Ford to launch $28,350 Fathom electric truck with built-in bidirectional charging
Ford's upcoming Fathom electric pickup, priced at $28,350, will include integrated bidirectional charging that can supply power to a home during outages, with additional home-energy hardware offered at reduced cost.
Ford announced that its next electric pickup, the Fathom, is slated for release early next year with a starting price of $28,350, well below the current average transaction price for new EVs. The vehicle will feature bidirectional charging, allowing power from its battery to be sent back to a home’s electrical system, potentially keeping lights and appliances running during an outage.
The truck will be built on Ford’s Universal EV Platform, developed with input from the 2023 acquisition Auto Motive Power, and will incorporate the inverter hardware directly into the vehicle. Ford says the system complies with UL 1741 and IEEE 1547 standards and will use the NACS plug type common to many North American EVs. Communication between the vehicle and home charger will follow the SAE J3068 protocol.
"The hardware is built into the truck, reducing the cost of a separate wall-mounted inverter," Ford explained.
While the integrated inverter eliminates the need for a dedicated wall box, owners will still need to install Ford’s Home Power Station to manage energy flow and take advantage of time-of-use pricing. The company estimates the new Home Power Station could cost about $650, roughly half the price of its first-generation counterpart. For full backup capability during outages, customers would also need a Home Backup Power Panel, with the combined hardware expected to cost around $2,000, about 60% less than the previous generation’s $5,000 package.