With the touch of a button on a smartphone the owner of a 2012 Ford Focus Electric will be able to program the car to begin charging, pre-heat the cabin on a cold day – or even find which pizza parlors are within range when the battery is already partially run down.
In a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, today, Ford CEO Alan Mulally will pull the wraps off the new MyFordMobile system, which will link an owner and vehicle in a way never before possible.
MyFordMobile is designed to enhance what the maker’s global product development chief, Derrick Kuzak, calls an “electrified lifestyle.” More practically, the system helps minimize the drawbacks associated with electric vehicles while also enhancing their potential advantages.
Ford plans to be a major player in the electrification of the automobile. It’s already launched a number of conventional gasoline-electric vehicles, such as the Escape Hybrid, and during his visit to CES Mulally will formally debut the Focus Electric. The maker has already introduced the low-volume Transit Connect Electric, a battery-powered delivery van, but the Focus Electric takes aim at a more mainstream market. Three plug-in hybrids are also under development by the Detroit maker.
Battery vehicles have some advantages: they are quiet, clean and cost barely a tenth as much to run on a per-mile energy basis. But there are significant drawbacks, as well, notably their higher costs, limited range and long charging times.
MyFordMobile aims to minimize those disadvantages. It can be used to pre-program the time when a motorist wants to charge up the Focus Electric’s lithium-ion batteries, triggering the 3-hour process (using a 220-volt Level II charger) to begin when electric rates drop to their lowest overnight. But should a driver need to recharge immediately they only need tap the smartphone app’s “Charge Now” button.
On a cold morning, MyFordMobile will permit the driver to fire up the cabin heater remotely. And if the vehicle is attached to its charger it will not draw down the batteries.
The system can instantly check to see the vehicle’s state of charge and indicate just how far it can be driven.
Want to run out for a pizza? The app allows you to search for nearby restaurants and will show which are in range – or advise you that you might need to drive like a hyper-miler to make one on the fringe.
The system even asks owners to input their driving style, from “Zippy to Zen,” to better estimate battery range. How long an electric vehicle can travel, per charge, is heavily dependent upon factors such as driving style, road conditions and even the weather.
According to Ford officials, the number of public battery charging stations is just 1,200 right now but within the next couple years that will jump to 18,000. MyFordMobile will help a user find one within range. Connect to one at the mall and, “my car (will) text my phone when it is ready to go,” says Ed Pleet, Ford’s manager of Connected Services.
As with the display system in the Focus Electric itself, MyFordMobile will offer features that both encourage battery car owners to drive more efficiently and reward them when they do.
The app-based system will be offered free for the first five years of vehicle ownership.
Ford is by no means the only maker to try to link owner and battery car using a smartphone app, though its MyFordMobile system is one of the most sophisticated links currently announced. General Motors, meanwhile, allows some similar functionality for its new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid using the maker’s OnStar telecommunications system.
The decision to reveal both MyFordMobile and the Focus Electric at CES is a break from industry tradition. Normally, Ford might have waited, at least with its battery car, for the upcoming Detroit Auto Show. But this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is spotlighting automotive technology. Hyundai, for example, is announcing its all-new Blue Link system in Las Vegas. (Click Here for more.) In fact, Mulally is serving as the annual events keynote speaker for the third time, matching the record set by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
