Ford and PlugShare partner on real-time charging station information

7 February 2013

Ford is partnering with PlugShare, an aggregator of public charge stations, to provide real-time charge station information to drivers of Ford’s plug-in vehicles.

Ford’s MyFord Mobile smartphone app and Web portal now features a charging station finder powered by PlugShare.com. In addition to aggregating publicly available lists of charging stations from a variety of sources, PlugShare incorporates crowd-sourced information from users to provide the most comprehensive dataset available.

The station finder component of the MyFord Mobile app now blends point-of-interest search with charging station information from PlugShare.com to let drivers take advantage of opportunistic charging wherever their destination might be. Users can search for terms such as “pizza” or “Mexican food” near a location and MyFord Mobile will display the results along with the nearest available charge for each entry. Drivers can select a destination based on proximity to a plug.

Access to public charging allows our C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi customers to drive more electric miles—helping improve our environmental footprint and improve energy security. We’ve seen impressive growth in the number of installed public charge stations—growing from fewer than 3,000 units in 2010 to more than 11,500 installed units in the US today.

This collaboration allows for Ford customers to access all the currently installed stations, as well as gain immediate access to new charge stations as they are installed.

—Mike Tinskey, director, Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure

MyFord Mobile’s trip and charge log has also been updated to provide drivers with information about how efficiently they are using their plug-in hybrid vehicle in both electric and hybrid mode. By taking advantage of available data on electricity use, hybrid gas mileage and regenerative braking, the app coaches drivers to adjust their driving style to be more efficient.

MyFord Mobile is available in the Apple iOS App Store for iPhones and the Google Play Store for Android phones. The MyFord Mobile Web portal is at http://www.myfordmobile.com. Some features of the MyFord Mobile app including point-of-interest search, trip and charge log, and achievements will become available after the initial launch.