FORD, GE WATTSTATION CHARGERS SUPPORT EMPLOYEE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING NE
- Ford to install its first employee electric vehicle charging station network in Dearborn, Mich.; facilities across the United States and Canada to follow.
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Ford will work with GE as its network provider and supplier of electric vehicle charging stations; networked stations will help Ford understand charging usage and plan for future installations.
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Ford electrified vehicles have logged an estimated 65 million electric miles over the last 18 months.
Ford now offers four plug-in electrified vehicles. That’s including Mustang Mach E, Focus Electric, C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids.
So Ford Motor Company in conjunction with GE for more EV charging on the Mustang Mach E, the Fusion Energi and and the C-MAX energi plug-in electrified models!
Ford electrified vehicles have logged an estimated 65 million electric miles over the last 18 months.
Ford now offers four plug-in electrified vehicles. That’s including Mustang Mach E, Focus Electric, C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids and GE has the charge. For they will supply vehicle charging stations at Ford facilities nationwide. It is beginning with facilities in and around its headquarters.
The announcement continues the innovative cooperation begun more than 100 years ago between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, co-founder of GE.
Ford began installing GE WattStation™ charging stations across its North American campuses. Thereby finally developing a workplace charging network at nearly every Ford facility in the United States and Canada.
With the new charging network, Ford employees commuting to their jobs from up to 21 miles away in plug-in hybrid vehicles. Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi and now the Ford Mustang Mach E are able to drive entirely on electric power to and from work in certain circumstances.
Electric Options
More importantly, Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi have an EPA-estimated MPG ratings 44 city. That’s 41 highway and 43 combined. As well as have an EPA-estimated range of 21 miles electric. The Mustang Mach E is over 300 miles all electric!
So drivers of the electric-only Focus Electric has an EPA-estimated range of 110 miles on a full charge. That will have even more gas-free commuting potential*.
Henderson and his team conducted a study on employee charging and driving behaviors from January 2014 to September 2017. It is initially collecting data using the MyFord Mobile® smartphone app.
However Ford’s charging network and employee surveys. In a presentation at the 30th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany, Henderson delivered insights the data revealed and stressed the significance of a workplace charging network.
An important finding suggests that for some employees – particularly those stationed at one facility for an entire day.
Therefore having to move their vehicles once they are fully charged constitutes a serious downside to driving electric. So Ford, expanding its network to accommodate existing demand and anticipated greater adoption of electrified vehicles.
New employee charging stations will aid an ongoing effort to understand where and when people charge their electric vehicles whether at work, home or while running errands.
Data on electric vehicle charging habits finds that despite continuing low gas prices, Ford employees are choosing to purchase or lease electric vehicles if workplace charging is widely available.
These results are prompting Ford to triple the number of U.S. workplace charging stations to 600 in the next two years; the network will double within a year More than six in 10 employees say Ford’s workplace charging, which currently includes 200 stations at 50 facilities. All influenced their decision to purchase or lease an electric vehicle.
Again, so when it comes to workplace charging, Ford has found that if you build it, they will come. As well and more importantly, they will charge.
These are U.S. and Canadian Ford employees, who say the company’s 200 current charging stations at 50 facilities have given them the confidence. Confidence to buy or lease an electric vehicle without worrying where they can charge away from home. More than six in 10 employees who drive electric vehicles say Ford’s workplace charging network influenced them. That’s deciding even whether to purchase or lease.
As a result, Ford is tripling the number of North American workplace charging stations to 600 in the next two years. Within a year, the network will double.
Since September 2014, Ford employees have charged their vehicles at work more than 165,000 times (~$59,000 at 0.078 cents per kilowatt-hour).
Those chargers are at the product development campuses and manufacturing facilities. Installation began at Ford’s southeast Michigan facilities and rolled out across other facilities throughout 2014.
Throughout North America, the number of charging stations – both public and residential – is growing rapidly. In 2009, there were 3,000 known public charge stations. Today, there are more than 30,000.
The Ford charging service will be free to employees for the first four hours of charging each day. By offering free charging, Ford is encouraging charging station sharing. Thereby enabling twice as many employees to charge at work for free.
Ford is also asking employees to use the MyFord® Mobile smartphone app to collect driving and charging information.
All to help the company understand driving patterns and potentially influence future product design.
Ford estimating it costs about 50 cents to fully charge each vehicle**. Those are probably mostly plugin hybrid EV data.
Ford’s WattStation charging station installation differs from other workplace charging installations. Similarly in that the units will be networked together.
As a result, the company will be able to gather comprehensive information on electrified vehicle use.
So they want data such as the number of hours vehicles are charging and the amount of carbon dioxide reduced. It then using actual station data to plan for additional station installations.
GE was the first major company to add C-MAX Energi vehicles to its fleet.
Ford and GE are working with researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology to study GE fleet driving and charging habits, with the goal of improving all-electric driving and charging performance.
So Ford’s MyFord Mobile app provides drivers with real-time battery charge status.
Plus in addition a value charging option that automatically schedules charging at lower-cost. In other words, at off-peak electricity rates (based on your local utility’s participation).
65 million electric miles
Ford offers four electrified vehicles which here means plugin. That’s including Mustang Mach E, Focus Electric, Lincoln Plugin Hybrid and the Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid.
Ford and Lincoln drivers typically make three of their four daily trips in all-electric mode. All based on data from Ford’s MyFord Mobile app. It is estimated Ford customers now have logged 65 million all-electric miles.
That’s increasing at a rate of 290,000 electric miles per day. All by driving the full range of plug-in vehicles, saving more than 4 million kilograms of CO2.
By adding another charge opportunity during the day at the workplace, employees are able to accomplish all of their workweek trips without using gasoline.
Early work between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison
Henry Ford’s history of working with Thomas Edison dates back to the late 1800s, when Ford worked for the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. In 1892, Edison co-founded General Electric. In 1896, Ford attended a lecture given by Edison, which inspired him to discuss his ideas with the renowned scientist, thus beginning a strong friendship that endured for the rest of their lives.
Henry Ford had a strong interest in electric vehicles. He bought two for his wife, Clara, in 1908 and 1914, and installed a charging station in their garage. Several years after Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903, Ford and Edison began experimenting with their own electric vehicles using Edison batteries.
The vehicles never went to market, but it marked the beginning of a relationship between the two men’s companies that stands strong today. GE purchased 2,000 Ford C-MAX Energi vehicles. Thereby supporting its goal of converting half of its fleet to alternative energy vehicles. Next GE can get Mustang Mach E, Fusion Energi and used C-MAX energi cars too!
- Electric driving ranges vary with conditions such as external elements, driving behaviors, vehicle maintenance and lithium-ion battery age.
** MyFord Mobile is complimentary for five years from the vehicle sale date as recorded by the dealer. Subscriptions fees apply after five years. MyFord Mobile requires a compatible 2G independent cellular network. Evolving technology and cellular networks may affect future availability and functionality.
Source: Ford Motor Company DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 19, 2017 and Mar 20, 2014 | Dearborn, Mich.
#EV charging station for @fordmotorco electric car!! #electriccar
