The US’s first residential V2G power plant is running on Ford F-150 Lightning trucks

Solar + storage provider Sunrun and Maryland utility BGE are running the first residential vehicle-to-grid (V2G) distributed power plant in the US, and it’s powered by Ford F-150 Lightning trucks.

The pilot started in July and runs through September, allowing customers to send stored energy from their trucks’ batteries to the grid during peak evening demand. Three customers in Maryland are currently enrolled, using Ford and Sunrun’s Home Integration System to connect their vehicles. Sunrun runs the pilot, compensating drivers up to $1,000 for the season based on how much energy they share.

Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said the V2G power plant project “demonstrates the critical role that vehicle batteries can play in powering the nation’s grid” and highlighted that it supports grid reliability and provides income opportunities for EV owners.

The electric trucks dispatch energy to the grid between 5 and 9 pm on weekdays. BGE’s Divesh Gupta said the trucks “make our energy system more reliable, more efficient, and even help lower electricity costs for customers.”

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Ford is also backing the effort. Bill Crider, senior director of global charging and energy services at Ford, called it a “win-win” for customers, utilities, and society, noting that EVs can power homes and send electricity back to the grid when needed most.

Baltimore resident Morgan Grove, who’s participating in the pilot, said he bought his Ford Lightning partly to provide backup power at home. “Now, I can also earn money by sending energy directly to the grid,” he said.

Sunrun is Ford’s preferred installer for its Home Backup Power system, which includes the Ford Charge Station Pro and the Home Integration System, the first commercially available bidirectional system in the US.

Read more: California’s grid gets a record power assist from a 100k home battery fleet

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