Your explanations, graphics, charts, etc are TOP NOTCH! Bravo on being clear and repeating the items that need repeated. Also, no details get left out!
More "details" would be: where is DC? Where is AC? What are the voltages and amperages in each section? What are the losses in the system due to power conversion? What are the circuits and electrical devices that are run in the house? What is standby power in the vehicle for running the necessary in-car components? Plenty of stuff for another video to come. As well as: all the V2G scenarios and energy marketing.
Great video, Tom! I’m one of the Lightning owners that put in a manual transfer switch to run power into my house from the 240V/30A Pro Power outlet. $1100 for the transfer switch (has to be a special neutral-switching transfer switch due to the truck’s generator system being neutral-bonded) and install by electrician. Couldn’t be happier, and I still have the option to run a normal gas backup generator, as well.
As Kyle has already stated, 2023 is going to be the year we talk about charging. 2023 is the year of State Of Charge. Remember us little folks in your community after you become NJ's Charging Czar! 2023 NJ, 2024 the world!
Great video Tom, thanks for going through all this. We definitely need cheaper ways to leverage V2x. It's silly to have huge batteries in the garage and not utilize them for home backup and for adding buffer to the grid.
It's frustrating that Tesla has nothing on their cars, not even a sub 1kW AC plug that many BEV and ICE car have nowadays. Would be nice to at least run a refrigerator or chest freezer and some lamps during an extended outage. I know you can tap into the DC-DC converter under the rear seats, but that's not really a good solution.
@@andrewt9204, Someone did a You Tube video about how they installed a 1,200 watt inverter in their Leaf and run a few lights and other things using a extension cord from their car. They have to leave the key on, so the high voltage power to 12 volt battery power keeps running. I thin the high voltage to 12 volt is about 3 KW in the Leaf, not sure what the Tesla allows. Usually the lights, and other accessories in a common gas car use a 60 to 100 amp alternator, so my guess is the Tesla would be about the same number of amps to convert 12 volt power to run a portable inverter.
Amazing video Tom! I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. You didn't disappoint. True to form, your presentation is super-thoughtful, comprehensive, and balanced. The graphics are 🤌. Fascinating point that using the onboard 240V Pro Power Onboard plug with a manual transfer switch is a MUCH more cost-effective solution.
Thanks for making a video, Tom. I was really interested in how Ford's intelligent backup power system was hooked up to the house. I understood everything you were talking about in the video. Tom, you did a very good job of presenting Ford intelligent backup power. The graphics helped out a lot.
Awesome video Tom. Great job explaining a complex, and often confusing, topic. I often wonder how we can accelerate adoption of home solar and energy solutions with the current state of complexity. I had already reached the same conclusion, just use the Pro power 240V outlet plugged into my portable gen transfer switch. IBP is way too expensive for mass adoption at this time. Thank you sir!
Thank you for going through the alternatives. My personal feeling is this is much ado about nothing. Using the truck's internal inverter to a standard generator disconnect is the best decision for 99% of people. If you have one major outage per year, and keep the truck 5 years, that's ~$10k or $2000 per event! And very little of this hardware will be useful in 5-10 years. Installing a generator disconnect is a one-time fee that will last decades and multiple vehicles. Until there are accepted industry-wide standards -- I suggest staying far away from this expensive and custom hardware. At these prices, a proper "power wall" probably makes more financial sense.
As you said , somebody had to be first. Next up would be a system that is not Model specific. I assume only Ford's will be able to power your system/home. What if I have 2 different model vehicles? This is very promising.
It will work with other Ford models like Mach-E which will son have the ability also. But other brands, hmm, probably not, but maybe through a software update? This is all new for everyone, it's going to take time to sort out these things.
Great video. It is a lot to go thru for less than 10 kw. But it depends on what you already have or do not have already for power outage. Excellent presentation of the process for wiring it all. I went the portable "solar generators" route for power outage essential circuits. They can be charged by portable solar panels or a small Honda generator that I already had before I got into these "solar generators". No EV for me yet. 2 Hybrid vehicles that get excellent gas mileage. Thanks for doing this video.
