Thelife- Ford dropped a video Tuesday detailing how it torture tested the new
hybrid version of theF-150 . - Ford engineers designed a new test for the brand's new hybrid truck; they built a machine that violently shakes its battery, simulating a decade of driving in just a few days.
- The Blue Oval also ran the hybrid F-150 across harsh terrain and used robot drivers on surfaces too bumpy for humans.
Fans of traditional gas-powered pickups might balk at the idea of an electrified one, but Ford wants to prove that hybrids can be just as tough as the rest.
The company published a video on Tuesday detailing how it torture tested the 2021 F-150 equipped with its hybrid powertrain, Powerboost, to make sure it's as tough as the brand's non-hybrid trucks. To simulate how the truck would hold up over years of use, Ford ran the new pickup over harsh off-road terrain, in hot and humid conditions, and up steep mountain passes — but it also developed a new test specifically for the hybrid.
Engineers built a hydraulic rig to "violently shake the powertrain's 1.5-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery — simulating conditions like hitting the harshest of potholes and washboard roads," Ford said. According to Ford, 82 hours strapped in to the machine equates to 10 years of real-world abuse.
In other tests, Ford hitched up Powerboost-powered trucks to a 12,700-pound load and climbed steep grades in the Mojave Desert repeatedly to evaluate the durability of the hybrid's engine, transmission, and cooling systems. At Ford's proving grounds in Michigan, engineers subjected the hybrid F-150 to potholed and grooved roads, along with extreme inclines, simulating 10 years of driving in three months.
Some road surfaces were "too punishing for test drivers," so Ford tasked robots with the job, the company said.
Check out the video below: