Does it use the cloud? Can it work where there is no Internetz connectivity? How does it talk to your vehicle? Via the CAN Bus, ODB-II Port, Bluetooth/BLE, cellular, or WiFi? How often does it update? Is it as alarmingly vague and intermittent as the VW, Mercedes, or Mazda ones extensively discussed here on these forums, most battling their vendor reliability and greed and ever-changing interfaces?
Sounds like something Ford should offer itself for all customers, on their vehicle dashboard as a future update along with a well documented API for HomeAssistant and other automation interoperability. Have you approached them to contribute to their R&D efforts for the benefit of others?
Ideally, for self interest, an electric vehicle should be self aware of range and availability of refuelling options and offer those in real time with options that are selectable by the operator, either automagically with automation, or choice, especially as self-driving becomes increasingly available. As the the critical resource (charge / fuel) diminishes, it should increasingly notify what is within range, then alarm, then narrow down to optimum place to park the dead vehicle to be the less obstructive for everybody, and optimal for recovery. Does your app do that, either in current format or a future version? Can it use least cost as well as least consumption routing to determine available refuelling locations (hint: range is not a circle on a map depending on a fixed radius, as exiting a fast moving freeway to find a spot in dense suburbia may find you stranded at the approaches if the light stays red for too long at the traffic lights or a pedestrian/railway crossing and you are on your very last dregs and don’t have turtle mode or a football team in the back to push it the last few yards).
I see you are measuring what already happened. Do you have sensors exposed for time-to-empty, charge-to-empty, and distance-to-empty. The when will I be fxxcked threshold is approaching readout?
What you need is a vehicle anti-stranded app.
Can your app be used for other models like some of the other Ford solutions on GitHub that they support? Can it be used for other vehicles with a bit of tweaking? Ones that run on other fuels such as diesel or gasoline that monitor and report their fuel levels remaining?
Wishful thinking: Looking forward to the development of HomeAssistant like recently for InfraRed, Wireless, etc to come to vehicles also, so we have a modular core generic building blocks such as Vehicle integration as well as Elektrikery integration (energy charge / discharge / monitor control) people can easily and robustly build on, using bits from that as well as Map Location to tie all of this together.
Late Update: I see A Better Route Planner (ABRP) ABRP - A Better Routeplanner has already tackled some of these issues. Maybe get some ideas to cross-pollinate your apps - they support the Ford Explorer in their free version.
