I'm still happy Ford figured out how to work a Mustang into this event
This conference was an interesting one, and I met some great people from across the U.S. and Canada. There were also some speeches from people like Malcolm Gladwell, a noted author and futurist, and an entire half-way devoted to some on-track testing including an F-150 drag race, an Explorer off-roading event, and an MPG rally (that I totally failed at.) The highlight of the final day for me was seeing a live crash test demonstration (though they would not let me examine the car up close.) and getting taken for a high-speed spin on the skid pad in a brand new Mustang. It was a lot to take in, and I wasn’t left with a lot of time to write. So my apologies for that.
But it also left me pondering the future of car technology. I’m a guy who keeps it simple…and Ford seems to be going in the complete opposite direction of me, so I’m not sure how I feel about that, just as I don’t know how I feel about talking to my car. I mean, I already talk to my car…but it doesn’t talk back. And that’s just the stuff they showed us, that they wanted us to write about.
As promised though, here is a brief breakdown of the last few days and, if there is anything you’d like me to expand upon, hit up the comments section and I’ll do my best to fill in the blanks.
-Ford’s computer design programs are allowing engineers to develop and design fully fleshed out vehicles in cyberspace before ever touching a clay model.
-Global tastes are converging in a funnel way, with car buyers all over the world expressing the same tastes and desires.
-Focus Electric to deliver 100 miles of real driving range, will be fully charged in under 4 hours from 250v, and a $1,500 home charging system that will be removable and transferable between homes.
-C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid to deliver 500 miles of driving range, a better MPGe than the Chevy Volt, and at least 41 mpg.
-Ford is designing new bio-materials based on soy, recycled carpets, wheat straw, and even hemp to replace plastics in its cars, while shaving weight and costs and sourcing materials locally.
-Voice recognition software is becoming more commonplace, and is the next natural evolution after touchscreen interfaces.
-Ford’s SYNC program will be able to monitor your health, retrieve pollen count information, and essentially take care of your well being…if you let it.
-SYNC is capable of doing damn near anything, and one day movement recognition software may be integrated into cars, alongside voice recognition, touchscreens, and analog controls (quadruple redundancy?)
-Movement recognition software may be in our cars sooner than we think.
-Watching a live crash test is more fun than it should be, and these engineers may have the best job in Ford (outside of the test drivers.)
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- The “bio seat” and “bio door” features a range of renewable materials integrated into them that replace petroleum-based plastics and other non-sustainable materials
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- Ford has high hopes and expectations for its SYNC voice recognition software
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About Christopher DeMorro
This is a great article reguarding Ford. I am glad you didn’t drink fully from the Ford coolaid and could see it from an outside perspective. The fact of the matter is that Ford produced 1000′s of Ford Ranger EVs between 1998 and 2002 in the form of Ranger pickups and postal vans. I own a 2000 Ford Ranger EV with the NiMH battery pack, 49,000 gas free miles and counting. However Ford dropped the ball and is so far behind Nissan that they will never catch up. By the time Ford starts selling the the Focus EV Nissan will be selling more Leafs in a month than Ford sells Focus EVs all year. On top of that, the Leaf will have the 6.6KW charger as well as heated seats, steering wheel etc in the 2012 model year.
Ford has zero experance producing a reliable electric vehicle. My Ranger, as well as many others, have suffered from numerious failures. Failing coolant pumps that don’t last past 5000 miles, multiple charger failures including fuse blowing randomly and fan circuit quitting, inverter failures have all happened to my Ranger. I have offered to share my experances with these multiple failures with Ford but they don’t seem very interested.
I with them the best of luck with the Focus EV and C-MAX however like Carlos Ghosen of Nissan said recently in the Revenge of the Electric Car, “Every day our competition doesn’t start, is one more day we are ahead.”
The brand new Nissan Leaf in my garage next to my Ranger is a testiment to that.
Nissan Leaf or Renault in EU will show how to stream to next years.
we are wasting time at LH2 research, be promised we can order cars without fuel.
Have a look to http://www.d3dhemmer.com/ICE2EVcal you see it works even without incentives.