Ford has shown off this, the Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 'factory drag racer' which boasts a ridiculously powerful electric powertrain.
1,400hp and 1,500Nm of torque
In fact the Mustang Cobra Jet (named for a classic high-powered V8 modification from the 1960s) has an electric powertrain that develops a frankly insane 1,400hp and almost 1,500Nm of torque. Sadly, though, it's not for road driving (awwwwww...) but is a prototype drag racer, and has been developed to: "demonstrate the capabilities of an electric powertrain in one of the most demanding race environments."
"Ford has always used motorsport to demonstrate innovation," said Dave Pericak, Global Director, Ford Icons. "Electric powertrains give us a completely new kind of performance and the all-electric Cobra Jet 1400 is one example of pushing new technology to the absolute limit. We're excited to showcase what's possible in an exciting year when we also have the all-electric Mustang Mach-E joining the Mustang family."
Named for a sixties drag strip hero
The original Cobra Jet V8 engine, introduced in 1968, was a strengthened standard Mustang 428-cubic inch (7.0-litre) V8 engine with a Holley four-barrel carburettor. It dominated the darg strip scene for decades after, and that's what Ford is trying to achieve again, while also promoting its new and future electric car lineup.
"This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into," said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. "We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 project as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race car package that we already had a lot of experience with, so we had performance benchmarks we wanted to match and beat right now. This has been a fantastic project to work on, and we hope the first of many coming from our team at Ford Performance Motorsports."
Expert suppliers contributed to the project
It's not just a Ford project either - the Blue Oval has teamed up with a group of specialist suppliers to build the Cobra Jet, including MLe Racecars, Watson Engineering (which built the chassis and the roll-cage), AEM EV (which provided the software to manage the electric motors), and Cascadia (which supplied the motors and inverters).