Love the presentation and your additional input on InsideEV. I live in New Hampshire and during recent power outage we were able to alternate between powering our furnace, our refrigerator, our coffee maker, and our freezer off a Kia EV6. Not as elegant as whole-house generator or backup⁶ but kept us comfortable for 12 hours using 5% of the battery. It may take some extension cord shuffling around but a giant power bank with V2L really can make a difference.
1. How does the solar array connected to the Intelligent Backup Power (IBP) inverter comply with the rooftop rapid shutdown requirements in the 2017 NEC which is in effect in NJ? Did your installers need to install rapid shutdown devices at the panels on the roof? 2. The IBP inverter is capable of AC coupling. This means that you are able to connect the output of your larger solar inverter to it. The IBP inverter will allow the solar inverter to run when the grid is down. 2. The “transfer switch” for the IBP system is a little more complex than a generator transfer switch. It contains a microgrid interconnect device as well as an auto transformer. The auto transformer provides a neutral connection since solar inverters usually don’t use a neutral conductor for carrying current.
I have been looking all over for this video, glad that you posted it! Another great video. I like how the system is installed, and that the 200 amp feed to the left is all fed from your generator! Then the less than critical is powered from the Ford and when the Ford is plugged in and the sun is shinning your 3 KW solar system can provide some additional power to the back up that Ford system is feeding. You explained the system to me very well. I have been installing HVAC for about 40 years, so understand electricity and inverters more than the average person. Great job! You did not mention that portable table lamps can be plugged into any Ford hybrid or Lightning 120 volt receptacles during a power failure, or should you want to reduce your load during the peak power cost time. I can run my CPAP with my plug in Hybrid Ford C-Max if I leave the ignition key on, and plug into the 150 watt 120 volt receptacle in the car, but not much else! I have "Time of Day" power, where between 5 pm and 9 pm weekdays the cost is $.033 per KW, and after 9 pm until 7 am it is reduced to 0.075 per KW and $0.12 per KW between 7 am and 5 pm on weekdays in Portland Oregon. I put in a timeclock to shut off my water heater between 7 am and 9 pm, so far it is working great, and I have plenty of hot water all day, unless I do laundry, and can do that on weekends when the cost is only $0.075 per KW. My water heater and clothes dryer each use 4.5 KW per hour. Happy to use those on the weekends at much lower cost!
Another great video, thanks! I think the addition of a transfer switch that would provide solar power to recharge the Lightning would be good for many people too.
Thanks for another educational video. I have been debating on wether to install at my new home, based on this I am going to hold off until I have a better understanding of how often the new place does with power outages.
What you might want to do is invest in a couple of 50 foot power cords, and a couple of computer style power strips. Then during a power outage, run these to the truck / car with a 12 to 120 volt inverter, and run the things that are critical to your lifestyle. This would be a investment of only about $100. Make sure that you have a couple of table lamps with LED light bulbs for each room that will need light.
Great info! We don’t get many power outages where I live, so I will just be installing the Ford pro charger for the 80 amp charging. And you are 100% correct. most people will need an upgrade we only have 100 amp service electrician has already informed me we will need 200 amp service.
You might want to consider the cost difference between installing a 200 and 300 amp service to your home. If you have or plan to install air conditioning or a heat pump, you will need about 30 - 40 amps just for that system. And then you might decide to install another electric vehicle charger at some point, and would Hate to get rid of a 3 year old 200 amp panel to install a new 300 amp one. However with all gas appliances, you could run a 16 amp or 32 amp charger for the second car, and will actually be able to dial down the Ford charger to max out at say 50 amps if you wanted to run two chargers during the same time period. If you have a detached garage in Indiana, they will allow you to install a dedicated EV charger panel, so no need to upgrade your 100 amp panel, just install one for the EV charger. They allow charging overnight at a very reduced rate, I think it is about 0.04 per KW right now. There is a NEC code that says they can not install two power supplies to one home, so that is why it requires a detached garage. (but apartment buildings have 2-10 electric meters in each building - and they all are located at the same service entrance location.). I don't know, I don't make the rules!
