Shocking? Running A/C for hours, 2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid Generator 

So glad I found this video. When I first saw this truck on TFL I thought this would be a game changer for people with campers. Interesting to see someone testing it.

For anyone interested in the math on this, technically a gallon of gasoline contains 33.7kWh worth of energy. So, if you had a theoretical (but impossible) generator that was 100% efficient, you would be able to get 33700 watts out of every gallon of gas, or enough to run this camper for around 13 hours or so. Gas engines are around 17% efficient on average, plus energy losses in charging the battery, inverter losses and heat losses in the cables, etc. All in, you should be getting around 4 to 5 kWh worth of electricity from each gallon of gas. Since the truck has a 30 gallon gas tank, one could probably run the camper 50 to 60 hours of day time use with the A/C on, and probably closer to 120 hours of total use between day and night. So, 5 days worth is probably a pretty good estimate...

Set the truck on eco-idle, runs at higher rpm's for a shorter period of recharge.

I just got my F150 Hybrid last week and cannot wait to attach it to my trailer when I get it next month. Already I love the power in the back for charging batteries on the road. I'm 50 years old and 120 pounds, and a solo traveler, so not having to constantly deal with 2 45 pound generators is great for me! And I also won't have to worry about locking them up at campgrounds. Win all around for me! Great video, thanks.

Thanks for the confirmation review. Use my powerboost to run my moveable shop out in the woods...band saw, table saw, drill press, planer etc. Hate noisy generators. I often run it all day. This truck is fantastic. Amazingly the truck has a better tow rating than the first generation F-350 power stroke crew cab srw it replaced. The generator and the tow rating sold me. Have tested both extensively as described and hauling nice loads of lumber and logs. Great ride too! I would have been happy with an XL with vinyl and minimum creature comforts. But, got talked into a Lariat. Nana likes it so it was worth the extra bucks. Last...it is so nice to drive up to a drive through or talk to a neighbor without having to shut the truck off. On the road unloaded I average about 25mpg. Towing my trailer loaded about 13. Great truck. Love the quiet. Love the utility. Love always having an emergency generator tuned up and ready to go.

For the hard core, extended stay boon-docker, this coupled with solar and extra water in the bed seems like a killer set-up. With a composting toilet, the only limiting factor would be running out of food.

I'd like to see someone run it for at least 8 hours. Fill up before and after the test to know exactly how much fuel it used, and what it cost. I think that would be the best test to see how efficient it actually is.

Thanks for the info. Btw, rv camper is 30 amps at 110 volt not 220-240 volts. Another words same as residential house outlet just more current available at 30 amps vs 15-20 amps. I mention this so watchers dont plug their RV into a 220-240 volt outlet and detroy all the electrical in the RV ;)

😳 there's nothing better on the market! Ford is amazing!

Thanks for running this test. It helps people get an idea of how the system would work in the real world... including forgetting your keys in trailer.

awesome video, please post more of these onboard generator videos. love them!

Thanks for this video. Very useful to prospective buyers.

Thank you so much for making these videos. I absolutely love watching.

Great demo test, thanks

Thanks Tim! No days off 👍

It's also hot because that giant glass sunroof is open, closing it will make a huge difference.

The 7.2KW pro power is one heck of a package to be honest. I saw another video where the truck actually used less fuel over an extended period of time than a gas Honda 5.5KW generator.

Wow wonderful video. I am sold. I just need to wait until I can afford one.

Even if the engine idled the entire time you would burn less than a gallon an hour, I'm retired police officer and we would have the cars running all shift 8hrs they only burn 5 or 6 gallons in an explorer. If the A/C was running it on the car it would burn almost double that.

This is great content👍

For future reference if you do another test... Using a Bluetooth OBD2 adapter and the TORQUE app you can read your fuel level in a percentage. In other words, a digital fuel gauge. Maybe Ford's diagnostic mode will show a digital fuel gauge as well. Anyhow, more accurate than using miles remaining.

Thanks. This was exactly what I’ve been looking for.

