Met the Ford team today + charging tips from Donna Dickson (Mach-E Chief Engineer)

I got to meet some of the folks behind the @Ford Motor Company today ... a really cool experience.

Also, I got to see one of these in person for the first time -- surprising because living in Dearborn I'm really surprised I haven't seen one on the roads around town (I saw several Mach-E's before they came out.)



This is a truck used for marketing (not assigned to anyone like a management car) ... F-150 Lighting in Platinum trim with all the extras. Pretty cool and impressive. I didn't get to go for a ride, but I think those who have one on order will be pretty happy.

Also, I got to meet Donna Dickson (Mach-E Chief Engineer) in person for the first time. She sat in my car and we talked about it at length.

She did offer a helpful tip for those who worry about the miles/kWh rating. I'll paraphrase because I wont recall word-for-word.


If you are a person who routinely charges to 100% ... but don't technically *need* that 100% ... you'd be better off to limit the charging to get higher efficiency.

There were some hints about things to come. But I'm not sure what I can share ... so I'd prefer to keep private anything that may have been shared in confidence.

That is fascinating! I never would have thought the the charging cap would impact daily efficiency, but it makes total sense.

I mean, no NDA or specific reference to not spill the beans, I’m fairly certain it’s fair game. In todays day and age, they most certainly know to ask for an NDA or at least your word that you won’t spread the details. They know everyone is going to go and post about it. They generally even want that, to keep up the hype.

Cool post... but in terms of things to come Spill it! Or at least make something up... this is the internet after all

don't worry about keeping the secret of things to come. I am 100% certain those things they think or say are right around the corner won't come out for another 3 years.

seriously, when was it okay for companies to just straight up lie to consumers. Whatever, I love this car but obviously am not a big fan of Ford.

TheVirtualTim said:

I got to meet some of the folks behind the @Ford Motor Company today ... a really cool experience.

Also, I got to see one of these in person for the first time -- surprising because living in Dearborn I'm really surprised I haven't seen one on the roads around town (I saw several Mach-E's before they came out.)

This is a truck used for marketing (not assigned to anyone like a management car) ... F-150 Lighting in Platinum trim with all the extras. Pretty cool and impressive. I didn't get to go for a ride, but I think those who have one on order will be pretty happy.

Also, I got to meet Donna in person for the first time. She sat in my car and we talked about it at length.

She did offer a helpful tip for those who worry about the miles/kWh rating. I'll paraphrase because I wont recall word-for-word.

One of the reasons to avoid charging above 90% (unless you need the range) has to do with the car's ability to leverage regenerative braking. When the battery is at (or near) 100%, it is harder to push electrons into it. As a result, the regenerative braking is less efficient with a full battery and you'll see a lower miles/kWh rating (particularly in stop & go driving when regen is really useful.)​

​

If you limit charging to 90%, you've left some room to make regenerative braking more efficient. (I cap mine at 80%)​

​

Also, it will tend to be more efficient (better rating) on longer drives rather than short trips.​

If you are a person who routinely charges to 100% ... but don't technically *need* that 100% ... you'd be better off to limit the charging to get higher efficiency.

There were some hints about things to come. But I'm not sure what I can share ... so I'd prefer to keep private anything that may have been shared in confidence.

Click to expand...

Oh so that's where they all were today

TheVirtualTim said:

There were some hints about things to come. But I'm not sure what I can share

Click to expand...

Any word on a Frunk button?

The Black Horse said:

don't worry about keeping the secret of things to come. I am 100% certain those things they think or say are right around the corner won't come out for another 3 years.

seriously, when was it okay for companies to just straight up lie to consumers. Whatever, I love this car but obviously am not a big fan of Ford.

Click to expand...

I have a '21. Current model year is '22. This is literally * the * first * time * ever * that a manufacturer has pushed updates to a car that wasn't the *current* model year. I'd say this is a step in the right direction.

I realize we want everything delivered tomorrow and I don't blame anyone ... I do too. But I'm realistic about priorities, complexity of software (I work for a major Silicon Valley software company.) For most software ... if you screw it up, peoples' safety is usually not in jeopardy. But this is a car... so understandably, they do need to proceed with some of these updates a bit more carefully.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Most new cars are just an iteration of the previous model year. This car isn't one of those.
2. When that's not the case, a 'new' car model is usually built on an existing vehicle platform. This car isn't one of those either.
3. Even when there is a 'new' car-platform ... most of the technology are re-used from other car-platforms. This car doesn't get to use so much of that either.
4. This is a completely new car *and* car-platform *and* car-technology.
5. It's also the first car to seriously leverage OTA updates.
6. And they have the mis-fortune to be doing all of this in the middle of a pandemic with a global supply-chain shortage hitting all industries.

