A NASCAR prototype and a Pikes Peak teaser are going to showcase the racing capabilities of Ford’s all-electric Mustang SUV.
Motorsports, it’s one of the crucibles manufacturers use to promote and prove technologies that will eventually make their way into your next road car. Ford used its 2025 Season Launch event to promote two new Mustang Mach-E all-electric SUVs that are destined for the track and the most famous hill climb in the world: Pikes Peak.
The NASCAR EV SUV
NASCAR creating an all-electric series is no longer a secret and is openly developing the car spec that looks like it will be used when it becomes reality. Ford has become the first manufacturer to demonstrate a version with a Mustang Mach-E body. Details are a bit scarce, but the NASCAR prototype uses a triple motor setup (single motor for the front axle, two for the rear axle), a full carbon fiber tub, and a 78-kWh battery pack. These were confirmed last year and the power output to expect will be in the range of 1,341 horsepower that can be tuned to fit both driver and track conditions as well as any parity that NASCAR looks to impose.
An Old Charging Standard?
The video Ford showed during the debut shared a few more details like it using a J1772-CCS combo charging port. That is an interesting choice as nearly every EV manufacturer is going to the North American Charging Standard (NACS) or also known as the “Tesla charger port.” I wonder how long that will last, but the J1772-CCS is designed to be capable of higher kW charge rates than the Tesla Supercharger. At least up to the current Version 3 charger. Supercharger Version 4 is set to work with 800-volt systems up to 1.2 MegaWatts of charging output and only are just starting to roll out in mass.
Common Body Panels, But Still a Unique Look
You can also see that the Mach-E NASCAR prototype is like the current NASCAR Cup car design. That’s not by accident as NextGen was intended to use a variety of powertrains, including all-electric. This was revealed in July of last year with the NASCAR EV Prototype but using a common-design body—a similar approach by NASCAR when it was testing the now Generation Seven Cup car. Just like the current Cup car, the NASCAR SUV EV will utilize common components in the roof, wing, diffuser, and body sides, but the windows, nose, and tail panels will be unique to each manufacturer, if the Ford Mach-E prototype is anything to go by.
A New Pikes Peak Car for Romain Dumas
Finally, Ford had another trick up its sleeve for the Mach-E. For the 2025 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Romain Dumas is returning with Ford in a Mach-E over the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck they used last year. Despite a hiccup that stopped the truck just after the start, Dumas was still able to top the charts and take the win during the 2024 running. This year, the Mach-E will be the vehicle of choice for the mountain with the current King of the Mountain behind the wheel. Other than the wings, fender rails, and a lit up galloping horse emblem on the nose, Ford’s mum on what’s going on.
The video showcased a few other tiny details like a set of vents on the hood forward of the windshield, a set of giant flared fenders, just how low the nose is relative to the road model, Pirelli racing slicks, and the Mach-E tail panel with a diamond-ish shaped grille between the taillights. It’s hard to tell, but there appears to be some sort of vent or aerodynamic treatment on the rear portion of the roof. This could be for some sort of cooling, or it could assist with making the wing work properly on the SUV body style of the Mach-E.
There’s no word on the motor setup, battery power, or any other details. If there’s any similarity to it and the SuperTruck, I expect a set of Stard six-phase motors and lithium polymer cell batteries again. The presenter and Dumas did hint at more power, so maybe there’s a four-motor setup this year over the triple motor. I expect to hear more around mid-June as that was around the same time as we got more information on SuperTruck.
Before You Go
I want to encourage you to support me on Patreon. Carbage is going to be hitting it hard this year and I need your help to bring you awesome coverage and content all year long. All you need to do to support Carbage is donate as little as $1 per month. That little amount makes a dramatic difference when more people support the site. You can also sign up to receive more stories on the site to know when they go live, comment, and get exclusive access to our Discord and other unique features to help me create more stories like this, videos, and more.
Member discussion: