Ford F-150 EV Lightning 2022 Conceptual Vehicle to Home (V2H) Overview  

August 2, 2021 Ray Bosenbecker

Background

On May 19, 2021, Ford announced that their 2022 totally battery powered F-150 “Lightning” Truck will have 2.4 kilowatts (kW) of ProPower Outlets similar to those on the 2021 F-150 Hybrid truck that powered homes during the early 2021 rolling blackouts in Texas. In addition, Ford stated that the “Lightning’s” unique “Intelligent Backup Power” can provide Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) capability with up to 9.6 kW of 120vac power to a home for 3 days or more (depending on battery charge state, battery size and home utilization of power).

The “Lightning” uses its standard charging cable to connect its battery to the home charging station and a dc-ac inverter. The “Lightning” Lithium-Ion batteries estimated capacity is 110 Kilo-Watt-Hour (kWh) to 150 kWh of power. A typical home requires 10 to 30 kWh per day in normal times. Ford states the F-150 Lightning will be available in Spring 2022.

In addition to providing Vehicle to Home (V2H), the Ford “Intelligent Backup Power” provides significant inroads to two other extremely useful opportunities.

a) An individual homeowner living in a community with electric power daily rate variations, can charge the “Lightning” battery when electric rates are low and run the home off the battery when rates are high.

b) If an individual lives in an area where the electric company is offering Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) options to homeowners, the “Lightning’s” “Intelligent Backup Power” configuration could be adapted to an inverter synchronized and compatible with the electric companies V2G system

 

How Will the 2022 Ford F-150 Provide Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) Backup Power?

Ford’s F-150 Lightning announcement provided very little information about how the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Intelligent Backup Power will provide backup power to a home. The announcement did state that the battery could provide 9.6kW of battery backup power to a home for three days at the rate of 30 kWh per day.

When Ford announced the F-150 Lightning, they stated that the purchase price included a) the Lightning truck, b) a charge cable that included wiring to provide backup power to a home and c) a Charging Station that can be installed in the garage. More recent information advised that the optional bi-directional 80-amp Ford Charge Station PRO was required for V2H and was only provided with the 300 mile extended range Lightning EV models. Since few details were provided about the Lightning bi-directional Charging Station, one must conclude that to provide home backup power from the Ford Lightning, the owner must purchase a DC to 120 Vac Inverter, a Transfer Switch, perhaps a home power management control and professional installation of the equipment. Ford recently stated that they are planning to offer a zero down Sunrun solar package that includes rooftop solar cells and an inverter. It’s possible that the inverter is the same as the 9.6 kW inverter that is optional for the 9.6 kW optional outlet package. The attached two figures provide a conceptual approach describing how the Ford F-150 Lightning can provide backup power to a home