Towing with F150 Poweboost

[speediq99]

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience towing with a new F150 Powerboost?

We bought one recently and towed a 7000 lbs trailer in a mix of hills and flats. Plenty of power up the hill but dismal mpg. Really, really bad.

I came from a 2006 Titan and that thing did 9-10 mpg average, which was to be expected. This Powerboost does 4 mpg going up hill and barely hits 9 mpg on flat. My trip average on 300 miles wa 7.5 mpg.

Running at 2k rpms, the truck sucks gas like there is no tomorrow. We are driving 60-65mph on 60 degree weather.

The gas tank is 30g, which give us a range of 150-200 miles.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Mike

[Grit_dog]

speediq99 wrote:
I have not used premium but I will next time. I have been using 89.

The downside of the hybrid is the 30g gas tank. They created a towing monster but failed to give it a good gas tank even with the Max tow package. Some people just cant do it right. I wonder if I can add a tank down the road. I hate stopping every 150-200 miles with a trailer.
Good suggestion.

Thank you

When have you ever seen a 1/2 ton with much more than 30 gallons? Most have less.
Long beds have marginally more.
This is a surprise?

[Grit_dog]

mich800 wrote:

speediq99 wrote:
Hello,

Does anyone have any experience towing with a new F150 Powerboost?

We bought one recently and towed a 7000 lbs trailer in a mix of hills and flats. Plenty of power up the hill but dismal mpg. Really, really bad.

I came from a 2006 Titan and that thing did 9-10 mpg average, which was to be expected. This Powerboost does 4 mpg going up hill and barely hits 9 mpg on flat. My trip average on 300 miles wa 7.5 mpg.

Running at 2k rpms, the truck sucks gas like there is no tomorrow. We are driving 60-65mph on 60 degree weather.

The gas tank is 30g, which give us a range of 150-200 miles.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Mike

Probably should be more specific for someone to help with advice. What year, engine, transmission, rear axle ratio?

But, the OP didn’t ask for advice. He asked for reassurance and or empathy about getting what he considers poor mileage.....

[speediq99]

I am not certain it doesn't use the electric motor when towing. I have read somewhere that it does aid the gas motor when towing to increase hp and torque. I will only make sense that it does. I just don't think that it runs the truck on electric only if you are in tow mode.

As far as using the electric when towing, to increase gas mileage, I am still researching. If you put the vehicle in normal or eco mode when towing, it does go to electric on flats or downhills. I am just not sure if this is good for the truck.

Ecoboost was an option. I did research it but the Powerboost was a better appeal with 24mpg and more power and torque. It is also very very quiet.

I have to admit that I was surprised by the 30.6 gallon tank. I read everywhere the Max tow package came with it and it was only after I bought it that I read the footprint on the gas tank. I wish they had been more clear about this exception up front. Needless to say I was very disappointed. I guess they had to dump weight somewhere.

The truck is a great daily driver. I was just expecting better mileage when towing. Hopefully, things get better as the engine is broken in.

Mike

[shelbyfv]

OP, thanks for posting. I've been interested in one of these primarily for the cool "ProPower Onboard." Didn't realize you can't get the larger gas tank. Bummer!

[mooky_stinks]

speediq99 wrote:
I have not used premium but I will next time. I have been using 89.

The downside of the hybrid is the 30g gas tank. They created a towing monster but failed to give it a good gas tank even with the Max tow package. Some people just cant do it right. I wonder if I can add a tank down the road. I hate stopping every 150-200 miles with a trailer.
Good suggestion.

Thank you

Not sure it’s a “towing monster” when it is hauling around almost 500 pounds of electric motor and battery that you can’t use while towing . If you stop looking at the instant mpg going up hills you’ll be a lot happier. Just a note on the gas tank size. If you did your due diligence before your purchase you’d find that the regular gas Ecoboost with the HD payload would have been a better fit for towing. The truck would be lighter with more payload and it would have the 36 gallon tank. And btw EVERY gas truck gets 8-10 mpg while towing.

[MFL]

Most any gas truck will average 8-10 mpg towing an RV of any size. I think you will be in this range, especially using non ethanol premium. If you can get 10 mpg towing in flat country, that will be better than most.

Since the beginning of the Ecoboost, the sales folks hyped up the terrific mileage, that upset many owners, when it didn't happen. Many used the available power, always had a heavy foot, and others towed heavy, at speed, and the mpg hoped for never showed up.

Yours is new, get a few miles on it, get to know it better, find what fuel works best, hope your experience with it improves!

