Two years after rival Chevrolet paved the way with its electrified eCOPO Camaro, Ford Performance has pulled the wraps off its own electric-powered Mustang Cobra Jet prototype. And given its performance potential, those two years of development were worth the wait.

The one-off battery-powered Mustang, the Cobra Jet 1400, is projected to deliver the equivalent of 1,400 horsepower and over 1,100 lb-ft of instant torque, and will demonstrate the capabilities of an electric powertrain in one of the most challenging environments a vehicle can be subjected to. All told, Ford anticipates performances in the low 8-second range at 170 mph — on par with its internal-combustion counterparts from the factory.

The battery-powered Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype is purpose-built and projected to deliver over 1,400 horsepower and over 1,100 ft.-lbs. of instant torque to demonstrate the capabilities of an electric powertrain in one of the most demanding race environments.

“Ford has always used motorsport to demonstrate innovation,” said Dave Pericak, Global Director, Ford Icons. “Electric powertrains give us a completely new kind of performance and the all-electric Cobra Jet 1400 is one example of pushing new technology to the absolute limit. We’re excited to showcase what’s possible in an exciting year when we also have the all-electric Mustang Mach-E joining the Mustang family.”

Ford partnered with a number of leading parties to develop the CJ 1400 prototype, including MLe Racecars, which built and designed the car and performed the tuning, Watson Engineering, in chassis support and development and construction of the roll cage, AEM EV, which provided the software and motor calibration and control, and Cascadia, which provided the inverter and electric motor.

“This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 project as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race car package that we already had a lot of experience with, so we had performance benchmarks we wanted to match and beat right now. This has been a fantastic project to work on, and we hope the first of many coming from our team at Ford Performance Motorsports.”

Ford Performance is in the testing phase with the Cobra Jet 1400 ahead of its world debut at a drag racing event later this season, where fans and media will get a look at the vehicle and see its performance capability first-hand.