Ford F-150 PowerBoost Propulsion System Simply Does It All

Ford offers a half-dozen engine options in its 2024 F-Series pickup, but it’s almost hard to imagine choosing anything other than the PowerBoost hybrid powertrain, named a 2024 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems winner.

This isn’t the first award for the F-150 hybrid. We placed the pickup among our 2021 10 Best when it first appeared on the market, but for 2024 Ford included several enhancements that put it back on our radar and back on our list.

To start with, the F-150 hybrid looks pretty darn good on paper. The propulsion system, consisting of a 3.5L V-6 engine, 44-hp electric motor and 1.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack, delivers a maximum 430 hp and 570 lb.-ft. (773 Nm) of torque. That puts the ICE-electric combo behind only the high-output V-6 and supercharged V-8 in horsepower in Ford’s F-150 lineup, and trails only the supercharged Raptor V-8 engine in torque.

The hybrid powertrain also provides enough oomph to tow up to 11,200 lbs. (5,080 kg), putting it near the top of the F-150 propulsion-system lineup in that metric. And, of course, there’s no beating its combined fuel economy, rated at 23 mpg (10.2 L/100 km). In our mixed – and not so gentle – driving we finished at a solid 22.2 mpg (10.6 L/100 km).

But more importantly, the F-150 we tested, priced at just under $79,000, walks the talk. Ford made hundreds of software improvements and eliminated the belt-starter/generator on the front of the engine in favor of a radial motor integrated between the engine and transmission. The new system irons out any hint of stop/starts.

In normal operation, the hybrid motor handles restarts at lower speeds and at stops, while the starter motor cranks the ICE back to life at speeds above 25-35 mph (40-56 km/h). That might seem counterintuitive, but the 12V motor actually spins at the higher rpm needed to bring the engine to life in line with the powertrain rotating at higher speeds.

Overall, the enhancements are easily evident in the F-150 PowerBoost propulsion system’s performance.

The pickup gets off the line like an electric vehicle, is quiet and silky smooth in its blend of ICE and battery power and it pulls as requested when you punch it to pass at freeway speeds. Stop/start operation, already so quiet in a F-150 hybrid as to be unnoticeable, is now virtually inaudible in this latest iteration of the PowerBoost package.

“Very explosive jump for a vehicle this size,” says one 10 Best judge. “It’s impressive how it moves this beast of a pickup.”

“It’s quiet and smooth – no choppy back and forth between the ICE and electric motor,” notes another. “This is a beautiful execution of a hybrid.”

In a nutshell, the smartly crafted PowerBoost V-6 hybrid powertrain simply makes the Ford F-150 a very rewarding drive.