Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an ice and snow warning system that may be used in future Ford EVs, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on October 4th, 2022, published on April 4th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0109515.
The Ford Authority Take
In recent years, Ford has filed a number of patents aimed at making vehicles easier or more comfortable to drive in colder climates, including ideas for an instant cabin heating system, a smart road salt distribution system, bead lock snow chain integration, and a changed driving conditions detection system. Now, this newly filed patent continues that trend, this time, by presenting us with an idea for an ice and snow warning system that may be used in future Ford EVs, specifically.
Rather than improving things like traction or comfort in snow and icy conditions, this patent aims to do something a bit different – combat range loss that can occur in EVs when snow and ice accumulates on them. This may seem negligible, but as the automaker points out in the patent, snow and ice can add up to 850 pounds to a vehicle, resulting in a range loss of between 10-15 percent – a notable amount, indeed, especially since range tends to drop in colder temperatures anyway.
As such, this proposed system would be capable of reading temps and determining whether or not snow and ice are possible, as well as how much weight they add to a vehicle. If that weight exceeds a certain threshold, the system would provide an escalating series of warnings to drivers, and in some cases, it may even be able to remove that snow and ice itself, without any user interaction – an interesting and potentially useful idea, indeed.
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Comments
Needs a 10 speed trans warning. caution will shift to 1st at high speeds locking up the tires. Hang on
Something GM had on their vehicles for 35 years.