Dearborn, Michigan - Ford’s Mustang Cobra Jet is no stranger to the drag strip, but this new one-off asphalt ripper is somewhat different.
While fans are accustomed to hearing the roar of a V8 and the whine of a Whipple supercharger, this new creation will dart off the line in near silence thanks to an all-electric powertrain.
Taking full advantage of the instant torque delivery that such a set-up affords, and here we’re talking 1491 newton-metres, the electric Cobra Jet is said to crush the quarter-mile in the low-8-second range, with an exit speed of more than 270km/h. In power terms, the purpose-built electric powertrain is said to produce more than 1400 horsepower (1044kW).
The electric drag car was designed to honour the original Cobra Jet that first dominated drag strips in the late 1960s, and which was followed up in 2018 by a new-generation equivalent, but the car that you see here also has an eye on the future.
“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,” said Ford’s ‘brand icons’ director Dave Pericak.
Ford motorsport director Mark Rushbrook enthused “This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into.
“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."
The Cobra Jet 1400 is currently undergoing testing and the car is set to make its dynamic debut at a drag racing event later this year.
Watch the teaser video below: