Ford's $28,350 Fathom to Offer Built-In Bidirectional Home Charging
Ford's $28,350 Fathom EV adds built-in 10 kW home charging, but backup and rate management need extra hardware.
The hardware that converts the battery's DC energy to an estimated 10 kW of AC home power will be built into the truck, so owners will not need a separate wall-mounted inverter box. The Fathom will be based on Ford's Universal EV Platform, developed with help from the automaker's 2023 acquisition of startup Auto Motive Power, and bidirectional power was part of the design from the start, according to the report.
Ford says the system will meet all applicable UL 1741 requirements and IEEE 1547 standards to ensure the vehicle can be safely connected to the grid. The report said all signs point to the Fathom using the NACS plug type pioneered by Tesla and now widely adopted by new EVs in North America. Communication between the wall box and the vehicle's onboard charger will use SAE J3068, a software protocol developed for high-power, heavy-duty AC charging.
The built-in inverter does not remove the need for additional home hardware. Owners who want outage backup or the Home Power Management feature, which draws energy into the Fathom's battery when power is cheapest and uses it to offset peak-hour consumption, will need at least the Ford Home Power Station installed at additional cost. Ford has not specified pricing for the unit.
The automaker says it is working to reduce costs and expects the Home Power Station alone to cost half as much as the first-generation Ford Home Energy system, which debuted at around $1,300. That could put the new component at roughly $650, according to the report.