The future of drag racing could soon be electric, as more EV makers are building quick machines with oodles of power and insane acceleration to demonstrate their capabilities in short sprints. The latest to throw its hat in the ring is Ford, which says its Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype blazed through a quarter-mile in just 8.27 seconds.
The company claims its dragster hit a blistering 168 mph (270 kmph) with a peak power output of 1,502 hp. That’s thanks to “four PN-250-DZR inverters coupled to a pair of DS-250-115s, giving four motors total and spinning at up to 10,000 revolutions per minute.” This kind of power also required Ford to develop a control algorithm specifically for the Cobra Jet 1400, as well as tune the chassis just so.
That should make the likes of Tesla and Lucid Motors nervous, if only for bragging rights on the track. The latter recently claimed its Air electric sedan, set to debut next week, can run a quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds with its 1,080 hp engine.
You can watch a promo-ey clip of the Cobra Jet 1400 prototype above (hit the play button at the top of this post); it’ll soon do its first public run at the NHRA US Nationals, which you can stream live this weekend on nhra.tv.
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Published September 4, 2020 — 06:48 UTC
