How much power is enough?

[goblues38]

The Raptor as we know it will never go much beyond 450hp and 500trq.

The 700hp mark you speak of is a unicorn, and much like the GT500, if they build an F150 with that, it will be in such limited quantities and the price will skyrocket well north of $100k. It won't be a "Raptor" at that point.

As others have said...the next big gain for the raptor will be some way to shave 500 pounds off the curb weight.

 

[CigarPundit]

In my humble opinion, I tend to not want to do modifications past the point of diminishing horsepower per dollar.
If I had a Gen 2, I'd probably stop around something like our stage 1 kit and downpipes. The first about 70 horsepower to be made reliably with these trucks is honestly cheap in the aftermarket world, but after that point there is a diminishing return.

All in with us, you'd spend about 2K minus a downpipe for about a 30 dollar per horsepower gain.
That seems most efficient to me.

Aside from these Raptors, we do a lot of GT500 builds.
Over 675 at the tire without radials, the GT500's tend to nuke the rubber in all 6 gears pretty much instantly.
People drop 30+K on build motors and bigger tires just to smoke the tires faster.

For an 07-09 GT500 if you are smart you can spend about 4.5K on parts and pick up about 300 at the tire for about 15 dollars per horsepower.

The male ego though... says something like enough is never enough.

I tend to agree with this. To me, slapping a stage 1 tune on a turbo car/truck is almost irresistible. The power is just laying there, waiting to be tapped. And it makes the car so much better. If you have ever had a stage 1 tune, and had to flash back to stock, believe me you will miss the power. At this point though (and this could change), I don't plan on doing extreme stuff to my Raptor. It's a daily, a hauler, an occasional tower, and an occasional off road toy. So I will likely stop in terms of making more power with a stage 1 tune.

 

[EricM]

The Raptor as we know it will never go much beyond 450hp and 500trq.

The 700hp mark you speak of is a unicorn, and much like the GT500, if they build an F150 with that, it will be in such limited quantities and the price will skyrocket well north of $100k. It won't be a "Raptor" at that point.

As others have said...the next big gain for the raptor will be some way to shave 500 pounds off the curb weight.

Ten years out- trying to sell a 2029 Raptor for $100K with a measly 450 HP will be a joke. The sticker price will be $100K+ no matter what engine is in there. 700 HP will be considered "meh" by then. It's time to start design on some stronger diffs Ford.

They just did a ******* moon shot with the aluminum body to save weight, another 500 lbs isn't just there for the taking. It's going to cost *way* more to drop 500 more lbs than it will just to add some more power.

 

[goblues38]

Ten years out- trying to sell a 2029 Raptor for $100K with a measly 450 HP will be a joke. The sticker price will be $100K+ no matter what engine is in there. 700 HP will be considered "meh" by then. It's time to start design on some stronger diffs Ford.

They just did a ******* moon shot with the aluminum body to save weight, another 500 lbs isn't just there for the taking. It's going to cost *way* more to drop 500 more lbs than it will just to add some more power.

Let's all be honest....in 10 years, the internal combustion engine will be close to dead. 2 full leadership changes at the head of the country, who knows what the "rules" will be, much less the technology. At the bare minimum, it will be some sort of hybrid technology. So speculation on power levels 10 years on is pretty pointless.

 

[EricM]

Let's all be honest....in 10 years, the internal combustion engine will be close to dead. 2 full leadership changes at the head of the country, who knows what the "rules" will be, much less the technology. At the bare minimum, it will be some sort of hybrid technology. So speculation on power levels 10 years on is pretty pointless.

I don't think so. I highly doubt even 1/3 of new cars/trucks sold in the USA in ten years will be fully electric. EVs are just over 2% of new car sales, and exactly 0% of truck sales right now. IC engines are nowhere even close to dead.

You speculated on the power level of Raptors "forever" into the future, so I don't think speculating a mere 10 years ahead is pointless at all. In ten years, 450 WILL be considered weak and there WILL be gasoline engines in half ton trucks. You can bet your nuts on both of those.

OK, now back to designing this new gas station. 16 new pumps for gas and 8 for diesel. LOL.

 

[goblues38]

Moores law..... microprocessor technology doubles every 18 months can be applied to electrics

2% > 4% > 8% > 12% > 25% > 50%

50% of all new cars will be electric by 2030. the technology will make gas engines look like true dinosaurs.

 

[smurfslayer]

I think electric assist like they’re using in the Navi or the traditional hybrid tech will improve enough for us to see good power improvements and stay on the right side of the governments (around the world) ever tightening economy and emissions requirements. The one hole in the electric drive infrastructure is refuel time.

it seems to me that replaceable batteries would go a long way to working around that weakness. Moto Czyz had this on their electric bikes for a couple seasons and that could provide some ways to address that weakness.

Even so, for heavy hauling, we’re generations away from an alternative to internal combustion.

 

[goblues38]

agree on the replaceable batteries. If the can nail that technology, it changes the game completely.

 

[EricM]

Replaceable in what way? You just swap out your dead on for a charged one? So how do you swap a battery that weighs a few hundred pounds by yourself? Where do you store the dead one? Assuming it's coming out the bottom via some type of mechanized setup, how does that work out in the winter when the entire undercarriage is covered in rock hard frozen slush? How much is that extra battery going to cost? Just a little starting battery is close to $200 now.

There is 0% chance that EVs will represent 12% of car sale in 3 years. Moore's law (which is NOT a law) applies to computers, not electric motors and batteries.

 

[Big Blue]

"How much power is enough?"

I don't know, I have never said; Wow, that's enough HP for me...no more please.