Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup needs a $3,900 home device to use it as backup power

Ford has confirmed the price of its “Home Integration System,” which enables the F-150 Lightning electric pickup to power your home in case of an outage.

It will cost $3,895 before installation which is actually quite a good price…

When Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning, one of the features that created the most buzz was its support for bi-directional charging: Ford intelligent Backup Power.

It means that the electric pickup truck can send power back to power a home, another vehicle, or virtually anything it can plug into.

In March, Ford unveiled the Ford Charge Station Pro, a bi-directional home charging station that works with the upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.

At the time, we were impressed by the cost of the home charger. At $1,310, it is way more expensive than your average home charging solution, but it is rated 80-amp and it offers bi-directional capacity – two very valuable features.

Also, it is included in the price of the Extended Range version of the Lightning, and therefore, you only need to buy the charging station with the Standard Range F-150 Lightning.

However, we noted that to unlock the bi-directional capacity of the Ford Charge Station Pro, it needs to be combined with Ford’s Home Integration System through its installation partner, Sunrun.

We didn’t know the price of this additional device, but Matthew Stover, Ford’s director, Charging and Energy Services, has now confirmed (via Tom Moloughney) that it starts at $3,895 before installation:

If you want your truck to power your home during an outage, take advantage of Ford Intelligent Backup Power and get the Home Integration System that works with the Charge Station Pro. The Home Integration System is required to truly take advantage of two-way power flow of F-150 Lightning. This system consists of an inverter, transfer switch and battery, and will be sold through Sunrun for $3,895, with installation costs dependent on your personal home setup. When the power goes out, the system automatically disconnects from the utility line and switches over to Ford Intelligent Backup Power so that the truck can send power to your house.

That’s starting to add up, especially for an owner of a Standard Range F-150 Lightning who would have to buy $5,200 worth of hardware plus installation to take advantage of the truck’s home backup-power capacity.

Though keep in mind that it replaces a whole home battery pack system, which is expensive. For example, a single Tesla Powerwall would cost you $11,500, and that’s if you can get one. The Powerwall at 14.4kWh holds about 1/10th of the battery of a 300 mile F-150.

The question that must be asked: When is Tesla going to get in this game, or does it not want to interfere with its lucrative Powerwall business?

Also, will Ford enable this functionality on its other EVs like the Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit vans? We’re hearing that there will be more on that soon and it could create a clear differentiator vs. other EV manufacturers.