@@Kangenpower7 There are EV chargers that you can pair together and they will intelligently split the available power between them, that's a viable option too. Probably not many times when you need 2 EVs charging super fast
Thank you for this video, it answered so many questions! And some major kudos to Qmerit for taking the opportunity to improve their service training. I love to see that kind of initiative.
Thanks, Tom - awesome video, I've been waiting for this one. We took a serious look at FIBP - even working with a local electric installer - but the hurdle I just can't get over is the idea that if we sell the house sometime in the future, what are the chances the next owner has a Lightning? It feels to me like there needs to be some sort of industry standardization of V2H to avoid vendor lock-in with these backup power solutions.
A mobile or self built inverter/battery backup system is cheaper and more flexible. Just use the pro-power onboard to feed that system and it'll slow charge it while the inverter system manages where the power comes from, solar, battery, generator, EV, etc
The fact that EV companies and chargers are not jumping all over this is mind boggling and infuriating. I love that Tom is making it front and center in the conversation.
Thanks, Tom Gotta get my service upgraded. Using the $500 charger that came with my F-150 is a disaster in the cold. Over 2 days with 120v plugged in -my state of charge went from 75% to 73%
120-v charging on a Lightning is futile in the cold. I was charging in the summer on 120-v while the garage was being renovated and it kinda worked, but was only adding about 25 miles of range every 10 hours. Working from home I made it work, though.
Tom. I was wondering why you didn’t AC couple your existing solar inverter to your home integration system load panel. The delta inverter manual shows you can do this. Seems like it would really extend the capability.
Hmm. I was under the impression that wouldn't work. I will look into it and speak to Ford. But honestly, it's not really an issue for the limited time the power is out it's not going to make a tangible difference, especially with the generator. But I will find out if I can do it.
If you consider the 9 KW solar system will not produce power during all the hours the power is out and the sun is shining, then consider how much it will cost to recover these "Lost watts". So say it is 100 hours a year, and you are paid $0.10 per KW, or $0.90 at noon, less in the hours before or after noon. So at the very most, your lost wattage is only about $80 - 90 per year. And how much would it cost to prevent that loss? And if you only have 25 hours a year during the daytime with lost power (about 5 days a year) that would be only about $20 a Year in lost income from the solar system. My vote, take the loss of power instead of trying to recover that few hours per year.
Tom. Thanks for the great info. My system gets install tomorrow. I went with Qumerit. I’m one of the fortunate ones who was able to get a Lighting. I justified purchasing Pro back up system because of the info you put out there. Yes in 2 to 3 years systems will be better. So will the Lightning. I’m glad I didn’t wait. It fits my needs. Sorry your Lighting isn’t updating as it should. Saw your short video on that. Mine just updated again today. I have no problems with the updates. Keep up the good work. Like watching all of you guys on Fridays on Inside EV.
Having your truck back up your entire house is an awesome idea. But if you only experience a power outage maybe twice a year I think it's very difficult to justify spending $5,000 for a system not counting the labor. I saw another video where someone added a dedicated breaker and a twist lock receptacle and just flip the switch to back up his power which is what I would rather do even if it's a little more manual work.
Hey Tom, I think you should do a video about Level 2 charging in condo complexes. I was completely caught off guard after buying my Tesla that it would cost me 8000 $ to install my level 2 charger since the electrical room was 240 feet away from my parking spot. There is very little information out there online on the costs and I think alot of people are finding themselves in this situation.
