Photo: Ford
Ford’s heading into the weekend with yet another accolade lined up for its all-new 2021 F-150. The F-150 PowerBoost Full Hybrid V6 earns its Green Truck of the Year title, offering the best combined fuel economy for any truck on the market and an impressive 750-mile driving range.
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With 4×2, the 2021 Ford F-150 PowerBoost returns 25 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. The former is the best of any F-150 engine, but the highway rating is 1 mpg less than the Power Stroke and the same highway rating as the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6. At 25 mpg combined, however, the F-150 PowerBoost 4×2 is the most efficient of any truck in the segment. When equipped with 4×4, the F-150 PowerBoost still offers up impressive numbers at 24 mpg across the board.
Ford’s been keen to push the efficiency of its hybrid F-150 on the basis of range rather than fuel economy ratings. It’s fair to see why — with 4×2, the 2021 Ford F-150 PowerBoost can cover 750 miles of driving range on a single tank. 4×4 models get 700 miles of range. So, in practical terms, folks who use their F-150 for work and shorter drives can go a long, long time between fill-ups.
Oh, and the PowerBoost is powerful, too
Photo: Ford
Like the 2021 Mustang Mach-E, Ford comes at its F-150 PowerBoost from an angle that focuses more on power and capability than efficiency. Makes enough sense — the 3.5-liter PowerBoost delivers more horsepower and torque than any of the other five engine offerings in the 2021 F-150 lineup. With 430 horses and 570 lb-ft of torque, not to mention 12,700 pounds of max towing and 2,120 pounds of max payload, the PowerBoost hits the necessary marks to appeal to the typical F-150 customer.
“Our team spent months living with and observing truck customers at their homes, on job sites, and on the weekends,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford chief product platform and operations officer. “Using electrification, we realized we could now give customers something they had long wanted but didn’t think was possible — tremendous power, great fuel economy, and all-new capabilities to make their F-150 even more productive.”
Anybody else think the notion of Ford engineers showing up on folks’ doorsteps to live with them for observation purposes seems kinda weird? “Oh, hi, I’m your assigned Ford agent. I’m here to study you and your truck stuff for the next few months. Where’s my cot?”
Whatever the means, Ford seems to have succeeded with its F-150, and a whole bunch of sales would likely bear that out. The first wave of F-150s reached dealerships this month, so we’ll see how folks take to the PowerBoost.
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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.