PHOTOS BY J. REPAK PRO DU CTIO NS
Comfort Vineyard Hosts Launch of EV Truck BY DAN OKO A S S P R I N G B L O O M E D across the Texas Hill Country, Andy Ivankovich, co-owner of Singing Water Vineyards outside Comfort, received an email from Ford Motor Company. The Michigan-based carmaker behind the world’s most popular pickup truck, the F-150, was looking to introduce the world to the hotly anticipated Ford F-150 Lightning, a fully electric version of its best-selling vehicle. Ford planned to unveil the trucks in San Antonio, the company wanted to be able to show off what the Lightning could offer would-be owners in terms of hauling, towing and off-road capacity. Ivankovich told Ford he was interested in hosting the event, but the vineyard couldn’t offer enough electricity to power the 30 trucks they initially proposed for the demonstration. “We had the iconic Texas Hill Country backdrop they were looking for,” said Ivankovich. “But we didn’t have the infrastructure to charge the vehicles.” Luckily, Bandera Electric Cooperative offered a solution. Under the leadership of BEC CEO Bill Hetherington, BEC has already embraced the increasing number of EVs across its service area. Rapid growth in the EV marketplace, which Hetherington expects to be bolstered by Ford’s well-received and -reviewed, brand-new F-150 Lightning means that by the end of the decade there could be more than 3.4 million electric vehicles driven by Texans. In response to this industry trend, BEC has already installed several public EV charging stations in its service territory and offers members special rates to support overnight EV charging.
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When word spread about Ford’s plan to bring an off-road course to Kendall County, BEC recognized the opportunity to likewise encourage people to reimagine the future of driving. Meanwhile, Ford wanted a national showcase to introduce just what the next generation of F-150s are capable of, including the truck’s capacity to function as a generator for homeowners, run power tools, and provide energy for outdoor enthusiasts who prefer to plug in while camping. The cooperative needed to move fast, though, because Ford’s electric pickups were on their way from Michigan to Texas with media invited, leaving BEC slightly more than two weeks to make sure that Singing Water Vineyards would be ready for them. Hetherington handed the reins for the project over to a crew of BEC managers: John Rush, manager of transmission and distribution operations; Thilo Janssen, manager of engineering; and Justin McKenzie, manager of energy services, who put their heads together with the team from Ford to make sure the event was a success. “The infrastructure needed for the truck chargers was not in place,” Rush said. “We had to design the infrastructure and brought in the transformers we needed, but we were on a compressed timetable, so it ended up being a total team effort.” Ultimately, to charge the Ford F-150 Lightning, BEC ran power lines and installed transformers to provide 4,500 kilowatt-hours. By comparison, the average American home uses about 30 kWh per month. Overall exhibition usage was then tracked with Apolloware, the BEC energy analytics software, which was installed across Singing Water Vineyards.
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6/7/2022 5:50:06 PM
