Ice floes on the Susquehanna River can be beautiful and destructive.
A look at the ice and nature living on the still Susquehanna River at Long Level on Feb. 23, 2025 as the flow moves downstream in warmer temperatures.
- The Ford Maverick Hybrid’s built-in power inverter and heated seat make it an efficient mobile office, especially in cold weather.
- The author, a journalist with decades of experience working from vehicles, finds the Maverick Hybrid to be a comfortable and cost-effective solution for mobile work.
A Ford Maverick Hybrid truck is an efficient, cold-weather office for mobile journalism. I bought this one new in 2022, but at the time didn’t realize its merits as an all-season office on wheels.
The hybrid drivetrain powering the built-in 110-volt power inverter and a heated seat can soldier on for hours keeping you comfortable and your stuff charged with very little use of the gasoline engine.
I have worked out of many vehicles, in all kinds of weather, for over four decades. I am cheap when it comes to buying cars. To me they are appliances. It should be inexpensive to buy and efficient to operate. I like small vehicles to drive and park in tight spaces where giant vehicles can’t fit. I need a truck for other business adventures, so I usually have a small car for the mileage and a small truck for occasional utility.
The 2022 Maverick XLT with the “Luxury Package,” is probably the most bougie vehicle I have ever owned, and it was the most expensive at around $27,000. I only did it because the base price was so reasonable and after 40+ years of vehicle minimalism, I figured why not.
It was a big surprise to me that a few luxuries, combined with the hybrid drivetrain in the Maverick, really made a super-efficient cold weather office environment. On top of that, much of my driving is crawling around in slow traffic. Drive the Maverick hybrid efficiently using the tools Ford builds into the Maverick Hybrid and you can hit 40+ mpg (in mild weather) all day long in stop and go traffic.
I work on a laptop in my car. With past vehicles, this usually means alternating between wasting gas for the heater and not killing the 12-volt battery when the car is off, charging laptops and phones while letting the cold sink into me. I need a continuous source of power for my mostly dead laptop battery.
Mix together a heated seat, the 400-watt ,110-volt built-in power inverter, with the hybrid battery and you have a wonderfully comfortable place to work that rarely taps into the internal combustion engine. You can even run the infotainment unit and charge some phones at the same time.
I don’t use the cabin heater while working and parked as this will make the engine run more often and why heat a big space when you can just warm yourself. The Maverick will supplement the lack of gas engine waste heat with an electric cabin heater if the engine isn’t warm enough yet, but it will use more gas.
The electric seat will bake you (there are three settings), particularly if you are already dressed for the cold. And I find radiant heat much more comfortable versus getting blasted with hot air..
For the summer months, you can use the same procedure while using the air-conditioning, which runs off the hybrid battery and will run without the gasoline engine. However, I rarely do this because I don’t really like A/C and would rather open windows and find a nice tree.
The Ford hybrid system uses a highly efficient gasoline engine that by itself would be underpowered. This is supplemented by two electric motors in the transmission, one is also a generator. The high-voltage battery is charged by the gasoline engine, while you drive, and is also when you coast and during braking. Engine computers figure out what is the most efficient combination, unless you choose sport mode which will unleash power from both over economy. It can run up to a mile or so and at highway speeds on only electric for short cycles.
It is this high-voltage battery that supplies power to the heated seat and powers my laptop for long periods of time without the engine running. You don’t have to worry about killing the hybrid battery, or the 12-volt battery, while you’re working because the gas engine will automatically restart when the high-voltage battery needs to be recharged.
I was actually amazed how little the gas engine runs while running my mobile office – a couple minutes about every 30 minutes. Recently on a warmer day when I wasn’t using the electric seat, I powered my laptop for over an hour while producing this video before the gas engine came on to charge the battery. I am reimbursed for mileage, but not to sit and burn gas trying to stay warm powering my stuff.
The main photo included in this story is from a recent two-hour work session in a very cold, multi-level Harrisburg, Pa. parking garage where the truck said that it was 16 degrees (-9 Celsius) out. I was perfectly comfortable for the two hours sitting there working.
The truck will cycle indefinitely until you have made your deadline and leave.
