Pickup truck performance isn’t just about torque, power, towing and hauling. Ford’s latest electric F-150 Lightning, unveiled Wednesday, seeks to change the importance of truck performance through a system that can power a customer’s home in the event of a failure.
Ford is not alone in showing consumers the benefits of an all-electric vehicle. Others, like Lucid Motors, have touted this ability as well.
Severe winter storms in February caused a massive blackout in Texas. More than 4.5 million households and companies were left without electricity for days. 151 people were killed. The 9.6 kW backup power of the F-150 Lightning can provide full power at home for up to three days when the battery is fully charged.
“If your F-150 Lightning is plugged in in the event of a failure, it will automatically activate a smart backup power supply to keep your home powered up,” said Ryan O’Gorman, Ford Energy Services director, in a video briefing prior to the reveal. “When the power is restored, the truck will automatically recharge its battery.”
The solar, battery storage and energy service provider Sunrun, in cooperation with Ford, installed the 80-ampere Ford Charge Station Pro and the house integration system, which comes with the extended range battery as standard, to supply the intelligent emergency power system with power. While they are in the neighborhood, Sunrun also offers customers the option of installing a solar and battery system for their home.
Credit: ford
For those who want to spend time away from home, an additional 9.6 kW Pro Power Onboard battery source, which is 7.2 kW in the F-150 Hybrid, can power everything from speakers and televisions to electric dirt bikes , Use circular saws and jackhammers. The truck has 11 sockets in the bed, in the interior of the cabin and in the mega-power trunk “frunk” AKA.
The battery also distributes the energy intelligently. If a driver is on a construction site with power tools and the battery level falls below a third of his total range, the driver receives a notification so that he can decide whether to hold onto it or save the juice for driving.
Drivers don’t have to think too much about where the nearest charging station is. You can set it and forget about it and have the truck handle on board turned off when the battery level approaches the distance it takes to get to the next charge. The charging information for both the Back Up Power and the Pro Power is displayed in the Ford app and on the vehicle’s infotainment screen.
While the F-150 Lightning can currently provide your house with the emergency power supply it needs, according to a Ford spokesman, the future goal is to use the following models as a property management tool.
“F-150 Lightning is reinventing the idea of vehicle performance,” said O’Gorman.