The 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E is one of the best-looking EVs in my book. It revs hard with sporty sophistication. But as far as the tech goes, this year’s big upgrades are mostly about playing catch-up with competitors rather than taking charge and leading the way.
Happily, the new Mach-E costs a little less, starting at $36,495 instead of $39,995. Sales kick off in early 2025. Given the small number of EVs that sell for under $40K, it’s worth considering, but I’d still like to see Ford go big rather than make incremental improvements. Tesla’s Cybertruck has supplanted the Mach-E as the third best-selling EV, Forbes reports, which should concern Ford.
2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E (Credit: Emily Forlini)
Heat Pump or Frunk? Ford Gets Practical
One of this year’s biggest additions is a heat pump, which customers have been requesting since the Mach-E’s first trot through the market, Ford tells PCMag at a press event. Heat pumps help preserve range in cold weather and add about 20 extra miles, says Donna Dickson, Mustang Mach-E chief engineer.
2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E (Credit: Emily Forlini)
It’s a welcome upgrade, but what took Ford so long? The Tesla Model Y has had a heat pump since its 2020 debut. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 also has one, as do newer releases like the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV and the 2024 Honda Prologue. Ford’s other passenger EV, the F-150 Lightning, already has one, too.
One possible answer: Adding a heat pump required reducing the size of the front trunk, or “frunk,” something the company has pushed as a fun, unique feature of its EVs. The marketing department went into overdrive for the Mach-E’s 2021 debut, picturing tailgate parties serving chicken wings and shrimp out of the frunk.
Mach-E promotional photo from 2020 shows tailgate attendees eating chicken wings out of the frunk (Credit: Ford)
The decision to shrink the frunk “was a hard one,” says Dickson. Customers have come to expect a usable frunk, and squeezing in the heat pump ate into the frunk’s real estate. Ford did not spell out the new frunk’s reduced dimensions, but it is visibly smaller in person. Smaller or not, adding a heat pump was the right decision.
Smaller frunk on the 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E (Credit: Emily Forlini)
Why No Native Tesla NACS Port? #AdapterLife Continues
At the same time, Ford missed a big opportunity to update the charge port to be compatible with Tesla Superchargers. Instead of switching to the Tesla-backed North American Charging Standard (NACS), it kept the same Combined Charging System (CCS) port, which requires an adapter at Tesla stations.
I’m surprised to see Ford take a backseat here after it kicked off an industry-wide switch to NACS in 2023. Ford drivers were the first to get access via an adapter starting in February 2024. In 2025, Ford EVs were expected to have the Tesla-backed NACS port, no longer needing the adapter. But now it seems like Ford is waiting until model year 2026 to go all-in on NACS, though it has not confirmed a timeline.
In the meantime, the rivaling 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 will become the first non-Tesla with a NACS port. Adapters are fine to use, but they are a hefty hunk of plastic, face delivery delays, and could have questionable charging speeds, InsideEVs reports.
So, in the one area Ford was well positioned to lead, it declined, and instead added an adapter holder in the frunk that will take up (even more) space.
Adapter converts the Tesla Supercharger from an NACS to CCS port. (Credit: Emily Forlini)
BlueCruise Gets Automatic Lane Changes, New Pricing
Ford added automatic lane changes to the Mach-E through BlueCruise, its level 2 self-driving software. If a driver in front is going too slowly, for example, the system will initiate a change rather than waiting for drivers to request the turn through the turn signal.
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Tesla and General Motors already offer automatic lane changes in their level 2 systems, so Ford is again playing catch-up here. But in fairness, I prefer Ford’s BlueCruise to GM’s Super Cruise, even without automatic lane changes.
Driving hands-free with Ford Blue Cruise (Credit: Emily Forlini)
BlueCruise drives more smoothly and switches off less abruptly compared with Super Cruise when entering a street without sufficient data for self-driving. Rather than shutting down entirely, it asks the driver to put their hands on the wheel and still behaves similarly.
I actually turned the automatic lane change feature off when I tested Super Cruise in the Chevrolet Equinox. I preferred to initiate myself since I found it to make too many lane changes. Perhaps Ford has an opportunity here to introduce a better version that’s worth keeping on.
Chevrolet Equinox EV performs automatic lane change (Credit: Emily Forlini)
Ford also lowered BlueCruise prices this month and added the option to pay in full up-front ($2,495) for the lifetime of the vehicle or for one year ($495) rather than require a monthly subscription. Because who needs to add yet another subscription to their life?
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About Emily Dreibelbis Forlini
Senior Reporter
