Ford Puts F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid Through Its Paces
Photo: Ford
There’s all sorts of stuff you can focus on with the new 2021 Ford F-150, but one of the top talking points for sure is the PowerBoost Full Hybrid V6. Ford had to find a nice balance between improving efficiency and delivering the power and capability expected of the F-150. How did it find that sweet spot? By testing the crap out of it.
Best-in-Class Again: 2021 Ford F-150 tows up to 14,000 pounds, handily beating every other pickup
“Just because it’s a hybrid doesn’t mean we treated PowerBoost with kid gloves,” said Craig Schmatz, F-150 chief engineer. “To earn Built Ford Tough certification, PowerBoost went through the torture testing we put all of our powertrains through. No F-150 powertrain gets a pass, we have one standard for quality and durability.”
It’s fair to say that the 2021 Ford F-150’s PowerBoost passed that test with flying colors. Ford says it even came up with a new durability test for the 1.5-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that sees how it holds up to 82 hours of violent shaking — or roughly the equivalent of how much you’ll be shaking after one uninterrupted doomscroll through your Facebook feed. Engineer Jack Parnoutsoukian likened the machine used in the test to “a mechanical bull on steroids,” which just sounds like a lot.
Watch Ford torture-test the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid
Other tests include a descent down the Davis Dam in the Mojave with a max trailering load, off-road performance testing in the Anza-Borrego Desert, and runs around the treacherous Silver Creek test course with a full payload. When the dust settled, the 3.5-liter PowerBoost Full Hybrid V6 got a big fat stamp of approval.
The result: a hybrid powertrain that meets Ford’s high standard for the F-150. The PowerBoost delivers 430 horsepower and 570 lb-ft of torque — best of any powertrain option in the 2021 F-150 lineup — and is expected to return at least 700 miles of EPA-estimated range. And that’s good enough to bring the 2021 F-150 the title of Green Truck of the Year.
Ford launches the F-150 and its PowerBoost hybrid this fall.
Also Coming Soon: The hotly anticipated Ford Bronco makes its return in spring 2021
Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.