This is cool, but I think I would rather spend 16 K on an inverter with a battery rack install permanently in the house, where if there is a power outage if you blink, you will miss you’re running on battery power versus waiting a minute to swap over to truck battery or have to go to the garage and plug in your truck and now you can’t drive your truck anywhere because it’s powering your fridge😅
This is just what I was wanting to see. Got solar and a manual transfer switch in 2020. I think I will just use that and not go for the intelligent backup system.
Awesome Video Tom, You covered everything, I am too excited since I just took delivery of my 2023 Lightning Pro and Absolutely Love This Truck...I also have a 20k gas whole house back up generator so i really don't see the need for this feature from my truck but boy FORD was the first to bring this feature to market...
Hi Tom, Great video as always. A few comments / questions... 1) I think you made the implication that the 7.2kW Pro Power Onboard is standard on the Lightning. This is not the case on all trims. On the standard range vehicle, it is an adder (about $1K from what I remember). Otherwise you don't get the bed outlets, including the big 240V 30A L14-30. 2) So with your prior electrical setup, you had a meter monitoring your solar power production for both the big and small Sunpower grid-tie inverters. Now this is only monitoring the large inverter. Is this meter used by your utility for net metering, or just for your visual accounting? Your new setup won't account for the generation from the Sunrun inverter (which replaced the small Sunpower inverter). How is this being accounted for in your net metering billing for cases where you produce more than you consume? 3) In your earlier video from mid-last year with all the Q & A about the system, it seemed like Ford was going to require you to purchase the activation of the feature. Has this now changed? Thanks!
Before I start this and all your past videos are the best out there for this type I have learned so much from you tom as a UK resident I still find all your videos irresistible and interesting informative and instructional Other words AWESOME you are a professional for sure the way you portray yourself and all your videos are fascinating and easy to understand so thank you from the bottom of my heart tom. iam in the UK and don't own a ford lightning I would love to but ford art making any right-hand drives is a great shame but hey I still enjoy watching your videos as you are so fair on how you present each item and your very right it is expensive and can cost a lot to install but here in the UK we get little power outages and most only last an hour at most usually to do with the substation as all our cables to our houses are underground and out of harm's way this is why I don't understand it's not done in America except in cities as you have terrible weather where yes we do get stormy winds over a 100 mile an hour but no or little tornados saying that a small one appeared last year in my home town of Rugby and took a few roofs of houses and only lasted minutes thankfully but I do own an EV a Vauxhall Mokka ultimate ev with a 57 kw battery and a 225-mile range which is plenty for me yes the winter does effect the distance travelled dramatically when it's in the below freezing temperatures but as I charge with my 7kw charger fitted as standard in the UK you can get larger capacity but mine charges in 6 hours from flat so it does me fine I always charge off-peak after midnight I haven't used any quick chargers as test as I haven't travelled a great distance in it yet I do get free charging from bp pulse for 6 months when I register it so I will give it a go as they do seem to have quite a few chargers here. anyway, off topic I do wish all vehicles now had the capability to charge your home or been able to plug in a 240-volt appliance where so many don't and only a few do I did notice MG from china is starting to fit their evs with power outlets as some Korean cars do as well so I do wish they would legislate this into manufacturing this way it would make all evs more appealing to the masses and of course reduce there prices I do think compared to ice vehicles they are grossly overpriced the gas power version of my car is over ten thousand pounds cheaper and they made a loss on producing my ev and I had to wait 13 months for it with no clue when it was coming until it arrived on the garage forecourt even the dealers had no clue when it was coming they were given no information Stalantis is a terrible ev provider I would never buy another vehicle from them again I do wish I had saved a bit more and got a tesla y but hey you live and learn so I will keep this a couple of years and get a tesla next time maybe the tesla 2 will be out by then or the aptera which I do like and there making right hand drives bless them for that.great video tom as always I still found it interesting to watch maybe by 2030 they will have standardized them all to have the voltage flow both ways and to all have power outlets to power your appliances we can but hope all the best from john from Rugby UK.
What about the Transit electric full size van? That is a much larger van, and several feet longer than your small compact car. I think they have a right hand drive version in England, and the ones in Europe are made in Turkey.
