My feedback from seeing 4 Mach E's side by side in Ford factory

ajmartineau

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The really tall British guy at Ford did mention the icons on the dash for home and work months ago. I've been waiting patiently for them to show up. I'm glad to hear they are still in the plan. I magnify every picture/video of the battery bar I get my hands on. I think it will help new EV owners with their range anxiety.

I assume a "production-intent vehicle" is a step after the pre-production versions we have been seeing, that's why I asked about the new handles. Is there any official/unofficial mention of the change from Ford.
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RunningHorse

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The really tall British guy at Ford did mention the icons on the dash for home and work months ago. I've been waiting patiently for them to show up. I'm glad to hear they are still in the plan. I magnify every picture/video of the battery bar I get my hands on. I think it will help new EV owners with their range anxiety.

I assume a "production-intent vehicle" is a step after the pre-production versions we have been seeing, that's why I asked about the new handles. Is there any official/unofficial mention of the change from Ford.
There are different levels of pre-production vehicles. The earlier vehicles are made using with a combination of soft/hard tooling and software is still being optimized. Production intent prototypes mean the vehicle must be manufactured with the same process, hardware, and software as production vehicles. Obviously some features/components may deviate because late changes but the idea is to build as if they are saleable units. These units are used for testing as well but the goal is to verify previous issues are closed out and hammer out any last remaining issues. End to end verification/validation from the supplier to the vehicle rolling off the assembly line. Once mass production stars starts there should be 0 issues for each vehicle rolling off the line as production intent builds have proved out the validation/verification. These are the vehicles that will be delivered to customers.

It's standard automotive product development: Research APQP and PPAP for more info

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_part_approval_process
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_product_quality_planning
 
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hharold

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My guess is that "L" is for one-pedal driving. At least that is what it is on my Bolt.
I think it is the somewhat equivalent of 'Low Gear' (with the lack of gears) which is also called one-pedal driving.
It increases the amount of regenerative braking which slows you down faster than while driving in D. So going down-hill in L, slows the car down better and regenerates more power.

So less need to step on brakes, less wear on brakes.

L = Low Gear and One-Pedal driving (not sure to what extend Ford will use the term or implements full one-pedal driving all the way to 0 mph/kmh)
 

JamieGeek

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Also saw a similar feature to the Porshe Taycan (image below). SYNC will show a blue radius around your vehicle pointer on the map that communicates the max distance you can go \with your current range/state of charge.

1595989864551.png
Ford's existing plugins already do that, although not as accurate as the shown picture (the Energi models and the Focus Electric would draw two circles around your current location: The smaller circle was the max round-trip distance and the larger circle was the max one-way distance).

My guess is that "L" is for one-pedal driving. At least that is what it is on my Bolt.
Not likely as many Ford videos show a specific "1-pedal mode" on/off setting on the main display.
 


JamieGeek

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The Focus Electric and the Energi models all have an "L" on the shifter and all they do is increase regen when you take your foot off the accelerator but they won't bring the car to a complete stop.

Given that history it is likely that is what L does on the Mach-E....
 

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I think it is the somewhat equivalent of 'Low Gear' (with the lack of gears) which is also called one-pedal driving.
It increases the amount of regenerative braking which slows you down faster than while driving in D. So going down-hill in L, slows the car down better and regenerates more power.

So less need to step on brakes, less wear on brakes.

L = Low Gear and One-Pedal driving (not sure to what extend Ford will use the term or implements full one-pedal driving all the way to 0 mph/kmh)
It should be labeled OP vs. L then - just my simple mind at work here
 

ChasingCoral

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Also saw a similar feature to the Porshe Taycan (image below). SYNC will show a blue radius around your vehicle pointer on the map that communicates the max distance you can go \with your current range/state of charge.

1595989864551.png
Hopefully it will be more informative than the little circles the Leaf puts around you on the map. It doesn't take any reality of road speeds or terrain into account.
 

ClaudeMach-E

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I think it is the somewhat equivalent of 'Low Gear' (with the lack of gears) which is also called one-pedal driving.
It increases the amount of regenerative braking which slows you down faster than while driving in D. So going down-hill in L, slows the car down better and regenerates more power.

So less need to step on brakes, less wear on brakes.

L = Low Gear and One-Pedal driving (not sure to what extend Ford will use the term or implements full one-pedal driving all the way to 0 mph/kmh)
And also note that besides the L there is a switchable function on the screen for one pedal driving, a bit confusing.
 

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There's also bunch of cool software and UI features that haven't been fully revealed yet. Here's just one example i haven't heard anyone talk about. If you noticed, there are pointers/markers on the battery state of charge gauge on the instrument cluster. I'm told that the purpose of these is to quickly display to the driver if you have enough charge to drive to your favorite locations. When you save your favorite locations (Home, Work, etc.) in the navigation the cluster will show home/work/other icons underneath these markers.

The idea is when you get in your vehicle you can see at a quick glance if you have enough charge to make it to your frequent destination. No need to input a location in the navigation for places you already know/frequent. Also the range calculator isn't just based on distance. It use an "intelligent range" calculator to predict how much range you have based on past driving behavior, weather forecasts, and crowdsourced data from other Mustang Mach-E vehicles
1595987775598.png
I was wondering if this turned out true. Darren Palmer mentioned it way back in January.

 

ajmartineau

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Darren Palmer mentioned it way back in January.
Thanks!
That's the video I was referring too above. I'm so bad with names. ...I like him.
 

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If I remember correctly the L is for low gear but in BEV I think it is more of a heavier Regen Braking going down hills/mountains to help recharge the battery a bit more than normal.
 

dbsb3233

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The Focus Electric and the Energi models all have an "L" on the shifter and all they do is increase regen when you take your foot off the accelerator but they won't bring the car to a complete stop.

Given that history it is likely that is what L does on the Mach-E....
I think using "L" makes perfect sense. When slowing down, it acts in the same way as shifting to lower gear -- slowing the vehicle down without riding the breaks down the mountain.

Plus it's a single letter (better to fit on the dial). Plus it's familiar to most drivers (even if it may piss off the BEV purists that want everything different).
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