There’s even a chance it might be better than Tesla’s system in some ways.
Ford just announced that it’s Mustang Mach-E electric crossover has a very sophisticated range estimator system that even directs you to chargers when needed.
So far, only Tesla has a system that really works in the same way as described by Ford here. It’s our belief that every electric car needs a range estimator that can accurately predict just how far you can go based on a variety of factors and this system seems set up to do this, though we’ll leave final judgment for when we test it in the real world.
Ford will collect data through various inputs of your drive including weather, elevation, driving style, and impressively crowdsourced data from other Mustang Mach-E vehicles to calculate a predicted range. Should cold weather roll in or the driver starts driving more aggressively, Mach-E will alert the driver in the instrument cluster highlighting the new range estimation. This feature is promised to be expanded upon over time through the Mach-E’s ability to over-the-air software update almost every module of the vehicle.
Ford is taking the right approach by offloading most of the work EV drivers have had to do manually for years. It is not uncommon for an EV driver on a road trip to have to calculate charging times, elevation, speed, consumption, etc. This feature will prove to be useful for optimizing a trip plan because based on our experience so far with Mustang Mach-E, you won’t want to stop driving.
The BMW i3’s range map takes into account topography, recent driving efficiency, and current traffic conditions.
Many EVs do come with some variation of a smart range estimator with integrated charging station recommendations. However, often they don’t work as well as advertised. We’re looking forward to ‘kicking the tires’ on Ford’s Intelligent Range estimator and seeing if it’s as good as Ford is promising.
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