Tom I have waited months for you to make this video! Truly awesome 👏 and thank you! Well worth the wait, my setup is still all manual and only have one main panel, I have a $20 breaker lockout switch, 40amp breaker/circuit to my generator input, when my power goes out my wife just flip the lockout switch that turns off the main and active the generator input (generator automatically turns on from a separate line sensor input) so just the one switch she needs to flip when the power goes out! Sorry but I am not going to spending thousands of dollars just so that she don’t have to flip that one switch! Sorry but a $20 switch for the win, Once I get the Ford lightning all she would need to do after flipping the switch is connect the 30amp output into the generator input, just need to buy that cable, manual for the win and everything except large loads in my house, technically we can run one large load at a time if really needed.
Thanks for making this video Tom, I was hoping it would not cost so much todo .. just so you know the cost to upload your line to 200amps is not required so that cost should not be counted, but I understand if you want to higher than 11kW charging speed, most people already have 200amps service anyways, overall still very expensive not doing it, keeping my $20 lockout switch setup.
Great unbiased review Tom. I’m surprised at the cost of the total system. I have Tesla Solar and PW. I hope the CyberTruck could be used for bidirectional. Using a Tesla updated wall connector and Gateway with inverter. Even at $15,000. It’s still cheaper than installing a whole home generac gas generator in Texas. Before i got solar. I got quotes of $18-$20,000. I closed Solar and Powerwall. Keep up the great work Tom.
Tom this video was so good. This was the pinnacle episode of this channel. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. What do you recommend for a small single family home to combat against infrequent power outages. I have my heart set on the Tesla power wall for all long time. You mentioned a gas generator and a sub panel. Obviously it is cheaper, but do you recommend solar generators like Ecoflow. I want to have power for furnace, water heater, some lights and refrigerator that’s all.
If you have a 4,500 watt electric water heater, it will require a substantial generator to power that one device. However if you have a gas water heater, they do not normally require any 120 volt power, or if they have a power exhaust fan, it will be less than 150 watts. Do you have propane available? Is your furnace propane or natural gas or all electric? Electric furnace is going to require a very substantial generator, to power mine would require a 25 KW generator, but a smaller one can power a heat pump just fine. My heat pump would require something in the size of 10 KW to 15 KW to power my heat pump and other loads. I guess the big question is how many power outages do you have each year, how long, and what can you do instead of installing a generator? Can you go to a local motel for showers, and a comfortable place to sleep at night? Will your home be damaged if the interior temperature goes below 30F during a power failure and damage the plumbing? Powering just the 0.5 KW refrigerator is easy, so is about 20 of the table lamps at 20 watts each with a LED light bulb. A dozen phone chargers at 15 watts each, no problem. Laptops at 25 - 40 watts each? No problem. 4,500 watt electric clothes dryer? Problem. . .. . I am considering installing a 5,000 watt 120 volt inverter / charge controller for up to 3 KW of solar and 48 volt battery charger all in one unit. It would meet all of my back up needs for power. Just the 48 volt battery, if lead acid golf cart batteries would be about $875. And I bought 8 each 250 watt used solar panels for $85 each on Craigslist in Portland Oregon. So I could have a string of 300 VDC at 8 amps from the solar panels, and that would provide enough power to run my smaller heat pump and refrigerator every day of the year! Total cost about $3,000? I bought a 12,000 Btu 120 volt heat pump for my nephew's rental home. We mounted the indoor unit on a TV cabinet, and ran the refrigerant tubing out the window to the outdoor unit. He lives in Vancouver Washington, and it has run great, allowing him to not run the electric heaters in the rental home. His power bill is below $120, while his neighbors are over $200 - $300 in some cases. It only draws about 9-10 amps, even less in the cooling mode, and uses a variable speed compressor! 17 SEER.
even a portable power station/power bank (like one of the mini generators but made of batteries) outputting to a twist lock plug that's tied to a breaker at your electric panel (you will need space for a 2 pole breaker and a manual interlock to kill the main while it's active) will power some of the devices you mentioned. Those Ecoflows would be nice. Electric water heaters are a huge user of power, but it will hold water that's warmed already for a while even in an outage.
