Home Integration Kit Data and Pricing For F-150 Lightning = $3,700

[Sklith]

I'd need more for a crypto farm, but that's not a bad idea for the heat generation alone.

When I first installed my first system (10kW) I averaged 20-25kWh/day of usage, which is in line with the national average. That comes out to roughly 8-9mWh/year.

Since then, I've moved my entire home to electrical. We're talking septic pump, well pump, hot water heater, 7-tons of AC/Heat Pump, stovetop, washer/dryer, oven, and 3 EVs. Literally everything is electrical with zero consumption of oil, gas, natural gas, propane, etc.

To keep up, I had to bump up my solar output and as a result my 50kW of solar produces roughly 55mWh/year or an average of 150kWh/day. The EVs take the most energy, we do on average 200 miles a day between all the cars at an average of 400Wh/mi. That's 80kWh/day just to charge the cars - assuming no efficiency losses. The reality is it's closer to 100kWh/day to charge all the cars.

At some point there will need to be one more car for the other kid and I will need to add another 15kW of solar on top of what I have currently. Space is becoming a problem...

This owns so much.

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[adoublee]

To keep up, I had to bump up my solar output and as a result my 50kW of solar produces roughly 55mWh/year or an average of 150kWh/day.

Don't short change yourself - 55MWh/year not mWh/year. You're well above milliwatts and into the megas.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Don't short change yourself - 55MWh/year not mWh/year. You're well above milliwatts and into the megas.

I was always terrible with those units. I should have just said - I make a buttload of energy per year!

 

[Griddlez]

3700$; I wonder how much it'll cost to get the lines ran and that installed on top of the 3700.

 

[jefro]

$500 plus for material maybe. $1000 a day rate??

 

[sotek2345]

$500 plus for material maybe. $1000 a day rate??

If you are running the 100A circuit for charging, material costs will be significantly higher than that.

 

[2wheeltraveler]

Yes it does. The PV would go directly into this inverter.

So if I'm understanding this properly, my current SolarEdge Inverter for a pre-existing Solar install will need to be replaced by this system and there is no way to re-use what I already have invested in?

If so, what types of data and analytics are available on the replacement platform and is an API available? SolarEdge has a great interface and it has an API that ties into my HomeAssistant home automation platform (red / green on a dashboard for example on over / under production, helps family know when NOT to use high energy devices)

 

[jefro]

"100A circuit for charging" Yes, correct, I was only thinking about the final components.

 

[rlbussard]

Car to share one?

This product while expensive just to get back-up power from the Lightning, is pretty innovative.

- It is a 10kW solar inverter
- It DC couples solar
- It has two ~10kW DC-DC converters
- It essentially has two battery ports with DC-DC converter to unify
- Supports HV batteries (a pro and con with most market options 48V)
- EVSE port looks bidirectional even though Ford has said Lighting will not charge on the DC pins of the 80APro charge connection
- Some form of UL9540 compliance or listing for safety
- Bluetooth low energy, optional wifi, and 4G communications ( 3G already out of date)
- Support of AP Systems and Tigo rapid shutdown systems for solar

Questions remain like:

- Does this price include the MID, dark start battery, and cellular connection the Playbook described as coming with the HIS, or is this just the main component of the HIS.
- Is the "dark start battery" described in the Playbook required to be at least 5kWh like spec sheet describes for the battery connection port with no DC-DC converter (DC -grid forming voltage). That is a lot of capacity to have to buy.
- What are the MID specs/configuration. Does it include an auto transformer to get 120VAC from the 240VAC produced in off-grid mode.

I already have 26 solar panels with 2 DC inverters on the side of my house. Will I have to get two more inverters to make this work? It is already pretty crowded on that side where my current 60amp charger is located that I am replacing with the 80amp when the Lightning gets here. If I have to add 2 more of those to get home integration, that might just be too much stuff on that wall for me to move forward on the HI. At that point I will just get the charger replaced.

 

[adoublee]

I already have 26 solar panels with 2 DC inverters on the side of my house. Will I have to get two more inverters to make this work? It is already pretty crowded on that side where my current 60amp charger is located that I am replacing with the 80amp when the Lightning gets here. If I have to add 2 more of those to get home integration, that might just be too much stuff on that wall for me to move forward on the HI. At that point I will just get the charger replaced.

If you don't want to reconfigure your entire system and instead keep your existing inverters, you would need to AC couple them which means the outputs of those need to connect in somewhere on the "DC to AC" converter block seen in the data sheet (into the home wiring, as they are already wired). However, it is still unclear how the new hardware will react if the solar is producing more power than the home uses during a grid outage - it could potentially adjust phasing on the line to try and tell the existing inverters to reduce their output, put charge into the Lightning battery, or get angry and shut down. These are integration items not yet documented and Ford deferring to Sunrun (or hopefully local qualified integrator) to address.

