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The answer is a resounding yes. Its Pro Power Onboard generator system is easy to use and outperforms comparable systems in trucks that are much more expensive.
Ford’s F-150 Lightning is one of its most heavily anticipated vehicles since, well, ever. While the Blue Oval isn’t the first automaker to enter the electric truck genre (that’s its closest rival, the Rivian R1T) its first attempt has the makings of being one of the best—and most affordable. One of the Lightning’s biggest talking points is its ability to stand in as a mobile generator. Here’s a quick comparison of battery capacity and how much power each truck can draw in any given instant.
Regardless, Ford has advertised that its F-150 Lightning can provide emergency power to your residence during an outage. And it can. But there’s some assembly required if you want a more integrated solution than simply running an extension cord from the truck to your appliances. We focused our testing on the truck’s capabilities as a mobile generator, driving to a remote parking lot with as many electronics as we could find to see how far we could push its 96-kWh battery.
Ford isn’t afraid of a bit of show and tell when it comes to the Lightning’s ability to stand in as a portable power bank. Via the three-prong outlets in the frunk, bed, and even the interior, we tested out what sort of electronics and appliances the truck could run—and for how long. You’ll see later that this culminated with a custom-built gaming PC with a 1,200-watt power supply.
This all starts with having Ford’s 80-amp home charger installed in your residence, along with the required transfer switch that disconnects your home from the grid—only when the power goes out. The charger comes standard with the extended-range F-150 Lightning and is available as an optional extra with the base-model truck. Ford says its all-electric pickup can keep the power going for up to three days, power a construction site for three days, or give an electric saw enough charge to cut up to 30 miles of plywood.
The F-150 Lightning has more than enough auxiliary power to drive basic appliances like an electric stove or coffeemaker for days on end. The standard all-electric pickup has a 91-kWh battery, while the extended-range truck has an even bigger 131-kWh pack. To offer some perspective, that’s enough for the truck to charge itself.
And as we found out during our testing, the vehicle could cope with quite a lot of demand without ever breaking a sweat—and do so for quite a long time. Our testing involved completing an “hour of power” stress test at maximum load and then calculating the theoretical maximum run time. We found that run times are indeed measured in days, not hours.
In giving the F-150 Lightning’s generator a workout, we started simple. I made myself coffee, charged my phone, and kept cool with a small house fan. Unsurprisingly, this was easy for the truck and drew so little power that it didn’t even register in the “Generator” readout on the 15.5-inch infotainment system, which relays metrics like remaining range and power draw. This means that you shouldn’t fret at the campsite if you have to fire up an electric stove.
After having my coffee outside the cab, I hopped behind the driver's seat and plugged in my laptop to get some work done. This drew a maximum of just above 95 watts before my laptop was fully charged, meaning the truck could theoretically charge my laptop nearly 100 times before running out of juice. This also gave me an opportunity to test out the foldable shifter and center console, which was super easy to deploy and created a surprisingly spacious area for me to knock out some work.
The process of going from center console to mobile workstation begins with putting the truck into park. Once the shifter is in its forward-most position, there’s a nearby button that allows it to tuck neatly into the transmission tunnel. Finally, the center console flips forward to give you more than enough space to plop a laptop down or even have a meal—if you’re so inclined to eat inside your car.
As a PC gaming fanatic, I was curious from the day we got the F-150 Lightning if it could host a LAN party with multiple people. I’m pleased to report that it easily ran my custom-built PC—fitted with a 1,200-watt power supply. Even at full load running games like Assetto Corsa Competizione at maximum graphics settings, the computer was only drawing around 800 watts of power.
Our standard-range truck—fitted with the smaller 98-kWh battery—is capable of running this highly-demanding gaming computer for just over five days; the bigger 131-kWh battery pack in the extended range pickup could keep it running for just under seven. We didn’t have another gaming PC to further stress the truck’s output, but it could easily handle another similarly equipped computer.
After this simulated hour of power was complete, the truck’s range had only depleted about 2 miles—161 down to 159. Initially, I was worried about running out of juice before having to head back to home base. However, Ford has thought of this. There’s an onboard facility that can cut the auxiliary power once you’ve depleted the battery past a set point. For example, if you have a 100-mile journey back home, you can tell the truck to cut power to everything that’s plugged in when you have 120 miles of charge left.
Outside of the nifty features, I was really impressed by the battery capacity. It sort of makes sense really, as when the battery pack isn’t driving both axles of the truck, it can be used as one massive power bank. With 98 kWh of usable juice in the Standard Battery and 131 in the Extended-Range, you really would have power for days on end in the case of an emergency or weekend fo camping if you rationed it properly.