Ford launches US bi-directional home charging station

Ford has launched its new Ford Charge Station Pro for US$1310, a bi-directional home charging station mainly for the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck (ute).

It allows the Lightning to send power to a home, another EV, power tools or anything it can plug into, enabling backup power and replacing a generator or storage battery, Electrek reports.

A Ford New Zealand spokesperson says there are no plans to bring either to New Zealand at this stage, in spite of continuing enquiries about the F-150 Lightning.

Bi-directional charging, also known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G), is seen more often in EVs, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

“With a bigger battery pack, the electric trucks could afford to use some of their energy capacity to provide backup power in case of an outage, and therefore, it could potentially replace a home generator or home battery pack, like the Tesla Powerwall,” Electrek says.

It reports the Ford Charge Station Pro page in the US indicates it’s temporarily “sold out” due to demand. US enquiries are also strong for the F-150 Lightning, with production ramping up at the Michigan Rouge EV Centre plant but unlikely to meet the hundreds of thousands of reservations and expected orders this year.

The EV charging station is rated at 80amps and is reported to about 48km range an hour to the F-150 Lightning Extended Range and limited to 30.5km/h for F-150 Standard Range.

It can provide up to 9.6kW to a home when combined with Ford’s Home Integration System during installation.