Ford is readying its upcoming widely available, Mustang-inspired, performance-oriented all-electric vehicle. A big part of that rollout will be making sure owners have places to charge.
With an announcement Thursday morning, that network is starting to take form—in what Ford calls “North America’s largest electric vehicle charging network.”
Ford found that, among those who own or want to purchase plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles, 48 percent said that the lack of charging stations was one of their main concerns—so it’s addressing that directly, with a network it’s naming FordPass.
With it, owners will have access to 35,000 charge connectors and more than 12,000 places to charge, according to Ford—complimentary for two years. That will include public Level 2 charging stations and DC fast-charging stations—with Greenlots (now part of the Shell Group) and Electrify America (part of Volkswagen Group of North America) both among the networks to be accessible to FordPass.
Either through the FordPass app or directly from the vehicle’s infotainment system, owners will be able to set charging schedules at home, pre-condition their vehicle’s cabin, and plan trips, with those commercial chargers identified along the route. A Power My Trip feature, available through the app and in the vehicle dash, will harmonize the route and planned charging points, based on current state of charge—and it will also include charger occupancy along the route.
FordPass Power My Trip functionality
Ford’s system will use a single account that spans across the network, and it won’t require various fobs, cards, PINs, or credit-card swipes, depending on the operator of the charging hardware. Further, the system is Plug&Charge compatible, meaning that users might be able to simply plug-in at many chargers without any other handshakes whatsoever.
And a tease of charging performance specs
To accompany this announcement, Ford revealed a few more details about exactly how fast the upcoming electric vehicle will charge. According to the corresponding Electrify America release, Ford estimates that its upcoming electric SUV will be able to recover up to 47 miles of range in 10 minutes using DC fast chargers at up to 150 kw—or 10 to 80 percent in 45 minutes.
The battery capacity of Ford’s electric SUV hasn’t yet been announced, but it’s expected to be in the vicinity of 100 kwh.
Ford Connected Charge station – for electric vehicles and PHEVs
The electric crossover will come standard with a mobile charger capable of plugging into 120- or 240-volt outlets and providing, on 240V, up to 22 miles per charging hour. A wi-fi-enabled, 48-amp Ford Connected Charge Station can store away 32 miles of range per hour, through the onboard charger, and provide seamless overnight charging—we would assume also with the FordPass app—and it’s available for installation with an Amazon-based program that sounds comparable to what’s been offered by Audi.
Although the charger-network program won’t go live until next year (likely just before the SUV’s launch), the FordPass app is already available via Apple and Google Play stores for any Ford customer. We shouldn’t have to wait long for more about Ford’s electric SUV; it’s widely rumored—though not yet officially confirmed—for the LA auto show, this November.
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