The Ford F-150 Lightning can be used as a backup generator with this $3,895 system

Ford’s F-150 Lightning isn’t the first all-electric pickup truck, but it’s the first you can add to your smart home as a backup generator.

It now appears the cost could be even less expensive than a gas generator after Ford’s charging and energy services director, Matt Stover, said in a since-deleted LinkedIn post this week that a Home Integration System would cost $3,895.

This system includes an inverter, a transfer switch, and a small battery to run the system when your home loses power. The Lightning’s Intelligent Backup Power feature also requires the 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro, a bidirectional home charging station that’s a standard feature in all Lightnings with the Extended Range battery pack.

But buyers of the bargain-basement Lightning with the Standard Range battery pack can purchase the charge station for $1,310, bringing the total cost of elevating a budget electric pickup into a backup generator to $5,205, plus installation costs. Remember, the base-level Lighting starts at $39,974, with a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit dropping the effective price to $32,474. That’s before state rebates of up to $3,500.

The Intelligent Backup Power system, once installed, provides up to 9.6kW of backup power. A fully charged Lightning could power the average home for several days during an extended power outage.

Can you wait three years? If you order now, that’s the expected wait time. Already, Ford has more than 200,000 reservations for the electric pickup. The company, which started production last week, expects to build 15,000 Lightning pickups by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, start dreaming about integrating your Ford backup system with your Sunrun solar panels. Sunrun, which happens to be Ford’s preferred installer of Lightning home charging systems, says it can integrate its solar panels with Ford’s backup system. Cost is expected to start at about $16,000.