Interesting conversation with FORD Mach-E Software designer

[RangerMac]

I met a software designer for the Ford Mustang Mach-E. I won’t share his name unless he comes up on here.

The team owned Tesla model 3s for a year to “live the life” and feel/love/learn the Nuances that Tesla built into the software.

The interior engineer team lead also had a model 3 during design development and there were a few model 3s on each phase of testing, as I am sure will continue to be the case until final production configurations.

Ford having the model 3 allowed the team to see the direct competitor Y first hand at about 95% accuracy.

We talked about small things like adding new wheels/TPMS sensors with the Tesla asking which size wheels and running an auto calibration for Speedo and driving characteristics and I brought up the love of smaller things like pushing the center console lid too hard to close it and it brings up a message on screen to close it gently.

You could see and hear the passion for the project in him and he loved the Tesla.

They hadn’t been able to tell anybody what they were working on. Like a skunkworks project from Lockheed.

I am hoping that time with the Tesla will help steer some of the bugs we saw at launch still. Get away from the SYNC like crap user interface.

He is probably on here, as he has been on many forums, groups, and at Tesla meets. Most of the design team has been in the community to try and match to the culture and features.

I love my model 3; however, I believe we need ford to have success with this to push the industry further faster. I do wish that car luck. I will not likely be buying one in the future but maybe something else in the pipeline.

It is great to think monster ford has their ears to the grass roots of this and other communities to try and capture some of the Tesla magic.

 

[jaguar36]

If only they hadn't called it a mustang, I might care.

 

[640k]

If only they hadn't called it a mustang, I might care.

what's worse? soiling the Mustang moniker or Sync4?

 

[DopeGhoti]

The less said about Sync, the better.

 

[nvx1977]

I would hope that Ford is also investing in UX designers, or the engineering team has a strong sense of end-user experience. Otherwise the effort to assimilate the best of what Tesla's software has to offer becomes a inconsistent, incohesive feature dump that won't result in a great experience.

 

[RangerMac]

SYNC is awful and has always been. If ford as a company cared at all about user experience they would have tackled this along time ago.

agree it should not be a mustang. Why is it a mustang ‍
Now ford could have dabbled in the EV with a mustang with hyper car oerfotmance first then launched this Mach E.
Mach already has mustang heritage and could have accomplished what they wanted.

In the end the best part of Tesla May be that the bureaucrats don’t absolutely ruin everything for a penny of savings.

I do appreciate that the entire team were using model 3s everyday and that was the point of the post. At the micro level a project manager cares now it needs to get they suits and stop getting watered down and change the name which is too late.

 

[tashtibet]

all Ford could do is handover the E to Elon but they decided to kill the SEX. Moreover, their Mach E interior is Tesla inspired/copy-even the Supercharger. They still have one foot in the history -so ugly to stick that Horse in the front.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Dude. Don’t put so many details about the guy in the post. Anyone at Ford can identify him now.

 

[Akikiki]

I think using the Mustang moniker is a PR angle. That old adage that even bad press is good (well maybe not good, this time) press. Giving up and diluting the Mustang name is a risk. They must think its worth the risk. Could hanging Mustang on their first serious EV be like Dodge did with RAM truck? Using the name Mustang will allow them to spin off their EV line and immediately id it as EV?

 

[S'toon]

I really don't know what the fuss is about calling it a Mustang.

But then, I'm not a "car person." The only cars I've ever really paid attention to are Teslas; and casually other EV endeavours.

 

[640k]

I really don't know what the fuss is about calling it a Mustang.

But then, I'm not a "car person."

and that's why it's called the mustang.

 

[mtndrew1]

I’ve been a part of a few focus groups which were for electrified future Ford products and I like what they’re working on. They have some unique ideas as opposed to just checking off boxes on a spec sheet. One feature in particular I would pay good money for on my Model 3. Of course it’s all NDA and I’d like to be part of future groups so I won’t spill any beans but their work is promising.

I think the challenge with the Mach-E will be in efficiency resulting in the need for more expensive battery packs to make up for the thirst. This has been the issue with Audi Jaguar,and Porsche, obviously. It costs another $2500 in batteries to get the range Tesla was delivering years ago.

 

[ChadS]

I am pretty sure I know who you are talking about - I met him years ago when he had a different EV, and interacted with him a tiny bit on Facebook back when I had an account there. Nice guy and I'm sure he's sold on the EV concept; it also looks like he has some very appropriate not-EV-specific experience to contribute. It's great to hear Ford is going out of their way to hire the right people for the job.

