The Europe-only Ford Explorer has finally gone on sale months after it was initially scheduled to appear, but it looks like it might have been worth the wait. Ford has revealed prices for the VW ID.4-based SUV, which starts from a tempting sub-£40k ($51k), making it more affordable than both its VW cousin and the market-leading Tesla Model Y.
The caveat here is that your £39,875 only buys you one 168 hp (171 PS) motor and a small 52 kWh battery as fitted to the entry-level ID.4 and likely to deliver a driving range of fewer than 230 miles (370 km). And that base model won’t even be available until the final quarter of this year.
But it still means that if you’re patient, in every sense, you can get into an Explorer for less than you’d pay for both a bottom-rung ID.4 or a Tesla Model Y – though not the £38,970 Skoda Enyaq 60 which also uses the MEB platform. The Model Y starts at £44,990 in the UK, but offers a 0-62 mph (100km/h) in 6.6 seconds, making it much faster than the Ford, and has a longer 283-mile (455 km) range.
Related: Ford Turns VW ID.4 Into Explorer EV For Europe
But for only slightly more than what the base Model Y costs, Ford will sell you an Extended Range Explorer that’s faster and goes further on a full charge. Using the same combination of 77 kWh battery and 282 hp (286 PS) single motor as the recently upgraded ID.4, the Extended Range gets to 62 mph in 6.4 seconds and can cover a massive 374 miles (602 km) on a single charge.
Faster again, but less useful for covering long distances, is the Extended Range AWD, which is essentially Ford’s version of the ID.4 GTX but with newer battery tech, one of the reasons for its production delay. Its bi-motor drivetrain shares 335 hp (340 PS) out between all four wheels and gets it to 62 mph in 5.3 seconds, though the 111 mph (180 km/h) top speed is the same as for the rear-drive Explorer.
The battery is fractionally bigger though – 79 kWh vs 77 kWh – and the DC charge rate is upped from 135 to 185 kW, cutting the 10-80 percent fill time from 28 to 26 minutes. On the downside, the extra weight of the AWD system pegs the range back to a less impressive 329 miles (529 km). A Tesla Model Y Long Range just noses ahead with its 331-mile (533 km) range, and it’ll also beat the Explorer from the lights, getting to 62 mph in 5.0 seconds, but at £52,990 ($67k) it’s not cheap.
Ford isn’t saying whether its bi-motor EV will undercut the Model Y LR, but the fact that the ID.4 GTX currently costs £54,205 and its mechanically identical Skoda Enyaq vRS stickers at £53,120 suggests it might not.
