Sandy Munro is a confessed fan of Tesla’s Octovalve and the Super Manifold. These parts made Tesla’s thermal system one of the most elegant in the market. When he saw that the Ford Mustang Mach-E had some good engineering solutions, he decided he would tear down one of them to discover how far Ford had gone with improvements. After removing the vehicle’s frunk and checking its thermal system, he “passed out.” And not for good reasons.
Although that was just a funny joke from Munro, the subject is serious. If you follow him, you know he preaches for lean design. In other words, for a manufacturing process that saves companies money. The fewer parts and complexity, the better. What the engineer found under the frunk structure or in it is diametrically opposed to that.
Munro found multiple hoses, spring clamps (31), and 14 COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf), Ts, nipples, and 390 connectors. The engineer fears that they will eventually cause leaks because that’s what he saw happening with them in the past. His mission was to get rid of them as much as possible. And he didn’t even count how many screws that thermal system needs.
Simplifying the thermal system would not only cut manufacturing costs: it would also save weight and prevent issues. Munro knows that the effort was to use what the company already had available to make it cheaper, but he thinks that just brings an immediate cost-benefit that will not pay off in the long run. That said, he urged Ford to come up with a better solution.
Another example of how Ford should try to save money was with the frunk panels. He presented them in the video and compared the multiple components with what Tesla has for the same purpose: a single plastic piece. The video shows why legacy automakers need to get rid of some of their practices to prepare for an electric future. Using shelf parts for any situation is one of them, according to Munro.
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