Still no PowerBoost Tunes?

[xtraman122]

I check every so often and still haven’t see anyone with a tune on a PowerBoost. Not that I’d necessarily do it anytime soon, but I’m interested to see what they can get out of it.
I remember seeing some videos of one on a dyno early on and thought a tune was supposed to be coming shortly after, but I still have yet to see anything. Wonder if it’s just lack of interest or if it’s proved challenging to do with all the hybrid stuff.

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[Heavishot]

I’ll be watching too. The 5 Star tune on my 17 3.5 EB was amazing!

 

[Ajzride]

I can't imagine the complexity of a tune on a engine that has an electric motor boosting it a large percentage of the time, most hybrids are electric or ICE at any given time, but not blended like the PowerBoost.. You don't see many Tesla tunes running around and that is electric only without the complications of a blend. Not only will a PowerBoost tune have to update the fuel-air curves and timing, but how the electric motor blends with the ICE.

 

[jwgreene]

I check every so often and still haven’t see anyone with a tune on a PowerBoost. Not that I’d necessarily do it anytime soon, but I’m interested to see what they can get out of it.
I remember seeing some videos of one on a dyno early on and thought a tune was supposed to be coming shortly after, but I still have yet to see anything. Wonder if it’s just lack of interest or if it’s proved challenging to do with all the hybrid stuff.

There are no tunes out for any of the 2021 models as of yet. I figure the PowerBoost will be the last to get a tune out of the engines available.

 

[xtraman122]

I didn't realize there weren't any 2021 tunes available at all, hat's odd considering the rest of the engines were largely unchanged from 2020. We'll definitely see some impressive torque numbers on the PowerBoost if they can eventually get it done.

 

[Vspec]

Seeing as some have experienced situation where too much torque was being sent by the electric motor and throwing codes, I can only imagine that a tune on PB will be much more complex then your usual tune.

I am quite satisfied with the power levels of my PB I do wish for two things however:

• Hear more turbine noise
• Stay longer in electric mode before kicking in the ICE, it feels that the electric motor has much more to give.

 

[Vulnox]

The new gen trucks have an encrypted network system which is meant to help ensure someone can't mess with things in a way that gets you hurt, but it has the side effect of making tuning almost impossible without someone either breaking the encryption or Ford "letting" them in. This was discussed months ago when it was first announced, and Ford said they would work with engine tuners to make sure they can still do their work.

I suspect though that either that relationship hasn't fully evolved yet to allow them to put out the actual tunes, or it delayed them starting on tuning the trucks so it is just going to take a bit longer. You can be sure that the big players that have worked with Ford before, like Roush or 5Star, will get access and have something out before too long, but the little guys I suspect will have a tougher time as I don't imagine Ford will want just anyone getting access.

 

[xtraman122]

Seeing as some have experienced situation where too much torque was being sent by the electric motor and throwing codes, I can only imagine that a tune on PB will be much more complex then your usual tune.

I am quite satisfied with the power levels of my PB I do wish for two things however:

• Hear more turbine noise
• Stay longer in electric mode before kicking in the ICE, it feels that the electric motor has much more to give.

I'm in full agreement with your last statement. I'm not sure if the motor is currently just being governed/limited or that's really all it has, but I really wish you could get some juice out of the electric motor than it gives today. Really feels like with an extra 25% or so of electric power they could have drastically increased its usability and let you stay in electric mode quit a bit more than you can from the factory.

 

[Sentinel1201]

Staying in electric mode longer and draining the tiny 1.5kwh battery more may result in diminishing returns because the gas motor has to work harder to charge it back up. I suspect (just me speculating, I don't know the facts for sure) they can now get away with charging the battery with just regen braking. But if battery is depleted fully, they would have to have the gas motor do the work which would take away from overall mpg and efficiency.

There's also the limitation of present day battery tech being not ready for the future. Lithium batteries are notorious for needing an optimum temperature, not falling below a certain point, not wanting to be overcharged etc.

It's all a fine balance. But I do agree that being able to go longer and at higher speeds on battery only is a game changer. That's why plug in hybrids are the best kind of hybrids.

 

[NiftyF150]

There are no tunes out for any of the 2021 models as of yet. I figure the PowerBoost will be the last to get a tune out of the engines available.

This is the sole reason I went with the standard 3.5 Ecoboost vs the Powerboost. I figured being the first Hybrid truck Ford has done that tuning might not ever be an option. I'm not saying that I'm going to tune the truck, but I want the option down the road if I decide I want to.

My father in-law has a 2011 F150 Ecoboost tuned with catless down pipes (turbo's are LOUD!), CAI, 170 degree thermostat, and my stock 21 will still beat it even with heavy ass 34" tires. Even the standard 3.5L Ecoboost will be an absolute beast when tuned.

