Liam White 
Ford broke uncharted territory earlier this week with the release of the 2022 Ford Maverick. A hybrid motor as the standard powertrain? As weird as it may seem, we may continue to see this trend from not only Ford, but from other manufacturers, too, as more regulatory pressure forces automakers to rethink combustion engines. That being said, the 2.0L EcoBoost is the more capable engine in the Ford Maverick. And, as it turns out, it’s the only of the two powertrain options that will offer all-wheel-drive.
No Ford Maverick Hybrid AWD (Yet)
According to Motor Trend, the only way to secure the AWD option in the new 2022 Ford Maverick is to go with the 2.0L EcoBoost engine. However, that’s not to say Ford won’t offer an AWD option for the Ford Maverick hybrid down the line. The reason being is that Ford Motor Company wanted to keep things within its means as far as developing and launching multiple variants of the Ford Maverick at once. Ultimately, this led to the decision of keeping the AWD option reserved for the higher-end Maverick EcoBoost, and it would appear that Ford reserves the ability to introduce a Maverick AWD hybrid at a later time.
The Technology Of The 2022 Maverick Hybrid
The hybrid motor itself is enough to be excited about at the moment. There are several new tweaks to the hybrid technology inside the Maverick’s hybrid electric motor that are worth noting. Even though electric motors are obviously more efficient than ICE engines, the hybrid setup allows for the combustion engine to make up for the deficiencies that plague electric motors at higher speeds.
Ford has employed the use of permanent magnet reluctance design in the Maverick’s hybrid electric motor. By placing magnets in double V-shaped slots, torque is generated more efficiently by maximizing and minimizing magnetic reluctance at the right times. This is an upgrade from the single V-shaped slots still used in the Maverick’s C2 platform mate, the Ford Escape Hybrid, which is also built under the same roof at Hermosillo Assembly in Mexico. This double-V-shaped magnet placement technique is the same style that Tesla uses in its own electric motor playbook for the Model 3.
Additionally, while Ford is using a greater number of batteries in the Maverick’s hybrid electric motor, they are significantly smaller. They also molded in place during assembly rather than by a glue adhesive.
We can expect the Maverick to evolve in the years to come. There is plenty of speculation about integrating PHEV technology in Ford’s vehicles. And with the recent inauguration of the F-150 Lightning, we are living in the age of electrification.