I am pretty confident that the Mustang Mach-E is a serious attempt at a "volume" EV (it will only be the 3rd on the market, after the Model 3 and 2nd-gen Nissan LEAF) so I too wish him great success! I absolutely love my Model 3, but it's not a hatchback, and it is low enough that it can be painful to pick up my Mom or Father-in-law. The Mach-E solves both those problems, so I may own one some day. (Of course, the Model Y also solves those problems, so who knows...)

 

[Akikiki]

... I absolutely love my Model 3, but it's not a hatchback, and it is low enough that it can be painful to pick up my Mom or Father-in-law. The Mach-E solves both those problems, so I may own one some day. (Of course, the Model Y also solves those problems, so who knows...)

Okay, okay, you convinced us. You can buy a Model Y, if you really really think you need one. You have our permission.

But seriously, you want one, get one. You don't need to justify it to us. We got yo back, bubba.

 

[Fredneck]

I am pretty sure I know who you are talking about - I met him years ago when he had a different EV, and interacted with him a tiny bit on Facebook back when I had an account there. Nice guy and I'm sure he's sold on the EV concept; it also looks like he has some very appropriate not-EV-specific experience to contribute. It's great to hear Ford is going out of their way to hire the right people for the job.

I am pretty confident that the Mustang Mach-E is a serious attempt at a "volume" EV (it will only be the 3rd on the market, after the Model 3 and 2nd-gen Nissan LEAF) so I too wish him great success! I absolutely love my Model 3, but it's not a hatchback, and it is low enough that it can be painful to pick up my Mom or Father-in-law. The Mach-E solves both those problems, so I may own one some day. (Of course, the Model Y also solves those problems, so who knows...)

It's not so clear to me the model Y solves the elder transport problem. My X is nice and high, but it has no handles for my friend to grasp while "falling" into the seat. Even my 4WD pickup is easier for him to enter just because it has handles.

There's also no place to hand a suit. Heck, my 1963 Chevy II had hooks over the rear doors for hanging clothes. I keep saying, the rest of the auto industry has been working to perfect cars for over 100 years. While Tesla has some nice tech, it will take some time to catch up in many other regards. Oh, yeah, even the console in the X is virtually worthless. No place to put all the things I like to keep in the car.

 

[silverelan]

I am pretty sure I know who you are talking about - I met him years ago when he had a different EV, and interacted with him a tiny bit on Facebook back when I had an account there. Nice guy and I'm sure he's sold on the EV concept; it also looks like he has some very appropriate not-EV-specific experience to contribute. It's great to hear Ford is going out of their way to hire the right people for the job.

I am pretty confident that the Mustang Mach-E is a serious attempt at a "volume" EV (it will only be the 3rd on the market, after the Model 3 and 2nd-gen Nissan LEAF) so I too wish him great success! I absolutely love my Model 3, but it's not a hatchback, and it is low enough that it can be painful to pick up my Mom or Father-in-law. The Mach-E solves both those problems, so I may own one some day. (Of course, the Model Y also solves those problems, so who knows...)

The Mustang Mach-E has taken a lot of cues from Tesla's Model 3/Y program so it's really interesting to hear how they went about it and how they're trying to put their own take on the EV ownership experience that Tesla has so thoughtfully developed. Ford is moving fast in the vehicle's development and every specification and feature is a direct result of Tesla's influence.

I doubt there will be many converts from Tesla to the Mach-E, but I think it will certainly lure buyers who would otherwise consider an old fashioned fossil crossover or perhaps people like me who really like Tesla but can't get over the weird proportions of the Model Y.

I made a reservation for a Mustang Mach-E but I could still be convinced to just get a Model Y due to the superior battery tech, efficiency and Supercharger network. We'll see.

 

[Fredneck]

I made a reservation for a Mustang Mach-E but I could still be convinced to just get a Model Y due to the superior battery tech, efficiency and Supercharger network. We'll see.

I wouldn't worry so much about details of battery or engine tech by itself. Rather I say focus on the results. That is, look at range and performance and longevity, the things you actually care about. Oh yeah, and ownership cost. I'm not saying Tesla won't do well in those comparisons. I'm just saying that looking at any particular detail like kWh/kg, etc. is not a complete picture and many factors go into the things you will care about.

However... the Supercharger network surpasses all others. That is a significant difference that for me is a deal maker/breaker all by itself.

The other side of that coin is that unless you need to buy a car now, I would recommend anyone thinking of buying an EV should wait a couple or more years and let the market mature a bit more. Tesla's batteries are good, but how much better will they be in two years? They keep pushing the range of the cars by a few percent, so in four years it will be significantly more. The warranties currently don't reflect the stated testing results of the drive line, maybe in four years they will.