With the automotive market in turmoil this year because of the ongoing health crisis, Ford’s F-Series has continued its unabated dominance of the U.S. market. And that was even before the 14th generation reaches dealerships in the new form.
Knowing that its competition is not standing idle, the Blue Oval worked hard on upgrading the bread and butter model of the top-selling pickup series in America – the 2021 F-150. We have seen the updated looks, we have been notified by the brand of its upgraded capabilities, but most of all we know that customers are keenly interested in the newly introduced electrified powertrain.
The Ford F-150 Hybrid with the 3.5-liter PowerBoost V6 is getting ready to arrive at dealerships, and the automaker is keen on making sure everyone knows its new introduction will be up to the same tasks as its gasoline-only counterparts.
As such, we have found out in a recent video depicting the standard testing procedures that Ford actually devised a new “torture test” specifically for the battery components of the electrified powertrain.
According to Craig Schmatz, the F-150 Chief Program Engineer, there are four main chapters for the F-150 prototype trials, separated into the Off-Road, Durability, Battery Durability, and Towing categories. The first one takes the F-150 team to Borrego Springs, California, for some all-out encounters with rocks, sand, dunes, and whatnot.
Next up is the Michigan Proving Grounds, where the hybrid models are specifically put through the same tests as their gasoline counterparts – including some tests that have been automated because they are too grueling for any human to endure for extended periods of time.
According to Jennifer Haywood, F-150 Durability Engineer, the three months of enduring potholes would be like 10 years from the average lifetime of a pickup...
At the Akron, New York, facility is where the liquid-cooled 1.5-kWh lithium-ion battery gets its own, brand new “torture test” - the pack gets strapped to a shaker that’s akin to a “mechanical bull on steroids” and gets yanked around for 82 hours straight.
Last, but not least, will be the towing procedures – and they are just as unforgiving as the preceding ones. This is because the F-150 Hybrid gets a 12,000-pounds trailer and goes out into the Arizona sun for an eleven-mile portion of the road around Davis Dam, one with a continuous 6% grade.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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