Great video Just got a Powerboost and will be dry camping this week. Looking forward to trying this

Best video yet thank you

Winter will even things out, but now in August I am a little jealous of any place that describes 85 degrees as a typical summer day. That would be a cold snap here. It's 81 now and it's almost 10 PM.

Boondocking in Idaho, running the ac in 95 F weather, I was getting a cycle of 8 min on the hybrid battery, 2 min running consistently. This past weekend in Laramie I used 2.3 gal of gas in 10 hours running time. 2022 Lariat Powerboost.

Hoping to see a Super Duty Gasser with the built in generator / Hybrid.

Hi Tim, This is a big score

It's been 25 years since Tim boasted he could go all day and night... well except for getting out of a sand trap... that could take a while.

This is incredible, my uncle just got a Chevy 2500 and an airstream, and had to by a huge generator that is super loud, and I asked him why he didn’t just get the F-150 with the powerboast he didn’t even knew that this car existed

That's awesome!

I was there when your winter test failed and was waiting for you to do this again sooner rather than later but couldn't wait. Got my own F150 Power Boost and our little 9000 btu trailer and boondocked over night twice at Cracker Barrel coming and going with a 30 amp to 110 adapter and worked great. Love our truck! I want to get my hands on your adapter tho so I can use that plug too!

Thank you for this video sir - you are the man!

Good video. I saw this option and as a Ram fan boy thought that is best new option for a truck. If I get back into Camping will have to look into this. AC at night at some of my favorite camping spots where at 10:00 pm quite time starts but that thing does not really make any noise sound like a win to me. Hope to see some more videos like long run and gas used and then maybe a portable generator comparing to this in gas usage.

I have a 22 powerboost but have not used the onboard power yet, thought about trying it this weekend.

This hybrid is a game charger. Just think, that it's Ford's first try at a hybrid half ton. Should only get better from here!

Thank you

That's a neat truck. I'm full off grid so that would be nice to have

I got the 2kw pro power plenty for small trailer

i've been testing mine extensively over the last 2 months.....my camper is also a 30 amp hookup......i use the high idle option, for better turbo health....with AC on, and other draws for charging battery bank and whatnot, 2200-2400 watts is the average draw.....cycle times around 1 min idle, 6. mins battery only.....

I wonder if the new Tundra will have something similar to this truck. No noise power is great for an old guy like me. The older I get, the more i love silence.

I have a 3.5L Eco boost V6 in my 2013 F-150. I live in Alabama and run my AC while parked for hours. I burn a little less than a gallon per hour of fuel with my engine running and the AC on full cold (Using an Xguage to measure fuel consumption). Your gas guage wouldn't have noticed just two gallons in your test. Really appreciate your test though, very good info. I may have to upgrade my F-150 to a Hybrid. I pull a travel trailer and that inverter feature would be great.

I would already have one these powerboost trucks if they had them on the dealers lots!

I am just SO impressed with the F150 PB ... imagine if and when GM and RAM finally get into this action!

Looking forward to a 50 amp generator being installed on the F350/450 models to run the big fifth wheel units.

No longer “how many miles?, now its gonna be “how many hours?”

Thanks nice video. Any ideas on how to properly set up a transfer switch to power part of your home during a power outage?

This is the first option on a new truck I would actually like to have. I need it on a 3/4 ton with a standard cab eight foot bed and with the 7.3 engine.

Even if you never end up using it you may as well get the 7.2KW generator if you get no other options. Its one more option that will help resale later. That and 4wd was the only 2 options i got on mine.

Man I could of used this truck this past weekend in the Adirondack mountains 🏔

Good thing you got a power source. Was 95 degrees when we were there and shore power kept going out. Rattle snake in bathroom and we are out of here . Second worst campground ever

So you are only using 1 leg of the 240V plug. This is evident on the truck dash display where the wattage only shows a draw on the right gauge. One would think you could also plug something in to the 120 V plug that draws on the second gauge. You could run a coffee pot or other device off of an extension cord and it wouldn’t affect the 30A circuit draw. Is that correct? You could draw up to 3600 watts on the 30 amp plug and up to 15 amps on the 120 plug?

You could run two RV’s off that truck 1 on each phase. As you are only using one side(phase) of that generator/inverter.

