Ford has confirmed US pricing for the new bidirectional ‘Ford Charge Station Pro’ for the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
The Blue Oval announced the initiative in early February, stating the joint venture, together with home solar panel specialist Sunrun would “help accelerate the adoption of zero-carbon solar energy.” Among the most notable features of the charging station was a function called ‘Ford Intelligent Backup Power’, which allowed F-150 Lightning owners to use bidirectional power to provide energy from the Lightning back to the owner’s home in the event of an outage, effectively acting as a back-up generator.
2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
With the ability to store 131 kilowatt-hours of energy, Intelligent Backup is able to deliver up to 9.6 kW of power. Should the grid go down, Intelligent Power automatically kicks in. Though not definitive, Ford’s calculations suggested the system could power the owner’s home for up to three days, or up to 10 in extreme cases if used in tandem with solar power and rationing.
Enveloped in a “weatherproof case”, weighing just 12 kg and featuring a 25-foot cord, Ford’s home charger works with all EV industry standard J1772 plugs.
Sales of the Ford Charge Station Pro have now started on Ford’s official website, confirming a starting price of US$1,310. Though a significant investment, this price is still up to US$1K less than some of its principal rivals already on the market, many of which do not include bidirectional charging capabilities. Bear in mind too that the 80-volt standard is double the outlay of your average wall charger.
Interestingly, the initial stockpile already appears to be sold out on ford.com.
It should also be noted though that the US$1,310 figure doesn’t include installation fees, meaning prospective owners will either have to enlist a local electrician or an official Sunrun technician. That’s on top of the potential costs and potential problems of installing a home charger, as TheCharge.ca found out recently.
