Ford F-150 Lightning Is A Rolling Power Storage Beast, & Sunrun Is Right here For It

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The US solar-plus-storage agency Sunrun and the Ford Motor Firm have been operating a “stealth” vehicle-to-home vitality storage experiment this summer season, leveraging the highly effective battery of the Ford F-150 Lightning electrical pickup truck. To date they like what they see, and a pot-sweetener of $800 per buyer ought to assist be certain that the first-of-its-kind trial positive aspects traction amongst EV drivers across the US.

Ford F-150 Lightning & The Renewable Power Storage Connection

Considered from an vitality storage perspective, electrical autos are merely giant, cell batteries. They’re source-agnostic, which means they are going to take electrical energy from anybody, anytime, anyplace.

When it comes to decarbonization, getting EV drivers to recharge on 100% renewable vitality is the following step. That’s a piece in progress, however momentum is starting to select up as renewable vitality stakeholders spot a chance to promote drivers on the multi-use capabilities of an electrical car.

In the meantime, Ford is setting instance of how automotive stakeholders can promote the a number of advantages of proudly owning a big, cell vitality storage gadget. Ford launched the brand new F-150 Lightning EV in 2021, shortly after a serious oil pipeline shutdown threw US gasmobile drivers into panic mode.

“F-150 Lightning can energy your house throughout an outage,” mentioned Ford President and CEO Jim Farley in a launch press assertion, drawing consideration to the longer-term advantages of proudly owning an EV.

The renewable vitality hookup additionally emerged in 2021. “Final evening, the main photo voltaic installer Sunrun let phrase slip that it’s hooking up with Ford to supply two-way EV charging for Lightning F-150 homeowners, which may put extra rooftop photo voltaic within the fingers of extra F-150 followers,” CleanTechnica noticed.

By 2022, the outlines of the plan had been cemented. “Sunrun is the popular installer of F-150 Lightning residence charging options, together with the 80-amp Ford Cost Station Professional and Residence Integration System, which allows the F-150 Lightning to retailer and provide energy to properties in a wide range of methods,” Ford defined.

That may occur whether or not or not the home-owner has entry to 100% renewable vitality, however Ford indicated that a part of the collaboration includes encouraging photo voltaic use, with Sunrun providing a rooftop photo voltaic deal to Lightning drivers in chosen areas.

Maryland Hops On The Power Storage Prepare

Maryland doesn’t get a lot media consideration for its decarbonization journey, however the state has various important table-setting initiatives in hand that may assist jumpstart related initiatives across the US. Sunrun and Ford are entrance and heart within the newest enterprise, which includes a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Maryland utility and Exelon subsidiary BGE (Baltimore Gasoline and Electrical Firm).

That first-of-its sort angle caught the information highlight and the story has lit the Intertubes on fireplace. The thought is to enlist F-150 Lightning and Sunrun prospects in a stepped-up model of the digital energy plant mannequin.

For these of you new to the subject, a digital energy plant leverages sensible grid expertise to coordinate and inspire ratepayers to cut back their electrical energy demand throughout peak hours, lowering the necessity to construct new fuel “peaker” energy vegetation. The digital idea will also be utilized to inspire rooftop photo voltaic homeowners and different small-scale renewable vitality assets to feed electrical energy again to the grid in time of want (see extra VPP background right here).

The Ford-Sunrun-BGE mashup is being billed as a brand new iteration of the identical idea, motivating complete fleets of vehicle-based vitality storage homeowners to interchange their residence’s grid-supplied electrical energy with their EV battery throughout peak summertime hours.

“This program is a major proof of idea — no different market participant has carried out this — and the aim is to develop these applications throughout the nation,” Sunrun CEO Mary Powell defined in a press assertion earlier this week.

“This thrilling partnership lays the inspiration for the ability grid of the longer term the place electrical car homeowners can contribute to grid resiliency and utility value stability for everybody,” she added.

Sharing Is Caring: First There Had been Three…

Don’t get too excited simply but. The Maryland vitality storage venture launched in June with simply three F-150 Lightning homeowners on board, who additionally take part the Ford Cost Station Professional and Residence Integration System, for which Sunrun is the unique supplier. The venture will finish on September 30 with the identical three.

Nonetheless, as Powell signifies, these three EV homeowners are already being credited with launching a vehicle-based residence vitality storage revolution.

“By discharging F-150 Lightnings’ onboard batteries on to contributors’ properties, this system showcases how electrical autos can operate like stationary batteries to cut back demand on the grid and create a extra resilient and dependable vitality system for all BGE prospects in Maryland,” Sunrun notes.

Sunrun and BGE emphasize that vehicle-to-home vitality storage techniques are extra than simply a person profit. They create an energy-sharing platform that permits EV homeowners to profit their complete group, by serving to the native grid keep away from brownouts and different interruptions.

“Partnering with Sunrun will enable BGE to unlock and be taught the potential of how vehicle-to-grid applications will help growing grid effectivity and reliability with distributed vitality assets,” BGE VP of Regulatory Coverage Mark Case explains, including that particular person EV homeowners will even profit.

As for a way a lot they will profit, that’s going to be a reasonably substantial quantity. BGE will not be counting on civic-mindedness to assist place the Maryland venture for enlargement. The three contributors are anticipated to obtain $800 every for the four-month program, to compensate them for the vitality they share.

Rolling Power Storage Items & Telematics

As for why Ford and Sunrun picked Maryland to launch a doubtlessly game-changing new wrinkle on their relationship, that’s query.

For starters, Maryland is an EV-friendly state with substantial incentives for each EVs and EV charging stations. The state can also be amongst these profiting from new federal grants to develop its public EV charging station community.

As well as, BGE has proved itself a keen accomplice on vitality effectivity and electrification. Though the corporate nonetheless has a agency grip on its fuel enterprise, BGE is a daily on the Power Star Associate of the yr recognition program administered by the US Environmental Safety Company and the Division of Power.

The mashup with Sunrun and the Ford F-150 Lightning can also be not BGE’s first flip across the leading edge vehicle-based vitality storage block.

In 2022, the EV grid integration agency WeaveGrid issued a press launch describing its partnership with BGE’s “EV Sensible” residential EV charging program. WeaveGrid referred to as it among the many first such applications to glean data on buyer charging conduct via using telematics, referring to long-distance transmission expertise for computerized knowledge.

WeaveGrid additionally calls it “the very first program to make use of telematics to help an EV time-of-use (TOU) price with out the necessity of a utility put in meter for EV charging.”

“The applications use the car’s laptop to measure EV-specific electrical energy utilization and supply decrease price off-peak charging to contributors, leading to 96% of charging occurring throughout off-peak occasions,” WeaveGrid explains.

This system at present estimates an annual financial savings of as much as $120, providing EV homeowners but another excuse to understand the vitality storage energy of the car parked of their driveway.

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Photograph (cropped): Sunrun and Ford have been operating a vehicle-to-home vitality storage experiment this summer season, leveraging the highly effective battery of the Ford F-150 Lightning electrical pickup truck (courtesy of Ford).