Charge Cars: A Brief History
In 2016, Charge Cars was born with the vision of electrifying classic cars. At the very beginning, Charge Cars was purely a concept that needed to be made into reality. We had no office, no workshop and no people. I found a place which was perfect for our first London headquarters. I hired some key staff and set about the task of building XP01, our proof of concept vehicle.
XP01, affectionately known as Sally after the hit song “Mustang Sally” is the only electric Mustang that Charge Cars will ever build that started life with an internal combustion engine. With a stroke of luck, we found a company based in the United States who has a license with Ford to produce brand new Mustang body shells. The project was now officially live.
From Dream to Proof of
The inspiration for the ’67 Mustang was taken from one of my favourite films from the early aughts: Gone in 60 Seconds starring the famous getaway car named Eleanor.
With the help of our technology partner Arrival, we started to implement their in-house developed EV technology into our body shells. This is the moment things really started to move at break-neck speed. After a year of construction and 6 dedicated people, XP01 was road ready.
2019 rolled around and we debuted XP01 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK. It was the first time we showed our prototype to the public. I believe our passion, unwavering faith and the dedicated team is what helped us bring home two prizes from the event, Michelin sponsored Supercar Show Stopper of the Day and Show Stopper of the Event. The public loved our car.
PHASE 1 to PHASE 2
Early 2020 we began to work at full-speed and started to bring industry heavyweights to Charge Cars. We hired people with extensive expertise in the automotive industry. Our team has a vast expertise in the development of luxury, high performance vehicles. The Charge Cars team previously contributed to numerous projects spanning race cars, supercars and military vehicles. This meant we needed a new, larger production facility.
In January, we hired Mark Roberts, of McLaren, as CCO. This was the moment where we went from Phase 1 to Phase 2. He was tasked with building the design team from the ground up, as prior to this we didn’t have any team present to work on design, colour & materials (CMF), and user experience (UX/UI). The start-up was now focused on taking the Mustang from proof of concept through to production. Hand-in-hand with the design team, our mechanical and electrical teams began working as one focused family.
WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE
Our team comes from all walks of life, different cultures and skills, all contributing to one common goal: to redefine iconic classic cars.
Thanks to Arrival’s in-house hardware and software technology, we are able to design and deliver a modular EV chassis. This means we can essentially build any electric vehicle onto this platform concept.
DESIGNING THE DREAM
Our production plan for the Electric Mustang by Charge Cars is to produce all 499 vehicles in the next 3 years.
Each car will be completely personalised and custom made specific to the customer’s requirements. The all new interior is designed by our in-house team and delivers a truly connected car with our own UX/UI interface.
The interiors will be bespoke, using the highest quality materials. We see the customer journey as being a key part of vehicle ownership. After you reserve your Electric Mustang, we will invite you to our West London HQ where you can meet the team and discuss how you plan to use your car. We can take you through our curated themes and understand your passions and begin working on the personality of your car. Next we work with our designers and in-house trimmers to select your materials, stitching and brightwork which makes your Mustang one-of-a-kind. A design icon with cutting-edge technology but with real heart and soul. We want our customers to feel a part of our family and to visit our West London HQ in-person or online whenever the opportunity arises.
We are planning to start offering test drives in Q3 of 2021, and the first customer vehicle will be delivered during Q4. I am incredibly excited with our journey and can’t wait to share more news with you. Stay tuned.
