Update (August 15, 2025): ‘Confirmation’ section added; ‘Possibilities’ and ‘Release Date’ sections revised.
Former Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett confirmed that the Blue Oval would make a Ford Bronco Hybrid during the company’s annual shareholder meeting in 2019. However, few official details are available, with neither executives nor the company providing further information.
Here’s everything that has been reported on the Bronco Hybrid, and our general expectations on the specifications and release date.
Confirmation
Ford is working on fitting a hybrid powertrain on every Ford Blue product, which the Bronco and Bronco Sport are a part of, by 2030, in North America.
These continued improvements will help us reach our aspiration of offering hybrid powertrains across the entire Ford Blue lineup in North America by the end of the decade.
An excerpt from Ford’s 2025 Integrated Sustainability and Financial Report that outlines innovations in Ford’s hybrid powertrains
Owner’s manual mentions Hybrid
Ford released its owner’s manual before beginning sales of the gas-powered Bronco two- and four-door midsize SUVs in the U.S. The original 550-page document reaffirmed that the company has planned a Bronco hybrid for a commercial launch. There are two citations of the hybrid variant, first in the Storing Your Vehicle section and again in the Scheduled Maintenance section.
We recommend the following actions for your vehicle:
When storing your vehicle for greater than 30 days the state of charge should be approximately 50%. Additionally we recommend disconnecting the 12V battery which will reduce system loads on the HV battery.
2025 Ford Bronco Owner’s Manual
The Bronco Owner’s Manual mentions HEV and PHEV guidance related to the vehicle’s automatic climate control system. In a short note, it says:
For Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) vehicles, the blower motor may run, and you may feel airflow when the climate control is off, to provide cooling to the battery.
2022 Ford Bronco Owner’s Manual
There’s an indication of a hybrid variant in an earlier owner’s manuals as well:
Your vehicle comes with the Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor system, a message appears in the instrument cluster display at the proper oil change interval. This interval may be up to one year or 10,000 mi (16,000 km), hybrid vehicles could exceed 10,000 mi (16,000 km).
2023 Ford Bronco Owner’s Manual and 2024 Ford Bronco Owner’s Manual
Possibilities
V6 Hybrid
The reasonable and logical expectation for the Ford Bronco Hybrid (which shares its ladder-frame construction with the Ranger pickup) is the sharing of electrical hardware with the F-150 and Explorer hybrids.
A 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 engine with an electric motor and a modular 10-speed transmission could be an ideal combination for the Bronco Hybrid. Combined with a 47 hp electric motor from the F-150, a healthy system output of 450 hp is expected on the Ford Bronco Hybrid.
Plug-in Hybrid
Now that the owner’s manual hints at a plug-in hybrid powertrain, this future electrified Bronco could allow customers to use the EV mode to cover a usual day’s drive without the engine.
Ford could introduce the Bronco Plug-in Hybrid with the 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder gas engine and the 35 kW motor from the F-150 Powerboost full-hybrid. The total system horsepower could be close to 350 hp, and the battery pack may allow a practical EV range of around 30 miles.
The Ranger Plug-in Hybrid, which we reviewed last year in Europe, also has the same engine under the hood. Based on an updated version of the platform that underpins the Ford Bronco, the plug-in hybrid pickup truck has a towing capacity of 3,500 kg (7,716 lb), the same as its gas-powered donor model. The Ranger Plug-in Hybrid delivers a pure electric range of up to 26.7 miles, as per WLTP metric.
The Jeep Wrangler 4xe has remained America’s top-selling PHEV since its introduction. The sustained demand likely made Ford aware of the potential for a rugged mid-size plug-in hybrid SUV.
EREV
Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs) combine the technologies of series-hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. They have an engine and an electric motor, but only use the latter for propulsion. As in a series-hybrid model, the engine only serves as a generator that runs at an optimum engine speed to charge a high-voltage battery pack, which powers the electric motor, and can be charged externally as well.
Our hybrid lineup is already strong, we’re number three in our home market and hybrid sales now are 10-15% of our global sales every month now. And we will expand our hybrid also. We’re now looking at new versions of hybrids called EREVs, which will be even more exciting, give customers more choice in their duty cycle.
Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, replying to a question on electrification at Ford’s 70th Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 8, 2025
“Early majority customers are really different than the early adopters, particularly in retail, and we see a lot more openness to hybrids and extended range electric vehicles we call EREVs,” Ford president and CEO Jim Farley said during the company’s Q2 2024 earnings conference call on July 24, 2024.
“Ford will be developing flexible body-on-frame and unit body platforms that will be designed for these multi-energy powertrains that are needed given the realities of customer affordability and range requirements,” he confirmed during the Q4 2024 earnings call on February 5, 2025.
On the Ford Bronco Sport Hybrid
As for the Ford Bronco Sport Hybrid, we expect the Escape’s powertrain to be used, which makes sense given the ‘softer’ Bronco sits on the monocoque platform of the latter, and doesn’t have the space, budget, or the requirement for a big battery of an EREV.
Ford offers the regular Escape Hybrid in FWD and AWD, both with a combined power of 192 hp. A Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid with a 2.5-liter iVCT Atkinson cycle gas engine and eCVT is also available, but only in FWD. The total system power in the plug-in hybrid variant of the Escape is 210 hp.
The Bronco Sport with the 2.0-liter engine has an EPA rating of 23 mpg combined, while the 2025 Escape Hybrid is EPA-estimated at approximately 39 mpg combined for both FWD and AWD. The Bronco Sport Hybrid would have an important role as the Escape is reportedly being discontinued later this year.
Release Date
The Ford Bronco Sport could receive a hybrid powertrain when it is redesigned in 2027, as per an Automotive News report dated August 25, 2024. If Ford is pursuing the EREV option for the regular Bronco, we may not see the electrified variant before 2027. Competitors will include the Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Scout Traveler EREV, and the Land Rover Defender PHEV.
TopElectricSUV says
There’s one area where the new Bronco models need to improve seriously: efficiency. Introducing a hybrid option will address that concern, making them more appealing to a wider audience. For a small premium, these hybrid models could offer big gains in fuel cost savings in the long run.
A Mechanical Engineer by qualification, I started out as an automotive editor of a regional magazine in 2011. In my 11 years of experience in creating automotive content, I’ve traveled around the world to review, analyze and report on the world’s top electrified cars.
