Electric car owners can plug in and walk away from their vehicles while staying connected, thanks to the new MyFord Mobile app being introduced exclusively with the all-new Ford Focus Electric.
The new MyFord Mobile technology provides Ford Focus Electric owners in North America with a powerful tool to stay connected, monitor and control their vehicle.
Via a smartphone or a secure website, MyFord Mobile allows Focus Electric owners to plan trips, monitor the vehicle’s state of charge, receive various alerts for vehicle charging, as well as provides several other features designed to simplify the electric vehicle ownership experience.
It is part of the innovative Ford approach to understand that electric vehicle customers want to be informed and in control of their vehicle at all times, especially while away from the vehicle.
MyFord Mobile uses an on-board wireless module integrated into Focus Electric that allows the car to communicate off-board via standard cellular technology. Owners can use any connected mobile phone with a data plan or computer with Internet access when not operating a vehicle to:
• Find current and projected state of charge information including estimated range and the amount of charge time necessary for additional distances
• Program vehicle charging with utility input, allowing the car to start charging immediately or when electricity prices are lowest with the value charging feature, powered by Microsoft
• Using features powered by MapQuest®
– Locate charging stations and get the destination sent to the vehicle
– Know if the vehicle can reach a specific charge station from its current location with the current charge level
– Create a journey with multiple stops, and determine the likelihood that the car has adequate charge for the full journey
– Find the car by creating a route from a mobile phone to the vehicle
• Receive alerts if the vehicle isn’t charging when it’s scheduled to, or if charging stops unexpectedly due to a power outage, plug removal or other event
• Receive alerts during recharge when the vehicle has reached a particular preset charge level or has the ability to reach a particular destination
• Engage remote vehicle preconditioning, using grid power to heat or cool the battery and vehicle interior
• Remotely lock/unlock doors
• Use the built-in GPS system to locate the car
• Download performance and system data
• Receive various achievements for driving and ownership milestones that can then be posted to your Facebook or Twitter account
• Fun ways of understanding your driver behavior, with ratings from ‘Zen’ to ‘zippy’
• Receive information personalized to the driver, depending on which key the driver used
How the system works
At launch, the MyFord Mobile app will be available for most major smartphones, including BlackBerry, Android and iPhone, along with a mobile web application for compatibility with any phone supporting HTML-5 browser-based access, or features phones with WAP 2.0-supported browsers. The feature also is accessible via a secure Ford website.
Owners will use the smartphone to communicate with a cloud-based secure server, which stores information provided by an embedded wireless module in Focus Electric. Using a cloud-based architecture ensures users will have up-to-the-minute access to information anywhere both they and the vehicle have connectivity.
