(intense music)
- [Craig] When people think about hybrid,
they're not thinking tough.
They're not thinking durable.
They're not thinking F-150.
We're about to change all that.
This is the all new 21 model year F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid,
Ford's first full hybrid truck.
So for the PowerBoost Hybrid to be called an F-150,
it has to be Built Ford Tough.
To be Built Ford Tough,
means it goes through all the same paces
and all the torturous tests that all F-150s do.
We have to make sure our truck
is tough enough for off-roaders.
Borrego Springs is where we go prove that capability.
- [Dawn] Today we're in Borrego, driving our new Hybrid.
We love Borrego because it's our worst case scenario.
We've got high temperature.
We've got mountainous terrain.
We've got deep caverns.
We've got sand.
We've got slippery rock.
We've got high elevations.
And it puts the vehicle through its paces.
No excuses.
We engineered the truck
to be exactly the same as a gas powertrain.
So our Hybrid will go through the exact same paces
as our gas powertrains have through the decades.
It's our first electrified powertrain in F-150.
It's a win win for everyone.
- Michigan proving grounds is the core
of our tough truck durability.
Some of the portions of these tests are so punishing,
we don't have human drivers test.
They're automated.
We know that when a vehicle passes
at Michigan proving ground,
it's going to be Built Ford Tough.
(upbeat music)
- [Ford Tester] We're here at Michigan Proving Grounds
in Romeo, Michigan.
We're testing the PowerBoost Truck.
We are gonna abuse this truck just as much
as we would a gas engine F-150.
Imagine running over bumps, potholes,
over and over again for three months.
And that's how we test out under body suspension.
These tests represent 10 years of life
and three months of testing.
It's more intense than real life.
- [Craig] So the battery is the core component
of the new PowerBoost Hybrid.
We needed to make sure that the battery was just as tough
as the rest of the vehicle.
And to do that, we developed a special torture test.
- [Jack] We're in Akron, New York testing the Ford F-150
PowerBoost High Voltage Battery System.
So the battery test is comprised of several events
that the vehicle goes over,
and the table shakes exactly as if it were
the vehicle driving down our road load events,
our durability events.
It's like a mechanical bull on steroids, really.
So what that correlates to
is an 82 hour duration of feeding the battery,
just tight torture test on the battery,
and that simulates one full life of a gas F-150.
The battery system is getting beat
just as hard as any part on the gas F-150 vehicle.
We're offering 2.4 kilowatt and 7.2 kilowatt functionality.
The PowerBoost F-150 will act like a big generator
you could take anywhere,
and you don't need to store a generator
in the back of your truck.
The truck will be the generator.
You could use anything you use in your household.
I mean, your imagination is the limit.
(upbeat music)
- [Craig] The F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid
wouldn't be a no excuses vehicle
unless we took it to Davis Dam.
(upbeat music)
- Today, we're in Davis Dam in Arizona.
It's part of the Hoover Dam System.
It is a brutal 11 mile stretch up a six percent grade
in the middle of the desert.
Davis Dam is, within the industry,
about the gold standard for towing.
And it's one of the toughest,
if not the toughest,
places that you can tell within the United States.
We're running the F-150 PowerBoost out today
on the exact same test that we subject
to all of our other Ford trucks.
We've got over 12,000 pounds loaded up into this trailer.
So the truck's going to have to work really hard.
We've got the sun beating down on us,
looking at the mountain,
just a steep imposing mountain grade ahead of us.
And it still has the capability to pull that up the hill.
If it can tow here at Davis Dam,
it can tow almost anywhere.
- So maybe you won't tow the 12,000 pounds up Davis Dam,
go rock crawling, or high speed in the desert.
Maybe you're just using the vehicle for going camping
or go to work.
You may never take your vehicle to the extreme,
but at least, you know, it's capable of going there.