Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn and home comfort solutions provider Resideo Technologies Inc. in Arizona are working on a joint simulation project to explore vehicle-to-home energy management.
The project is designed to explore the potential of electric vehicle batteries to support optimal home energy management. It will explore, test, and quantify the customer benefits of pairing bi-directional EV charging with a Resideo smart thermostat to help customers potentially save money on monthly electric bills, reduce strain on the U.S. electric grid, and enable use of cleaner energy, while helping ensure homeowner comfort.
“Driving electric is unlocking an entirely new world of personal energy management that could not only save our customers time and money, but also help support a more sustainable energy grid,” says Bill Crider, head of global charging and energy services at Ford. “Successful vehicle-to-home energy management solutions would give Ford EV drivers as well as utilities and power companies the confidence to accelerate future vehicle-to-grid services never-before thought possible with traditional vehicles.”
Illinois-based First Alert also is involved in the simulation, providing security and safety, and load management programs.
Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup already has the capability to power the home in the event of an outage through available Intelligent Backup Power. The EV Home Power Partnership project will simulate the integration of Resideo’s smart thermostats with the energy stored in the battery on the F-150 Lightning, which can be coordinated to help power the home’s heating and cooling systems.
The project is designed to assess how coordination of bi-directional EV and a smart thermostat can reduce the overall energy needed by the home during times of electric grid stress while minimizing energy usage during the most expensive hours each day by automating the home to match a consumers’ Time-of-Use electricity rate. Additionally, it also will assess how the coordination between the battery and smart thermostat can enable a system to leverage cleaner energy from the grid if renewable energy is readily available.
Electric vehicle battery storage can play an integral role in helping stabilize the electric grid, the companies say, allowing homeowners to remain comfortable during power outages or other energy events as well as save customers money by utilizing stored energy during peak demand, when energy costs tend to be higher.
Ford and Resideo are envisioning the possibilities when electric vehicles and homes can share the same energy source and can smartly interact with each other for the benefit of the customer and the electric grid.
“The two largest contributors to an individual’s carbon-emission footprint are usually their car and the heating and cooling of their home,” says Dana Huth, executive vice president and chief revenue officer at Resideo. “With this EV Power Partnership project, we can discover new ways for F-150 Lightning owners to utilize their EV battery to power their home’s heating and cooling and to help build a home energy management strategy that can optimize their home’s comfort and energy use.
“By creating energy-efficient ecosystems between trusted global brands, our Resideo Grid Services team can help ensure a more resilient electric grid for the community, prepare it for more renewables and deliver energy savings for consumers.”
Project work has begun and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024.
