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More than 630,000 electric vehicles across America can now power homes, and this winter, they’ve been doing exactly that.
With ice storms, blackouts, and freezing temperatures tearing through cities and towns, people with the right kind of EV didn’t sit in the dark. They just plugged their cars in and kept living.
In West Monroe, Louisiana, Keith McGrew allegedly had power for three straight days while his entire neighborhood went dark. Everyone else was looking for gas. Keith had his Ford F-150 Lightning running the lights, fridge, and even the oven.
“We were like ‘Screw it,’” he said. “‘We got electricity and we can run all day long.’” He was the only person on his street eating hot pizza that night.
EVs feed the house while gas runs out
These cars aren’t just for driving anymore. They’re full-blown power sources. And more people in America are figuring that out. Out of all the EVs sold in the last three months, 20% came with vehicle-to-home support. That means they can send electricity from the car into the house.
Only 14 of the 70 EV models in America have that feature right now, but the number is growing fast. Every car sold by GM already has it.
So do expensive ones from Hyundai, Kia, and Volvo. BMW says their new iX3 will have it. Tesla is adding it to the next Model Y. Rivian is putting it in the R2 SUV that’s coming out soon.
Even though Ford killed the Lightning, there are still around 101,000 of them in American driveways. And a lot of them powered houses during this last storm. Ford also sells a plug-in system that connects the truck to a home’s panel. It turns on by itself when the power goes out.
Normally, that happens four times a year. Last week, it happened four times more than usual. Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, bragged about it on LinkedIn.
In Ohio, John Halkias used his 2024 Lightning to run the refrigerator, the heaters, and even the electric dog fence. He wasn’t worried when 18 inches of snow came down. “I would say we could keep things going for a minimum of five to seven days with the truck alone,” John said.
People use EVs for everything from coffee to surgery
You don’t even need full-home support to get something useful. A lot of EVs in America come with vehicle-to-load ports. It’s like having an extension cord built into the car. A doctor in Texas once used a Rivian to power tools during a vasectomy.
In Virginia, Kim Mestre didn’t need all that. She just needed her Hyundai Ioniq to grind coffee beans and boil water. “Charge my phone and give me coffee, that’s all I really need in life,” Kim said. She didn’t care about the TV or fridge. She said she’d leave the food outside in the cold if she had to.
Wallbox, a company that builds two-way chargers like Ford’s, says people are starting to see what their cars can really do. “Beyond mobility, the car becomes the largest battery most households will ever own,” said Albert Cabanes, their spokesman.
Big utility companies are paying attention. Grid operators across America are now planning how to connect all these cars to the system. They want to pull power from EVs when demand spikes. It’s called vehicle-to-grid, and GM says it’s the future. Wallbox thinks a few million EVs could give as much power as a nuclear plant.
The power grid in America is under pressure. Data centers are using more electricity. The weather keeps getting worse. Having backup energy in your driveway changes the game.
Back in Louisiana, Keith’s Lightning might be the only one in the area. But when his boss’s diesel generator ran out, guess who had electricity? “I’m feeling smarter every day,” Keith allegedly said. “This afternoon we might go try to wire my truck up to his house.”
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