Ford F-150 PowerBoost Used to Power Home During Blackout

Power outages began to spread throughout Texas beginning on February 14th, 2021, as unprecedented winter storms and record-breaking, Arctic-level freezing temperatures hit the traditionally warm Southern state. During the week following February 14th, all 254 counties throughout the state of Texas were issued severe winter storm warnings. The deep freeze in Texas led to an incredibly high energy demand that Texas’s power grid was unable to handle as Texans tried desperately to keep themselves warm when faced with freezing temperatures outside their doors. This led to widespread electrical blackouts throughout the state for several days.

Millions of Texans were left without any power in their homes throughout the week of February 14th. This was an extremely dangerous situation considering the freezing temperatures the state was experiencing during that time, and it tragically led many Texans to freeze to death in their own homes. It is estimated that more than 20 people throughout Texas died from hypothermia or other temperature-related causes simply because they were unable to heat their homes due to the widespread power outages throughout Texas during the state’s deep freeze. 

While the deaths of Texas residents due to freezing temperatures paired with power outages are all incredibly tragic, many Texans, fortunately, found creative ways to heat their homes and keep themselves and their families safe and warm as they waited out the state’s deep freeze and widespread electrical blackouts.

Interestingly enough, the 2021 Ford F-150 was utilized by hundreds of Texans to heat their homes when they had no other source of electricity. This pickup truck was able to be used as a source of heat for many Texans because it is available with a built-in power generator. Keep reading to learn more about this power generator and how hundreds of Texan residents used their Ford F-150 pickup trucks to heat their homes and potentially save their own lives and those of their neighbors throughout Texas’s deep freeze during the week of February 14th, 2021. 

About Pro Power Onboard 

Pro Power Onboard is a built-in power generator that is available for the 2021 Ford F-150 pickup truck models. This power generator is designed to allow F-150 drivers to run anything from power tools to mini-fridges while on the go. The level of power that the Pro Power Onboard generator is able to produce depends on the F-150 model, but certain 2021 F-150 models can run their generator continuously for up to 32 hours on a single tank of gas and generate up to 7.2 kW of power using their built-in Pro Power Onboard generator. 

How Residents Used Pro Power Onboard During the Texas Deep Freeze 

Pro Power Onboard-equipped 2021 F-150 trucks are able to generate enough power to heat at least one room of a home. Many Texans huddled together in their homes around a singular electrical heater powered by their F-150 pickup trucks in order to keep themselves safe and warm despite the Arctic-level freezing temperatures and the severe winter storms that were raging outside their houses. 

Texas Ford dealerships also contributed to the disaster relief efforts during the Texas deep freeze by lending out more than 400 of their Pro Power Onboard-equipped F-150 work trucks to help Texans power their homes during the state’s unprecedented deep freeze following the week of February 14th. 

As the deep freeze in Texas has begun to lift and temperatures have begun to rise, power has returned to most of Texas and many Texas residents have reported on their experiences using their own F-150 pickup trucks to generate power for their homes. 

One elderly man whose home is located just outside Houston during Texas’s deep freeze used his 2021 F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid pickup truck to power appliances in his house to keep himself and his family warm and fed. This man’s home was left without any power for four full days as temperatures outside his house dropped to as low as 9 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In addition to powering appliances in his own home to keep himself and his family safe and warm, this elderly man also used his 2021 F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid pickup truck to generate power for his neighbors’ appliances in order to ensure that his neighbors and their families remained safe through the electrical blackout as well. 

While the deep freeze in Texas was tragic and caused many unnecessary deaths, it also demonstrated the extremely creative solutions people are able to come up with when faced with life-threatening situations and showed the kindness and generosity of many Texans—such as the elderly man who used his own truck to help power appliances not only within his own home but in the homes of his neighbors as well.

For more info on the F-150 and the PowerBoost, check out out site. 

Tags: F-150, Ford, PowerBoost
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