Randy Jones of Katy, Texas, used his 2021 Ford F-150 to power heaters and other appliances in his home when he lost power earlier this week during the winter storm.
Source: Randy Jones
When Randy Jones of Katy, Texas, bought his new Ford F-150 a few weeks ago, he didn’t think he would use it to keep the lights on in his home during a historic winter storm that left millions of people without power.
The onboard generator of the 2021 Ford F-150 hybrid truck “offers the ability to use your truck as a mobile generator,” which can produce up to 7.2 kW of power, says Ford.
Jones, 66, said in a telephone interview with CNBC that he bought the truck in part because of this feature, adding that it often loses energy due to hurricanes and other storms. When he lost power on Sunday night, he took some extension cables and decided to put the generator to the test.
“Without it, I would be in the dark and the cold like everyone else in the neighborhood,” said the retired refinery worker, adding that he helped neighbors load their phones and laptops. “A lot of neighbors said, ‘Hey, I’m buying one, like,’ I’m changing my Dodge or GMC ‘because, in South Texas, with hurricanes and things like that, we’re always having power cuts. “
Jones said he used the truck’s onboard generator to power his home appliances for three days, until his power was restored on Wednesday. He is not alone. Jerry Hall, 73, bought his new F-150 in late January. It turned out to be perfect timing, he said.
“The truck saved the day,” said the Kerrville, Texas, resident in a telephone interview. Hall said his home lost power on Sunday night until early Thursday. “It would have been a miserable three days without the truck.”
Hall said he and his wife still spent those unheated days, but managed to run the truck’s extension cables into the house to turn on the lights, the refrigerator, the television and other luxuries.
“It kept us connected to the outside world,” he said.
Hall added that “the main reason” he bought the truck was the onboard generator. He said that bad weather last spring led to some blackouts in his part of the state and he knew he wanted some kind of generator. It just made sense, he said, to get a new truck with a built-in generator.
Other truck owners posted stories similar to those of Hall and Jones in an online forum for F-150 owners. Photos from the forum overflowed to Twitter, where Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, realized: