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Video is a bit long but makes some great points, and is also entertaining, particularly for those of us who like camping and have done off-road driving. Thanks for posting. As discussed previously on this forum from a technical point of view, PHEV technology may be great for buyers who mostly drive in city traffic, but if driving at highway speeds most of the time, it doesn’t make as much sense, especially from a financial perspective. HEV are probably a better compromise all around if driving at highway speeds on a regular basis, given that vehicle is not loaded down with excess PHEV weight that adds little value once cruising speed is reached. And in case of EREV, the same applies except even worse when driving at higher speeds or other high loads like when towing or driving on soft sand. Video exposed the weaknesses of new technologies when put to actual use under pressure. These technologies are best under light average loads, but when pushed hard continuously they become relatively much less efficient. What is an obvious advantage for EVs and some PHEV/EREV like BYD Shark is tremendous short-term power that helps accelerate quickly, or provide lots of HP for a few seconds to climb a steep sand dune. They no doubt have a lot of power but it’s not available for long duration. For the camper in me I really related to their experience with battery-supplied electric power, which Ford calls Pro Power Onboard. It’s interesting though that software has not been fully developed to use this feature as a “camp mode”. To be able to power a microwave, coffee maker, fridge, or induction cooktop seamlessly from your vehicle’s battery, and have it recharge in minutes once driving again, is priceless (figure of speech; must be priced within reason). I would pay a premium for a PHEV van if equipped with camp-mode software that not only powered PPO inverter but also vehicle air conditioner while parked. It would be easy enough to add this capability as a DIY project, but a factory system could be far superior in my opinion if done right. If not fully integrated then the price premium may not be worth it. As mentioned in video, owner can simply buy a portable power source for a lot less money that can charge from vehicle’s 12 VDC while driving. Thanks again for video. If nothing else got a good look at interesting parts of your country I will never see in person.

Yes I believe you’re correct. I had it flipped. Nonetheless for an $85k vehicle, there is no reason it shouldn’t have PAK

The big issue with diesel pickups and lots of short trips where the diesel particle filter block up because they don’t get hot enough to burn particles off or do regen cycle. This is becoming costly maintenance for those owners and the gasoline hybrid may offer them a neat way to avoid this as well as take advantage of Australia’s cheaper petrol prices vs diesel. Something you might find interesting but be warned, these reviewers tend to be Toyota biased… something weird happened on the first leg with the two Chinese pickups using a lot of fuel while Ranger’s normal fuel usage was down played. I think there was a big issue

I read this review a couple days ago. I didn’t think it was unreasonable and I agree with some of their gripes. I recognize that most headlights are automatic nowadays, but was it really necessary to move the headlight controls to the screen. I thought it was a ridiculous change. I do like the color of that ride though.

Somehow better than Toyota still.

To emphasize just how big a deal it is for Ford to be able to build LFP batteries in the U.S. without Chinese critical minerals:

Miss Drake sure knows how to talk a big game huh? In all seriousness, if what she said is true it's a huge competitive advantage for Ford. Maybe that's why Ford's competitors (GM in particular) have been busy lobbying the Feds to disfavor Ford's BlueOval Battery Park Michigan plant, according to 'Ol Billy Boy: “We do know that others in our industry are trying to submarine it to hurt us,” Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said. “That’s just sour grapes, frankly.” Ford stopped short of naming names, but four people familiar with the matter told Automotive News affiliate Crain’s Detroit Business that GM is behind lobbying efforts.

Ford EV Battery Plant Does Not Use Raw Materials From China “You’ll often hear people say, ‘Well, China holds 90 percent of the raw materials, or you can’t build LFP without Chinese materials,'” Lisa Drake, Vice President, Technology Platform Programs and EV Systems at Ford, told InsideEVs in a recent inverview. “I’m here to tell you that that’s not true, that you can build LFP without Chinese critical minerals. It’s very, very difficult to do, but our supply chain team at Ford went and did it.” Those LFP batteries use a Ford-specific design, but the automaker is licensing a few things from CATL – including the manufacturing process, battery chemistry, and product design. Some employees from CATL will also travel to the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site to train American workers on how to use the equipment at the plant and assemble the battery packs, which will be used in a variety of future low-cost electric vehicles.

Yea, that is something any employee, investor, customer, or supplier of Ford should take into account even though Ford's low cost EV platform does appear to be a very promising one. The disconnect right now between what the big shots say and actual products and processes is frustrating. I hope something more tangible is revealed before the year is out

I believe it because of the high profile outsiders leading that team. I think they have a solid platform and product plan - on paper. What remains to be seen is how fast they can roll it out (pretty slow at this point) and whether their assumptions on parts availability and costs hold true as well as their assumptions on manufacturing improvements. They were 2 yrs into the project when it was announced which should be enough time to vet most assumptions but things always change especially things out of your direct control. It’s also possible the executives make more stupid decisions.

Agreed, but it's Ford....they'd just as soon cancel all the products and start over again with nothing to show for any of it.

Hypothetically speaking, if Ford did use this platform to bring sedans back to the market, how likely is it that it would be something in a similar style to one of these? They start are around 29k, it's arguably Farley's favorite EV seeing as he drove one for over 6 months and couldn't stop talking about it, and it would mean offering a more compelling aspirational sedan instead of a generic blob.

Adaptive cruise and blue cruise requires gps and cameras and other sensors. I don’t see any of that at least not on base versions.