Here are the questions for Ford

Thanks to those of you who've sent us questions for Ford's design and research teams.

Here's a list of some highlights:

(where people openly sent us questions on twitter, we've included their Twitter Handles, if they DM'd or emailed us, we kept it anonymous)

So, from Twitter:

• From @danieleizians What do you think of the new Taurus? Ford definitely made the right adjustments in my book. One of the best Sunday reveals.
• from @endac: why is it taking ford so long to bring an EV to Market? They *had* the Th!nk and ditched that.. - Thanks Endac
• from @TomRaftery When is their 1st EV available? EV, HEV or PHEV? Price? Range? Charge time? Swappable battery? Updatable firmware (for v2g)?
• from @Charmermark my Q is... producing volume EV batteries is surely the No1 challenge. Could the industry collaborate rather than compete here?
• From @monkchips: Where is the iPod moment for auto transport, or do we have to wait for Apple to deliver it? Segway CTO now at @ $AAPL
• From @bjelkeman: Throughout the IT industry it's been proven that networks that are built through open collaboration have worked much better than competitive, proprietary ones. Think of the Internet versus AOL, GSM versus CDMA. In Sweden, Saab and Volvo are right now collaborating, together, with the Swedish government. I wondered if Ford at a global level considered this kind of collaboration to be key to creating the electric vehicle infrastructure we need, or an exception.

...and some of the others:

• ask them if it is really possible to develop a good EV from an existing ICE chassis (Focus) or is this just the best they can do for now?
• ask with whom they plan to work on batteries, as battery engineering and supply is the biggest issue
• what is the actual energy saving by switching to eclectic in CO2?
• are they purely aiming at achieving the technology or are they thinking about driver satisfaction too?
• how will I charge it from my house if I park on street?
• Honda is not even pursuing plug-in battery technology.  And Toyota (which came out with the Prius back in 1997 and knows batteries well) has repeatedly brought up all of the problems with plug-in battery technology. Furthermore, the Toyota FT-EV only gets 50 miles of range and is a very small car. Instead, both companies are aggressively pursuing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.With this in mind, do you think plug-in battery vehicles are being overhyped?
• what do you think about the Chinese electric cars, and what are your plans, in general, for EVs for developing world markets?
• what can car companies do (and how can they make it profitable for themselves, as they won't do it otherwise) to get people to start to buy smaller and more efficient automobiles?  it seems like car companies set the standard through advertising and marketing, and themselves hold the responsibility for the "car culture" in the united states?  why is it that a particular model of car gets bigger and bigger each subsequent year?
• i realise its quite futile to ask car companies to start marketing that people should drive less, but, honestly, what are they doing about that?  are there any business models for car companies that involve either setting up car sharing programs (similar to zip car, hertz, etc.), or to start moving into revolutionizing public transportation, etc.

Any more, let us know, or add a comment.

Comments

[Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson]

I didn't actually say "Linux versus Windows", I did say GSM versus CDMA. :)