2025 PowerBoost Easter Eggs

[sporkfed]

Does anyone know why they picked the 3.5EB to build a hybrid platform on instead of the simpler, more reliable 3.3L?

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[CedarEden]

I think the Powerboost is great with seamless start/stop, improved fuel economy, increased torque, and ProPower. I've powered a chop saw, portable table saw, circular saw, etc. Our other car is a hybrid, and at this point, I don't anticipate ever owning a pure ICE vehicle again.

After 11,000+ miles, a mix of highway and local, my long-term MPG is between 21 and 22.

 

[CedarEden]

2022 3.5L EB - I am retired so drive just a handful of times each week for 15-20 mins each way (average 17-18 mpg locally). Do take 1-2 long roadtrips each year anywhere between 1200 to 3000 miles roundtrip. I get 23-25 mpg on the roadtrips (usually 5-10 miles over speed limit). And, according to my OBDLink, my Total fuel economy has been 20.3 mpg. . Very happy with the MPG on my ICE.

So I ordered the OBDLink MX+ and it arrives today. Can't wait to play with this. Several questions I have for other users: Do you keep your OBDLink plugged in all the time? Is this a pass-through plug so that other items may be plugged in? I saw and OBD plug to power a dashcam around the clock but it looked like it would not allow anything else to plug into it.

I will initially start with the OBDLink app. What others would you recommend and why?

 

[HammaMan]

I completely agree: I don't think that Stellantis is the solution. In fact, the awful 3.6l they're using as a prime mover is so bad that is obscures many of the inherent advantages. In fact, most of the real advantages of a series hybrid show up with 2 stroke engines (which were chased out of the automotive space and exiled to massive ultra-high-efficiency engines and weedeaters not by pollution or inefficiency, but by an extremely narrow power band). Once an engine is "on or off", then a 400 RPM power band is irrelevant, because all of the variation in wheel speed is handled by traction motors which have no direct relationship to prime mover ICE RPM. NONE of the large automakers have an engine which really takes advantage of that, the runner up being a small 4-banger like the one that Nissan has used to great effect in their E-Power lineup. I'll reiterate that the Aramco sponsored Achates F150 demonstrator with an opposed piston ICE bolted to a 10R80 got 37 MPG despite that worst case scenario, and that design benefits more than nearly anything else from engine/wheel RPM decoupling.

I've been banging this drum for years, mostly because 1) I think that the solution is obvious and relatively very simple and 2) I want a 45 MPG Superduty with 1000 lb-ft of torque and enough battery electric range to get to lunch but not so much that the battery totals the truck when it reaches end of life.

As of yet from the myriad of drivetrain configurations, the direct-drive ICE-to-wheels has been the most efficient propulsion method. The most financially economical POV for traction power is home-derived electrical power ala EV or PHEV, especially if you're able to take advantage of a time-of-use type plan where super-off-peak rates can be had. That's like 250 miles for the cost of a cheap gallon of gas, or less if someone can charge on their employer's dime.

The notion of a high-efficiency ICE is attractive, but at the same time being able to clutch it directly to the wheels will still likely trump the ICE>motor>inverter - DC bus - inverter>motor efficiency. Even the most efficient devices today combined with the conductors are going to eat 10-12% of the energy. Under heavier loads like towing, I'd be surprised if it's 80% efficient. Modern drivetrains w/ automatics are able to achieve 85-90% efficiency.

 

[Asphaltman]

Any of you guys disabled the speaker for the backup alarm and low speed driving noise?

 

[amschind]

As of yet from the myriad of drivetrain configurations, the direct-drive ICE-to-wheels has been the most efficient propulsion method. The most financially economical POV for traction power is home-derived electrical power ala EV or PHEV, especially if you're able to take advantage of a time-of-use type plan where super-off-peak rates can be had. That's like 250 miles for the cost of a cheap gallon of gas, or less if someone can charge on their employer's dime.

The notion of a high-efficiency ICE is attractive, but at the same time being able to clutch it directly to the wheels will still likely trump the ICE>motor>inverter - DC bus - inverter>motor efficiency. Even the most efficient devices today combined with the conductors are going to eat 10-12% of the energy. Under heavier loads like towing, I'd be surprised if it's 80% efficient. Modern drivetrains w/ automatics are able to achieve 85-90% efficiency.

You're absolutely correct that moving from rotation to electrons loses 4-5%, and moving back from electrons to rotation loses another 5-6% (a bit more than the loss from constant RPM generation since electric motors have torque vs RPM efficiency curves). Most hybrids have a way to gear the ICE to the wheels to avoid that loss for cruising (the current Honda hybrids are basically series hybrids with one cruise clutch), but this is why I'm so fixated on hub motors. The 10-11% that you lose from rotation to electrons to rotation is the same 10-11% that you lose within the gear interfaces, 2 CV joints and ring/pinion set of a conventional drivetrain (and its even worse if you add 2 more CV joints for an independent real wheel suspension). Hub motors condense all of that into one gear interface, which is a 1% loss.

So my argument is that a series hybrid with hub motors earns quite a bit of the losses back by avoiding drivetrain losses, but the hub motor arrangement also allows for the elimination of a number of parts. Porsche engineers commented on this a while back, and their point was that the cost of unsprung weight can be more than compensated with 4 wheel active torque vectoring which only becomes possible when all 4 wheels are controlled independently. To my mind, that serves two engineering principles by 1) isolating complexity (in the torque vectoring software) and 2) eliminating failure prone parts throughout the rest of the drivetrain at the cost of hub motor bearings that will probably be a wear item.

