Ford has electrified one other basic Blue Oval badge. This time it’s the Explorer, which has been reinvented as a battery-powered SUV for Europe the place it should share showroom area with the Mustang Mach-e.

If it appears odd that Ford now has two similarly-sized, five-seat, electrical SUVs for the European market, what’s even stranger is that they’re fully unrelated. As a substitute of spinning the Explorer from the Mach-E platform, Ford created its latest SUV by pairing with Volkswagen. Beneath that square-jawed exterior there’s an VW ID.4’s MEB platform.

Not that your common European driver would guess even when the 2 drove by in convoy, or if he had the possibility to poke about inside each SUVs. Ford avoids the ID.4’s curves for a a lot harder, squarer look that higher matches with the Explorer identify. There are refined styling references to the North American Explorer, which Europe (however not the UK) receives as a PHEV, together with the C-pillar remedy and the design of the tail lamps.

Squint a bit and also you would possibly even see echoes within the entrance finish, although clearly being an EV, the infant Explorer will get a clean nostril with no grille. However tug open the door to climb behind the wheel and also you’ll discover that the Explorer EV seems to owe extra to the Mach-E than it does to both the ICE Explorer or ID.4.

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There’s the compulsory freestanding digital instrument cluster past a chunky, vaguely sq. steering wheel, however the true focus of the inside is the large 14.6-inch portrait touchscreen. However that’s about the place the similarity with the Mach-E’s cabin ends as a result of the Explorer’s touchscreen is housed inside the primary dashboard, quite than floating in entrance of it. The display screen can also be canted backward, and might even be moved to account for drivers of various heights, and there’s a safe area behind it for storing valuables.

There’s additionally no bodily rotary controller poking by means of the underside of the display screen as there’s within the electrical Mustang, and the broad middle console (which provides sufficient stowage area for a 15-inch laptop computer) appears to be like extra like one thing you’d discover in a conventional combustion-powered SUV quite than the open-plan design you get in lots of EVs, together with the VW ID.4.

Underneath the pores and skin, after all, the Explorer shares loads with the ID.4. Ford’s press information was disappointingly gentle on technical element, and didn’t define which of the VW powertrain and battery choices the Explorer would take, however Auto Specific says the Explorer vary will begin with a 168 hp (170 PS) mannequin powered by a single motor and 52 kWh battery that provides 218 miles (351 km) of vary, however can solely cost at 130 kW.

Different choices embrace a 228 hp (231 PS) single motor mated to a 77 kWh battery that prices at 170 kW and might take the Explorer 335 miles (539 km), whereas the quickest mannequin is a dual-motor AWD model rated at 335 hp (340 PS) with a spread of 305 miles (491 km).

The Explorer additionally brings new know-how to the model’s European lineup, together with Assisted Lane Change and likewise Clear Exit Help, which offers warnings about approaching cyclists when parked. Different devices fitted as customary embrace a driver’s therapeutic massage seat, dual-zone local weather management, keyless entry, and a hands-free energy tailgate.

Although there’s loads we nonetheless don’t know concerning the Explorer, together with how a lot it should value when orders open later this yr, it appears to be like like a very sturdy proposition, and much more fascinating to our thoughts than the mechanically comparable Volkswagen ID.4. And this isn’t the top of Ford’s EV assault on the European market. The Explorer can even be adopted by a sportier EV once more primarily based on the VW MEB platform, and a good smaller Puma EV constructed from Ford’s personal EV platform.

What do you consider the Explorer EV? Would you are taking this over an ID.4? And when you’re in North America, do you would like Ford would provide the Explorer to U.S. drivers? Go away a remark and tell us.