 

[Sentinel1201]

This is the sole reason I went with the standard 3.5 Ecoboost vs the Powerboost. I figured being the first Hybrid truck Ford has done that tuning might not ever be an option. I'm not saying that I'm going to tune the truck, but I want the option down the road if I decide I want to.

My father in-law has a 2011 F150 Ecoboost tuned with catless down pipes (turbo's are LOUD!), CAI, 170 degree thermostat, and my stock 21 will still beat it even with heavy ass 34" tires. Even the standard 3.5L Ecoboost will be an absolute beast when tuned.

You chose an engine because you *may* at some point want to tune it? As opposed to a different engine that makes more power today?

Interesting rationale.

I had a 17 Raptor with an MPT tune. Both before and after the tune, that "HO" ecoboost and 10 speed tranny were never as smooth as the 21 powerboost. Power delivery was decidedly turbo and lumpy., compared to the 21 powerboost which is silky smooth.

How much power a motor makes and how smoothly it delivers it are two ENTIRELY different things.

 

[xtraman122]

Staying in electric mode longer and draining the tiny 1.5kwh battery more may result in diminishing returns because the gas motor has to work harder to charge it back up. I suspect (just me speculating, I don't know the facts for sure) they can now get away with charging the battery with just regen braking. But if battery is depleted fully, they would have to have the gas motor do the work which would take away from overall mpg and efficiency.

There's also the limitation of present day battery tech being not ready for the future. Lithium batteries are notorious for needing an optimum temperature, not falling below a certain point, not wanting to be overcharged etc.

It's all a fine balance. But I do agree that being able to go longer and at higher speeds on battery only is a game changer. That's why plug in hybrids are the best kind of hybrids.

I was thinking they would have had to pair a bigger battery with the increased motor output as well. Just feels like 25-50% more power out of the motor and about 50% more capacity on the battery would have gone a long way, but batteries are of course heavy and expensive. They were probably most concerned about limiting the payload capacity any more than they already did with any larger of a battery.

 

[Sentinel1201]

I was thinking they would have had to pair a bigger battery with the increased motor output as well. Just feels like 25-50% more power out of the motor and about 50% more capacity on the battery would have gone a long way, but batteries are of course heavy and expensive. They were probably most concerned about limiting the payload capacity any more than they already did with any larger of a battery.

The real question is why they didn't make it a plug in hybrid. I am sure that's coming in a year or two. A very high percentage of all driving is within a small radius of homes, so plug-in hybrids that allow that high percentage of driving to be completed entirely in EV mode is the real answer.

 

[Ajzride]

The real question is why they didn't make it a plug in hybrid. I am sure that's coming in a year or two. A very high percentage of all driving is within a small radius of homes, so plug-in hybrids that allow that high percentage of driving to be completed entirely in EV mode is the real answer.

I think that is my biggest disappointment. It's 1.78 miles round trip to the grocery store for me, 70% at 20mph and 30% at 35mph. I can't make it halfway there on electric only, much less roundtrip. I really expected to be able to make short low speed trips without the motor firing up.

 

[xtraman122]

I think that is my biggest disappointment. It's 1.78 miles round trip to the grocery store for me, 70% at 20mph and 30% at 35mph. I can't make it halfway there on electric only, much less roundtrip. I really expected to be able to make short low speed trips without the motor firing up.

Same here, I think it ultimately comes to who they designed it for and what their intended audience was for this powertrain. it seems they mostly designed this first generation of hybrid to appeal to truck buyers that normally wouldn't even consider a hybrid by making it the most powerful engine option available and having all the generator features. Notice there aren't any "green leafs" or similar branding/badging on the truck. They chose to put a "beefy" looking POWERBOOST logo on the door, trying to make it sound big and tough. Again, appealing to those of who that think trucks should have V8s, be powerful, etc and normally wouldn't even consider a hybrid.

It definitely worked, I'll give them that, I think if they had paired the NA 3.3L V6 with a battery/motor to get the best MPG possible they would have had very little adoption, instead, what they did is selling like hotcakes. By coming out with this first generation and winning over buyers while building a reputation, I wouldn't be surprised if we see something later that's a little more geared towards efficient than straight power.

I think the perfect mix would have been the 2.7L EcoBoost with a battery probably twice the size of the current one paired with a bigger electric motor. I bet it could be pushed closer to an average of 30MPG overall, but the payload capacity would quickly become a petty serious problem. They already have a 500lb battery down there, essentially taking that much weight straight off the payload capacity of the truck; just imagine doubling that and losing that much more capacity. It would require some rework of the whole truck's design to accommodate anything bigger (Like they had to do on the Lightning), and that's probably just not something they wanted to deal with for this first generation of hybrid.

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