Ford F-150 Lightning Powers Owner’s Home Following Hurricane Ian

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Ford F-150 Lightning Hurricane Ian

At least one Ford F-150 Lightning was put to good use when the power went out in the devastating storm’s wake.

When the 2021 Ford F-150 debuted, one of its purported “killer apps” was Pro Power Onboard, which provided owners with a substantial amount of portable power in the vein of an actual, standalone generator. The more powerful variant of this feature – present in the PowerBoost hybrid – proved incredibly useful for folks during some historic winter storms, flooding, tornados, and hurricanes over the past couple of years, powering entire homes when the power went out. Now, at least one Ford F-150 Lightning served that same purpose after Hurricane Ian ripped through the Southeast recently.

The Ford F-150 Lightning in question belongs to Westley Aaron Ferguson, who is an Associate Creative Director at Elegant Seagulls, which has done work for the likes of American Express, Netflix, and AirBNB. The Florida resident – like many – found himself without power in the wake of Hurricane Ian, which wreaked havoc across the coast before heading out to sea and doing it all over again, but the Lightning’s killer app proved to be more than up to the task of filling that void.

Ford F-150 Lightning Hurricane Ian

Ferguson was able to use his truck to power his lights, refrigerator, TV, electric stove, fans, record player, and speakers, all in impressive fashion. Even more impressively, Ferguson doesn’t not have the vehicle-to-home charging setup Ford offers in conjunction with Sunrun, which provides more in the way of capability, particularly when paired with solar panels. Regardless, by running only a handful of things in the house, he was able to use precious little power in the process.

Ferguson notes that he used around 10 percent of the truck’s battery in one day, which means that he could have gone 8-9 days if he had needed to before the Lightning battery would have run out of juice. Powering the whole home would obviously make this happen a lot faster – in around three days or so, though the aforementioned upgrade would have helped, too. Regardless, the Ford F-150 Lightning proved to be more than up to the task of keeping Ferguson and his family going for the short time that the power was out, and that makes it one heck of a handy tool to have in the garage.

Photos: Westley Aaron Ferguson

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Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.

He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.

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