I agree that a battery prime mover is crazy cheap, particularly if you own your own solar panels; electrons are dirt cheap but super perisheable. I think that every vehicle is going to have a plug, but the point of contention is how big to make the battery. I think that mass and replacement cost are the two big limits, and I am increasingly convinced that sodium anode free is the sweet spot for battery tech. The benefit is a much cheaper electrolyte, but the downside is that energy density is basically exactly where we're at today (no anode=lighter, sodium replacing lithium=heavier, end result is a wash).

My guess is that somewhere between 30-100 miles of battery range is ideal, but that's a rectally sourced number at this point. Another huge benefit of a "pure" series hybrid is that the traction motors are truly power source agnostic: they don't care if the power is coming from a battery or the ICE. I think that the completely seamless transition between battery and ICE might be the biggest efficiency gain for the series hybrid: over a number of trips, the fact that many are all battery-electric overcomes the small loss from a drivetrain connected ICE.

 

[fatBatman]

I just took delivery of my 3rd F-150 PowerBoost Platinum 702a package truck since 2021. It is 2021 all over again with old features coming back. I am still learning the truck but here are the changes I discovered compared to my 2023 PB but with some previously present in my 2021 PB.

1. Massage seats are back
2. Bed camera is back
3. HUD is new (not on my 2021 PB) with all sorts of information showing.
4. BlueCruise with the latest version including lane changing.
5. No more plastic engine cover under the hood.
6. New tailgate
7. ProPower On Board Sync page improved graphics.
8. New main instrument panel graphics and content.
9. At 200 miles everything works right from the dealer.

It's not all rainbows and butterflies. The massage seats are a welcome comeback (came in 2024 as did most of the items on your list) but you have some not so welcome deletes that the 2024s do have.
Your wired keypad on the door granting you access to the truck is gone. You also no longer have a kick switch on your power running boards that the 2024's still enjoy. From what I have been told, you may not have a tailgate release button in the cab anymore either but you will have to verify. If you don't, you certainly don't have a button to close your tailgate from inside the truck.
However, seeing the bed camera come back to a 702A is a good thing. The 2024s only had that in 703A Platinum's. I believe that even the King Ranches in 2025 do not have this so if a 702A Platinum does, that would be a difference between the two since they are/were identical in equipment packages.

 

[Larrymoe]

They're massage seats.

 

[fatBatman]

Any of you guys disabled the speaker for the backup alarm and low speed driving noise?

I did. It was one of the first things I did when it arrived to my driveway last year. I used the MegaOhm kit listed below but I know you can delete it/shut it up in FORScan as well.

https://www.megaohmmotorsports.com/...4kZdS1TKuuFV8R_8qfKlAWfwtvRXDEHkjB7HH0dH7wsUl

 

[fatBatman]

They're massage seats.

I will absolutely correct that right now, thank you for pointing out the errors in my auto-correct.

 

[Asphaltman]

I did. It was one of the first things I did when it arrived to my driveway last year. I used the MegaOhm kit listed below but I know you can delete it/shut it up in FORScan as well.

https://www.megaohmmotorsports.com/...4kZdS1TKuuFV8R_8qfKlAWfwtvRXDEHkjB7HH0dH7wsUl

I was looking at that. Didn't look too hard to install. I want to dig into ForScan, as it seems way cool. As a mac user, I might have to get a low cost windows laptop. Is the tool easy to make mods on these? I saw that you can make the running light brighter, stop the horn honk etc.

 

[Larrymoe]

I will absolutely correct that right now, thank you for pointing out the errors in my auto-correct.

It's been posted a couple times in this thread.

 

[fatBatman]

I was looking at that. Didn't look too hard to install. I want to dig into ForScan, as it seems way cool. As a mac user, I might have to get a low cost windows laptop. Is the tool easy to make mods on these? I saw that you can make the running light brighter, stop the horn honk etc.

I am very, very new to FORScan but yes, you can change a lot. You can also mess up a lot so my only advice is when you go into each module for the first time (VDM, BCM, etc.), before you touch anything at all, you save the factory settings so if you screw something up, you can recover it.

Yesterday, I changed the settings in my CCD suspension and it now rides soooo much better. It rides like a completely different truck. I also added the "bambi" mode (leaving fog lights on when brights are on), and I enabled the truck to automatically lock itself when the keys walk away (in case I ever forget to lock it). I also deleted the "Full View Not Available" from the back up camera. Nevertheless, there is a lot you can do, just be careful.

 

[PatchManager]

So I ordered the OBDLink MX+ and it arrives today. Can't wait to play with this. Several questions I have for other users: Do you keep your OBDLink plugged in all the time? Is this a pass-through plug so that other items may be plugged in? I saw and OBD plug to power a dashcam around the clock but it looked like it would not allow anything else to plug into it.

I will initially start with the OBDLink app. What others would you recommend and why?

I have the same and it works great. My laptop can be a pain to pair (Bluetooth) with it if my phone has previously paired with it. If you aren't switching from one to another, it is seamless. It is not pass-through. You can get adapters to plug in more than one device, but I have not tried that.

The OBDLink app is good. There are a number of threads that discuss some interesting things people are doing with it. When you search, use the "Google" search option. @Snakebitten is certainly one of the experts on this topic, and he has fine tuned his app setup. It goes without saying that you should read anything that he posts.

 

[CowboyUP2022]

So I ordered the OBDLink MX+ and it arrives today. Can't wait to play with this. Several questions I have for other users: Do you keep your OBDLink plugged in all the time? Is this a pass-through plug so that other items may be plugged in? I saw and OBD plug to power a dashcam around the clock but it looked like it would not allow anything else to plug into it.

I will initially start with the OBDLink app. What others would you recommend and why?

I am just a novice with the OBDLink, but, I'm not aware it has pass-through capabilities. Yes, i do keep it plugged-in at all times.

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