Arguably, trucks produced today are superior to the ones of yesteryear. Some will make the case that you can’t beat a classic motor freed of electronics, but there’s no denying that factory-fresh pickups have some real power under the hood, especially when tuning is involved.

Getting that power to come out is part of what make Hypertech’s Max Energy 2.0 an interesting device, but there is more to this programmer than you might think. We spoke with Hypertech’s Chris Crecelius to go over some of the hidden features of the Max Energy 2.0 and how it can improve several aspects of your truck.

The Hypertech Max Energy 2.0 can take on all kinds of tasks on a truck, from tuning to DTCs to tire size recalibration, and then some.

“With our older Max Energy, we had multiple part numbers, and our dealers had to stock more inventory to cover applications,” said Crecelius. “Moving to the 2.0 allowed us to update the screens and menus, and also allowed us to cover more applications with our hardware, as well as do more, like adjusting the threshold for the TPMS so the alert could come on at different levels instead of always being set to one level. This made TPMS a lot more versatile for aftermarket tires.”

But that isn’t all that the Max Energy 2.0 can do. In terms of tuning, the device is capable of holding up to three customized tunes, which can be given different settings with regard to things like throttle delay, gear shift points, torque converter lockup points, and other parameters.

This allows the truck to run across a wider variety of uses, from towing, to off-roading, to daily driving, or economical driving (even extreme economical driving). It’s part of what makes the Max Energy 2.0 stand out.

Something else that makes the Max Energy 2.0 stand out is what goes into making sure all of the tunes for the device can pass muster.

“We use all-wheel-drive Superflow dynamometers that can simulate loading down the vehicle to its GCWR,” said Crecelius. “This means that when you load up a tune, it’s going to feel right. It also means the tune is going to be safe, and won’t overwork the drivetrain.”

If you’re new or not-well-acquainted to tuning, it might seem somewhat challenging, but Hypertech does its best to make products like the Max Energy 2.0 accessible and easy to use. “Using the Max Energy 2.0 is a breeze,” said Crecelius. “You plug it in, and it looks through the computer settings to automatically detect what tunes can be used on a particular vehicle. The Max Energy 2.0 will walk you through programming the vehicle, like turning the key on and off a couple of times, and it will handle everything else on its own.”

Application-wise, the Max Energy 2.0 covers a lot of models. “It covers everything 2007-17 for General Motors trucks, and just about all of the 2005 and up for gas Ford trucks,” said Crecelius. “On the Ram side, we have the device for 2007-14 gas trucks, but nothing for diesels as of yet.”

This overview was quite enlightening in terms of what we learned about the Max Energy 2.0 and what makes it tick. It’s a tuner, a data monitor, and a DTC clearer all-in-one, and then some. To find out more about the Max Energy 2.0, head on over to Hypertech’s website, and don’t forget to like the company on Facebook.