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Pro Power Onboard Can Deliver Portable Power

There’s no shortage of electric power tools on a job site—from drills and saws to ventilation equipment and heaters. What might be harder to find is a reliable source of electricity. It’s often not as simple as hooking up to the electrical power grid, especially on remote construction sites. Business owners have traditionally relied on alternate power supplies like portable generators to keep projects moving. However, while generators can offer reliable, convenient power, they have drawbacks.

 

Portable generators can be hazardous because they emit carbon monoxide (CO), an odorless, poisonous gas, acute exposure to which can be deadly.1122 According to a report from the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, the rate of CO emissions of the small engines that power portable generators is higher than you might assume and is, in fact, approximately hundreds of times greater than the CO emission rates of gas-powered cars.1122 Accidental CO poisoning claims the lives of at least 420 people in the United States every year.1123

 

Generators also depend on a fuel supply—meaning you need enough propane to power the generator or hook it up to a natural gas line—which creates new problems. According to the California Air Resources Board, an average portable generator running for just one hour produces the same amount of smog-forming pollution as a conventional vehicle driving for 150 miles.1124

 

There are also costs to consider. It costs approximately $5.54 per hour to operate a gas generator. Assuming a workday consists of eight hours and the generator runs for the full workday, that’s about $44.32 per day. It’s easy to see how the cost of running just one portable generator could stack up quickly.

 

Whether you want to help reduce employees’ risk of CO exposure, potentially lower your business’s environmental footprint or cut down on energy costs (or all three), you may be looking for an alternate portable power supply, and Ford ProTM electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to provide it.

 

The Ford F-150® Lightning® truck and E-TransitTM van have an available feature called Pro Power Onboard,527 which helps turn the vehicle into a portable power source. The F-150 Lightning truck offers two different levels of output (standard 2.4 kW and available 9.6 kW) to fit a variety of power needs, while the E-Transit supplies 2.4 kW of power.

a guy looking at a tablet

Using Pro Power Onboard, drivers can turn EVs into portable power sources while working on-site

Pro Power Onboard represents a boon to construction fleets everywhere. Just look at Grade A Construction, a site construction company based in Tennessee. After adding 11 F-150 Lightning trucks to their fleet, workers could plug power tools into truck bed outlets rather than lug around portable generators. “The other day, we pulled up to a job site, and people were actually stopping on the street to look at the Lightning,” said Lance Lannom, Senior VP, Operations at Grade A. “They’d say, ‘Oh my gosh! Are you really running a saw off that thing?’”

 

Workers at Vestas, one of the largest wind turbine producers in North America, had a similar reaction to Pro Power Onboard. “One of the things that technicians were most excited about the new [F-150 Lightning] trucks was Pro Power Onboard,” said Vestas North America Fleet Manager Michael Kraft. “The fact that they can power their tools from the truck without having to deal with a generator is something we’re really looking forward to.”

 

Worried about depleting your vehicle’s range when using Pro Power Onboard on a job site? By setting a high-voltage battery reserve limit on the vehicle’s touchscreen when the vehicle is in park, you can “save” a specific amount of range to ensure your vehicle is able to reach a nearby charger. Once your vehicle reaches the pre-set limit, you’ll receive a notification and Pro Power Onboard will turn off.

 

Beyond the wow factor, using Pro Power Onboard to power devices could make energy cost forecasting easier for long-term projects because electricity prices are more stable than gasoline and diesel prices.1125 Plus, the daily cost to use the Pro Power Onboard feature available on the F-150 Lightning truck ($1.51) is lower than the cost to operate a gas-powered generator ($5.54). That’s a savings of $4.03 per hour, $32.24 per workday and up to $709.28 per month based on current gas and electricity prices compared to a gas-powered generator.1126

 

Finally, let’s say one of your EVs is low on battery or experiencing an outage. Rather than tow the EV, you can use the Pro Power Onboard 240-volt outlet on the F-150 Lightning truck to share range with that EV to get it up and running again.527

 

Adopting EVs has many benefits—including the potential to provide portable power on your job sites. Learn more about the F-150 Lightning truck and E-Transit van’s innovative features that help your commercial fleet get the job done.

Disclosure(s)

  1. 1)

    "Briefing Package on Assessment of Portable Generator Voluntary Standards’ Effectiveness in Addressing CO Hazard, and Information on Availability of Compliant Portable Generators." United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. Feb. 16, 2022. https://cpsc-d8-media-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/Briefing-Package-on-Portable-Generator-Voluntary-Standards.pdf?VersionId=hLnAkKQ6bCD_SKin8RE6Iax.BjZsB5x3

  2. 2)

    "Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning Prevention." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jan. 18, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/copoisoning/index.html

  3. 3)

    "Take Control and Help Clean the Air With Nonpolluting Generator Options." Nov. 7, 2019. California Air Resources Board. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/take-control-and-help-clean-air-nonpolluting-generator-options

  4. 4)

    See Owner's Manual for Important Operating Instructions.

  5. 5)

    Saving Money With Electric Vehicles. Energy.gov. Sept. 26, 2022. https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/articles/saving-money-electric-vehicles

  6. 6)

    Based on standard fuel price and vehicle usage assumptions. Estimated savings based on Q1 2023 average gasoline cost $3.38/gallon, and residential electricity cost of $0.1574/kWh (https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a), F-150® Lightning® truck with available 9.6 kWh Pro Power Onboard vs. a standard 9.6 kWh gasoline generator. Actual savings will vary with conditions such as external elements, fuel price fluctuations, charging habits, and lithium-ion battery age and state of health.