- Called ‘Intelligent Range’
- Uses driver’s past behaviour, weather forecast and crowd-sourced data for estimation
A few weeks back, Ford announced their Mach-E electric SUV will get over-the-air updates to improve it over time of usage. Now, the American carmaker has debuted yet another innovation for the Mach-E called the Intelligent Range, which makes use of cloud-based connectivity to predict an accurate driving range of the EV.
The Intelligent Range can accurately estimate how much range the all-electric SUV has left, helping reduce anxiety about when and where customers can re-charge. It calculates the range based on past driver behaviour and forecasted weather conditions – using data from the cloud-based services to predict how much energy will be used in future driving. The vehicle battery system reports how much energy is available, while the powertrain module tracks how much energy is being used. Since warmer or colder weather can impact electric range, Intelligent Range also considers that.
Apart from that, the system also uses crowd-sourced data from other connected Ford electric vehicles (who choose to share information) to improve estimates considerably. The all-electric SUV can track how much energy is used in different circumstances, including varying speed, terrain and climate conditions. So it can use fleet averages across all Mustang Mach-Es to improve range estimates – even for routes and conditions, an individual customer has never driven before. Customers will receive a notification if the range is impacted by any factor giving out details of the new range and reason for the drop in range. And if the Mach-E run out of charge, the BEV Roadside Assistance will tow the car to the nearest charging point.
The current claimed electric range of the Mach-E is 370 miles (approx. 595 kilometres) under the WLTP cycle. With the OTA updates, these figures will be improved, claims Blue Oval. The upcoming 18 other electric vehicles planned by Ford before the end of 2021 will surely benefit from the learnings of the Mach-E.
