Honda Launches Smart Home Project

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Right around the same time as Ford and KB Home teamed up to launch a smart home pilot project, Honda launched one of its own — Honda Smart Home US. Solar panels on the home in Davis, CA, will be used to charge a Honda Fit EV.

From the construction on, the project is being documented and shared via the Honda Smart Home US website.

Aside from the solar panels and EV, the home will include several energy efficiency components, and as a result will use “less than half of the energy of a similarly sized new home in the Davis area for heating, cooling, and lighting.”

Of course, it will also allow for better monitoring and control than a normal home.

Aside from the solar panels, it will include a Honda Energy Management System “that will actively manage energy use and communicate with the homeowner and utility provider, allowing the home to maximize its energy efficiency while responding to the needs of the electrical grid, thereby minimizing the impacts of solar generation and electric vehicle charging on the utility grid;” High-efficiency HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and Lighting System designed by UC Davis; and other green home goods such a passive design and green building materials.

Also, here’s an interesting component: the PV system will be able to directly charge the EV, avoiding DE-to-AC and AC-to-DC conversions that would result in some efficiency losses.

California apparently has a goal of implementing a requirement to have all new homes to be “net zero energy” by 2020. This project should help to demonstrate that such homes are not only possible, but more practical.

The home should be built by the end of the year.

This article originally appeared on EV Obsession.