Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Thomas Karl Rothermel

Patrick Gordon Collins

Jacob Gregory Powers

David Michael Horan

An electrified vehicle includes a storage compartment positioned forward of a vehicle passenger cabin and accessible by opening a vehicle hood, a thermally conductive plate or heat exchanger in contact with a bottom surface of the storage compartment and having an associated conduit configured for circulating a working fluid from a vehicle cooling system, and a valve operable to control flow of the working fluid through the conduit. The storage compartment may be filled with a cooling medium, such as ice or dry ice, to provide enhanced cooling during high-demand operation or charging of the vehicle, such as when operating in a performance/track mode, towing a trailer, or in other extreme use scenarios. The valve may be controlled so that the working fluid bypasses the conduit when the storage compartment is used for cargo and/or enhanced cooling is not desired.

Electrified vehicle with dual-use storage/cooling compartment

A system for a vehicle includes a first input device and a second input device that provides a plurality of selectable input options. The plurality of selectable input options comprises a plurality of control input options for controlling a plurality of vehicle functions and an association input option for associating the first input device with at least one vehicle function suggested from among the plurality of vehicle functions. The at least one vehicle function is suggested based on historical use of the control input option that controls the at least one vehicle function and an accessibility score of the control input option.

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Waterford, MI, United States of America

Thomas Karl Rothermel