Keep in mind, with the Inflation Reduction Act, now we don’t need to add solar to a house in order to get a tax credit for putting a battery in our house as a load balancing element. Would that be for everyone? Of course not, but that is also going to be an increasingly financially viable option for some of us as battery prices continue to go down and would be attractive in areas of the country where power prices are expensive and where different rates are offered as demand on the grid changes.
Amazing video, thank you! Tom, you are a Trail-Blazer! I’ll bet you’ve done more here than Ford. This design is candy for every engineer or in-depth EV enthusiast. Very few applications can justify the expense. I prefer the gas generator & transfer switch. When Tom is working in Europe and the system fails, who does his wife call to fix it?
If I had an F-150 Lightning, I would stick with running a few extension cords from the ProPower plugs. For now, I just wish my Tesla let me plug any 120V cord in. I have so much power sitting in my garage, yet no way to tap into it!
Yeah, it's disappointing that Tesla doesn't seem willing to make a system like this. They don't want you using your vehicle's battery to power your home. They want you do buy a Powerwall.
Love seeing this actually existing in a home. After having powerwalls and solar roof, I dream of someday adding V2G. While this seems to have some stuff to iron out, it's a great first step. Since having B2G activated on powerwalls, we've seen our "energy value" from solar double. Now it can discharge 15kW during peak time after the sun goes down for much more $$$
Thanks for this, awesome review and conclusion, I do have a question, in my case I did the work to connect a gasoline inverter to my home with an outside plug to the main panel and just use the interlockkit to prevent the feedback to the grid, but with the lighting or even the hybrid F150, I could use the 240V output and connect it to my home panel too righh? and just enable the circuits to not go above 7KW or 9KW?
One positive from your particular install is being able to use at least some of the solar while the power is out. I realize that cutting solar generation during an outage is about safety for the line workers, as you mention, but it is a shame when solar can't pick up the slack for utility power for direct usage and not just with a battery backup. And of course you would set up your natural gas generator to power at least one hefty outlet for charging in your garage!
There are some new grid intertie inverters that can provide limited amount of power for some home circuits to run some of your loads off of the solar inverter. So say. you have a 6 KW inverter to send power to the grid, and have a transfer switching installed with say the refrigerator and home lights circuit breaker fed from that transfer switch. Then your 5-6 KW solar system can provide a portion of it's max rated power to those circuits.
Tom for people condidering an upgrade to their power system, I recommend the Siemens P1 commercial panel. These panels cost a bit more than load centers, but can be ordered with Copper Bus, and the breakers bolt on, so better for the heavier duty of EV Charging. Happy to send you a sample of one of these panels if you are interested in upgrading, or just having as a demo for a future video
I have solar with a backup battery and transfer switch. In an outage, the battery will take over almost instantly and give me power for most of my loads as well as access to solar. If I get an extended outage and a cloudy day (which will exhaust the battery), I have a critical load panel on a manual transfer switch (on the home side of the auto transfer switch) with a 30amp generator input I can power with a portable generator. With a lightning equipped with pro-power, I would be able to use the 240 output instead of the generator to power those critical loads.
Tom, good video, but you mention that the system CAN do price arbitrage? Is that true? I got the impression that the system could only come on when there was an outage. Can it supplement the power to your house while it is still connected to the grid? I suppose one could turn physically off power to their home each day to achieve this! but it seems not intended for that function right now and would require some work arounds on the owners part to achieve.
It can't do so automatically. Let's say you're working from home you could physically turn off the power in the morning when rates go up and let the truck power your home all day. Then turn it back on at night and charge the truck and power the house until morning.
