Ford deliberately limiting acceleration of Focus EV

[KarenRei]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10384917-54.html

During my drive two weeks ago, I was eager to feel the acceleration. Vehicles that run off electric motors have "instant torque," which means you get the car's top acceleration at all speeds. The Focus was indeed zippy and responsive, but when I asked if it was better than the gasoline Focus, Ford's director of global electrification Nancy Gioia told me that it'd be the same--on purpose.

Ford dialed back the potential acceleration of the electric Focus so drivers can expect the same from the gasoline and electric versions. The same is true for braking.

[Tanquen2]

Cool, something to hack. :)

[Rhodomel]

This is the Ford management with their brains in their butts. I say, let the consumer decide and be thrilled by instant torque to encourage them to change over. We do embrace change and would welcome the obvious differences, not hide it. We don't care if it will drain our batteries quicker, that's for us to decide. Batteries will improve. We should feel that technology have changed. It is a cool factor, and we expect the EV to be truly different than the old dinosaur technology. Ford, please don't go backwards. We the consumers have spoken.

If Ford went with this anyway, so long Ford EV's. You're now extinct before you are produced.

[JimmyDreams]

Typical backwards thought process by Ford. Why on EARTH would you want one car to be more desired and appreciated over another? Why, that makes no sense!

ICE vehicles tout their acceleration times...why would you dial DOWN a electric version unless you secretly wanted it to fail?

Color me not-shocked.

[Dubito]

When I rode the Brammo all-electric motorcycle at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica a few weeks back they only let us do a short lap of the parking lot. I left thinking it was very slow, I gave it full throttle and it was no jack rabbit.

On monday I had the chance to go ask a Brammo rep unlimited questions and go for a half-hour ride. Brammo tunes their bike, with inexperienced riders in mind, to give what amounts to only maneuvering power at low speed, but when you drive over about 20 mph you get full power.

If Brammo catches on there'll be a lot of tuning/hacking going on. Range will suffer, though.

[SEGsby]

EV's are very sensitive to speed changes, so leveling off the extreme motion deltas makes the battery pack last longer, and ultimately controls costs of how large a battery stack they put in there. The cost of batteries, folks whining about range, and the longevity of their transmission, are probably more influential aspects in the decision; not to undercut people's enjoyment of their electric vehicle, I'm sure.

Of course, it would be nice if the power saving mode was an OPTION, and the user had a CHOICE in how the car functioned...

The Aptera seemed to have 3 driving Modes you can select. I hope this User Choice makes it into final production.

[KarenRei]

From a physics perspective, it doesn't matter if you accelerate all at once or over a long period of time (excepting any motor/pack efficiency changes (for good or bad), the fact that you get yourself into the higher-drag high-speed envelope sooner when you use more acceleration, and that you may be tempted to go to a higher speed than you would otherwise)

[jstdadd]

From a physics perspective, it doesn't matter if you accelerate all at once or over a long period of time (excepting any motor/pack efficiency changes (for good or bad), the fact that you get yourself into the higher-drag high-speed envelope sooner when you use more acceleration, and that you may be tempted to go to a higher speed than you would otherwise)

Beyond playing nanny and deciding what is best for the driver, I see no point in limiting acceleration. If I could beat all the Porsche Boxsters off the line in my part of town, it would make people desire electric all the more.

That's one reason that the speed-happy consumer buys a motorcycle; off the line, from 20 to 60mph, passing - they will out-accelerate all but the most powerful sports cars every time. I consider it a real safety feature - to be able to pull away from the dolt who is pulling into my lane. I feel happier in front of unsafe drivers than beside them.

[SEGsby]

Physics also says 100% immediate torque is bad for geared transmissions.
And they're expensive to replace while under warranty...

[Rhodomel]

Physics also says 100% immediate torque is bad for geared transmissions.
And they're expensive to replace while under warranty...

The point of Electric motors, they don't have gears to wear out and replace. Some electric notors are even brushless. While the expensive sports cars try hard to tear away their gears trying to achieve instantaneous torque, the electric motors should have fewer problems.

So the Ford management are truly idiots.

[SEGsby]

Who was talking about damage to motors? No. I'm talking about the DRIVETRAIN that the motor(s) attach to. Look at the expensive transmission issues with the Tesla and it's effect of instant torque on gears.


The point of Electric motors, they don't have gears to wear out and replace. Some electric notors are even brushless. While the expensive sports cars try hard to tear away their gears trying to achieve instantaneous torque, the electric motors should have fewer problems.

So the Ford management are truly idiots.

[KarenRei]

Who was talking about damage to motors? No. I'm talking about the DRIVETRAIN that the motor(s) attach to. Look at the expensive transmission issues with the Tesla and it's effect of instant torque on gears.

Tesla hasn't had problems since they went single-gear.

[SEGsby]

Took Tesla a bit of experimentation to figure that out. Cost money and delays.

I owned a 1985 Ford Mustang. It was the LAST Ford I ever owned too. The reverse gear went out prematurely. How many times had I ever driven the car backwards? Not very often-- certainly not enough to have it fail.

Ford "quality" transmission in an EV would be disaster if their current designs are based off what they've been putting in their ICE cars. A robust EV drive train design takes more time and money to develop.

Combine the mistakes of Tesla and multiply by the number of mass produced new Ford EV's, and you have a potential economic crisis for the company.

Controlled torque ramping makes a lot of sense, from a company standpoint.

[OC-LA driver]

Yes but it says something about the company philosophically that they would match the ICE acceleration instead of basing the torque limitations on the transmission's capabilities (with a margin for error).

Or maybe the calculation was, limit the torque to the lowest acceptable level so we can make the transmissions a cheaply as possible and keep the whole cost down.

That's a tradeoff you don't have to take as far if your shell is composite instead of steel...but they know a lot about steel and little about composites apparently.

[KarenRei]

The problem was that, due to their low volume, they couldn't get a good transmission maker to offer an affordable bid on a quality product.