My F250 with 6.2 gets better mpg using pure premium, towing or not.

Jerry

[speediq99]

I have not used premium but I will next time. I have been using 89.

The downside of the hybrid is the 30g gas tank. They created a towing monster but failed to give it a good gas tank even with the Max tow package. Some people just cant do it right. I wonder if I can add a tank down the road. I hate stopping every 150-200 miles with a trailer.
Good suggestion.

Thank you

[ksss]

The current Ecoboost would seem more at home with the name Powerboost and the hybrid would make a better Ecoboost at least until you have to tow with it.

[Mickeyfan0805]

Lynnmor wrote:
Are you using the recommenced higher octane fuel? What percentage of ethanol is in your fuel?

This is what I have found. Ours is the ECO, but I find that my mpg is a solid 20% higher when I use premium. The higher mpg pretty much balances out the higher cost of the gas, and my range is significantly better. We have a 36 gallon tank and I plan for gas stops every 200-225 miles.

[speediq99]

Not mocking anything.

It is a 3.5 engine with tons of power and torque. 10 speed tranny and 3.55 gears.

I tow in tow mode which means hybrid never kicks in. I tried towing in normal or eco mode but no difference. On downhills engine goes to electric but I am not sure is a good idea to tow 7000 lbs on electric. It doesn't stay there long enough to make much of a difference.


Around town, I get 21 mpg and usually get 70-80 miles on battery power. It is brand new so I hope it gets better. No complaints unloaded.

Trailer is 11FT tall, slightly taller than most I had. It is a Palomino 26rbss.

When I load it up, Mpg goes to hell fast. Even on flat, it sits around 10mpg in tow mode. It jyst doesn't seem to like that trailer back there.

Mike

[KD4UPL]

As new as the Powerboost is it's apparent that very few people here have heard of it, let alone towed with one. I would suspect that the extra weight of the batteries and the electric motor is only going to hurt you MPG wise when towing.
Hybrid is great for around town stop and go driving. When towing it's likely just in purely gas engine mode. I must assume you have some kind of display that tells you when you are in electric/hybrid/gas mode. Have you watched it while towing? How often is it in each mode during a typical trip?

[rjstractor]

ksss wrote:
I am not sure if your mocking the "ECO" part of the name of its engine given the content of your post or maybe they renamed it Powerboost and I missed that. Although that would be a better name for it. There has never been much ECO when your digging deep into the throttle of the 3.5. If that trailer is tall and grabs a lot of wind, I could see getting poor mileage. Averaging 7.5 over 300 miles is pretty bad though.

He's not mocking anything, he's referring to the new F150 hybrid which is actually called PowerBoost. It probably gets good mpg unloaded but no hybrid gets good mpg at highway speeds heavily loaded.

[Lynnmor]

Are you using the recommenced higher octane fuel? What percentage of ethanol is in your fuel?

[MitchF150]

I have a 13 Eco and it has over 97,000 miles on it now. Owned since new. I tow a #7000 TT with it and average between 9-10 mpgs towing it over the pass on I-90 East.

Yes, has more power than you think a little 3.5L engine should have, but that's the "boost" part of it..

I can get 20 mpg running empty on the hwy at 65 mph all day long.

I get 17-18 mpg on my daily commute to work. It's an 18 mile run from driveway to the parking lot.

I have found the trick to towing with these Eco's is to let them rev and not bog them..

The more you bog them the MORE boost you are using and thus, running hotter and burning more fuel.

I have the six speed and 3.73 gears and running the flats, it likes 5th gear and between 2k and 2.5k rpms. That keeps the boost low to nothing.

When I try to run in 6th, the rpms are lower, but the boost is always in the 5+ psi range.

I monitor my actual temps with a ODBII monitor and an app on my phone.

Anyway, need more info to help you out any more.

Mitch

[mich800]

speediq99 wrote:
Hello,

Does anyone have any experience towing with a new F150 Powerboost?

We bought one recently and towed a 7000 lbs trailer in a mix of hills and flats. Plenty of power up the hill but dismal mpg. Really, really bad.

I came from a 2006 Titan and that thing did 9-10 mpg average, which was to be expected. This Powerboost does 4 mpg going up hill and barely hits 9 mpg on flat. My trip average on 300 miles wa 7.5 mpg.

Running at 2k rpms, the truck sucks gas like there is no tomorrow. We are driving 60-65mph on 60 degree weather.

The gas tank is 30g, which give us a range of 150-200 miles.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Mike

Probably should be more specific for someone to help with advice. What year, engine, transmission, rear axle ratio?