Sixty Percent of Ford Plugin Trips Are Gas Free
Ford says early data gathered from its MyFord Mobile app indicates that 60 percent of all plug in hybrid trips are being make using electricity alone.
Owners can download the MyFord Mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Store and use it to track and record their driving habits in order to improve fuel efficiency. The 60 percent number is up from 40 percent just earlier this year. Ford says this is possible because 84 percent of one-way trips are distances of 32 kilometres or less. Most Ford Hybrids have an electric-only range of about 34 kilometres.
The app also reports that people take an average of 185 minutes to charge their plugin hybrids and most people search for stations between noon and 2pm. The top five most active regions for charge station searches are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and the northeast corridor.
“We”re already seeing just how useful MyFord Mobile is, both from a customer point of view in terms of day-to-day driving and also from a company standpoint,” said Joe Rork, MyFord Mobile product manager. “We look at the data closely to make decisions about the evolution of MyFord Mobile and the vehicles themselves.”
MyFord Mobile is available on Ford’s plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicle, Fusion Energi, C-MAX Energi and Focus Electric, which all helped the automaker deliver its best hybrid quarter ever, with sales of 24,217 vehicles. This number represents a 517 percent increase over last year and a 15 percent increase over first-quarter 2013.