Electric Ford Bronco from Zero Labs gets 600 horsepower and a new platform
The Ford Bronco is on everybody’s mind right now. With two (!) leaks yesterday and another the week previous, the internet is abuzz with Bronco activity. However, there’s even more Bronco news out there this week, and it’s not coming from Ford. Instead, this news bulletin is coming to us from Zero Labs in Southern California.
Just under a year ago, Zero Labs introduced its electric Ford Bronco restomod. We were impressed by the specs, layout and design of the remade classic then, but the startup has even more to add now: a new platform. The change is rather drastic, too. A Zero Labs Ford Bronco on the original launch platform used solid axles front and rear, offered two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, shifted via a five-speed manual transmission and had 330 horsepower. As an aside, the photos at the top of this post are of the original, meaning it's still on the old platform. We'll update with new photos when Zero Labs provides them. The details are out, though.
This new truck has a fully independent suspension in front and rear, an automatic transmission, new all-wheel-drive system and up to 600 horsepower in dual-motor form. But wait, there’s more. Zero Labs has also introduced an air suspension that allows for height adjustments to be made. It’s capable of “Level 3 fast charging,” as opposed to Level 2-only from before. The launch truck was only available as a hard top, but this new truck can be had as a soft top or roof delete. In a move to reduce costs, you can also get one with a steel body, instead of the carbon fiber-only body offered previously.
We had a few more questions about the platform, range and price, though. So we got in touch with Zero Labs to hear what the company has in store for us. Turns out that despite the platform being wildly different from before, Zero Labs is still using a 70 kWh battery pack. The orientation of the pack itself has changed, but range is still the same 190 miles that it was before. Zero Labs says it’s looking to increase the size of the battery pack, but they’re not at that stage yet.
The steel body version will have less range, but Zero Labs isn’t putting a figure on it. Pricing for the steel version begins at $185,000, and the carbon fiber body Bronco starts at $240,000. That’s a serious price hike for the lighter Bronco, but carbon fiber is very expensive. Also note that all vehicles being built from this point going forward will be built on this new platform.
Regardless, Zero Labs won’t be producing many of them. Think less than 100 in a year. That said, we wouldn’t mind taking one for a spin.
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