The Cost To Use Ford's F-150 Lightning As A Home Backup Like Tesla Powerwall

Ford has big ambitions for its first electric truck — the F-150 Lightning. While the Lightning variant is already as popular as the gas variant, the company envisions it to be used for more than just lugging heavy loads around. When Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning in May 2021, it also announced that it would be able to act as a power backup source in case your home goes off-grid. For this, the electric truck would require a special bi-directional charger and a backup system, and the company recently announced the prices for this tailored charging solution.

Ford's Matthew Stover, who oversees the Charging and Energy Services division, revealed the pricing for the Home Integration system that is co-developed with Sunrun. As per Stover's LinkedIn post, Sunrun will sell the power backup system for an MSRP of $3,895, exclusive of the installation costs. Professional installation is required to ensure the automatic transition from charging to power backup is safe and seamless.

Stover also noted Ford would be facilitating consultations so buyers who have prebooked the F-150 Lightning can get the systems installed before their trucks get delivered. As we learned in the past, Sunrun might also try and upsell its solar power solutions as an alternative source of electricity at home — or any other location with Ford's Intelligent Power Backup system.

In addition, the executive confirms the price buyers of the standard edition Ford F-150 Lightning have to pay for the bidirectional Charge Station Pro. The Charge Station Pro will be a more powerful, 80-ampere version of the stock charger — officially called Mobile Power Cord — and will charge the electric truck in about eight hours. While the Pro 80A charger comes bundled with the Extended battery pack variant of the F-150 Lightning, owners of the standard variant can buy it separately for an MSRP of $1,310.

According to EV commentator @EVAdoption on Twitter, the cost of installation will go up to roughly $6,700, all things accounted for. The expert also notes that vehicle-to-home electricity backup can significantly improve the sales of the battery-operated vehicles, but costs need to be reduced to increase adoption. According to Ford, the 131 kilowatt-hours of energy stored in the Ford F-150 Lightning could power a typical US household for nearly three days. Although Ford's solution to power up is not cheap, it may still stack up as a better alternative against the Tesla Powerwall, costing upwards of $10,000 for a single 14kWh unit.

The Ford F-150 is on track to be available to buyers later this year. The company started with the production of the electric truck in the last few days of April 2022 at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan. The lightning-fast vehicle is already a hot proposition that Ford had to halt retail orders for the rest of 2022, citing high demand. 

Despite being sold out, you might still have a chance to buy the electric truck if your local dealer has stock, but there's a markup price to be paid. Alternatively, those interested in purchasing the car can wait for 2023 or 2024 models.