It’s literally my job to talk about the benefits of our products. So, I understand you might be reading this and thinking it could be a massive load of corporate puffery but, let me assure you, it isn’t.

The intention with this story is to share my real-world experience of family life with a Ranger Stormtrak Hybrid. The reason being that I know there are plenty of people looking at the recent price of petrol and diesel and are thinking about making a change.

For those of us raised on a diet of petrol and diesel the notion of a Ranger Hybrid might not make a lot of sense. But and if you’ll indulge me a moment, with its 2.3-litre EcoBoost petrol engine and 75kW electric motor powered by an 11.8kWh usable battery (207kW combined power and 697Nm of torque) ¹, 3500kg maximum braked towing capacity ² it actually makes a whole lot of sense.

I collected the Stormtrak a week or two before the Iran crisis sent global fuel prices soaring and it’s made this experience incredibly educational. If you find this story interesting or helpful, then I’m happy. Please note, though, that the figures I present are based on my own experience and use case.

The 80km Commute: Slashing the Fuel Bill

While I work from home most of the time, my wife’s commute is 80 kilometres a day and includes a mix of suburban streets, short stints at high-speed on motorways and some country b-roads. She has become custodian of the Ranger Stormtrak.

We make sure to charge the Ranger Hybrid every night and, as a result, my wife’s average daily fuel consumption is sitting at 4.9L/100km. When running around closer to home on the weekend, we’re seeing less than 3L/100km.

One thing worth noting is that after a month of driving, and ensuring we keep the Ranger Hybrid charged overnight ³, we’d only used a quarter of a tank of fuel and driven more than 1200 kilometres. The savings have been immediate and significant.

For those crunching numbers, charging overnight during off-peak times costs us about $4 to charge the battery from zero to 100%, but that’s our energy retailer – yours might be different. I don’t have solar panels, and we’re about to install a smart meter, so this will drop as we take advantage of cheaper off-peak rates.

That means, over the course of a month, keeping the battery charged has cost around $120 making the cost per kilometre driven about 17 cents.

The Ultimate Moving Partner

In addition to the daily commute, the Ranger Stormtrak Hybrid was called into service to help the family move house. Anyone who has moved knows the endless cycle of short, heavy trips - ferrying boxes, furniture plus a few runs to the local tip.

We were only moving a suburb away – around 6km - and were able to do the move largely using the ‘EV Now’ mode. It was incredibly satisfying to do all that back and forth without burning a single drop of petrol. It’s a legitimate workhorse that can handle the ‘ute stuff’, within reason, entirely on battery power.

Road Trip: Putting the Range to the Test

We recently took the Ranger on a 380km round trip from the Gold Coast to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast with two adults and two large teenage boys on board. This trip gave us the perfect opportunity to see how the PHEV handled longer-distance driving. This is a regular trip for us, thanks to my mother-in-law living up there.

The Journey North: We left with 100% state-of-charge. While the WLTP electric-only range is rated at 49km, the Ranger’s regenerative braking and energy management were so efficient that we actually saw pure electric driving reach 63km on this leg. We arrived in Maroochydore with fuel economy of 5.4L/100km.

The Return Leg: While in Maroochydore, I only had time to give the battery a quick top-up at my mother-in-law’s house, which put about 30% back into the ‘tank’. The drive home was a different beast, with heavy traffic. That said, we still managed 23 km of pure EV driving, with fuel economy of 7.5L/100km for that leg.

The Final Result: Across the total 380km journey, carrying two adults and two teens, including luggage, we achieved a combined economy of 6.45L/100km. For a loaded dual-cab ute, that is incredibly efficient.

Myth-Busting: Range and Reality

There is a common misconception that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles "don't have enough range". Our experience proves the opposite. Not only does the Ranger PHEV offer us a real-world combined range of 1,000km, but it also allows us to do the bulk of heavy lifting (the daily commute) on cheaper electricity.

The ‘icing on the cake’ for me has been the fact that the Ranger Hybrid runs on petrol rather than diesel, which at the time of writing, is roughly 70 cents per litre more expensive.

The Ranger Hybrid is easy to live with, easy to charge, and provides a level of efficiency that is hard to beat without sacrificing the ‘truck’ capability we like and need.

Ben Nightingale is Ford Australia’s Product Communications Manager

Disclaimers:

¹ Power and torque are independent attributes and may not be achieved simultaneously.

² Maximum towing capacity braked using a Genuine Ford tow pack. To comply with these limits, any load transported by the vehicle may need to be restricted to not exceed the GCM and GVM limits. For further details regarding load restrictions, please consult your authorised Ford Dealer and / or refer to the vehicle brochure.

³ Battery charging time will vary based on factors including: battery capacity, state of charge, temperature, charger’s power level, and battery temperature and health.