F150 lightning Based system

[Skipr]

Okay, new to this forum, but I have been working this idea for awhile. My plan is to buy the new F150 Lightning and basically use it as a battery with a 13kW solar panel setup to run the house basically off grid. It will still be grid tied, but shouldn’t need the grid. Here is my thinking... assuming the propaganda the F150 is right… the F150 will cost around $55K and have approximately 155kW of battery able to push 9kW out (Estimates). The solar array will charge it during the day and the truck will run the house (including AC In Florida).

I would keep the truck for 3 years and the trade in for a new model… ensuring updating the batteries and getting the next gen updates in technology. Since I will keep my existing F150 for driving, the Lightning would have virtually no miles on it And should retain its value well.

why I think this makes sense… I don‘t need to put in a generator on the house (saving ~$25K), I don’t need a battery wall (saving ~$25K or more). I get the energy tax credit on the F150 offsetting the initial depreciation on a new vehicle.

It doesn’t have a cheap startup cost, but it is not that much more than the battery wall. All of this is predicted on the F150 Lightning doing what it says it can do… what am I missing?

 

[David in nh]

thinking stand alone batters would be great https://www.altestore.com/store/dee...150ah-48v-lithium-battery-p41596/#KLVHAB7_5V3

 

[Lt.Dan]

I dont think EV Batteries are designed to be cycled like you want, powering a house. Its also a little sketchy and you are blatantly screwing the next guy that buys that truck.

If I bought that truck, 3 years old with low miles, and had to spend $20k(?) to replace the battery right away, I'm tracking you down and coming to your house.

 

[David in nh]

I dont think EV Batteries are designed to be cycled like you want, powering a house. Its also a little sketchy and you are blatantly screwing the next guy that buys that truck.

If I bought that truck, 3 years old with low miles, and had to spend $20k(?) to replace the battery right away, I'm tracking you down and coming to your house.

on a gas truck you check miles and or hours run , i thinking when you did a trade in they my base value of it on battery cycles/ batter run time and charge time and i am sure the can access that , it be just like trading in a truck with 400,000 miles

 

[NwCali]

As long as you stay within the parameters it should work.

I'd imagine the next person buying it will be savey enough to see the battery degradation that will come with the use, regardless of miles. While the lack of miles might keep it higher on resale (and it should) it might not be as high as you think it'll be. All it will take is a big player to come in with a much better option to "outdate" what they currently use in the matter of a year or less....

Unless you buy it outright you'll have registration due each year, full coverage insurance, and will pay interest. Did you factor in those cost?

I believe you can get similar kick back money for home energy systems... But... Now that I am thinking about it I don't "qualify" for those yet I could lease a Truck and get that money taken off the sticker price and use it like your talking about and still have the truck to drive when need be....

Just lots of factors and unknows in your plans.

What does Fords warranty say about usage like this?

 

[Sback]

on a gas truck you check miles and or hours run , i thinking when you did a trade in they my base value of it on battery cycles/ batter run time and charge time and i am sure the can access that , it be just like trading in a truck with 400,000 miles

I am a ford mechanic and yes you are correct. I can see everything about the battery. It will show health, charge cycles, and I believe remaining charge cycles left based on health and how you use the vehicle. All your usage is stored in a memory and calculated. I do no that when the new electric vehicles are traded in the battery health is one section that we will be looking at. If this guy tries to do this it will backfire on him.

 

[NwCali]

it will backfire on him.

Maybe ya/we need to update our vocabulary...

"it will thermal meltdown on him"? might be more fitting in this case, no?

 

[newbostonconst]

napkin math to me.....show me the numbers...

 

[Skipr]

If i drove the truck every day it would have a similar charge profile. The batteries should have 10yr warranty so that shouldn’t be a problem. Need to do some calculations. This is part of the reason, I wanted to see what others thought. Ford claims the truck will run a house for days, so it is designed to do that, but until it actually comes out it will be hard to say.

