Extreme storms in southeast Michigan bring flooding, downed trees, and extensive power outages. Lucky for me, I have an F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid to power everything I need.
Weathering the Storm
Earlier this week, we started getting severe storm and tornado warnings at my home in Dexter, Michigan (about 50 miles west of Detroit). While no tornado touched down like in Detroit, Dexter experienced extreme rain and wind – at one point, our weather station showed rain falling at 5 inches/hour. The storm didn’t last long, but it took down trees and caused extensive power outages, including most of Dexter.
The utility company said it would be at least 24 hours before power was restored, and that was just an estimate. With a fridge and freezer full of food and a house already at 80 degrees, we were facing a very uncomfortable night and the prospect of throwing away a lot of food. But I have an F-150 PowerBoost with Pro Power Onboard, and it solved our immediate issues.
Powering Everything
Pro Power Onboard may be the most innovative feature in a pickup truck. I bought an F-150 PowerBoost hybrid specifically for its built-in 7.2 kW generator, primarily to power our Grand Design travel trailer when we were camping off the grid. With 30 amps of power output, the truck has no problem powering everything in the camper, including the power-sucking air conditioner. But it really helped out with the extended power outage.
Operating the Pro Power Onboard system couldn’t be easier. With the truck parked next to the trailer, I went to the features screen, selected Pro Power Onboard, and then turned on the generator. With the generator in operation, the truck will start and stop the engine to maintain consistent power delivery. You can still lock the truck to keep it secure, even while it’s running.
Embedded Power
The Pro Power Onboard system has five outlets in the truck bed – four 110 and one 220 – with two 3600-watt circuits. To get the full 30 amps I needed to power the trailer, I plugged into the 220 outlet with a converter to bring the voltage to 110. With the camper on full power, we had lights, air conditioning, a microwave, and a TV, providing a comfortable place to wait out the outage. Once my wife and dog were settled in the camper, I ran additional extension cords from the second circuit up to the house to power two refrigerators and a freezer. Even with the power-sucking AC running in the trailer, the generator readout showed only 1420 watts in use – a fraction of what’s available.
After a comfortable night’s sleep, I went up to the house and plugged my espresso machine and toaster into the power strip coming off the truck and made breakfast. Power is still out, but the food is safe, and we can power all the essentials, including the internet. If we had a proper generator connection to the house, we could seamlessly power most everything we need. We’ll be getting one very soon.
All This And Efficiency, Too?
What surprises me the most about this system is how efficient it is. My truck had a full tank of fuel when I started up the generator. After powering everything all night – including the air conditioner – it had only used up a few miles of driving range, or about a half gallon of fuel. At that rate, we could maintain this level of power for several weeks if needed.
Best of all, as I sit in my house listening to the drone of generators all around me, my power source never gets louder than a truck at idle. I should mention that when it’s not operating as a generator, the F-150 hybrid delivers 23 mpg around town and can still tow more than 11,000 pounds. It’s still hard to believe no other car company has adopted this incredibly useful technology.
