Lightning Powers Home During Storm - 25 kWh/day

[VTbuckeye]

I have solar with 2x powerwall two backup. This can run our entire house (natural gas heat/hot water). What I would really like is to be able to charge the powerwall from the truck if necessary. During the summer I can easily get plenty of charging from solar. Even on a overcast day we generate more than enough to replenish our entire battery capacity. In the winter I can go days without significant solar production (any single high production month May, June, July, August will generate more than Nov through Feb put together).

Sponsored

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

If you have a solar - battery system, you don't need the truck to provide more than the average daily load/24 hours. ie you can power an average homes' 30 kWh per day load with just 1.25kW steady supply from the truck as long as you have batteries & Inverter big enough to start your biggest load. 1.25kW (120v x 10.4A) -at this load the truck will supply your home for three days or so depending on which battery pack you have, and what SOC it started.

I have made it a habit to DCFC the truck if I hear some extreme weather is headed our way, just in case.
That said, with a 115 kWh home battery and full solar set up, it takes a pretty major event to need anything additional. Genny and some propane & gasoline is the back up to the back up!

Hope all you guys are ok and keeping safe after that storm. Great to see so many were able to use the Lightning to help you through. Sure beats a freezer full of spoiled food !

 

[ddbrooke]

We had some severe storms roll through western PA Tuesday night leaving a quarter million without electricity. I didn’t anticipate losing electricity and the SOC was under 70%.

We plugged in Tuesday night and ran easily through Friday night. 2 refrigerators, a freezer, lights and furnace were all powered as usual.

I unplugged late Friday and made a run to a Tesla DCFC of the local interstate. It took about an hour to charge to 90% then back home to reconnect. We’re now good for few days until projected repairs May 6.

I won’t act like this was a life saver especially since some local people have lost their lives from trees and downed high tension wires. But it sure made life a little easier.

Thanks, Ford.

My provider is West Penn/First Energy and we got power restored at 3pm Saturday but in the mean time my Lightning powered everything we needed during the outage. I consumed about 12% of the battery per day. My truck was at 77% when the storm hit and I charged it on Friday at the Tesla station in Harmarville, PA just incase we really were going to be out until Tuesday the 6th. BTW, the Harmarville Supercharger was the first in PA to have Magic Docks. I couldn't get it to release so I used my adaptor.

 

[Joneii]

Same! Was gonna post about it, but the storm took out both our ISPs and one of our two cell providers as well! So were effectively left in the dark at least connection wise.

Power-wise our house has a full home EcoFlow backup system, but with no solar installed yet the runtime was limited. After a day and a half I felt it prudent to recharge the battery banks so using the generator inlet, I plugged into my truck and charged up the batteries. It was nice not having to haul out the gas generator.

This is how our system is setup too. We have solar, but during an outage our only power from the solar system is via the SMA Secure Power Sockets (essentially one outlet per inverter). Those keep our EcoFlow Delta charged and it keeps our outbuilding freezers running.

The house is powered via a transfer switch by EcoFlow Delta Pros (needed 240 v power for our well pump). My Lightning is used to import power to the Deltas about once every day or two depending on our usage. This works great as we can keep the house powered even if we have to drive to a DCFC for power. Someday I’d like to include an inverter to use the solar system to charge the truck, but I haven’t found an economical and reliable option yet.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Someday I’d like to include an inverter to use the solar system to charge the truck, but I haven’t found an economical and reliable option yet.

I use the SRNE inverters (two at 12kW each) and this provides power for the whole house and my workshop, charging the lightning right now too!
Solar, battery-bank, and EV make a great system where you can share power from the main home battery system or the EV depending where you need it. (and it is a lot of fun too).

Sponsored