Business View Magazine | April/May 2022

11 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 PG&E AND FORD COLLABORATE ON BIDIRECTIONAL ELECTRIC VEHIC CHARGING TECHNOLOGY IN CUSTOMERS’ HOMES Pilot Will Test How Ford F-150 Lightning EV Can Interact with Grid, Support Electric Reliability P acific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Ford Motor Company recently announced a collaboration exploring how Ford’s new F-150 Lightning electric vehicle (EV)—the first commercially available light-duty truck with bidirectional charging technology— can interact with the electric grid and provide electric reliability benefits to PG&E customers. One in five EVs in the country are on the road in PG&E’s service area of Northern and Central California, where customers are often early adopters of new clean energy technologies. PG&E and Ford will test the F-150 Lightning and its Intelligent Backup Power bidirectional charging capabilities in providing backup power for customers’ homes in PG&E’s service area. Intelligent Backup Power, making its debut on the F-150 Lightning, gives customers the ability to use bidirectional power technology from their all-electric truck to provide up to 10 days of power to their homes during an outage, depending on home energy usage. The first installations of Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power are beginning in spring 2022, supported by Sunrun as Ford’s preferred installation partner. Through this early adopter opportunity, PG&E will explore how Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power technology interconnects to the electric grid, which is necessary for the truck’s battery to power the home, and how it can support customer resiliency during grid outages. Additionally, PG&E expects to learn more about the overall customer experience to help inform future collaborations as this emerging OPENING L INES