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As the rollout of electric vehicles continues across the automotive industry, consumers are discovering that automakers’ design priorities – and their expected buyer demographics – can have a significant effect on the products that they produce.
For some brands, it’s about putting technology front and center. For others, it’s about making the transition to an EV as seamless as possible. While both approaches certainly have their merits, the decisions made based on those assumptions can sometimes end up being a source of frustration for owners.
The T2 MX plugs into the vehicle’s OBD-II port just like a gas vehicle. It features a 5-inch full-color touch screen display, USB cord, and windshield mount.
“One thing we noticed about Ford’s latest EVs like the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning is that the company, in our opinion, did a poor job of providing vehicle information to users,” explains Michael Litsch of DiabloSport. “If you’ve spent five minutes in a Tesla, you already know that its infotainment system can provide you with more information than most people would even know what to do with. Stuff that borders on engineering data is accessible to anyone who wants to view it. Meanwhile, the Ford system basically just gives you a big number that shows your battery percentage and that’s about it. At first, I thought that we just weren’t looking hard enough – maybe we’d find a page with some cool info on things like voltage and current if we just kept digging through the menus? Nope – there’s nothing there. So we took that as a challenge.”
The engineers at DiabloSport decided to see what they could do about the limited amount of data that’s available to Ford EV owners from the factory, and the result of their efforts is the Trinity 2 MX for Ford EV. While the company has a lengthy roster of monitors and tuners for a variety of internal combustion platforms, this new monitoring system represents their first foray into the EV realm.
While detailed real-time vehicle data is typically of interest to racers and dedicated gearheads, Litsch says that this new monitoring system offers features that will likely appeal to both enthusiasts and casual owners who simply want to have a better understanding of their vehicles’ advanced powertrains.
“This system can really open your eyes as to what’s going on with the vehicle – there’s a lot of insight that you can gain which can’t be had otherwise. For example, one common trait with Ford EVs is that they deliver really awesome performance off the line, but it can trail off quickly under certain circumstances. So you might get a huge jolt of performance for a few seconds, but then it quickly goes away, and you’re kind of left wondering why.”
Having access to detailed data has a way of becoming indispensable for the end user, he tells us.
“With this system, you can see how much amperage is being delivered to the motors, how much current is being created by those motors, and where the temperatures are, and you can see how those numbers are changing in relation to one another in real-time. It’s sort of like the introduction of the OBD-II system diagnostics standard in 1996 – when that debuted, there were a lot of people who thought it was the end of the world. But within six months, everybody realized it was basically the coolest thing ever. This kind of data often becomes essential to people once they’ve seen it, even if they formerly didn’t care less about seeing data in their vehicle. Considering the number of people who want to know what’s going on under the hood of their gas or diesel vehicles, it stands to reason that EV owners will want that information as well.”
And the appeal isn’t strictly limited to performance interests. While enthusiasts will appreciate the system’s ability to do things like comparing 0-60 mph sprints and quarter-mile ETs based on reaction times or the battery’s state of charge, others will find the efficiency features particularly useful.
“If you want to know what speed delivers the best range while cruising on the highway, this is going to tell you,” Litsch points out. “For instance, you might discover that once you exceed 65 mph, the motor current threshold jumps way up, and it starts drawing way more amperage. Or if someone wants to get a better understanding of how aerodynamic drag affects efficiency, they can look at their normal driving habits and compare that to how the powertrain operates when they’re behind a large truck, or when they’re driving into a headwind or a tailwind.”
The Trinity 2 MX for Ford EV offers information about 23 different parameter IDs, or PIDs, each of which represents a different aspect of how the power train is functioning. These parameters are divided into three main pages on the T2’s five-inch, high-resolution touchscreen, and you can swipe between them much like you’d flip through pictures on a smartphone.
“The first two pages are performance-related PIDs – things you might want to look at while you’re driving,” says Litsch. “The third page is devoted to charging-related information. And that page can offer some fascinating insights. We found that looking at this charging data can sometimes reveal a big discrepancy between what you assume is happening while you’re charging, and what’s actually happening. The charge rates can vary quite a bit not only based on the type of charger you’re plugged into but also the temperature of the battery and other outside factors. This data can allow you to learn about how your car charges, and why it charges the way that it does.”
While the system’s menus are designed to be easy to use and put the most often-accessed information front and center, the engineering team also made sure that users could make changes if they wanted to. “We designed so you can change the look, feel, and style of the system to suit your needs and tastes,” he says. “The locations of the PIDs can be changed, custom backgrounds can be imported, the color scheme can be altered – nothing is set in stone.” The look of the gauges can also be changed between traditional circular, vertical, and digital gauges to suit one’s preference. “And the user can make each page look the same, if they want, or they can have different gauge designs for each of the three pages to give them distinctive appearances.”
The device also has the capability to data log, a function that is easily accessed from a pull-down menu in the system’s interface. This feature allows you to record video of the system’s screens and play the recording back later using DiabloSport’s free DataViewer 2 software for in-depth analysis.
Installing the Trinity 2 MX for Ford EVs couldn’t be easier – simply plug the device into the vehicle’s OBD-II port and away you go. The package includes the touchscreen, a windshield mount, an HDMI-to-OBD-II cable, and a USB cable to connect the device to a personal computer. The device also boasts WiFi connectivity, which allows for wireless firmware updates and other USB cable-free functions.
Litsch notes that this monitoring system isn’t the only product that DiabloSport offers which may be of interest to Ford EV owners. “Our AMP’d throttle booster is also available for these vehicles. It’s designed to remove delays in throttle response, and it allows you to customize the vehicle’s throttle response to your liking.”
And there’s more cool stuff for the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning on the way, too. “We’re currently working on other offerings for the Ford EV market,” he adds.
The Trinity 2 MX monitoring system is available now, and Litsch says that we should expect to see the tuner hit the shelves later this summer.
