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

[ChasingCoral]

I have a Job2 car as well, and there should be a Frunk open option on the Infotainment screen under Select the Mustang -> Controls -> Access

Four button presses to get a simple action, ditto for the back hatch. Definitely should be an “access” card with buttons for front, Rear, and passenger doors that activates when in park.

Sponsored

 

[Jimrpa]

I hate to sound like the snobby kid with all the cool new toys, but my car came with the frunk button since it’s a Job 2. I store my charger in the frunk and use it at work everyday. I never use the button. It’s not practical. Maybe because I carry a purse, but it’s way easier to open the car door, drop my bag and phone, pull the handle twice and then use the frunk. The other side… when I get to work I leave my bag in the car, open the door, pull the handle twice and done. I don’t want to unlock my phone, click on FordPass, hold down the button for the frunk. I’m sure there are different situations where the button would be helpful, but I have it and don’t use it.

I don’t carry a purse, but I do go grocery shopping. Being able to pop the frunk to put groceries in the vehicle without having to abandon the cart to roll around the lot while I fumble under the dash would be nice. I park my car nose-in in my garage, so the frunk is the most convenient place to put stuff I want to take into the house (I have a narrow one-car garage).
Unlocking my phone is trivial (it unlocks with Apple Watch or FaceID) and launching the app is pretty easy. I suspect Siri integration will come, either via the widget or FordPass, making things even easier.

 

[Jimrpa]

We mostly complain about the button because we were "promised" it and don't have it. I agree with your assessment that once we actually have it, most of us won't use it because we'll be busy complaining about the lack of bidirectional charging or whatever.

Keeps us busy. ?

Actually, some of us complain because it would be truly useful (unlike vehicle to load, which is just stupid).

 

[Jimrpa]

I have a Job2 car as well, and there should be a Frunk open option on the Infotainment screen under Select the Mustang -> Controls -> Access

It sounds like they prefer to do things old-school and not rely on the technology. I don’t think they’d want to go to the trouble of using the screen.

 

[Jimrpa]

Four button presses to get a simple action, ditto for the back hatch. Definitely should be an “access” card with buttons for front, Rear, and passenger doors that activates when in park.

I thought I saw one in one of the very early, pre-production UI mock-ups that was posted two years ago?

 

[FLmac]

I don’t carry a purse, but I do go grocery shopping. Being able to pop the frunk to put groceries in the vehicle without having to abandon the cart to roll around the lot while I fumble under the dash would be nice. I park my car nose-in in my garage, so the frunk is the most convenient place to put stuff I want to take into the house (I have a narrow one-car garage).
Unlocking my phone is trivial (it unlocks with Apple Watch or FaceID) and launching the app is pretty easy. I suspect Siri integration will come, either via the widget or FordPass, making things even easier.

Makes complete sense. In your situation the frunk is much easier to use if only there was a frunk button! I’m not tech savvy so the only way I know to open FordPass is to unlock my phone and tap on the app. I’m sure there’s easier ways.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Makes complete sense. In your situation the frunk is much easier to use if only there was a frunk button! I’m not tech savvy so the only way I know to open FordPass is to unlock my phone and tap on the app. I’m sure there’s easier ways.

If you're using Android or Google stuff, I wrote up several additional options for stuff like starting the car or locking doors:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...re-directly-from-your-android-launcher.10493/

 

[MachTri]

I wonder how the release of the F-150 Lightening will impact support for the Mach-e? Two possibilities I see:
1. Support and development resources will be centered on the shiny new toy and Mach-e will get less attention.
2. Another possibility is that there could be an economy of scale and some things like additional trained support personnel and software improvements for the Lightning will make their way to the Mach-e.

 

[strangeengine]

I'm really surprised that more people don't know this. I knew it before I got my Bolt EV. Chevy had something called "Hilltop Reserve" that capped the maximum charge at 90% so that if you lived at the top of hill (like I do), you had full regenerative braking from the get go. And believe me, the first time you go down a hill and have to rely solely on the friction brakes of the Bolt EV, it's a bit of a rude shock. Not dangerous mind you, just surprising if you've been used to the very strong regenerative braking that the Bolt EV had. Hilltop Reserve became "Target Charge Level" in the 2019+ models, where you could specify a range instead of just a fixed value of 90%.

I spent most of 2019 trying to save a micro-mobility startup here in the SF Bay Area (we got so close!) that first produced an electric skateboard and then pivoted to electric scooters. The skateboard had regenerative brakes only, which proved to be a real problem when you started out with a full charge.

The solution ended up being a fast redesign right before shipping to include a massive foil resistor across the entire bottom of the skateboard (under the paint). That gave the controller a place to dump the regenerated energy when the battery was full. Worked well.

 

[Kevin P]

I read all this and the only thing I wonder about is if they are doing anything to improve the GT's power delivery.

 

[Blue highway]

I feel your pain Black Horse. I love my MME Premium ever since purchased a year ago; however, I was promised BlueCruise would be ready by 2021 fall. Ford said it would be delayed further. Seems like Ford could let us know something as we are now in middle of March 2022?

I am with you. I am coming up on a year with no BC, and no promise dates have been hit by Ford. The promises by ford that this was coming was a significant factor in my buying decision.

Yes Ford is making progress but I find it unacceptably slow. Ford could easily have made the production code available to dealers to upload to our Job1 cars starting last July... They haven't and doubled down on muddling through the OTA path.

Time matters. Vaporware may not be the right term here. Fords handling of BC rollout is more like "intentionally misleading" from my perspective.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I read all this and the only thing I wonder about is if they are doing anything to improve the GT's power delivery.

Probably, but the major focus atm seems to be pushing out BlueCruise to job 1 cars, and resolving the issue with those cars stuck pre 1.7.1. After that, only someone deep within the MME Skynet bunker knows for sure. And of course EU and UK customers, who account for 60% of MME sales (lest we forget), haven’t had an OTA update since 1.6 or so.

It’s all high tech juggling. I’m surprised it hasn’t flopped more often honestly.

Just an outsider’s observation. I’ve been known to be wrong.

 

[Jimrpa]

Makes complete sense. In your situation the frunk is much easier to use if only there was a frunk button! I’m not tech savvy so the only way I know to open FordPass is to unlock my phone and tap on the app. I’m sure there’s easier ways.

Since the widget supports remote unlock and remote start, I’m sure it can be updated to support frunk release. And the widget can be controlled by Siri (not sure if that’s been implemented tho).
Also, newer iPhones support FaceID (unlock by looking at the phone).

 

[Jimrpa]

Probably, but the major focus atm seems to be pushing out BlueCruise to job 2 cars, and resolving the issue with those cars stuck pre 1.7.1. After that, only someone deep within the MME Skynet bunker knows for sure. And of course EU and UK customers, who account for 60% of MME sales (lest we forget), haven’t had an OTA update since 1.6 or so.

It’s all high tech juggling. I’m surprised it hasn’t flopped more often honestly.

Just an outsider’s observation. I’ve been known to be wrong.

I would rarely presume to correct you, but I think you meant to say “…to Job 1 cars…” ?

 

[Jimrpa]

I am with you. I am coming up on a year with no BC, and no promise dates have been hit by Ford. The promises by ford that this was coming was a significant factor in my buying decision.

Yes Ford is making progress but I find it unacceptably slow. Ford could easily have made the production code available to dealers to upload to our Job1 cars starting last July... They haven't and doubled down on muddling through the OTA path.

Time matters. Vaporware may not be the right term here. Fords handling of BC rollout is more like "intentionally misleading" from my perspective.

The technical term is “schedule slip” ?

Sponsored