More EV Models Offer Deluxe Backup Power Features For Blackouts
American drivers now own more than 600,000 EVs that can serve as an emergency power source.
During a multiday, weather-related power outage, a Louisiana resident relied on his Ford F-150 Lightning to keep the lights on at home.
Courtesy of Keith McGrew
West Monroe, Louisiana, has experienced some of the nastiest weather in the US of late, but Keith McGrew, who has lived in the rural area for all of his 46 years, was ready.
On the third day of a recent blackout, while his neighbors were struggling to find gas for their generators, McGrew was powering almost all of his house with his Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck. McGrew was even able to fire up his oven to satisfy a pizza craving. “We were like ‘Screw it,’” he explained. “’We got electricity and we can run all day long.’”
As ice, snow and bitter cold stressed America’s power infrastructure in recent weeks, electric vehicles have filled in as emergency power sources, shifting from transportation to 6,000-pound backup batteries for a growing share of drivers.