Nic Antaya/Getty Images
- Two married Ford engineers used their Ford F-150 hybrid truck as a generator at an August wedding.
- Harish Thiruvengadam and Swetha Shailendra joined their EV to the venue's light and sound systems.
- The bride told The Detroit Free Press that the trick let the party continue "until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A couple saved a Michigan wedding reception during a power outage by plugging the lights and music speakers into their Ford F-150 hybrid pickup truck.
Harish Thiruvengadam and Swetha Shailendra, two married Ford engineers, stepped in to save the party when the power cut out at the August 11 wedding at around 10 p.m., The Detroit Free Press first reported.
Stormy weather had already delayed the Farmington Hills reception by nearly two hours, according to the report.
"The groom was ready to call it a night. There was no other option. Then I remembered the PowerBoost," Thiruvengadam, a mechanical engineer at Ford, told The Detroit Free Press. "I backed the truck up onto the lawn, took the cords, and stretched them across the lawn."
Shailendra works as an advanced connected vehicle engineer at Ford, per the report.
Thiruvengadam plugged multiple cables for the outdoor lights and sound system into power strips, which he then hooked up to the pickup truck's outlets. The couple had already used their truck to power some appliances at their home a few days earlier during another blackout, they told the publication.
Read more: Experts say many electric car startups are doomed to fail - but these 5 are built to last
Rachna Nanda Kumar, the bride, said the simple hack was "amazing," and that "everybody was just getting into their groove and, with the help of the F-150, the party lasted until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m."
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a tweet Wednesday that he loved "seeing the F-150 save the day," and shared a video of the moment the pickup truck's power turned the lights back on at the wedding:
-Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) August 18, 2021
This is not the first time a Ford F-150 hybrid truck has helped restore power during an outage. Randy Jones, another F-150 owner, used the vehicle to power his Texas home during blackout in February. He told Fox Business that he ran the generator for 10- to 12-hours a day over a three-day period, powering a refrigerator, freezer, and TV, as well as other appliances.
The 2021 F-150 hybrid pickup starts at $73,105, and includes a Pro Power Onboard which can turn the vehicle into a generator with a 7.2kW output, according to the automaker's website.