FIRST REPORT
FORD EXPLORER
Will an adventurous-sounding badge endear us to this new EV?
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if the Blue Oval’s first European-built electric car – with Volkswagen underpinnings – really is a true Ford
To mark the launch of the Ford Explorer, Lexie Alford became the first person to circumnavigate the globe in an EV. The 18,600-mile, 27-country journey traversed territory as diverse as the Australian outback, the mountains of Bhutan and the Atacama desert. Impressive stuff, but of more relevance to me – and you, I would expect – is how the Explorer will tackle slightly more real-world adventures, such as the trafficclogged streets of Twickenham, the bumpy moorland roads of Somerset and the relentless roundabouts of Milton Keynes.
Now, I doubt I’ll get close to Alford’s epic quest in terms of accumulated mileage over the coming months, but I will be tackling those more real-world environments – and with enough time behind the wheel hopefully to gain an understanding of what remains a very curious machine.