Ford wants to make powering your home with an EV a lot cheaper. Its upcoming sub-$30,000 Fathom electric truck will feature a new bidirectional charging system that ditches the need for an expensive external inverter.

Arriving in 2027, the Fathom will be the first EV from a US automaker priced below $30,000 that can deliver more than 10 kW of AC power to a home without a separate wall-mounted inverter.

And Ford says it’s cutting the cost of the other equipment needed for home backup power, too.

EV batteries store electricity as direct current (DC), but our homes use alternating current (AC). To send power from an EV battery into a house, traditionally, that meant installing a pricey external inverter.

Ford has come up with a different approach for its new Universal EV Platform, which will underpin the Fathom.

After acquiring startup Auto Motive Power in 2023, Ford redesigned its bidirectional charging system from the ground up. Instead of relying on a separate wall-mounted inverter, it built one directly into the truck’s E-box, one of the vehicle’s five main modules.

Fewer parts mean lower costs, and Ford says the savings will extend to the home charging equipment, too.

Fathom owners will have two ways to use the truck’s battery to power their homes.

Home Power Management will let owners charge their truck when electricity rates are low, then use that stored power at home when rates are higher. That could mean real savings for households on time-of-use electricity plans. They’ll need Ford’s new Home Power Station, which the company expects to cost about half as much as its first-generation bidirectional charger.

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