Jodie Kidd: I Thought I Knew My Ranger – I Was Wrong
This year we launched the new Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV)1 in Europe, and we’ve already seen so many incredible people and businesses maximising its utility and turning up to be everyday heroes.
We invited some of these everyday heroes to join us with our Ford content creators to demonstrate how they use the Ranger PHEV every day for a Ford Pro Heroes Day. They made seemingly overwhelming and ambitious tasks, incredibly achievable with the Ranger PHEV as their work partner.
The first thing I realised when I arrived at singer and extreme athlete Joey Kelly's estate for the event was how Ranger-ready it was. The muddy roads, the tools scattered across the yard, the clear signs of hard work, and the unmistakeable smell of the forest and rain created the perfect backdrop for our event.
It would put the Ranger PHEV in the heart of the work environment that the heroes were used to: authentically demonstrating Ranger’s everyday capability.
The day was built around a simple idea; pair Ford Creators with the everyday heroes who rely on the Ranger to get the job done. These are our Ford Pro customers, our Ranger owners, our ‘doers’. The people who turn up every day, epitomising what capability truly means.
Together, they faced a series of practical challenges designed to show the versatility of the Ford Ranger PHEV. But first, they spent some time getting to know the features of the Ranger. And as expected, they wasted no time getting in the truck and testing its off-road capability.2
The first challenge revealed what might be the Ranger PHEV’s most revolutionary feature: Ford Pro Power Onboard.3 As teams powered up jigsaws and soldering irons by plugging them directly into the power outlet on the truck and utilising the onboard battery, I thought of the real-world implications.
I imagined Thomas Potthast, a master roofer, at a remote farmhouse, miles from a power source, being able to run his tools without a generator to repair a leak in the roof. Or the DLRG (German Life Saving Association) with Sebastian Winterwerb's rescue team, powering crucial floodlights in an emergency. This wasn't just a clever feature; it was independence.
The tools ran effortlessly, and as the teams learned later, the vehicle has enough charge to power a standard 1,500 W concrete mixer for a full workday. It transforms the truck from a standard vehicle for getting from A to B into a mobile power station taking work directly to the site.
Next, a challenge of strength. For Thomas, it’s a constant, hauling heavy trailers to job sites. Here, the challenge allowed guests to experience how a tree logger might utilise the towing capability to move logs across often wet and uneven sites with ease.
Towing a multi-tonne log should have been intimidating, but the teams navigated the course with surprising ease. It was a clear demonstration of the Ranger’s 3.5-tonne capacity, but more than that, it’s an engineering feat empowering confidence in real-time.
The last challenge was all about team coordination, as the teams were tasked with loading straw bales into the truck beds as efficiently as possible. The six hay bales the team had to carry for the challenge were no burden to the Ranger PHEV, as the truck bed boasts a maximum payload capacity of 940 kgs.
What impressed me most was how quickly the competitive mindset turned into teamwork. Each pair brought their own strengths, combining creativity with hands-on experience. The day was filled with plenty of cheers, dirty boots, and that unmistakable feeling of shared achievement.
As the sun settled behind the hills, it was clear that this wasn’t just about the tasks themselves. It was about the experience they created, and the quiet truth that people who rely on a Ranger are often the most reliable people you can find.
Justine Schreiber is the Ford Lifestyle, Digital and Consumer Comms Manager
¹ Ford Ranger Plug-In Hybrid homologated CO2 emissions 143-145 g/km WLTP Euro 6e-bis (UK: 70-72 g/km Euro 6e), homologated fuel efficiency 6.2-6.4 l/100 km WLTP Euro 6e-bis (UK: 3.1-3.2 l/100 km Euro 6e) and pure electric driving range up to 43 km WLTP. The declared WLTP fuel/energy consumptions, CO2 emissions and electric range are determined according to the technical requirements and specifications of the European Regulations (EC) 715/2007 and (EU) 2017/1151 as last amended. The applied standard test procedures enable comparison between different vehicle types and different manufacturers. A range of up to 43 km can be achieved with a fully charged battery - depending on the existing series and battery configuration. The actual range may vary due to various factors (e.g. weather conditions, driving style, route profile, vehicle condition, age and condition of the lithium-ion battery)
² Always consult the Owner’s Manual before off-road driving, know your terrain and trail difficulty, and use appropriate safety gear
3 See Owner’s Manual for important operating instructions
