Ford made a premium gas fragrance for EV owners who miss the smell of fossil fuels

So you just dropped a cool $59,000 on a Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, your own sporty slice of our electric future, made by a company that only knows how to build them tough (Ford Tough, to be precise). What happens when you go to plug in your new car and you miss that telltale whiff of chemical-y gasoline smell wafting from its insides? According to Ford, you substitute it with a “premium fragrance” inspired by gasoline called “Mach-Eau.”

Mach-Eau — the name does not get better the more I type it — was born from a survey conducted by Ford Europe that found that 1 in 5 drivers will miss the “smell of petrol most” when they switch to an electric car. Naturally, wanting to push more Mach-Es and F-150 Lightnings into the world, Ford settled on an olfactory solution. Unfortunately, as Electrek notes, Mach-Eau isn’t for sale, but Ford’s offered a pretty vivid description for anyone who didn’t get to smell the fragrance when it debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Ford and Olfiction, Ford’s fragrance partner on Mach-Eau, says aside from reminding you of gasoline, the fragrance contains notes reminiscent of almondy benzaldehyde, a smell associated with car interiors, and para-Cresol, which provides the rubber smell of tires. Those were further blended with blue ginger, lavender, geranium, and sandalwood for additional smoky, metallic, and rubbery notes. The company also included an “animal element” to give the “impression of horses.” Lovely.

As someone who’s dabbled in liking the smell of gasoline, I appreciate the sentiment. You don’t have to be on an episode of My Strange Addiction to admit that there are strong memories tied to fuel smells that are hard to avoid. Would I buy a gasoline fragrance if Ford was brave enough to sell it, though? Only for the bit.