I got that this was a 3.5L PB XLT with max tow package. What is the payload and with what options added please. I have been trying to figure out how to max payload with wanted options. Is it possible or probable that you can get anywhere near 2000 payload?

Does the average trailer need the 7.2kw or is the 2.4kw plenty for a trailer?

Can you please give info on toy hauler you pulled. I got the standard towing, 11,000. Wondering how heavy it was to pull that toy hauler.

Do an all day test for us please! I’ll put 5 on it :)

Great video. Does the 7.2kwh use all of that no matter what is being powered or does it limit how much is produced based on the demand?

I don’t know why this is so special. So you run your $10,000 truck engine and your $8,000 battery bank to power your trailer AC and refrigeration plus a few LED Lights. When you could have purchased a 3500 kw inverter generator at Harbor Freight for $700.00. How does this even make any sense? Just an add for Ford.

Did you notice Fumes? I have a Tesla and I like being all electric. But I love the range of this truck. I had thought maybe turn the truck around so the fumes would not go into the trailer?

I cant wait to see what sort of early issues he has with the particulate filter the truck engine must be equipped with...I dont think you can simply let modern engines run at idle for hours on end without having problems in the exhaust filters early on. Maybe a high speed drive or two would clear it out, maybe not. Ive only experienced this issue with diesels, but I noticed the last car I bought in 2019 had a gas engine and an identical particulate filter as my diesel model had....got to imagine it will screw it up similarly.

Considering getting the F-150 XLT specifically for the powerboost capability. Thanks so much for this video. Do you happen to have the options and specs of your truck posted anywhere? Thanks.

Great video! I love the idea of on board power, now I just have to wait until Ram or GM puts that into their truck. I wonder what that kind of idling does to the engine though long term. Probably cant be that good for it? If a coffee maker cycles the gas engine that quickly, that can't be good also, need a bigger battery or something to run longer between cycles and just cycle less often.

Tim, did you try having the trailer hooked up to the generator while towing? That way when you get to the camping spot the trailer is already cool. I thought that would drain the gas but this video proves is probably wouldn't.

I'm interested in buying a F150 with the regular ecoboost and the 2.5kw generator, I wonder how well that would do in this test? The generator is a great idea and makes a lot of sense.

Alright, so I dropped a comment on your next video before I watched this video asking about the pickup battery's Ah limits. After watching this video, however, I am concerned with the pickup running out of fuel while in generator mode. Is there a safety shut-off for the generator mode that leaves enough fuel in the tank to allow you to drive to a filling station or do you need to leave a small gas can in the box to ensure that you are not stranded at some boondocking site?

I noticed on the dash readout that you have 2x 3600W guages (an "A" and a "B") -- this adds to 7200, but does this mean can you only service 3500W max to a single 110VAC circuit (either A or B)?

The range might change after you take it for a drive for a few miles

Hey, I am looking for a powerboost for the same task, the problem is the payload of the F-150, what are the aspects of yours and payload? I need at least 1,800 to be able to tow an airstream with a dry tongue weight of 875, and loaded could be up to 1,095. How you can tow that one that is 745 tongue weight?

You should pop the hood if you plan to run it for long hours, this way it helps keep the temps down, and less radiator fan on time to save gas.

How did the truck do pulling that trailer?

If I still had our Jayco I would DEF be trading in my 2018 Platinum for a 2021!! This really changes things for boondocking. Like you said, no more embarrassing loud generators! And you’ll never want for wattage.

Just got me a 2021 powerboost. I dont know about using it to run my RV or my home as the sales person said I can. I am to old school, I think I will continue to use my Champion generator. It is light weight that I can carry and it will run everything. I think my problem is frying the trucks electrical.

Need to remember that using it to power camper will have an effect on oil life...it will need to be changed before the odometer reading that was set for the next oil change as oil life is determined by hours of engine run time...we just normally use mileage as the marker for service.