With all that in mind... as a 'new' vehicle ... it's a lot more 'new' than any 'new' thing that Ford has done in *quite* a long while (possibly ever). It's pretty ambitious. I had no expectation that there would be no hiccups along the way. But I *am* impressed (having spoken with and met many of the Ford people behind making this all possible) with their passion. They are moving as fast as they safely can. I have had interactions with them on weekends ... when I'd expect them to be taking a break.

This gives me a LOT of confidence in the future of this car ... and the company.

This makes me sound like a fan-boy watching through rose-colored glasses. I'm just trying to be realistic about how quickly we can expect them to progress features and updates.

With that aside, I didn't bother to ask about the Frunk. We all know that's coming anyway ... so that would've been a wasted question (sure ... I'm curious too).

At this point in time ... it seems like getting BlueCruise out for everyone still waiting for it is getting a lot of attention. EAP cars are going through this now (but in batches ... not all at the same time.) So this is NOT something that was shared with me in confidence... but this is just me leveraging my experience in software: I do not realistically expect Ford to be pushing out more updates to other things while they are focused on getting BlueCruise out. Owners have been waiting for this for a long time. My car is a bit over 13 months old (although I didn't expected it any sooner than last fall). If I get a frunk-update before the Job 1 cars complete the path to BlueCruise I will be both surprised and impressed.

TheVirtualTim said:

I got to meet some of the folks behind the @Ford Motor Company today ... a really cool experience.

Also, I got to see one of these in person for the first time -- surprising because living in Dearborn I'm really surprised I haven't seen one on the roads around town (I saw several Mach-E's before they came out.)

This is a truck used for marketing (not assigned to anyone like a management car) ... F-150 Lighting in Platinum trim with all the extras. Pretty cool and impressive. I didn't get to go for a ride, but I think those who have one on order will be pretty happy.

Also, I got to meet Donna in person for the first time. She sat in my car and we talked about it at length.

She did offer a helpful tip for those who worry about the miles/kWh rating. I'll paraphrase because I wont recall word-for-word.

One of the reasons to avoid charging above 90% (unless you need the range) has to do with the car's ability to leverage regenerative braking. When the battery is at (or near) 100%, it is harder to push electrons into it. As a result, the regenerative braking is less efficient with a full battery and you'll see a lower miles/kWh rating (particularly in stop & go driving when regen is really useful.)​

​

If you limit charging to 90%, you've left some room to make regenerative braking more efficient. (I cap mine at 80%)​

​

Also, it will tend to be more efficient (better rating) on longer drives rather than short trips.​

If you are a person who routinely charges to 100% ... but don't technically *need* that 100% ... you'd be better off to limit the charging to get higher efficiency.

There were some hints about things to come. But I'm not sure what I can share ... so I'd prefer to keep private anything that may have been shared in confidence.

Click to expand...

Any hints at all about remote frunk release (shocking question from me, I know) that might be shareable? I think we know about all we can know about BlueCruise at this point - it’s finally slowly, and gingerly, beginning a very timid, gradual deployment (and my speculation is that there’s a virtual room full of people watching every aspect, all of whom are empowered to immediately hit a big, virtual RED STOP button, if they feel as much as a twinge of indigestion from the Primo hoagie they had for lunch).

Gullwingdmc said:

Any word on a Frunk button?

Click to expand...

You beat me to it! No fair! ?????

Blue highway said:

Cool post... but in terms of things to come Spill it! Or at least make something up... this is the internet after all

Click to expand...

BlueCruise is being enhanced to auto-retaliate against drivers who cut you off. Additionally, it will simultaneously activate the rear-facing camera to record footage of the reaction on the driver's face and download it to your phone so you can enjoy it later! ?

I will have to say that the Mustang Mach E and what I’ve seen/read of the F150 Lightning have me really excited for the future of Ford ?
There’s just one thing that troubles me - Ford has a very annoying pattern of decontenting successive model years of new cars (I’m not talking about the current situation).
I hope Ford realizes that the old model of “decontent to take cost out” is no longer viable. The new model has to be continuous enhancement and improvement. Adding features and capabilities, not removing them. People notice even little things (like loss of degrees of adjustment on power seats), and it annoys them.

TheVirtualTim said:

I have a '21. Current model year is '22. This is literally * the * first * time * ever * that a manufacturer has pushed updates to a car that wasn't the *current* model year. I'd say this is a step in the right direction.

Click to expand...

Other than Tesla, of course.

TheVirtualTim said:

BlueCruise is being enhanced to auto-retaliate against drivers who cut you off. Additionally, it will simultaneously activate the rear-facing camera to record footage of the reaction on the driver's face and download it to your phone so you can enjoy it later! ?

Click to expand...

Now that's what I'm talking about!

How does the OP get this kind of access?