Ford Raptor Lineup Sticking With Gas Engines For Now

Back in 2022, Ford Performance boss Carl Widmann shot down the notion of adding a hybrid or all-electric powertrain to the Ford Raptor lineup, citing the fact that the extra weight added by such electrified alternatives would have too much of a negative impact on performance. However, a couple of years later, CEO Jim Farley admitted that Ford Performance was testing hybrid powertrains for those types of models, signaling that perhaps we could see an electrified Ford Raptor of some type in the future, after all. However, it doesn’t seem as if that’s going to happen anytime soon.

“Inevitable at some time in the future that there will be electrified offerings [of Raptor] … but we’re still working through what that means,” Kay Hart, Ford’s International Markets Group (IMG) lead, told the press at a recent media event in Dubai, according to Carsales.com. “We can continue to refine and ensure we’re bringing the most efficient ICE engines to the market.”

“Any battery-based system you are looking at what the performance is like when the battery gets degraded,” added Justin Capicchiano, Ford Performance, SVE program manager.. “Does it overcome the weight of the battery when the battery gets depleted? A straightforward PHEV is probably not going let you to deliver what you want to do. You have to put that battery somewhere and the logical position is going to be somewhere out the back and that’s going to impact your off-road capability. There’s a performance attribute then … you need to be able to get out and do the fun stuff, then you need to be able to get back.”

Thus, while it seems as if the Ford Raptor lineup will one day be offered with some sort of electrified powertrain option, such a thing seemingly isn’t in the cards right now. Ford will instead forge ahead with its lineup of mostly turbocharged engines in those models (save for the V8-powered Raptor R), at least, until emissions requirements or technology warrant a change.