I believe Ford has been working on range extenders for quite some time. There were rumors about a range extender for Lightning before it debuted.
The question is where to use it and how to package it. Hopefully they don’t lean in on this too much and ignore regular HEVs or PHEVs.
Absolutely and I see it as spaghetti of a sort because Ford still hasn’t figured how to execute this.
It’s simply something PR to say when they have no real idea of what to do next without major changes.
This is all Farley could come up with after months of reviews?
Yeah you can bet this is a real morale gut buster…and Farley has to explain to Bill Ford and the board
I don't think that's spaghetti...
But yeah, they need to figure out the direction they want to go in. Not only is this constant change of direction very wasteful, I'd imagine it also does a lot of damage to the moral within Ford. Developing cars is hard, yet there are probably Ford engineers and designers who've had everything they've spent years working on thrown out. I'd be pissed.
I hope that is driving around town aggressively. The computer in my 6.7 says I'm averaging 14.5 MPG pulling my 8K trailer @ 65 MPH. It averaged 23.6 MPG on the 1,500 mile trip home.
This throws up an interesting question about product development.
If the vehicle is developed from ICE side then adding batteries to make HEV and PHEV make sense
but if the vehicle is developed from a BEV, does it make more sense to reduce the main battery size
and add a small ICE and generation in the frunk as a charge sustain range extender for the EREV?
Approaching this from a different direction,
Instead of using a hybrid version of 10R or 6F, could a modern hybrid drive be developed from the
BEV direct drive transmission, perhaps adding a spur ring gear and secondary electric motor making
variable speed for the ICE and easier to manufacture?
Ouch. Why a recall? Is this a common failure? Components and warranties are carefully created together. I've had a few vehicles with a sunroof and only use them a few times each year so I opted not to get one on my truck.
See if the dealer can cut the price some. Good luck.
10-4. The diesel engine was used for surface propulsion and charging while on the surface or snorkeling.
They used lead-acid batteries. The hydrogen created during charge/discharge cycles was vented thru the hull. If seawater came in contact with the batteries, chlorine gas would be produced that entered the ship's ventilation system.