The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning EV has begun arriving at Ford dealerships across the US, and some lucky owners have even got theirs delivered. However, only a few would know that their F-150 Lightning pickup comes with a charger that can not only charge their EV truck but also allow it to power up their house. 

The F-150 Lightning comes with Ford’s Charge Station Pro charging system and an in-built inverter with an optional 9.6-kW output with up to 11 120-volt outlets and one 240-volt outlet. Along with this, the Lightning packs between 98 kWh and 131 kWh of power in its fully charged battery pack. In a stroke of genius, Ford has devised an ingenious way to turn its EV truck battery into a massive home battery.

When paired with a Home Integration System – a smart inverter sold separately by Sunrun – the Charge Station Pro can charge the F-150 Lightning EV and draw power from the pickup through the same charging cable to light up a house without needing any extension cables.  

This technology works partly because Ford decided to go with a triangular CCS Combo plug found on public DC fast-charging stations for the Charge Station Pro instead of the typical round J1772 plug found on most home chargers. With the triangular CCS Combo Plug with three contacts, the Ford F-150 Lightning’s Charge Station Pro that runs on 80-amp power can charge the truck at normal speeds and use the bottom two DC contacts in the big plug to send power back to the house. The separately sold Sunrun Home Integration System smart inverter automatically (or manually) switches your home to the truck power whenever the electrical grid goes down and switches back to charging the truck once the power comes back on.