@@StateOfChargeWithTomMoloughney thanks. That is what I thought. It would be awesome if it could do so automatically (or power your home in parallel with the grid) for true "powerwall" like capability. This would make the cost a lot more appealing. As the system could save you money.
I will eventually, but I will probably also add stationary battery storage at that time so the truck doesn't have to be home to have the lights & heat on.
Until the battery is drained or it reaches the cutoff limit that you set in the truck. It's a 131 kWh battery so if it was fully charged, and you were pulling the full 9 kW (Which probably won't happen - at least not sustained) it would last about 15 hours. But in reality, you can probably power a home for 2 -3 days before it was really drained.
I very much enjoyed the information you gave in this video. I was wondering once you have the Ford system installed, are you locked onto having to have a Ford truck/car provide the power?
400A isn’t that unusual. In 1990, I built a house in New England requiring 5 AC condensers, pool pump, bathroom floor heat, electric cooking, Tesla Wall Connector, and 4 refrigerators. The electrician specified dual - 200A panels like Tom’s. When power was lost, we had a frugal setup using a Honda generator with a manual transfer switch. Today, I’d do a much better system, but home was sold.
I had always assumed that the natural gas supply in the greater NYC area was rock-solid in terms of reliability, but the wicked cold snap over Christmas resulted in a potential gas service crisis in the area (extremely high demand, and pipeline issues), as became pretty widely known. So while losing utility power and natural gas service at once is quite unlikely, you can never say never about possibly needing the Ford setup someday…
Amazing video as usual. Actually the one I was waiting for. Yeah I definitely considering going with the manual transfer switch option as I have seen on forums too. But for sure I will the station pro installed, but not by SunRon because they want to charge a “flat fee” of $1.600 USD.
Awesome video. one question... can 2x different vehicles be paired with the Ford system? EG a Lighting and a Hyundai ioniq5 (which is also V2H capable)? Or even an ioniq5 and a Rivian R1T (which will soon be allowed to V2H)?
This system seemed remarkably expensive *BEFORE* the gut-punch of a 9kw inverter. That's outrageous. Also assuming this system solely functions with a Lightning. Even when you account for the battery included "free" with truck, potential buyers would be much better off buying a non-proprietary hybrid inverter & battery bank. This is insane.
Ford has said the present system will not do this. Takes DC power from the truck battery - doesn't go back. However, the solar fed into the inverter will supplant any power usage in the home during a loss of grid power.
What would help you dramatically and help understand loads and give you total control is a Span panel. I’d install one span 200 amp panel and then a dumb 200 amp panel for EV non critical loads. Split the power from meter two ways to each panel. Run solar into span. Use your old inverter. Run fords mess into span no solar attached. Then you’d just need one 200 amp transfer switch and then one span panel. And you wouldn’t have ev charging during outtage. Or just add another generac 200 amp transfer switch as a slave. Still. See this is where Tesla’s solar controller really just works. Combines power from everywhere. Basically you need a master switch that can seamlessly switch between all sources without back feeding the generator. I know there are solar inverters that can handle all that and control the genset such as when solar and battery power isn’t enough it kicks on the generator. Savant home automation also has a new line of smart power products including smart panels or breakers. They work with any manufacturer of any component and automate all power handling. Probably worth the investment there. I really like savant.
I know this video is old by now, but I'm curious if you can get the Ford Pass App to limit the current being supplied to the truck? The use case is that I want the limit the number of kW being delivered from the FCSP to the Lightning to what my solar system is overproducing. Unfortunately, even though the Ford Pass App shows the limit I've selected (say 18A), the charge rate continues at 10 kW. Ford can't decide if my problem is in the Ford Pass App or is a problem on the EV/Charging side. FWIW, the truck doesn't have any option to limit the current. My Tesla has it built into the car. Even better, since I have Powerwalls, an OTA made it so the car talks to the Tesla gateway and adjusts itself to use only what is spare. I understand Ford can't get that information, but manual control would have been nice.
