HYBRID STRAINS

TOYOTA'S HYBRID TUNDRA TAKES ON THE FORD F-150 POWERBOOST AND RAM 1500 eTORQUE IN A BATTLE OF ELECTRIFIED FULL-SIZE PICKUPS. BATTERIES INCLUDED.

- Ezra Dyer

Around here we like nothing better than to lean against a dusty wall, squint into the middle distance, and grumble short declarative sentences about pickup trucks. "Some new trucks out," one of us might say, while spitting casually on the ground. "Sure are," one or the other grizzled car wranglers would grumble, punctuating the idea by idly kicking away a scorpion. "Some of 'em even electrified, I reckon." And then, after a minute or two of quiet self-reflection of our regrets, a third tester might say, "We should round up a Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, a Ford F-150 Lariat PowerBoost, and a Ram 1500 Limited eTorque and conduct a rigorous and thorough comparison test of hybridized full-size pickup trucks." That's about the time the office manager comes in and tells everyone to go outside, please. Enough with the dust and the spitting and the scorpions! Do we have to do this whole thing every time we plan a truck comparison? Honestly.

Hey, we like to get in the proper mindset, even when the trucks in question are partially propelled by this newfangled "electricity." And all three of these bruisers have some form of battery-electric assist bolstering their internal-combustion powerplant. The Tundra augments its 389-hp twin-turbo V-6 with an electric motor that chips in 48 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. The F-150 uses a 400hp twin-turbo V-6 paired with an electric motor that makes 47 horsepower and 221 pound-feet. The Ram's 395-hp V-8 is joined by a 16-hp motor that twists out 130 pound-feet of torque. The Ford and the Toyota can roll down the road on electric power alone, while the Ram's setup is more for torque fill-in and smooth starts. But they all have an engine and a motor, so here we are.