In an effort to prove the validity of electric vehicles as family cars that can complete road trips, and as a tribute to a 110-year-old race originally run by Henry Ford himself, Ford has just completed a 6,500-mile journey in the Mustang Mach-E. Inspired by the original transcontinental Ocean to Ocean race that predated the Cannonball Run by more than half a century, in which Henry Ford entered two Model Ts in the first US-based transcontinental road race, the modern recreation saw the Blue Oval's electric SUV tackle its toughest challenge yet.

In 1909, it took 23 days in the Model T, which traveled 4,106 miles to get to the Seattle World's Fair. The Mach-E managed to travel a distance 50% greater than that, but it took the team about 50 days to complete the feat.

"More than a century after the Model T brought mobility to the masses, Mustang Mach-E is injecting thrill and passion to fully electric vehicles," said Jason Castriota, Ford's global brand director of battery electric vehicles before the journey. "Ocean to Ocean Reimagined is helping to amplify awareness around Mustang Mach-E and what it can do. We hope this coast-to-coast journey - much like the original Ocean to Ocean race commissioned by Henry Ford in 1909 - becomes a truly unique, exhilarating and entertaining chapter in the Ford and Mustang story."

For this modern-day attempt, a recreation of that Model T led the team out of Classic Car Club Manhattan in New York City and escorted them to the finish line on the West Coast.

But one has to wonder what troubles were faced with a modern EV that requires regular charging. The extended range Mach-E will go about 300 miles on a full battery - despite Ford having set a record of 840 miles on a single charge. If we divide the total journey by that average, the Mach-E would require about 22 "fill ups." The 98.8-kWh extended-range battery will charge from 10 to 80 percent in 45 minutes, which still means a lot of time spent charging over that distance.

As you would expect, comments range from "congrats" and "well done" to "stop calling that a Mustang" and "the Tesla is better." Someone did ask if there would be a mini documentary on the feat, to which Ford replied, "you never know!" So we probably have that to look forward to.

This is all a repeat of what happened 100 years ago. Horseless carriages came onto the scene, the public was wary, and automakers had to pull stunts like this to get them on board. Hopefully events like this will do the same for EVs.