 

[RLXXI]

Cost, size and orientation.

It was about half the price to do a ground installation vs a roof installation. Then I factored in my 15 year roof would need replacing in about 10 years and it would cost $10,000 to uninstall and reinstall the panels at that point.

My roof also maxed out at about 12kW of panels. I could load the front side as well but I’d be paying for extra panels without the same output. On the ground they’re due south. My frontside would face northeast and would produce less than half what they do on the ground.

Id like to be completely on solar if possible but it’s got to work out financially too

I C said the blond man. my system is leased. When I had them installed they had a program where I donate my tax credit to an investor which in turn pays a company for parts and labor to hook it all up and costs me $0.00.

The lease part comes in just under $50/mnth and covers maintenance of the system, in the event of a failure for any reason be it faulty equipment to a hail storm to a neighbor delinquent tossing a brick up there, they will take care of all damage replacement.

In the event I need to install a new roof they will come out, take the system down to let me deal with the roof then come back and reinstall it completely under warranty.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

I C said the blond man. my system is leased. When I had them installed they had a program where I donate my tax credit to an investor which in turn pays a company for parts and labor to hook it all up and costs me $0.00.

The lease part comes in just under $50/mnth and covers maintenance of the system, in the event of a failure for any reason be it faulty equipment to a hail storm to a neighbor delinquent tossing a brick up there, they will take care of all damage replacement.

In the event I need to install a new roof they will come out, take the system down to let me deal with the roof then come back and reinstall it completely under warranty.

Thats not a bad deal. In my state, leasing generally isn’t worth it. There are state incentives for owned systems in addition to the federal credit.

I get a credit for approximately $225/MWh generated. With my system, that’s approximately $11,000/year in income for the next 15 years…

 

[rlbussard]

If you don't want to reconfigure your entire system and instead keep your existing inverters, you would need to AC couple them which means the outputs of those need to connect in somewhere on the "DC to AC" converter block seen in the data sheet (into the home wiring, as they are already wired). However, it is still unclear how the new hardware will react if the solar is producing more power than the home uses during a grid outage - it could potentially adjust phasing on the line to try and tell the existing inverters to reduce their output, put charge into the Lightning battery, or get angry and shut down. These are integration items not yet documented and Ford deferring to Sunrun (or hopefully local qualified integrator) to address.

Thank you for that. I guess we will see what happens. I will let Sun Run come out and look at my setup to see what they can do with it. Worse case, I just upgrade the 60amp charger and be done. In 4 years, I have only had 1 time that my electricity had been down for longer than an hour. That was last February during the great freeze. So it is not a necessity for me to have this feature at the cost of putting 2 more inverters up.

 

[adoublee]

Car to share one?

This product while expensive just to get back-up power from the Lightning, is pretty innovative.

- It is a 10kW solar inverter
- It DC couples solar
- It has two ~10kW DC-DC converters
- It essentially has two battery ports with DC-DC converter to unify
- Supports HV batteries (a pro and con with most market options 48V)
- EVSE port looks bidirectional even though Ford has said Lighting will not charge on the DC pins of the 80APro charge connection
- Some form of UL9540 compliance or listing for safety
- Bluetooth low energy, optional wifi, and 4G communications ( 3G already out of date)
- Support of AP Systems and Tigo rapid shutdown systems for solar

Questions remain like:

- Does this price include the MID, dark start battery, and cellular connection the Playbook described as coming with the HIS, or is this just the main component of the HIS.
- Is the "dark start battery" described in the Playbook required to be at least 5kWh like spec sheet describes for the battery connection port with no DC-DC converter (DC -grid forming voltage). That is a lot of capacity to have to buy.
- What are the MID specs/configuration. Does it include an auto transformer to get 120VAC from the 240VAC produced in off-grid mode.

More data is posted in the downloads tab. The MID and dark start battery ARE included. The dark start battery is just a 9.6VDC/216Wh LFP package with 10 year warranty - apparently not using up the 350V-450V "battery" input of the multi-mode inverter (that will be available for additional HV stationary energy storage DC battery). MID is 200A rated and includes autotransformer allowing maximum of 30A imbalance between (2) 120V voltage legs when isolated from grid. Appears MID is arranged to charge the dark start battery, and might be the only component that needs it's power during transitions. MID and dark start battery are in 3R enclosures. Not to shabby, especially for those that don't already have solar or stationary battery and are interested in installing!

 

[Undisclosed]

I am still really interested in this solution but I doubt I will want/able to add enough solar. Where could you fit a fuel generator into this setup?

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