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. It will also reduce train on the US electric grid and enable use of cleaner energy, while helping ensure homeowner comfort.
This first-of-its-kind collaboration between companies builds on Ford’s intelligent backup power technology to explore customer benefits never before possible with gas-powered vehicles through pairing a smart EV directly with smart home solutions.
Ford is the first in the US to introduce a full-size electric truck capable of bi-directional charging for the home in North America. The F-150 Lightning 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 smartly 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 minimising energy usage during the most expensive hours each day. It will achieve this by automating the home to match a consumers' time-of-use (TOU) 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.
"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," said Bill Crider, head of global charging and energy services, Ford Motor Company. "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."
Project work has begun and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024.
