Don't Buy A Tesla Powerwall, Buy A Truck!

The Ford F-150 Lightning Pro is a better deal than a Tesla Powerwall!

The Ford F-150 Lightning can serve as a backup energy source for powering your home, what Ford's calling "Ford Intelligent Backup Power." This means you can use the F-150's 98 kWh, or the extended battery pack's 131 kWh, to power the devices in your home when your local power utilities aren't working. It's a huge benefit of having an electric vehicle, and surprisingly, it's priced cheaper (per kWh) than a Tesla Powerwall.

We'll analyze Ford's solution, Tesla solar, propane home generators, and devices like Wallbox that will eventually offer Vehicle-to-Home charging. Props to Ford for creating a very useful, clever solution to a real problem.

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[therealcdnuser]

The first vehicle to offer vehicle to grid in the North America was the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. It required special equipment to install at home that no one bought and dealers were not even aware it was possible.

[StateOfChargeWithTomMoloughney]

You aren't required to have a 320-amp service. I questioned Ford about this last week and they changed the website after our conversation. I also just made an Intelligent Backup Power system deep dive video on my channel, State of Charge with Tom Moloughney.

[jon]

Clarification, a 200 amp panel is not the same as a 200 amp service. I have a 320 amp service and no 320 amp panels. Upgrading to a 320 amp service may require larger service wires all the way back to the utility provider’s transformer along with adding another panel.

[thiswillnotendwell]

Ford has a feature called “Pro Power onboard”. There are two versions. The 2.4KW and the 9.6KW. Only the 9.6KW package allows you to send power to your home. The 2.4KW package does not.
The Pro version doesn’t offer the 9.6KW option so that’s out. The base XLT version also comes standard with the 2.4KW system. You’d have to upgrade the XLT with the 312A Equipment package ($9, 500) to get the 9.6KW system. That is the cheapest Ford Lightning that allows you to power your home. The MSRP for that is $64, 169.

[DirtyTesla]

This video was great. Thanks for including the gas generator. We lose power often in the summer which is why we got the 2x Powerwalls. I really hate that my Tesla sits in the driveway with that MASSIVE battery and I have no way to turn it into a mini grid in combination with my solar. Such a waste.

[MuitoDaora]

Not practical for regularly power a home but on power outage occasions yeah it's fine.

[brasias]

The comparison with the generator has a flaw. In the calculation you produce 240 kWh a day. That's way more than you need (20 kWh). It's hard to determin the real consumption because you will probably use the generator most of the time at very low load, when the efficiency is pretty bad.
A better solution for off grid power would probably be an smaller genarator for example 10 kW with a batterie, Powerwall or smaller. Than you can use the generator at its peak efficiency.
A 10 kW Generac genarator (G007171-0) uses 1.5 gal/hr on full load. Even with the lower efficiency, because of the batterie, you would need to run it for maybe 2.5 hours a day. So around 4 gal a day of propan. For a week this would be 160 kg or 0.16 tonnes of CO2 per Week.

[TheHookUp]

Missed one important point: You can actually buy a Tesla Powerwall. There isn't a single Ford F150 Lightning on the road, there aren't any non-prototypes being made, supply chain isn't even established on them. Your calculations point out a major issue with the theoretical F-150 Lightning, how are they able to produce them for that cost? Tesla makes their own batteries and still can't make a sub $40, 000 version of their cheapest car.

The F-150 Lightning sounds like a great idea in theory, but I'll believe it when I see it (or rather when I can actually exchange my money for a physical object, rather than a promise of a physical object at some undetermined future date).

[reelreeler]

Love how nearly all manufacturer promo videos show the advantage of AWD by having the vehicle go through a PUDDLE

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

So glad to see someone talk about this. When I first read about the vehicle to grid tech in the F150 lightning I immediately thought “this is a huge game changer for the Duck Curve issues!”

[ivanlaracuente]

I ran my home for three years using a Toyota Prius and a 2, 000 watt pure sine inverter. All I did was create a double male electric cable, connect one end to the inverter, the other to a wall socket in the garage and the inverter to the normal car battery. Whenever the battery got low on electricity, the car would automatically turn on and recharge the battery. A tank of gasoline would last about 6 days.

[ben]

Dirt bag method: I wire up a 1000 watt inverter to my 12v leaf battery, turn car on which activates the dcdc charger for said 12v battery and keep my fridge/freezer/work lights running during power outage. It works!

[peterricker]

1. 2 Powerwalls are sufficient for most homes for use when a power outage occurs.
2. If you rely on your truck for power, then when you need to use the truck to go somewhere you lose all power!
3. Not so simple to supply power from the truck without major electrical mods:
You cannot simply dump power from your truck into your house as there needs to be a grid disconnect switch.
4. The F150 does not supply enough power to power a full home.

[justinjja]

Good luck buying the pro at all, let alone at MSRP.
That is the only big caveat I can think of.

Also I built my own 28kWh "powerwall" for about $7000, but that isn't a realistic option for most people.
Still there are cheaper options than the Tesla Powerwall.

[kylerodgers]

Ford partnered with my company to do this. It’s cool cause you can use solar and have this when the grids down.

[BakouMOH]

As I am planning on building a cottage in the next few years and was thinking about both the propane generator and PowerWall options for power outages, I was stoked to hear about the Lightning vehicle to grid capability, but I didn't know EVSE companies were working on their on vehicle to grid solutions. That would be awesome! Even the e-Golf I already own with its measly battery capacity is already the equivalent of several PowerWalls.

[TechSavvyOppa]

When I was looking at Ford's site, I think the Lightning Pro, only comes with the 2.4kw Pro Power Onboard, which is limited to just a 120v outlets... To get the 9.6kw Pro Power Onboard, you need to get a $10k option package only available on the XLT, which makes the base price $64k if you want 9.6kw Pro Power Onboard, which gives you the 240v NEMA 14-30 plug, which is easier to connect to your house, to run appliances...

[roguedogx]

5:13 to that effect, TFL decided to see how much one could power with a hybrid system from the f-150, and it was a pretty decent amount. I believe it was heat, refrigerator, TV, and a microwave. which is pretty good.

[newscoulomb]

10:00 An off-grid Chevrolet Volt owner stated that his Volt was far more efficient burning gasoline to power an inverter than his similar sized Honda gas generator. I think some people don't realize just how inefficient small engines are, and that's before accounting for the fact that they have very few emissions controls.

[GertieYTube]

I use 2nd life EV batteries in my off grid home solar system. It works a treat. I just sold my oversized generator has fairly good voltage regulation, but still the charger / inverter doesn't like the signal all that much, I am still thinking if I am going buy a a smaller inverter generator for those twice a year low charge weeks. I would love extra battery backup in a form of a truck!! The truck delivers charge to my home batteries... like take away food