Ford's Intelligent Backup Power System turns your F-150 Lightning into a generator
The system will automatically kick in if your Lightning is plugged in and the power goes out.
If the power goes out, your Ford Lighting will kick in and keep the lights on.
America's energy infrastructure isn't perfect. As such, we've seen situations like that in February of 2021 in Texas, where thousands of people were left without electricity for days in freezing temperatures. At that time, Ford worked with local dealers to let people use the then-new F-150 with ProPower onboard generators to help alleviate some of the symptoms of that power outage.
Now, according to an announcement made on Wednesday by Ford, they're going a step further by allowing the forthcoming F-150 Lightning to act as a big storage battery that customers can use to power their homes in the event of an outage.
The whole Ford Intelligent Backup Power system is being administered by Ford and its partner Sunrun, which happens to be one of the largest solar providers in the US. The system itself is composed of the Ford Charge Station Pro level 2 wall charger, as well as a "Home Integration System," which includes a power inverter, a dark start battery and a transfer switch that will allow the bidirectional flow of electricity between your Lightning and your house.
Ford claims the Lightning with the optional extended-range battery can store 131 kilowatt-hours of power and deliver up to 9.6 kilowatt-hours of energy based on demand. This means that if the average American home uses around 30 kilowatt-hours of power per day, a fully charged Lightning could power that home for 10 days.
As far as cost goes, it's hard to say. We do know that the Ford Charge Station Pro is included in the price of the extended-range battery (though you're still on the hook for installation), but it's not clear what the Home Integration System will cost to buy, let alone install. If you're curious about this, you can contact your Ford dealer or Sunrun.
The Ford F-150 Lightning goes on sale this spring.
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