Between the Tesla Model Y and the Mustang Mach E, which electric SUV is really the best? When it comes to metrics like price, performance,range,technology, cargo space and charging the Tesla Model Y comes out on top, and here’s why.

In this article, we’re going to examine the data and see which electric SUV comes out on top. First I want to start with a brief overview of what variants are available for the Mustang Mach E and will do the same for the Model Y

Trim Levels

The Mustang Mach E is available with four trim levels, the Select trim level which is the lowest, the premium, the California route one Edition and also the GT performance Model. The price points range from over forty-three thousand dollars to sixty thousand five hundred dollars for those Models.

Battery Range

You have a choice of two battery sizes, the standard range battery is a seventy-five point seven-kilowatt hour battery and the extended range is a ninety-eight point eight-kilowatt-hour battery.

Model Variations

Depending on what variant you pick you can get up to three hundred miles of range for the rear-wheel-drive extended-range Model. Between the four trim levels the two battery sizes and the two Drive choices rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, there are actually eight different variations of the Mustang Mach E.

When choosing a Model Y the variations are a lot more simple. Currently, if you go to the website there are actually only two variants available for purchase right now, that’s a long-range all-wheel-drive Model and also the performance all-wheel drive Model.

Sometime next year Tesla will make available the standard range Model which will give them three total variations available.

Price Range

When the Model Y was first launched they did make available a rear-wheel-drive long-range Model, but that has been removed from the website. If you include the standard range Model the price points will vary from $39,999 to $60,999 for the performance Model.

As I mentioned previously there are eight variations for the Mustang Mach E, whereas there should be only around three variations of the Model Y. So we need to figure out which Models to compare to get an apples-to-apples comparison between these two vehicles.

when I took a look at the options available within each trim level for the Mustang Mach E, it became quickly obvious that the lowest trim level was not a good comparison for the Tesla Model Y.

The Select Model has smaller wheels, it has no heated seats, it has no panoramic glass roof, it has no power folding mirrors nor does it have a power liftgate and the charging speed is slowed down to a 150-kilowatt charging speed.

In order to have the same comparable features, we need to move up to the premium trim level instead of the Select trim level. So now let’s compare the two vehicles and look at the cost and value proposition between the two.

Cost And Value

At first glance when you look at this you’ll see that the Tesla Model Y has a lower starting price and this has comparable features to the $50,000 Mach E.

You’ll see there that has the same amount of range with 20-kilowatt hours less of battery, and one of the calculations that I like to do to figure out the value of an electric vehicle since range is really important is to see how much you’re actually paying per mile of range when you purchase the car.

This is a good measure of value when you have a vehicle that you’re comparing to another vehicle, that has similar standard features. At this first tier for the rear-wheel-drive Models, the Model Y has a cost per mile of range of a hundred and seventy-three dollars and 87 cents. Whereas the Mach E has a cost per mile of range of $220 and 26 cents.

So for fifty-two thousand nine hundred ninety dollars, if you divide that by three hundred and fifteen miles you’ll see that the Tesla Model Y long-range all-wheel-drive has a cost per mile of range of a hundred and sixty-eight dollars twenty-two cents.

Want to compare how much it cost to run an EV to a gar car? Check out our miler per kWh calculator.

Whereas if you look at a comparable Model for the Mustang Mach E, you’ll see there that you’re paying two hundred and fifteen dollars and 93 cents per mile of

range.

If you look at the performance Model for the Model Y versus the Mach E, you’ll see that the Model Y has a cost per mile of range of 217 dollars and 82 cents, whereas the GT Mach E has a cost per mile of range of two hundred forty-two dollars. For each one of these variants, it’s obvious that the Tesla Model Y is a much better value.

There are two other Mustang Mach E Models I want to mention at the beginning and I will not use these for the rest of the comparison. But I would just want to show that no matter how you compare these vehicles, even if you take a lower-trim Model Y with not as many features, once again the Tesla Model Y is still a better value with more features,

So just for argument’s sake, even if you take the lower-trim Mustang Mach E select Model which has smaller wheels, no glass roof, no heated seats, no power mirrors, no power back, hatch and much slower charging it’s still a better value for that Model Y. For the key metrics for cost and value, Tesla gets the win.

Performance

Next, let’s look at the performance numbers for these Models.

You’ll see at the base Model the Model Y has a faster zero to 60 mile per hour time and higher top speed. Once again for the long-range all-wheel-drive Model, the Tesla Model Y has a lower 0 to 60 miles per hour time and higher top speed.

Even if you go to the Performance Model, the performance Tesla Model Y has a 0 to 60 miles per hour time of somewhere around 3.5 seconds, a top speed of 145 miles per hour and that compares to the Mach-E GT Model, which is being advertised as going 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds and will have a top speed of 124 miles an hour. Once again for this key metric of performance, the Tesla Model Y gets the win.

