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Ford tries to get a better handle on what EV drivers want

Ford says more than nine out of 10 electric-vehicle drivers indicate that their current EV won't be their last. Which is a good thing. Given the Blue Oval's most recent green-car sales, that next EV purchase couldn't come soon enough. The automaker took a poll of 10,000 electric-vehicle owners in the US and found that, among other things, more than 80 percent either already have or are considering installing solar panels to enable off-the-grid vehicle charging from home. Less surprising, these drivers use their smartphones to do things like check the car's battery charge and remotely turn on or off their cars' air-conditioning or heating systems before setting off on a drive. Of course, these folks want a little bit more from their smartphone apps. Most handy would be a public charging station locator as well as the ability to reserve and pay for electric charging sessions in advance. And more fast-charging stations appear to be in store, as almost half of the battery-electric vehicle drivers use conventional 110-volt outlets to charge their vehicles at home. Ford is hoping that these repeat-driver indicators bode for good things in the future. Last month, the automaker sold almost 5,800 hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery-electric vehicles in the US. That was down 27 percent from a year earlier. Notably, Ford Focus Electric sales dropped 32 percent from a year earlier to just 135 units, and have fallen 16 percent for the year. It's not just Ford that's facing difficulties. US plug-in vehicle sales overall dropped 22 percent from a year earlier to about 8,600 units. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2012 Ford Focus Electric: Quick Spin View 18 Photos News Source: FordImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Sebastian Blanco / AOL Green Ford Green Culture Smartphone Electric PHEV app

Weekly Recap: Ferrari, Ford and Porsche power up for Geneva

Monday was Groundhog Day. Tuesday, apparently, was Sports Car Day. The Ferrari 488 GTB, the Ford Focus RS and the Porsche Cayman GT4 all debuted within hours of each other ahead of their rollouts at the Geneva Motor Show. Three sporty machines, three vastly different approaches – and a lot of implications for enthusiasts. That's a day worth repeating. It also illustrates the opportunities automakers see in the performance market, which is expected to grow in the coming years. Ford estimates the segment has expanded 14 percent in Europe and surged 70 percent in North America since 2009. The Detroit Auto Show was evidence of this, and performance cars of every stripe debuted, including the Acura NSX, Ford GT, Alfa Romeo 4C Spider and several others. This isn't a fad. Performance cars aren't going away. The question is why? Stricter CAFE standards are looming in the United States, as are tighter emissions regulations in Europe. And no one expects gas prices to remain low in America. None of this matters for sports cars, and automakers are increasingly using them to elevate their images. That's why Dodge rolled out two 707-horsepower Hellcats last year. It's why Ford has decided to resurrect the GT for road and track. It's why in the depths of bankruptcy, General Motors continued work on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, not to mention the Z06. "Great brands are made one car at a time," Ford of Europe president Jim Farley said at the reveal of the Focus RS. Still, companies make those cars for different reasons. View 5 Photos Mainstream brands like Ford and Dodge want to build cars that get people talking, excite their bases and drive more potential customers into the showroom. They probably don't buy a Focus RS or a Hellcat, but suddenly the regular Focus hatch looks a bit hotter, and that V6 Charger seems to be just a touch more muscular. The halo of performance is alive and well in the eyes of automakers and their customers. "It's one of the most effective catalysts for ingenuity and innovation," said Joe Bakaj, vice president of product development for Ford of Europe. That also leads to a trickle-down effect. Some of the technologies inevitably make their way to other products. It's hard to think the new all-wheel-drive system in the Focus RS that distributes torque front to rear and side to side won't be used in other vehicles. It's different for Ferrari and Porsche.

NHTSA will investigate some Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ models for power steering issue

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening an investigation into the 2010-2012 Ford Fusion, Fusion Hybrid and Lincoln MKZ, the 2012 MKZ Hybrid and 2011 Mercury Milan because the agency has hundreds of complaints of electric power steering failure in these models.
According to NHTSA's data, it has received 508 complaints of the power steering allegedly suddenly malfunctioning and resulting in increased effort to turn the wheel. In four incidents, these failures resulted in loss of control and crashes. According to the reports, in some cases a power steering warning message came on as the fault occurred, and other times the system restored itself by turning off and then restarting the vehicle. NHTSA said it has also received further field report data from Ford, but that information hasn't been publicly released yet.
For the moment, there isn't a recall for this failure on these models. NHTSA is just investigating them to "assess the scope, frequency and safety consequences of the alleged defect," and the agency says an estimated 938,000 vehicles could potentially be affected.