PG&E Will Tap The Ford F-150 Lightning’s Most Compelling Feature

Ford was already supporting bidirectional power on the F-150 Lightning, of course, making the technology one of the headline features of the EV pickup when it was announced. Supported by a specially-designed 80A wall charger that Ford will bundle with select F-150 Lightning trims, and offer as an option with others, it will allow the truck to power a home in the case of an outage. Should the grid power shut off, for whatever reason, the charger will automatically switch over to the truck’s battery; when the grid power is restored, the system will revert to normal, and begin charging the EV again.

Owners of the system won’t need to have PG&E as their electricity supplier in order for it to operate, and Ford has already announced that it is partnering with Sunrun in most – though not all – of the US states for installation. That could, optionally, include a solar panel system too, for using free solar energy to assist in recharging the F-150 Lightning, including when it’s being used as the home’s power supply.

What PG&E and Ford’s pilot will explore, however, is how bidirectional charging in this way could better interconnect with the electric grid. Exact details on that haven’t been shared yet, though PG&E says that will include “how it can support customer resiliency during grid outages.” In addition, PG&E will use the pilot to look at how the overall customer experience plays out, in the expectation that bidirectional charging will become more prevalent in the years ahead.