2024 Ford F-150 Hybrid improves, no longer sold with RWD

The refreshed 2024 Ford F-150 arrives with many incremental improvements, ranging from a revamped tailgate with a hinged door built into the center to a blistering new 720-hp Raptor R model. Those innovations overshadowed the understated changes to the F-150 Hybrid: it’s no longer sold with rear-wheel drive, and it no longer uses the belt-integrated starter generator.

During brief road testing of Ford’s bestselling pickup truck two weeks ago in the desert, the Hybrid—PowerBoost in Ford speak—had smoother power handoffs between the motor and engine power at low speeds. It felt quieter, calmer, and less uncertain up to about 20 mph; in short, the powertrain was less noticeable from when the hybrid powertrain launched for the 2021 model year.

It was subtle, and Ford didn’t tout it during the press briefing, but engineers confirmed that significant software enhancements were made to enable Ford to eliminate the belt starter. 

The 12-volt battery still engages the flywheel starter on startup, as in other combustion engine vehicles, but more than 300 software enhancements to the hybrid motor superseded the need for a second starter on the accessory belt drive, according to Ford. The 35-kw motor thus spins up the engine through the 10-speed automatic transmission. Otherwise, mechanically it’s the same, with the motor powered by a small 1.5-kwh battery pack, and the twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 doing most of the heavy lifting in making 430 hp and 570 lb-ft of torque. 

Ford says the changes to the Hybrid enabled it to reduce production costs due to a simplified supply chain, and Ford further simplified the Hybrid offering to customers by no longer selling the 2024 F-150 Hybrid with rear-wheel drive rated last year at 25 mpg. The four-wheel-drive version has the same EPA rating of 23 mpg combined, though the city rating drops 1 mpg to 22 mpg while the highway rating increases by the same amount to 24 mpg. 

Ford expects these improvements to accelerate popularity of the 2024 F-150 Hybrid, with production slated to more than double the 10% take rate of F-150 Hybrids in 2023.