Ford is investing $4.5 billion to produce 13 new electrified vehicles by 2020, one of which will be a new Focus Electric, the automaker has announced.
The Focus Electric, which starts production late next year, will offer a 100-mile range and employ DC fast-charge capability so drivers can reach an 80% charge in an estimated 30 minutes.
The Focus Electric will also include a SmartGauge with EcoGuide LCD instrument cluster that offers customizable displays to help the driver see real-time EV power usage to maximize vehicle efficiency. The vehicle will also include Brake Coach, which coaches the driver to use smooth braking to maximize the energy captured through a regenerative braking system.
Ford is also investing in social science-based research and traditional market research to observe how consumers interact with vehicles and gain new insights into the cognitive, social, cultural, technological, and economic nuances that affect product design.
Next year, Ford is doubling the number of projects that use ethnographic research versus this year.
During the past three years, a team of researchers has invested more than 4,000 hours with thousands of vehicle users in more than 25 cities worldwide, taking 80,000 photos, nearly 3,000 hours of video, and more than 8,000 pages of field notes.
Designers no longer just sketch products, but also full customer experience illustrations that visualize the experience each product is meant to deliver.
This user experience design technique also plays a role in developing the Ford Smart Mobility plan, which is designed improve the company’s connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, and data and analytics.
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