Ford’s new electric explorer is stylish and compact

The Ford Explorer, a new electric explorer for the United States, and the need for a change in production processes at the company’s Oakville facility

An electric explorer for the US market is in the works. The company has said it plans to launch an Explorer EV for North America, which will be built at Ford’s factory in Oakville, Ontario, by the end of 2024 (after a previous plan to produce it alongside the Mustang Mach-E in Cuautitlan, Mexico, was scrapped). The Oakville facility, where the gas-powered Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus are built, is in the process of being converted to an EV-only plant.

The most noticeable feature in the new electric Explorer is a moveable 15-inch center touchscreen that the company says should be better for dealing with outside glare. The screen, which can move up and down, also conceals a built-in lockable storage space for valuables. Here is a picture of the screen.

It also needs to get a better handle on a number of quality issues that have plagued its EV push. Ford recalled over a dozen F-150s because of a battery problem. In 2022, Ford issued more recalls in America than any other automaker.

Those products include three new passenger vehicles, including a sport crossover with a range of 500km (311 miles) and an electric version of the company’s Ford Puma, a compact crossover that will go into production at the company’s plant in Craiova, Romania, in 2024.

It hurt us that customers said it was boring, says Amko Leenarts, design director for Ford of Europe. “So Explorer is really about an adventure spirit. The design is unashamedly American-inspired, as we really decided that we’d been a bit shy about celebrating that we are American, but Explorer is also not aggressive. There’s a certain simplicity to the design, as we took away some lines that are distracting, and we really worked on the purity. Our feedback has suggested that the Explorer looks very gender-neutral to customers, too, which is hard to do—and we’re very pleased about.”

The Explorer is a European model with no intentions of bringing it to the USA.

“My American colleagues love it,” says Leenarts, “I wouldn’t design a car that the mothership doesn’t like. But it is very much a European product. We were going to make it parkable and compact for our customers here. For instance, keeping it short—it’s only a couple of centimeters longer than a Focus but has more luggage space than a Mondeo.”

Practicality is a big factor with the five-seat Explorer. There’s a roomy three-person rear bench with through-loading, of course, and a boot with over 400 liters of space, but there’s also a big center storage area up front that’s large enough for a laptop. There’s also what the company describes as “a private locker” hidden behind the adjustable, 14.6-inch touchscreen.

The Audio of a Ford Mustang Mach-E: Looking at an EV with a Wide-Fit Screen and Fitting into a Spaceship

The screen moves mechanically rather than electrically and can be pushed upward or to the side, either to access your “locker” or maybe just to reduce glare or give slightly better screen access to a passenger. Having a screen that can be adjusted to fit in a range of places seems to be a simple and sensible idea, even if it doesn’t work on a Ford Mustang Mach-E.

The Ford Explorer EV will get over-the-air software updates, as well as voice recognition, intelligent charging and Apple CarPlay, in addition to the company’s latest sync move software. There is a dashboard accessory that looks like a spaceship that landed on the dash. Ford will supply the audio for now, rather than any third-party companies.