2024 Ford F-150 hybrid engine starter dropped, not a big deal?

After years of work, engineers have figured out how to drop the 2024 Ford F-150 hybrid accessory-belt engine starter, yet still fire it up.

Unlike the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning, the need for a solution that reduces the number of parts, and the engine complexity to should make the motor more reliable with one less part to break was paramount with this build. However, you probably didn’t even know this starter existed.

How engines work

Before I get into how it works exactly and show you the detailed LinkedIn post from Kelly Johnson, lead hybrid powertrain engineer at Ford Motor Co., let’s first understand how a combustion engine works.

In simple terms, the combustion engine is literally that. It is a combustion or explosion of energy that moves the pistons up and down. The combustion is done with three key ingredients: fuel, spark and air. These micro-explosions cause the pistons to pump, creating the energy to move a vehicle forward.

Historically, this was done by spinning a flywheel at the front of the wheel. This causes the crankshaft to move, which in turn moves the pistons up and down. The movement combined with fuel injectors spraying fuel into the piston cylinder, a spark of electricity from the battery to the spark plugs, then a bit of air let in and you have combustion.

Accessory belt starter and electric motor

Now Ford has dropped a starter on the accessory belt, relying instead on just the traditional flywheel starter. This created quite a bit of confusion amongst journalists with some websites incorrectly reporting the news.

In fact, I incorrectly reported the news. The LinkedIn post wasn’t as clear to me as it seems.

Dawn McKenzie, Ford Trucks communications manager said, “The 2024 F-150 PowerBoost has a flywheel starter (yes it is in the loop) as well as hybrid motor engine starts. We do both hybrid motor starts and flywheel starts depending on gear, driver pedal input, etc.”

The second starter is on the accessory belt and was added to the first-generation Ford F-150 PowerBoost hybrid.

2024 Ford F-150 hybrid engine starter uses advanced software

How could such a small starter turn over a big engine? Through software calibrations. Modern engines need just a well-timed spark to get them started. This is a stark contrast to when you used to have to crank on the starter to get it to turn over.

Now the computer remembers exactly where it left off in the piston sequence. It only needs to send a small spark, fuel and air at the piston to move the engine, which the accessory starter provides.

The fact is if the engine is already spinning means you need even less of a starter to get the combustion process going.

By removing the accessory belt-driven starter, the engine has less parts, which should result in better reliability. This should lead to the 2024 F-150 PowerBoost hybrid powertrain feeling even more seamless behind the wheel.

The bottom line

This is interesting news for truck shoppers who want to be keenly aware of what their engine is doing. It is also interesting to 2021-2023 owners of the F-150 hybrid who probably didn’t even know they had an accessory-belt driven starter all along.