Man oh man Tim,,, this truck seems to fit right into your lifestyle.. Towing, powering up the camper, I don’t know how the hell you can trade this in??? But I have an idea, trade in your wife’s vehicle, give her the F-150 and get yourself a different truck for the channel…. That way you still have this little gem in your family. AND you can continue to report on the F-150 as the miles pile up.. You would have a two YES two truck channel…. Can you imagine that??? Do it Tim, just do it…..

How did plugging the camper into 220v not damage anything? Does the adapter only use one leg of the power (3600w)?

Does your f150 have the max towing package? I'm going to tow an RV around that size and weight. Should I be worried?

Torque app and OBD reader can read the fuel level.

I like your videos. You seem like an average Joe like me.

I bought the 30 amp adapter and when I plugged it into my camper I got a grounding default message. Did you ever run into this issue? I looked on the F154 on and there are multiple people that have had this issue.

Thanks for the video Tim I am torn between this truck and the Lightning!

How much energy could you use without using the engine running ?

I just want to point out your amp math. It is correct BUT it's only correct when you are using a 120v system. Like house power. If you go to a 12v system it will be 12v per amp or a 220v system it will be 220w per amp. It's called ohm's law. I would recommend checking it out instead of always using the 120w per amp calculation. Basically Voltage = current (amps) x resistance. So with a little algebra you can calculate it to watts= Amps x Volts.

Great video. Thanks. Now, if someone wanted to add a bed cover to the truck and lock stuff inside would there be any easy way to route the power cable out of the bed without modification to the cover? In other words, is there any cable routing exit by the outlet panel, etc?

Isn't there an issue in using 220 Volts into the camper? Guessing the camper is rated for 110. Am I wrong about this?

Holy crap that AC unit draws a ton of watts for only 13.5K BTU

Constant fire up and shut down on oil that never warms up makes me wonder how harsh this would be on a truck used by the hardcore weekend warrior

How many kWh per gallon?

Hey Tim wondering if you had an answer to an odd question I had. Say something in the hybrid system failed ie the battery or motor. Could the truck still be driven as just a regular ecoboost f150 or will it not be drivable without the hybrid system working?

Can you drive and make power at the same time if needed?

The truck keeps turning on because you have the ac set to 65 degrees. So in order to get and keep the trailer at that temp the truck will run alot.

Did this one have a tow package or standard package?

My favorite part is when he noticed the red 01 Chevy gaser 2500.

Does that adapter actually switch 220 to 110? Was surprised to see that. I was shocked to see he didn’t melt down the camper electrics.

What kind of fridge is in the camper? 12V or dual gas/electric? Is it running while driving?

A typical gas generator and most likely the F150 can produce about 10 kW-h of energy per gallon of gas. 1,700 watts or 1.7kW for 2 hours is 3.4 kW-h. That is the equivalent of 1/3 gallon of gasoline. My guess is that you burned around 1/3 gallon for 2 hours. Or 1/6 gallon per hour. Or 6 hours per gallon. with a 30 gallon tank it should run 180 hours but that assumes AC on all the time. Most likely AC is off 50% of the time. That should handle you for a week of camping. By the way, I believe the Powerboost is a much better option than the Lightning.

It takes 6 gallons of 87 octane to run a 8000 BTU casement a/c unit, refrigerator and TV 8 hours with 90F ambient set for 74F. That is with a 500CC OHV 1cylinder generator. Th A/C unit is about 800 Watts.. Cooling about 1100 sq ft of space. So 74F close to the A/C unit and 80F away from. Comes in handy when the energy company decides to shed load because they just dismantled the coal fired back up power plant. AS why such a big generator (9000 watts continuous)? Well I was going to just wire it into the house and run it off natural gas. BUT that would cost 5 x as much as the generator. That does not include the permits needed. The housing to keep it out of the weather. And re-enforcement to keep from growing legs and leaving. That Ford is really efficient electricity producer. But you can't just plug it into the house. Don't want to to back feed. So you have to disconnect the main fuses or breaker 1st. That is where the expense come in. It has to autosense on and off and automatically disconnect to and from the the grid where I am located.

can you get this truck with the 7.2 gen and a 36 gallon tank ?

Just found out about this, great vid. Does Ford have an app where you can remotely turn off the generator via your phone?

Engine running 5-10 times an hour at