Ford adds Apple CarPlay preconditioning… but only to the 2026 Mach-E

[Maineiac12]

WTF @Ford Motor Company! We’ve been asking for this forever. Why only new MME’s and not a software update for everyone?

https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/16/apple-maps-ev-routing-carplay-ford-battery/

Sponsored

 

[ryun]

I don't know about you guys but I've been sure to enter in the charger's destination with the built in nav in both my wife's EV6 and my truck to precondition the battery before arrival and it's never seemed to make a lick of difference. On my truck in particular, I get 150KW peak sometimes, but on average I'd say I'm in 90-100 KW peak range. This is across Tesla and Electrify America chargers (EA is higher on average from my experience).

I feel like I haven't done it in weather that's too hot/cold enough, or there are just too many other variables outside of battery temps.

That said, it would be great to have if we can get a software update for it. The less I can rely on the built in nav the better.

 

[Daragh]

Because Ford will spend as little as possible to support “legacy” vehicles which is what the Lightning now is. Hell they did a terrible job with software on the Lightning prior to its discontinuation. I certainly wouldn’t expect them to do anything more based on their track record. Sad as it is, Ford is simply not reliable when it comes to software they’re still stuck back in the dark ages and operate with a 20th century nuts and bolts are better mentality. I hope they prove me wrong.

 

[molsonmatt]

This would be huge! Where you at Brian? @Ford Motor Company

 

[Maineiac12]

Because Ford will spend as little as possible to support “legacy” vehicles which is what the Lightning now is. Hell they did a terrible job with software on the Lightning prior to its discontinuation. I certainly wouldn’t expect them to do anything more based on their track record. Sad as it is, Ford is simply not reliable when it comes to software they’re still stuck back in the dark ages and operate with a 20th century nuts and bolts are better mentality. I hope they prove me wrong.

I know, right? But since both the MME and Lightning use the same software it wouldn’t be a huge issue to make this available to previous years. Especially for the 2025’s which are virtually identical to the 2026 models.

 

[AMG]

This would be huge! Where you at Brian? @Ford Motor Company

Ford could invest just a little bit of effort and have a great positive impact on many MME and Lightning owners. Most F-150 owners have owned more than one, I would think Ford would love for you to want to come back and buy the EREV Lightning, why not do right by their customers.

This has been asked for since the very beginning.
Ford also could very easily enable multi-touch inside of CarPlay. Apple added it in iOS 26 and all that has to happen is the hardware manufacturer (Ford) has to say it is OK. They permit multi-touch (ie. pinch to zoom) in their native navigation, there is no reason they can't permit it in CarPlay. Again, this would be low investment thing that is very visible to the customer. Almost all of the OTA updates ford has done to my 25 have been things that are "behing the scenes" and I don't see any difference. I suppose the loss of "Auto Hold" in the main menu and the fact that Sport Mode doesn't hold anymore are things that I have visually seen, but those are not good updates.

@Ford Motor Company yes please help.

 

[DavidS]

I don't know about you guys but I've been sure to enter in the charger's destination with the built in nav in both my wife's EV6 and my truck to precondition the battery before arrival and it's never seemed to make a lick of difference. On my truck in particular, I get 150KW peak sometimes, but on average I'd say I'm in 90-100 KW peak range. This is across Tesla and Electrify America chargers (EA is higher on average from my experience).

I feel like I haven't done it in weather that's too hot/cold enough, or there are just too many other variables outside of battery temps.

That said, it would be great to have if we can get a software update for it. The less I can rely on the built in nav the better.

I have owned my Lightning for just over a year and used it in both 100+ and -20 degree weather and previously owned a Model Y for four years. My general experience with the Lightning is that it in general does whatever it wants to provide a consistent but perhaps not optimal charging experience. Preconditioning is actually done best by using the Ford app and using the full 15 minute pre start to “warm up” the truck. If the temperature gauge is in the center, the truck believes the temperature is optimal for driving and charging. My sense is this battery is twice as big as a Tesla vehicle but the HVAC system is not, so any conditioning under load is going to take a lot longer. Under severe conditions it could take half an hour to an hour to fully condition the battery. In hot weather during slow driving conditions, I have seen the cooling system fail to remove excess heat from the battery between charging stations even after 3 hours. It’s just a system limitation that is not going to be resolved by software. Even with all of these limitations, the Lightning has much better consistency in cold weather charging than Teslas.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

This would be huge! Where you at Brian? @Ford Motor Company

I'm here! On a mission to find out more. When/if I have info to share I will.

 

[chl]

I'm here! On a mission to find out more. When/if I have info to share I will.

 

[kstype]

I'm here! On a mission to find out more. When/if I have info to share I will.

Thanks Brian - we appreciate your efforts.

 

[ClevelandBeemer]

Or just give us a manual preconditioning option!

 

[kstype]

I would love the SYNC clock to stay set to 24 hour mode when I set it that way… and since this is the same UI and operating system for the most part with the MachE, I would think they’d be able to do that…and if it’s in 24 hour mode the AM time should start with a zero…

 

[Altivec]

If Ford thinks washing their hands away from 100k EV early adopters and advocates is going to make us buy or recommend a Ford EV ever again, they are dead wrong. I could care less how great or cheap their new platform is, if this is the level of software support and ethics to expect, good riddance Ford. I don't even care about this feature as I do very little long distance driving. It's just the whole principle of it being the same platform and easily able to pass on to us too, but they CHOOSE to walk away. I am still waiting for the OTA of ProPower with truck off that my dealer and Ford engineers promised I would get in my 2023. That software has been completed years ago, yet, Ford CHOOSES not to send updates to previous models as they promised. Just Lousy support/policy to what would otherwise be an exceptional product and experience.

 

[PJnc284]

Heck I'd be curious to know just what the preconditioning requirements and threshold are along with exactly which years support it. Numerous 22 owners mention theirs don't precondition and I've yet to see my 23 expend any extra power to warm the battery with the battery temp in the 20's using either Ford Nav or Google Maps/AA.

 

[LiteNing]

Heck I'd be curious to know just what the preconditioning requirements and threshold are along with exactly which years support it. Numerous 22 owners mention theirs don't precondition and I've yet to see my 23 expend any extra power to warm the battery with the battery temp in the 20's using either Ford Nav or Google Maps/AA.

Yea, I’m curious about that too. I always use CarPlay for navigation (so I don’t get the benefit of preconditioning) and my truck always hits 175-180 kW for the first 6 or 7 minutes at a Tesla Supercharger, then 120-125 kW until 80%. AFAIK, that’s as good as it gets.

The weather is pretty mild here where I live. Is it just for driving in very hot or cold weather? What am I missing?

Sponsored