Randy Jones of Katy, Texas, lost track of how many reporters called to hear his personal story about fueling his home with his truck during the Texas blackout.
“I saw myself on Fox News this morning,” he said on Friday. “It created a lot of interest. Incredible. All I wanted was a little comfort.”
While the Texans ended a week of fighting with unreliable energy sources, cold temperatures and uncertainty about clean water due to the burst of frozen pipes, Jones was not the only one who saw the ownership of a truck as essential in times of uncertainty.
“You always have to be prepared,” said the retired 66-year-old refinery worker.
He and others suffered a blackout from February 14 to 17 with the help of his Ford F-150 Hybrid 2021 truck with Pro Power Onboard. Even at the end of the week, electricity was still insufficient, residents said.
Storm fall: This man used his 2021 Ford F-150 to heat his house
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Ford confirmed that it saw an 18% increase in online searches for the F-150 on Thursday. The F-series has been America’s best-selling franchise for a long time, so it’s notable to see a spike in consumer traffic.
While Ford makes more than 1 million F-Series pickups annually for the US and other markets, about 10% of F-150s are gas-electric hybrids and the other 90% run on gasoline only, said Mike Levine, a product of Ford in North America communications manager.
Carmaker Dearborn may increase production of the F-150 hybrid to meet demand, he said.
The fully electric F-150 will arrive in 2022.
Ford currently has less than 500 trucks with Pro Power Onboard – gas and hybrid – available for sale in Texas, said Levine.
Owners, including Jones, shared on online forums how their trucks powered a home heating, cooling system and allowed friends and neighbors to charge cell phones and tablets.
Ford dealers will use F-150s to help
Ford sent letters to Texas dealers on Thursday, encouraging them to use hybrid trucks as needed for emergency purposes.
“Due to the urgent and unprecedented climatic situation in Texas, several of our local dealers are using the new Ford 150s equipped with Pro Power Onboard to help their communities. Approximately 415 trucks are part of this effort. We are proud to present to help Texas in this time of need, “said Levine.
Therefore, dealers can sell vehicles as needed or may qualify for $ 600 in financial compensation from Ford Corporate if trucks with Pro Power Onboard are used in the community for an extended period of time. It allows dealers to discount the vehicle if it is used slightly. How trucks can be used locally is left to dealers, said Ford.
Ryan Laskowski, 38, general manager of AutoNation Ford Katy in Texas, said he has 17 F-150 hybrids in stock and that the dealership is ready to support customers with borrowed vehicles as needed.
“We will be as flexible as we can,” said Laskowski on Friday. “We just got energy back. Now, the question is water. But at least we are warm.”
Agreements are easily drawn up for customers who wish to borrow a hybrid truck during this critical period for the energy required.
“We had one of our best customers, an IT executive in Houston, he bought one from us about three weeks ago. He was out of town this week and let his dog walker and her husband come over, start his truck and they ran a heater, refrigerator, TV and camped at his house with the truck feeding the equipment, “said Laskowski. “He had a hybrid F-150 PowerBoost with a 7.2 kW battery. When you have all these things running, you can run the truck for (32) hours with a full tank.”
Only the hybrid F-150s come standard with the Pro Power Onboard, and are frequently upgraded.
$ 70,370 on loan
Before Ford’s world headquarters issued a memo saying that dealers would be compensated a little more for helping the community, Laskowski made the call on his own to do so.
An employee had neither heating nor water and Laskowski sent him home with a hybrid F-150. He fed the house overnight and still had more than 300 miles to reach.
Tropical storms vs. ice storms
“This is a really unfortunate situation, but it is cool to have the technology we have,” said Laskowski. “In Houston, we lose energy every summer and fall due to tropical storms, but we didn’t think it would be useful that quickly.”
The snowstorm hit Texas, he said. “No one has been able to leave the house in the past three days.”
Corndogs for the 7 year old boy
Aaron Lewis, vehicle acquisition manager at AutoNation Ford Katy, woke up for work at 5:30 am Tuesday and was 50 degrees at home.
“We didn’t have a generator. I told my whole family, ‘You have to come and work with me. We have generators and heating there, ‘”he said. “We arrived at the Ford dealer at 6:15 am. My son was watching cartoons and my wife, Lindsay, was working on her laptop making calls with Zoom to the YMCA in Houston. We were there for eight hours.”
At first, they thought the electricity was restored because Lindsay Lewis, 37, received a telephone alert that her Roomba vacuum was moving. Its electricity lasted 30 minutes.
That night, Lewis went back to the dealership to pick up a new Ford F-150 Hybrid 2021 truck with Pro Power Onboard. He only had 10 miles on the odometer and a tag price of $ 70,370 including destination fees.
“I filled it (with fuel) and put it in my garage, put extension cables under the garage door and into the house,” said Lewis.
He turned on a refrigerator, three heaters and an air fryer to make mini corndogs for his son. He also plugged in a slow charger to prevent the motorcycle battery from dying, which can happen when it’s too cold outside.
Bradley Lewis, 7, found himself wrapped under seven blankets on the living room sofa with his cats Lily and Snowball next to two heaters.
“My wife and I made miniature hot dogs for our son and chips and chicken fingers for us,” said Aaron Lewis. “It was so cold up there that Bradley couldn’t sleep in his room. With all the stress, we kept saying to our son, ‘Let’s venture out’. “
This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: 2021 Ford F-150s with generator goes viral after storm assistance in Texas