Ford Just Unveiled an All-Electric Bronco for China

Ford just unveiled a preview of what an all-electric Bronco might look like.

Or, rather, what an all-electric Bronco does look like, except the Bronco New Energy is for the Chinese market, the biggest electric vehicle and car market in the world.

The Bronco New Energy, then, satisfies some curiosity about what an electric Bronco for America would be, too, and it turns out that it looks incredibly similar to the gas-powered version that is sold here. The Bronco New Energy shares some aspects of the Bronco Sport, but also the full-size Bronco, like the spare tire.

The Bronco New Energy gets 403 miles of range from its 105 kWh battery, while the plug-in hybrid version has a 44 kWh battery paired with a gas engine that gets 136 miles of all-electric range, or up to 800 miles total combining the power of the battery and gas engine, according to Ford.

Beyond the different powertrains, the Bronco New Energy has a boxy look but seems to lack a removable roof; it is likely all-wheel drive, too, with off-road tires shown in press photos indicating that Ford means it to be capable both on roads and dirt. The car maker did not release power output numbers.

Ford also highlighted the lidar the Bronco New Energy is equipped with, in addition to “30+” sensors and cameras to enable the car’s driver assistance and semi-autonomous functions. Ford didn’t show any shots of the interior, photos of which will likely come later, though Ford’s emphasis on the car’s all-electric range and cameras and sensors in its press release suggest, more than anything, that it knows its audience and that audience has quite a bit of EV choice.

That’s because China has long taken the lead on electric cars globally, and the Bronco New Energy is the latest evidence that legacy automakers, including American automakers, are determined not to miss out on the action. GM, for example, has long sold EVs in China, and so have European automakers, all of whom anticipate that, sooner or later, the U.S., the world’s second-biggest car market, will come around as well, and when it does, it’d be best to be ready.

The Bronco New Energy will start being delivered in the last quarter of this year, and while it may be several more years before an all-electric Bronco is sold in the U.S., a hybrid Bronco shouldn’t be that far off. Ford has even talked about that before, and, if all-electric cars are currently out of fashion in America, something like the opposite is happening with hybrids.

Click here for more photos of the all-electric Ford Bronco.

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