Some Texans weather the storm with the help of their Ford, Tesla pickup truck

The winter storm that devastated much of Texas this week left millions of residents without water or electricity – but some people were able to keep lights and heaters on thanks to vehicles capable of providing emergency power.

Ford even asked dealers in Texas to loan out the new F-150 PowerBoost, a hybrid version of its full-size truck that can deliver up to 7.2 kilowatts of power from an integrated generator.

“It was a lifeline,” Jerry Hall, a campaign retiree from Kerrville, Texas, told NBC News. “It gave us all the amenities. We weren’t sitting in the dark, isolated.

The storm that hit Texas last weekend dumped both ice and snow in an area unaccustomed to severe winter storms. Due to a combination of factors, the state’s energy grid has been largely bypassed, leaving millions of residents without power.

When Hall’s power went out last Sunday, he propped up his new Ford truck in his garage and began rolling out the extension cords. He had purchased the hybrid version of the F-150 specifically to get the built-in generator – which he had planned to use for camping or to operate power tools remotely.

“I had no idea I was going to end up needing it for something like this,” storm, he said over the phone.

The optional generator – which Ford calls the Pro Power Onboard system – ran for three days before its power was turned back on. It provided enough power to operate a refrigerator, freezer, lights, cable and internet box, and a television.

Hall had a fireplace large enough to keep his little house comfortable. But Randy Jones, of Katy, Texas, said his home would soon have frozen without his own F-150 PowerBoost, which he used to power heaters, as well as lights and appliances.

“It has been a blessing to me and my neighbors,” Jones said, adding that he let the neighbors go through to plug their phones and other devices into a power strip he installed.

Earlier this week, Ford contacted its Texas dealerships to see if they could help local residents.

“Due to the urgent and unprecedented weather situation in Texas, a number of our local dealerships are using the all-new Ford F-150s equipped with Pro Power Onboard to help their communities,” the automaker said in a statement. “About 415 trucks are part of this effort.”

Ford’s new F-150 isn’t the only truck that can work as a generator, but other optional systems have been limited to around 2 kilowatts, barely enough to power a single electric heater and a few LED bulbs.

Ford isn’t the only automaker to receive kudos for helping out in the storm. A Reddit user called Razzooz posted a note saying “My Tesla kept my family from freezing last night.” The family, including a newborn daughter, were able to sleep in the garage car to stay warm without worrying about carbon monoxide poisoning. “If I hadn’t had this car it would have been a very difficult night,” the Redditor wrote.

Other Texans took to social media to praise Tesla’s Powerwall battery backup system, which kept the lights and heat on.

The California-based automaker has announced plans to offer a two-way charging system that could access energy stored in the vehicle, much like a back-up generator, if the lights go out. And it is not alone. Nissan and several other EV makers are developing similar systems that could help deliver power to both individual homes, even the entire grid, during blackouts and brownouts.