Ford to launch Maverick EV (I hope this is true)

[dochawk]

A bunch of you guys keep saying the ram is a PHEV. It’s not. It’s a range extended ev with the 3.6 v6 pentastar as a generator.

whether a serial hybrid is a PHEV or not depends entirely on which of the conflicting definitions you're using.

As a use case, the Ramcharger is PHEV. Plug it in and get 160+ miles of range; fill the tank, too, and 900+ miles.

This also means that you have about 100 miles of range while staying between 20-80% charge.

I read somewhere that they tuned the pentastar to hover around 180 hp or something very efficiently to charge the batteries.

I'm kind of surprised they used that engine rather than something custom, or customized enough to need another name (pentagram? )

They don't have billions to lose right now.

That is an issue for them.

If you think about it, would you really want to recharge a PHEV as you drive? You'd be asking the ice to perform double duty.

sort of. an ICE engine's efficiency varies greatly with engine speed and load. BMW did sone research in the 80s, and found that "accelerate hard, shift low" was the optimal fuel efficiency strategy (and the models ending with "e" were designed/tuned with this in mind).

And ICE is most efficient at full throttle. You've already paid for the friction at that speed; the extra power is "cheaper".

It's also more efficient at lower RPMs. So you have to balance the two.

If you've got enough battery, it is possible, even likely, that the optimal strategy is to only run the ICE at full power, and vent whatever isn't used for the motors into the battery.

1. Minimum 400 mi range.
2. 10 to 12 minute fill up to 100%. None of this 80% charge in 30 minutes 20% remainder takes 2 hours.

My own personal figure is 4 hours at full western freeway speed (85) with the lights and heat/AC on while staying between 80% and 20%, and being able to be off the road for no more than 10 minutes while charging from 20 to 80.

Unless I start driving distance without a female bladder present, there's just not any use in more range!


So at the moment, I'm waiting to see what actually happens with job 2 on the King Ranch F-150, and waiting to see if the Ramcharger will actually be available this year. If I can get the ramcharger with its 22 way seats in high luxury trim for about the same as a lightning or KR F-150, I'll probably take it. If it's the price of the Silverado EV, never mind.

And if job 2 doesn't have continuously controlled damping suspension, full parking assist, and max recline seats, I'll probably buy something other than a truck.

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[Scott Asheville]

I'm taking a totally wild guess here, totally unsubstantiated. I betcha the current Maverick ICE and hybrid stay in production in Hermosillo. There is precedent for this. GM sells the Equinox as BEV and ICE - and they're totally different vehicles. Ditto for the Silverado. It's just a model name. So we'll have an ICE Maverick from Mexico, and a BEV Maverick from Kentucky, and it's just a nameplate.

Lots of rumors about a Maverick van this summer, maybe even this week at the Chicago show. And Ford has already stated they want to turn their icons into whole product families.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

I'm taking a totally wild guess here, totally unsubstantiated. I betcha the current Maverick ICE and hybrid stay in production in Hermosillo. There is precedent for this. GM sells the Equinox as BEV and ICE - and they're totally different vehicles. Ditto for the Silverado. It's just a model name. So we'll have an ICE Maverick from Mexico, and a BEV Maverick from Kentucky, and it's just a nameplate.

Lots of rumors about a Maverick van this summer, maybe even this week at the Chicago show. And Ford has already stated they want to turn their icons into whole product families.

The Detroit Auto show already happened Fri, Jan 10, 2025 – Mon, Jan 20, 2025 were there any Maverick Vans there???
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...-show-next-week-maybe-the-maverick-van.59384/

 

[First Sergeant]

The Detroit Auto show already happened were there any Maverick Vans there???
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...-show-next-week-maybe-the-maverick-van.59384/

Runs from Feb 8th to Feb 17th. If I lived closer I might go, but too far to drive for me. When I was a kid my dad took a job in Stevensville, MI (right next door to Benton Harbor). About 90 miles to Chicago if I remember. We went a couple years in a row as dad (and us kids) were car nuts. Very cool place and got to see and do a lot of things there. It (McCormick Center) burned down in 1967, a year after we went. I had not heard of Maverick Vans, but sounds like it might be useful for small businesses maybe? Or, how about a van with seats and windows, for families. Bad thing with that one is it would compete with larger SUV's with the three rows. Tough market I'll bet.

 

[Robot-Wrangler]

The Maverick is the truck version of the Prius essentially, so not too far of a leap.

The Maverick hybrid is more akin to the Escape hybrid than a Toyota Prius. There's a high degree of shared parts.

So, I would guess that LAP needs something to build so they don't shutter the plant. There's minimum retooling required to convert to the Maverick in that old dinosaur.

Probably not in my lifetime, but one day there will be more EV on the road than ICE in the USA.

 

[Vettereddie]

But there's some interesting things. If the Lobo does really well, damn a sport truck EV would be neat. Weight already down low with the skateboard design. It would be really fast.

EV Lobo would be pretty sweet, and a 480-hp / 634 ft-lb dual-motor Eluminator crate motor setup could be had for under $3,000!

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fms-m-9000-mache

May want to upgrade the Mav CV axles a bit first though.

