quotes over 300 miles expected range with “normal” use for all models save the Select, which quotes 275 miles. The Mach-E GT comes in at 310 miles estimated.
However, remember that environmental factors, terrain, even road conditions can affect range, such as needing to use the heater on a colder day. Though it is extremely slight, even driving in the rain and the hydrodynamic drag that pushes against the tires as they push the water out of the way can affect actual range.
In terms of average range estimates and the maximum if optioned for long range batteries and other range-boosting features, the numbers are:
- Tesla Model Y: 310 to 330 miles (Max 355 miles with options)
- Ford Mustang Mach-E: 310 to 320 miles (Max 370 miles with options)
- Kia EV6: 282 miles (Max 330 miles with options)
- VW ID.4: 263 miles (Max 326 miles with options)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5: 220 miles (Max 370 miles with significant options)
Charging
Naturally, how fast an EV can charge is part of relieving range anxiety. This is one area where the Mustang Mach-E falls well short of other competitors, as it utilizes an older (but more reliable) 400V internal network. The Model Y, Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 all utilize an 800V internal network, which allows for faster charging and much more throughput of sheer electrical power.
For charging speed, we decided that it was best to compare the maximum charge power that each SUV could handle instead of the overall speed of charging. This is because almost every EV has options to have bigger batteries or optimized internal power networks, so going off of the pure maximum charge power seemed to be the fairest, in kiloWatts. As well, these rates are at charging stations, not at home charging.
The numbers are:
- Tesla Model Y: 350 kW
- Kia EV6: 235 kW (350 kW with optional adapter)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5: 225 kW (350 kW with optional adapter)
- Ford Mustang Mach-E: 150 kW
- VW ID.4: 140 kW
Self-Driving Technology (Autonomous Driving)
One of the most interesting aspects of EVs is that they, so far, have been the flag-bearers for pushing towards autonomous driving technology. Self-driving cars are definitely something that almost every automotive market analyst sees coming in 30 to 40 years, but until we get there, we still have some partial autonomy today.
The market leader is without competition Tesla’s Autopilot system. It is the most mature, has had the longest development, and is therefore the standard that all competitors aspire to beat. Ford has definitely invested into their own self-driving technology with BlueCruise, which has an argument for being pretty damned close to Autopilot, although it does suffer in a few areas.
The biggest advantage of BlueCruise is that it is considered a true hands-off self driving technology. Tesla’s Autopilot used to be fully hands off, until news stories showing drivers completely asleep at the wheel, or reading the newspaper, or generally not being aware of their surroundings started to circulate. This caused Tesla to require at least one hand on the wheel at all times, in the case that human intervention is needed.
BlueCruise will still monitor the driver to make sure they’re awake and aware, and if you aren’t paying attention or its sensors are blocked, it will beep at you to get your attention. However, it does not require a hand on the wheel. Where it doesn’t quite match up to Autopilot is that BlueCruise has been known to miss registering pedestrians and disrespecting lights, sometimes wanting to move off when facing a red light. As with all newer technologies, there are bugs to work out, which is why the much more mature Autopilot handily wins in driver assistance.
As well, both Autopilot and BlueCruise require an active subscription to be activated, which is one area that Ford wins out against Tesla. Ford has options for multi-year, single-year, half-year, or monthly fees, with the monthly being the most expensive at $75/mth. Tesla has either a single-year or monthly fee, with the monthly coming in at $99/mth. Tesla does have the slight advantage in that more of the country is mapped into the system, but both will receive constant over the air updates to their maps. It is one of those things where the subscription fee both pays for access to the service as well as pays to have scanning vehicles out there adding thousands of miles to the maps every month.
It definitely is worth noting that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6 both have “Hyundai Driver Assist,” or HDA, which is similar to what is on most modern cars. It is not a self-driving technology, and is much more a lane-keeping assistant, radar-guided cruise control, rear cross-traffic avoidance, and the like. VW, meanwhile, is bypassing the human monitored self-driving entirely and betting the farm on VW Sedric, a Level 4 autonomous driving system that does not require human supervision, only a human in the driver’s seat in case of a system issue. The first vehicle that will come with the technology is a new version of the VW microbus that will be EV and called the ID.Buzz.
Top Spec Performance: 0 to 60
It took a while to get there, but one thing that Mustangs are known for is their 0 to 60 times. Drag racing is part and parcel of the pony car heritage, and so it definitely is worth investigating which of these EV SUVs will be able to race between the lights the fastest.
To keep things as fair as possible, we are comparing only the top specs of each model. These are the Model Y AWD Performance, the Mustang Mach-E GT AWD, the Ioniq 5 Preferred Long Range AWD, the Kia EV6 GT AWD, and the VW ID.4 Pro S AWD.
While this might surprise a few of you with which car is the fastest, the numbers are:
- Kia EV6 GT AWD: 3.2 seconds
- Ford Mustang Mach-E GT AWD: 3.3 seconds
- Tesla Model Y AWD Performance: 3.6 seconds
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 PLR AWD: 4.4 seconds
- VW ID.4 Pro S AWD: 5.4 seconds
Pricing
Now we arrive at one of the biggest factors regarding EVs, that of price. While price drops have been happening over the past few years, it is only in 2024 that we have seen EV prices drop to respectably close to ICE vehicle levels. At least, that is, for the base or standard trims. The more options you put on, prices can get quite ridiculous very quickly.
It is because of these price slashes across the entire EV market that it is becoming a fiercely competitive area. For the longest time, the Mach-E was one of the least expensive EV SUVs, but with Tesla recently slashing prices, other manufacturers have followed suit. This has, surprisingly, made the Mach-E one of the more expensive options for SUVs, although Ford has hinted that a price drop is coming at some point before 2025.
For now, as of September 2024 and not factoring any EV rebates or government initiatives, the prices are:
- Tesla Model Y: $31,490 to $37,990
- VW ID.4 Pro S AWD: $39,735 to $53,875
- Ford Mustang Mach-E GT AWD: $39,995 to $58,995
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 PLR AWD: $41,800 to $59,400
- Kia EV6 GT AWD: $42,600 to $61,600
The Mustang Mach-E: A Viable EV SUV
While it’s not all things to all men, the Mach-E has carved out a specific and respectable part of the EV market for itself. It’s fast, it’s spacious, it has good range, and it can also be considered stylish. It does fall a bit flat on its charging power limitations and being somewhat pricey. However, each of its main competitors also have their own pros and cons.
The Kia EV6 is hilariously fast, but it’s also tiny compared to the Mach-E. The Model Y is the most sold EV SUV out there, but it has had a few instances of build quality issues. The ID.4 is new to the market, so it still needs to establish itself. The list goes on, but the key point is that the Mach-E does have an audience and it is selling, even with the EV sales downturn of the past couple of years.
So, how does the Mach-E fare against its main competitors? Overall, better than we had originally thought. We were expecting it to be considered mostly a small consideration, yet it turns out that it’s the second most sold EV SUV around the world for 2023, and is on trend in 2024 to do even better than it did last year. Maybe there is a certain something about naming it a Mustang after all…
