Having Abandoned Its Large EVs, Ford Could Be Eyeing China and Ram for Replacements

At the new 2025 Lincoln Navigator's Monterey Car Week debut, we had the opportunity to catch up with Ford CEO Jim Farley and a couple of top Ford executives. Hot topics of conversation included Chinese EVs, of course, but also extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) and their suitability for the Chinese and possibly, U.S. markets. As Farley noted in our conversation, among Chinese electrified auto makers, only BYD and Li Auto are profitable, on the strength of diverse powertrain offerings, including hybrids, PHEVs, and EREVs.  

While Farley gave no specific guidance in our conversation, he did advise us to “watch out for more news coming soon.” Perhaps he meant the subsequent announcement by Ford on its pivot away from a large, three-row battery-electric SUV in favor of a platform of hybrid-powertrain SUVs. 

Ford already makes hybrid and electric trucks (Maverick and F-150 Lightning), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) SUVs (Escape), so could EREV technology be coming to future three-row SUVs such as the Explorer and Expedition nameplates as well as the F-series truck family? Possibly, says Sam Abuelsamid, principal research investigator for Guidehouse Insights. Abuelsamid speculates that EREV technology would be a great fit for Ford’s F-series platforms, including Super Duty. And this aligns Ford’s announcement in June 2024 that it plans to manufacture Super Duty trucks with “multi-energy technology” at its Oakville, Ontario plant. 

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What Is an EREV, and How Does It Differ from PHEV Tech?

So, what's the difference between an EREV and, say, the plug-in hybrids you see everywhere today? A plug-in hybrid is basically a normal gas-electric hybrid with uprated electric bits capable of propelling the car along using only the motor and battery for relatively short distances (compared to, say, full-on EVs) but farther than a non-plug-in hybrid might be capable of. When the battery is depleted, the gas engine rejoins the party, and the car operates like a conventional hybrid; but then you can plug it in again, charge the battery, and drive on electrons alone again until the EV-only range runs its course. Today's best PHEVs are capable of up to 40 to 50 miles of range, though most fall in the 15 to 30 mile zone. An extended-range EV is different—it's fundamentally an electric car, one that you still plug in to charge, but with an internal-combustion engine onboard that can act as a generator, producing enough electricity to extend the driving range beyond that afforded by the battery's capacity alone.

The allure of EREVs is that they can be engineered with smaller, cheaper batteries sized to handle normal everyday commuting or hauling duties, with the range extender kicking in to cover those very occasional longer trips or heavier loads. They make even more sense in larger vehicles, which have plenty of space for, essentially, two powertrains on board and already weigh a lot. Plus, trucks have vastly broader performance envelopes than bubble cars, so pure-electric versions require heavy and costly battery packs to deliver even so-so range even when towing; diminishing returns are a concern, too, as the heavier you make a truck, the more payload and towing is compromised. EREVs allow for much more reasonably sized batteries to cover most driving tasks, and a gas engine to cover more energy-intensive ones such as dragging a tall, square camping trailer over a long distance, or towing a heavy trailer up a very long grade. You can even up your output and capability with a higher performance engine/generator setup, rather than just more and more batteries.  

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Advantage EREV? 

What would be the advantages of EREV trucks and SUVs over pure battery electric? Cost savings and capability, said Abuelsamid, using Ram’s 1500 REV electric and Ramcharger EREV trucks as an example.  

“The standard Ram REV [electric truck] will have a 160-kWh battery. You shrink that down to 90-92 kWh battery for the Ramcharger and you’re taking about $7,000 out of the cost of the vehicle. And then you add in a [gas] Pentastar V-6, that’s optimized for this, because you’re just using it as a generator. You’re maybe adding $3,500-4,000 back. So you’re looking at probably $4,000 less to build a Ramcharger than the standard-range version of the Ram Rev,” said Abulesamid. 

“You’ve got a base electric range of 140-150 miles and you can do all of your regular driving off of that. With the range extender, you can go another 400-500 miles, and tow more like a traditional gas or diesel truck. And then you don’t have to worry about finding a place to charge, you just fill it up with gas again,” said Abuelsamid. The Ramcharger is said to deliver 690 miles of total range, and the idea is that unlike with strictly electric trucks, whose range plummet when dragging a trailer or hauling anything—you know, truck stuff—with the gas engine onboard, the Ramcharger will be able to tow longer distances with less worry, needing only conventional fill-ups along the way. Think about it—though one could choose instead to sit at a charger for much longer to regain the 140 to 150 miles of EV-only range if they wanted to, it'd be much quicker and more convenient to make a five-minute gas stop like you would in any other truck.

So which engine could Ford use as the motor-generator in an F-series truck and SUV derivatives? Abuelsamid speculates that while Ford could utilize the 6.8-liter gas V-8 currently in the Super Duty lineup, it makes more sense to use either the 2.7-liter or 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6s, already used across the F-150 line, to save weight. 

“When you have 500-600 electric horsepower and all that torque—the motors on the Lightning today have 775 ft-lbs of torque—[the customers] are going to be fine with it,” speculates Abuelsamid. 

We think Ford could even skip the EcoBoosts; after all, if the engine is just there as a generator, there's little need for two turbos' mass and cost. The 275-hp non-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 that powers entry-level Transit vans, for example, would be a low-cost, commercial-tested option, and roughly equivalent to the Pentastar V-6 Ram's using in the Ramcharger.

Could Ford Have Dumped Its Large EVs for EREVs?

Quite possibly, though the official line is that it's shifting focus to more affordable EV options. The EREV format certainly makes sense for large SUVs and trucks, and while an EREV powertrain is typically more complicated than a purely electric setup, as we've pointed out, sizing a battery to achieve a particular target (particularly in the truck space) can end up costing and weighing more than an EREV powertrain. Like plug-in hybrids (where the combustion engine drives the wheels directly at least some of the time), EREVs are great at assuaging the public range-and recharging anxiety obstacles to electric vehicle adoption. That may be their greatest attraction.