Range and Efficiency

When we talked a little bit about the cost and value of these vehicles we pointed out that the Tesla Model Y is able to achieve more range with a smaller battery, which is, of course, the definition of efficiency.

In our examples when we take a look at the more efficient Model Y, the standard range Model we’ll be able to go somewhere around four point two six miles per kilowatt-hour of battery.

The same numbers apply to the long-range all-wheel-drive Model, and the performance Model takes a little bit of a hit because of the larger wheels and it gets 3.78 miles per kilowatt-hour of battery.

So if you take a look at the same calculations for the Mustang Mach E, you’ll see that the rear-wheel-drive Model gets 3.05 miles per kilowatt-hour of battery, you’ll see that the all-wheel-drive Model gets two point seven three miles per kilowatt-hour of battery and the performance Model gets two point five three miles per kilowatt-hour of battery. So for range and efficiency the Tesla Model Y gets the win.

Technology

Ford is including a driver assist feature called ward copilot 360 with a Mustang Mach-E. When you compare Ford copilot 360 to Tesla’s free autopilot software, feature by feature it seems to be pretty similar.

They include features like the collision avoidance braking, lane-keeping, Auto high beams, adaptive cruise control, lane centering and basically, the vehicle will be able to drive itself on the highway.

The Ford co-pilot 360 is a basic level 2 system, and it compares very well to

Tesla’s autopilot suite that is offered free with every vehicle. Where Tesla starts pulling ahead in autonomy is the fact that, according to Tesla, every Model Y sold should be fully self-driving capable and include all the hardware necessary.

And if you buy the full self-driving package for the extra seven thousand dollars and get features like to navigate on autopilot which will give you automatic driving from the highway on-ramp to off-ramp, you get auto lane changes, you get the auto park.

You get some feature that allows your parked car to come to find you in a parking lot and they also advertise that later this year it will be able to recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs, and it’ll have automatic driving on city streets.

Something that is really important for a modern electric vehicle with all the technology built-in, is, of course, the ability to do over-the-air updates. According to Ford, they have built over-the-air updates into the Mustang Mach E.

They claim that these updates will be capable of improving vehicle performance, offering maintenance updates, and even adding entirely new features to their vehicle. This sounds very similar to what Tesla is offering as well

Ford also appears to have a pretty well-developed phone app that allows you to control basic features of your vehicle through the phone app, and this seems to be very comparable to the Tesla app.

When it comes to the actual software that is available in the vehicles, this is once again where Tesla pulls ahead. in the Tesla Model Y, you’ll have a lot of different features that will not be available in the Mustang Mach E.

Things like the Tesla cinema which allows you to watch Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu with more article streaming services coming soon.

You’ll, of course, have karaoke, you’ll have Spotify tune in and slacker for music and podcast streaming, there’s, of course, the Tesla arcade with a myriad of games that are always being added and of course a really important sensory mode which records video footage of anything that comes near your car when it is set.

User Interface

Another important difference to point out between the two vehicles is the user interface of the software on the main screen within the vehicle. You’ll see that the Tesla Model Y has a much cleaner and more modern user interface than the Mustang Mach E.

The Mustang Mach E interface still looks a little dated, I’m sure the user interface for the Mustang Mach E will improve and will get better in the future, but based on the current previews of it it appears like it is quite outdated compared to the Tesla Model Y.

Although the Mustang Mach E has some very impressive technology on paper, I still give the Tesla Model Y the win because they have all the features they need for full self-driving. They have a better user interface and they have more software available.

On top of this, they have already proven the ability to do all the things that Ford it is saying they will be able to do, so Tesla clearly gets the win on technology.

Cargo Space

Let’s take a look at a very important metric for an SUV and that is the cargo space.

When you look at the outside dimensions of the Tesla Model Y vs the Mustang Mach E, you’ll see that they are very similar. But when you actually look at the cargo space available for the two vehicles, the Tesla Model Y has a little bit more than six cubic feet more storage space than the Mustang Mach E.

So Tesla is able to give you more storage space with a comparable sized vehicle. Once again when it comes to cargo space the Tesla Model Y gets to win.

Charging

And finally, let’s take a look at the charging both the charging speeds and the charging networks that are available for the two vehicles.

The Mustang Mach E select trim Model can charge up to 115 kilowatts. If you buy the premium Model on up to the GT Model it is capable of charging up to 150 kilowatts.

Whereas, when you look at the Tesla Model Y the standard range Model should be able to charge up to 170 kilowatts and the long-range Models should be able to charge up to 250 kilowatts plus. The Tesla Model Y is able to charge at a much faster rate.