 

[Sback]

Yes the battery has a 10yr warranty. I'm not sure of all the details on battery warranty but I'm sure it will be just like your power train. Power train gives you 5 years or 60k mi. I'll bet battery warranty will be the same. Something like 10 years or however many charge cycles they decide on. Being the vehicle has not been released I don't no all the details. Knowing how ford works I'm sure it's not going to be just a straight 10 years.

 

[newbostonconst]

I think people are also missing the fact that these trucks aren't going to just plug into your house and work.

I am betting it will be well north of $5k and up to $10k to make it work by an electrician.

 

[Skipr]

Fair points, I will do some modeling and post the results.

 

[Skipr]

First, the F150 Lightening is not "really" going to be available until 2023 (if you are lucky). However, with that said, there is a video that goes into depth on the home backup power.

Tom Moloughney had a detailed discussion with Ford's Energy Services Co-Lead, and Head of Intelligent Backup Power, Ryan O'Gorman fifteen common questions that are coming into his channel. The video is here:

Some good information if you are interested in attempting this -- not this year

With LiFePO4 getting below $0.26/kWH by the time you can get a F150 EV, the cost advantage may not be as large as it started out being.

 

[T-486 Ashepoo]

Powering your house would be less demanding than driving the truck.
This concept will show up on worksites at some point. Building a house? Drive your truck full of tools to the site, plug in and build. No generator needed. Have an offgrid cabin or camp. Drive your truck and plug in. Don't worry about someone stealing your batteries and inverter.

 

[JWLV]

There is also a significant cost for the hardware to hook up the truck to your house. Last time I looked into that it was an additional $20k.

 

[Supervstech]

Also… nobody is paying $25K for a home generator install rated at 9KW… that’s a $4500 installed… 22KW is around $12K

 

[BoloMKXXVIII]

I have often thought of buying a totaled EV that still has a working battery and charge system to do something similar to what you are suggesting. Finding a new totaled Lightning should bring down your initial investment.

 

[Hravn]

Powering your house would be less demanding than driving the truck.
This concept will show up on worksites at some point. Building a house? Drive your truck full of tools to the site, plug in and build. No generator needed. Have an offgrid cabin or camp. Drive your truck and plug in. Don't worry about someone stealing your batteries and inverter.

Lol, works great, if your off grid place is also not far from a vehicle charging station. Less cool, if you have to sit at an rv camp for hours recovering charge to get home. It always comes back to range.

 

[Rossman]

I dont think EV Batteries are designed to be cycled like you want, powering a house. Its also a little sketchy and you are blatantly screwing the next guy that buys that truck.

If I bought that truck, 3 years old with low miles, and had to spend $20k(?) to replace the battery right away, I'm tracking you down and coming to your house.

EV batteries are designed for much harsher conditions operating the vehicle, than would be found in powering an off-grid house. If anything the battery pack will be healthier than your average used F150 lightning because not only does it have no miles, the battery bank has been gently used.

That said I dont think this idea makes sense, financially.

 

[flamaest]

I really don't think that the dealer is going to look at battery charge cycles when you take it back to them. I went through the Chevy bolt recall and all they only cared about ODO miles and age.

Also, these batteries will be designed for heavy use, and Ford is selling this vehicle openly as being able to power your house with a $3,000 add-on. There is no indication that you can't do this continuously. Lots of people in Puerto Rico have been salivating to get this vehicle to do exactly what you are going to do.

I was thinking about doing this a long time ago when Tesla said that they were going to make their model 3 have bidirectional power, since the cost of a home 75 KW hour battery was almost the same cost of the 35k Tesla car. Unfortunately, the cost of the vehicle has gone up significantly and Tesla never enabled bidirectional power.

With the Ford F-150, this is actually possible and I would encourage you to pursue it. I would pay off the vehicle completely and put it on jacks in your garage and register it as non-use so you don't have to pay any vehicle fees every year.

If you use the battery within the goldilocks 30%-70% rule, you should easily be able to get thousands of cycles on it with barely any degradation.