 

[Bob zimmerman]

Not to sound negative, but these two sentences from the first article stand out.
Minnesota politicians and policy makers have slowed and stopped the development of the state’s world-class mineral deposits for decades.

Before that happens, there will plenty of regulatory hoops to go through, given the notoriously anti-mining posture of the Walz administration.

Okay that’s isn’t quite the story.
I live in Northern MN.
Our Governor has said if science shows we can mine without ruining our lakes and rivers, then we can mine. MN already produces almost all of the iron ore for steel in the US and we have for more than 100 years.

We have a lot of copper in our state. Proposed copper mines have their tailings in a watershed that flows into a million acre wilderness.

Even the proposed mines have changed their tailings plans because they said their old plans were not engineered sufficiently. What if we built a mine with their old tailings engineering?
You cannot mine for copper in a wetland. (Sulfuric acid is produced by wet tailings).

More than 70% of Minnesotans are not in favor of losing our wilderness for mining.
Bob

 

[FreedomPenguin]

Okay that’s isn’t quite the story.
I live in Northern MN.
Our Governor has said if science shows we can mine without ruining our lakes and rivers, then we can mine. MN already produces almost all of the iron ore for steel in the US and we have for more than 100 years.

We ave a lot of copper in our state. Proposed copper mines have their tailings in a watershed that flows into a million acre wilderness. You cannot mine for copper in a wetland. (Sulfuric acid is produced by wet tailings).

More than 70% of Minnesotans are not in favor of losing our wilderness for mining.
Bob

But…. I want your metals….

 

[rad32]

whether a serial hybrid is a PHEV or not depends entirely on which of the conflicting definitions you're using.

As a use case, the Ramcharger is PHEV. Plug it in and get 160+ miles of range; fill the tank, too, and 900+ miles.

This also means that you have about 100 miles of range while staying between 20-80% charge.

Yes those stats have me wishing Ford could do something like that with the Maverick. But saying a Ramcharger is a PHEV just confuses it's operation with what PHEVs are currently out there. Current PHEVs are essentially functioning like under powered evs until your battery is depleted (usually the first 20-45 miles depending on your model) and then a heavy regular hybrid until you run out of gas. The Ram charger is always running off the electric motors, just after the first 100 miles or so the engine is running in the background until you run out of gas.

 

[Scott Asheville]

From the man himself. Jim Farley on tariffs and BEVs and more...

 

[HeyBales]

I may not be alive when some of this tech gets here. Interesting read, thanks!

Those are already the methods used in PHEV's, that are driver selectable, for awhile now.

 

[The Real Maverick]

Gimme the PHEV any day over this. Full electric is amazing in theory, and probably truly is for a lot of people, but full EV terrifies me. The ability to do all the local things on electric and do all the long trips with nothing but 3-5 minutes at a gas station vs. scheduling lengthy stops is enough to kill the mojo. Once an EV has a 500 mi range and can top off in lets call it 2 to 3 times the span of a gas station visit, I'll mortgage the home.

You gotta stop thinking about the unicorn "all purpose" vehicle that meets 100% of scenarios 100% of the time.

You need to start thinking about purpose built vehicles. Make them reasonably priced, make them excellent for a purpose or two.

How many tools are in your shed/garage?

A "swiss army knife" isn't great for anything.

Why is a PHEV expensive? It's trying to be three vehicles with one steering wheel.

 

[Wilklersticks]

You gotta stop thinking about the unicorn "all purpose" vehicle that meets 100% of scenarios 100% of the time.

You need to start thinking about purpose built vehicles. Make them reasonably priced, make them excellent for a purpose or two.

How many tools are in your shed/garage?

A "swiss army knife" isn't great for anything.

Why is a PHEV expensive? It's trying to be three vehicles with one steering wheel.

To be fair, I wasn't hung up on price of a PHEV. I'd pay a premium for PHEV. I was stating I'd sell everything for an EV that would do 500 mi per top-off and charge fast enough that I wouldn't waste my life away at a super charger.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

To be fair, I wasn't hung up on price of a PHEV. I'd pay a premium for PHEV. I was stating I'd sell everything for an EV that would do 500 mi per top-off and charge fast enough that I wouldn't waste my life away at a super charger.

how much money would one save theoretically over 50k or even 100k mile PHEV vs EV?

 

[Wilklersticks]

how much money would one save theoretically over 50k or even 100k mile PHEV vs EV?

I'm sure that would vary widely on use-case, but for me personally, there's a few things going on. 1. I don't currently have power in my garage. A PHEV would allow me to purchase now, and be ready for when I do. 2. I do a great majority of my driving locally, but I also very frequently make trips that are 200mi+ to visit family.

PHEV is a sweet spot for me because the majority of the time (when I have access) I'll be running as an EV, but when I need to make those super long trips, I don't have to stress over stopping and charging.

My brother in law has a tesla and I'm fairly certain my sister is going to arrange an accident on that thing with how many hoops they jump through to use it.

To be clear, I'm also not expecting my opinion to be the main or even majority. I'm obviously coming from a very specific set of scenarios. Like I said, an EV could be perfect for lots of people. Not me, though.

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