Ford F-150 Lightning Is A Rolling Energy Storage Beast, & Sunrun Is 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 time, leveraging the highly effective battery of the Ford F-150 Lightning electrical pickup truck. To this point they like what they see, and a pot-sweetener of $800 per buyer ought to assist be sure that the first-of-its-kind trial good points traction amongst EV drivers across the US.

Ford F-150 Lightning & The Renewable Vitality Storage Connection

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

By way of decarbonization, getting EV drivers to recharge on 100% renewable vitality is the subsequent step. That’s a piece in progress, however momentum is starting to choose up as renewable energy 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, cellular vitality storage gadget. Ford launched the new F-150 Lightning EV in 2021, shortly after a significant oil pipeline shutdown threw US gasmobile drivers into panic mode.

“F-150 Lightning can power your home during 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. “Last night, the leading solar installer Sunrun let word slip that it is hooking up with Ford to provide two-way EV charging for Lightning F-150 owners, which could put more rooftop solar in the hands of more F-150 fans,” CleanTechnica noticed.

By 2022, the outlines of the plan have been cemented. “Sunrun is the preferred installer of F-150 Lightning home charging solutionsincluding the 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro and Home Integration System, which enables the F-150 Lightning to store and supply power to homes in a variety of ways,” 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 entails encouraging photo voltaic use, with Sunrun providing a rooftop photo voltaic deal to Lightning drivers in chosen areas.

Maryland Hops On The Vitality Storage Prepare

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

That first-of-its variety 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 good grid expertise to coordinate and inspire ratepayers to scale back their electrical energy demand throughout peak hours, decreasing the necessity to construct new fuel “peaker” energy vegetation. The digital idea can be utilized to inspire rooftop photo voltaic homeowners and different small-scale renewable energy resources to feed electricity back to the grid in time of want (see extra VPP background here).

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

“This program is a significant proof of concept — no other market player has done this — and the goal is to expand these programs all around the country,” Sunrun CEO Mary Powell defined in a press assertion earlier this week.

“This exciting partnership lays the foundation for the power grid of the future where electric vehicle owners can contribute to grid resiliency and utility price stability for everyone,” she added.

Sharing Is Caring: First There Have been Three…

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

“By discharging F-150 Lightnings’ onboard batteries directly to participants’ homes, the program showcases how electric vehicles can function like stationary batteries to reduce demand on the grid and create a more resilient and reliable energy system for all BGE customers 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 allows EV homeowners to profit their entire neighborhood, by serving to the native grid keep away from brownouts and different interruptions.

“Partnering with Sunrun will allow BGE to unlock and learn the potential of how vehicle-to-grid programs will support increasing grid efficiency and reliability with distributed energy resources,” BGE VP of Regulatory Coverage Mark Case explains, including that particular person EV homeowners can even profit.

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

Rolling Vitality 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 be amongst these profiting from new federal grants to develop its public EV charging station network.

As well as, BGE has proved itself a prepared companion on vitality effectivity and electrification. Though the corporate nonetheless has a agency grip on its fuel enterprise, BGE is a daily on the Energy Star Partner of the year recognition program administered by the US Environmental Safety Company and the Division of Vitality.

The mashup with Sunrun and the Ford F-150 Lightning can 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 Smart” residential EV charging program. WeaveGrid known as it among the many first such applications to glean info on buyer charging habits by way of using telematics, referring to long-distance transmission expertise for computerized information.

WeaveGrid additionally calls it “the very first program to use telematics to support an EV time-of-use (TOU) rate without the need of a utility installed meter for EV charging.”

“The programs use the vehicle’s computer to measure EV-specific electricity usage and offer lower cost off-peak charging to participants, resulting in 96% of charging occurring during off-peak times,” WeaveGrid explains.

This system presently estimates an annual savings of up to $120providing EV homeowners but one more reason 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 time, leveraging the highly effective battery of the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck (courtesy of Ford).