Did I miss it? The biggest question I have is in the event of a prolonged outage can the solar that comes directly into this system/inverter be used to charge the Lightning with any excess production? For example, if your Lightning is down to 20%, your solar array is producing 5kW of juice and your house is only using 2kW, would the excess 3kW be used to charge the Lightning, or is charging during an outage not possible? It would be a huge miss if this isn't possible. The only information I can find on it is a video by you from over 2 years ago that says you can't but Ford is looking into it...
This video is AWESOME! Thank you! I'm so curious on what Tesla Cybertruck will unveil for vehicle to home power. I'm holding off of any additional home investments (I currently have 2 EV chargers in my garage) for EV's. Do you think Cybertruck will be more similar or different from Lighting/SunPower?
Does using the car's battery affect its warranty. Using an EV as a house backup running heavy loads like AC systems and water heaters requires lots of power. What LRA can it support?
@stateofchargewithtomoloughney great Video and great content. Thank you! Happy New Year 🎉. Quick question, I want to activate the Home Intelligent backup power in my truck, however the dealer said I have to get the Sunrun system first. So since u did all the process, is that true? Or can i activate it without the Sunrun System? Thank you
How does it make you feel that your green vehicle takes more power to charge than it would take to run THREE 4 ton air conditioners( standard size for 2000 sqft house) to run. 4 ton AC = 25 amps cycling on/off 3 AC x 25 amps = 75 Amps total 1 Ford charger = 80 amp continuous
Tom, great video. My real interest in V2H or V2G comes in wanting to have a solar array that charges an EV during the day and then have the EV power the house in the evening during peak electricity pricing. Do you think the systems will evolve to do that? I’m also wondering if Ford’s system will work with other EVS as they develop that include V2H or v2g, such as the forthcoming Silverado, or ram products, that allegedly will offer those features as well. Seems like it might be a mistake to plunk down the money now on a system that ends up being proprietary. Would love to see a video about that.
It's too bad though, that it costs so much to get the truck version that offers this option, and of course the cost to upgrade the house power system / equipment to make all this work. So per your numbers (and those I saw in articles on this), over $5000 for the hardware, more for the installation, and the high price of the PRO (or higher) level of the truck starting at about $56,000 for 2023, a natural gas generator is looking MIGHTY good until this technology matures and prices drop a LOT. Also, my 20 KW Generac whole house automatic generator handles my whole normal power load WITH EASE -- no need to have a separate circuit, limit what I power, etc. through a load test my electrician and I did (to our surprise re the easy success). Also if you have a major power outage in an area that lasts for days, how do you get your truck recharged? And your power is down while you're driving somewhere to try and do that. The NG generator just runs, and you check the oil once a day, so you have a 5 minute outage when YOU choose to do that, since the generators do use a little oil when running days at a time. Hopefully as BEV's mature, this will all become commonly available from MANY EV's, and cost only a reasonable amount to get your house set up.
Tom, thanks. First time viewer of you. I don't have the option of a Generac natural gas generator (all my children and grandchildren live with me and some of them do not feel safe anywhere near natural gas, so I take their feelings to heart.) We could use diesel, as that is relatively safe (and everyone agrees.) But we live in the woods and we have also had 2 wk outages just as you mentioned, yourself. One possibility we are considering is a hybrid that runs a diesel engine with battery (if we can find one) and the other is the F-150 EV. I also weld a lot (stick, MIG, and TIG.) So having the ability to support that would be nice in the field here on the farm. I'm not feeling a need for automatic power -- I can flip breakers when needed. But it is interesting, just the same. But I really want to thank you for all the details you've offered! Including the old panel arrangement and what you would up with in the end. It's perhaps the very best video anywhere I've seen on this topic and you have helped me think better. You have my profound and heart-felt thanks for your time (and expense) that you've extended to others you don't know and cannot have your back when you may need it. I wish we knew each other better. But being in Oregon... not so likely. Best wishes!
