Watch! Interview: MME Chief Engineer Donna Dickson

[leehinde]

Wait, I thought he was an ID4 fan boy. Wait, I thought he was an Audi fan boy, wait, I thought ...

edit: Sorry, he's an I5N fanboy:

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[redgrandam]

Both Apple and Google have had the ability to provide for battery preconditioning for quite some time. It was given along with the ability to provide turn by turn instructions on the IPC. Both have declined to take advantage of that particular feature. The hold up isn’t with Ford.

Interesting. Thanks. I didn’t know that.

Perhaps ABRP would add this in the future if google and Apple can’t be bothered?

The only sure way is to have a button in the settings. Not the most efficient option but better than arriving to a charger with a frozen battery.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

Wait, I thought he was an ID4 fan boy. Wait, I thought he was an Audi fan boy, wait, I thought ...

I’m a huge fan of Kyle and Out of Spec, but it might be fair to call him a bit of an ID4 fanboy. He was giving that car glowing reviews from the beginning even with its disastrous original software. Pretty much every other reviewer felt the car was somewhere between terrible and mediocre.

 

[mani2jeff]

Yes.
Enthusiasts make the car better for "regular people". If she didn't care about the enthusiasts' opinions, do you think she would expose herself to the likes of Kyle Conner? If he is in a bad day, he will grill her about the poor thermal management, charging performance, 5-second limiter, handling, etc. She would welcome a BC 1.4 rollout and overall OTA questions. At least she can bullshit her way out of those with empty promises, like her boss does.
Kyle is the biggest MME "hater with a voice" out there.
I remember on an episode of battery bargains when Tom suggested a Mach-E CA RT 1 to a viewer and he interrupted Tom and went on a 2 minute ramp about how that was a terrible idea.

His recent review of the 2024 Mach-E announcements was definitely positive.

 

[mani2jeff]

Exposing more of the charging data would be beneficial. Agree that most people are not initially interested or even understand it. But some simple information would engage more people in understanding the vehicle. And maybe add a toggle for enhanced mode on the charge screen for more details. We know it is there because the OBD2 readers can get the data.

 

[hack-e]

Both Apple and Google have had the ability to provide for battery preconditioning for quite some time. It was given along with the ability to provide turn by turn instructions on the IPC. Both have declined to take advantage of that particular feature. The hold up isn’t with Ford.

Whenever Google asks me for Android Auto sugtestions, I always always mention 2 things:
1. EV route planning in Google Maps with battery preconditioning.
2. Google Maps weather layer to help route around bad weather. Bonus if it automatically considers weather in the route planning.

 

[SWO]

edit: Sorry, he's an I5N fanboy:

You could get pretty drunk in a drinking game where you take a shot every time Kyle says "spicy" and "charging monster" in a video.

 

[CompilerBreak]

I want to see if we can get a custom drive mode option. Doesn't even need super granular control, I'd just love to set a blend between Engage and Unbridle

 

[rcechinel]

His recent review of the 2024 Mach-E announcements was definitely positive.

Yes, it was very positive. Let's see when he gets to drive it. ?
I like it overall, he keeps it real. He is the Youtuber I watch the most. Of course, his reviews focus a lot on some engineering aspects that are not always as relevant to most people. For example, he loves BlueCruise 1.2, but he often recommends a car with much worse ADAS. One has to filter what's important and what's minor details. He also doesn't care AS MUCH for exterior design (one of the MME strongest advantage, in my opinion).

 

[rcechinel]

One of the many reasons I don’t bother with his stupid podcasts/youtube videos. If I want to listen to a Tesla fanboi hate on anything non-Tesla, I’ll call my best friend from college. His wife is convinced he is cheating on her with Elon, that’s how much he loves Elon ?

He is not a Tesla fan boy either. He just holds grudges over first impressions, in my opinion. I think he is still not over his first cross-country trip with the Mach-E, I think in 2021. He suffered. lol

 

[rcechinel]

The hardware-related issues you raise might be more serious, but questions about such things are easier to answer - "just wait for the new model" etc.

The software-related issues I raise might be relatively less serious, but questions about such things might be harder to answer because a lot of our requests are relatively easy to fix now, and yet Ford... hasn't fixed them.

"Owners have been clamoring for a 'precondition now' option for years. Why hasn't Ford implemented this?"

"Owners have been clamoring for trunk access on the home screen for years. Instead, it is still hidden under 'settings.' Why hasn't Ford fixed this?"

"Owners have been waiting for nearly a year since Ford promised the upgrade to BC1.3 was coming 'Soon.' Many of those owners actually subscribed to BC based on that promise. Where is it?"

Those are harder questions to answer than hardware limitations, because Ford's ineptitude re software is basically indefensible at this point.

Will Kyle actually grill this lady? LOL no. We all know that isn't going to happen.

You are probably right. Also because I bet Tom had a long conversation with him. Like "Listen, Kyle, I fought tooth and nail to be on Ford's inner circle of Youtubers. Don't mess up my gig". Lol

 

[rcechinel]

I’m a huge fan of Kyle and Out of Spec, but it might be fair to call him a bit of an ID4 fanboy. He was giving that car glowing reviews from the beginning even with its disastrous original software. Pretty much every other reviewer felt the car was somewhere between terrible and mediocre.

Exactly. I'm also a fan, but it feels like he can ignore all bad things, if he really likes one thing in particular. And that "thing" changes from car to car, day to day, weather, etc.

 

[rcechinel]

15 minutes in and Kyle hasn't said a word. But Tom is asking the good questions. Entertaining.
Btw, ZERO commitments for previous model years. She did say they are working on showing the charging speeds.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

15 minutes in and Kyle hasn't said a word. But Tom is asking the good questions. Entertaining.
Btw, ZERO commitments for previous model years. She did say they are working on showing the charging speeds.

She kept saying that they were only focused on testing the updated software on MY 24 to get it shipped, but they now have time to go back and perform testing on vehicles with older hardware. Hopefully that means the charging improvements can be sent to us eventually.

 

[Hammered]

He is not a Tesla fan boy either.

He owns 3 or 4 of them. Fanboi confirmed.

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