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Honda's Getting Ready for a New, High-Tech, Long-Range EV Powerhouse

Honda’s thinking ahead. It may have missed the initial EV hype, but with its next battery-powered car that won’t happen. This new patent shows a meticulous approach, one that puts technology and energy efficiency on top of everything else – for now. Priorities might shift later as development advances.
Honda e:n GT Concept 6 photos
Photo: Honda Global on YouTube
Honda ConceptHonda e:nHonda e:n SUV ConceptHonda e:n GT ConceptHonda Concept
According to a recently disclosed USPTO filing, Honda is looking to protect its invention that makes the EV you might soon own an important part of how the energy consumption and production are managed.

Essentially, the automaker found a way to integrate the car into the home’s energy network. It provides multiple uses and can even be of help when power’s out.

Maybe right now the electrical wiring of a building, storing electricity, and investing in making sure a household can make its own renewable energy is not such an important topic. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not currently that interested in learning how to transform my home into a sustainable one that can disconnect from the grid. Even more so, I’m not looking into becoming a ‘prosumer’ – the term used for identifying those that have set up ways of generating electricity from solar or wind. It’s still expensive and requires a lot of learning, a lot of getting used to new devices.

But I also know that soon changes will have to be made regarding this aspect. We’re heading towards an electrified future, where without power there’s nothing you can really do as a proactive member of an urban society. At some point, we’ll all want solar panels on the roofs of our houses. It’s just a matter of time.

And that’s why Honda’s effort seems to me like a good idea, one that reflects Japanese care and planning for the future. It’s true that their Honda e wasn’t a big hit because it came with a small battery. But besides this, the car was truly good. It had a cute design, a practical interior, and it was packed with useful technologies for a reasonable price. Given all this, it’s natural for the carmaker to start over with what it learned and to do it properly this time.

Why a new EV?

Well, it just makes sense. There’s no reason to invest in an old product. Honda e can’t become in its current form something that can easily use this new technology.

Honda Concept
Photo: Honda Global on YouTube
The patent shows that the battery of an EV can be utilized as a part of a facility’s energy network by simply connecting it through a power management apparatus. This implies the existence of a computer that analyzes if the car’s battery needs recharging. If that’s the case, then it can route electricity towards the car.

If the owner desired to have the battery fully charged, then that will have happened. If the human preferred only 80%, then the 20% left could be used in other ways, like storing energy for the house that can be used later to power the building.

It’s not an entirely new concept, as we’ve seen before technologies like vehicle-to-load (V2L) which transforms an EV into a generator. What’s awesome here is that Honda took its time to create another use for the electric car: storage of energy. This helps people that have solar panels, for example. Electricity captured during the day can be used after the Sun’s gone, which means there’s no need to consume power from the grid. Monthly bills automatically get cheaper.

Why a high-tech EV?

The same patent is telling us that Honda’s new power management apparatus will come with a lot of sensors, powerful computers, and a lot of programming. A system like this can’t come cheap, if you’re looking into making it suitable for different kinds of homes without major modifications being needed.

Automatically, the car that’ll serve the abovementioned purposes will have to know how to properly communicate with these units and it’ll need fail-safe measures in place. Moreover, there’s clearly a need for proper enhancements that can make this vehicle attractive to prospective buyers.

So, even if we don’t know anything about Honda’s future high-tech EV, it will clearly be one as such.

Why a long-range EV?

Having a car that can take you places, then back home where it turns into a generator, or a storage facility calls for a generous and advanced battery pack. It must be able to do the miles, play the role of an electricity “silo”, and support all the charges and discharges. This puts a toll on the cells, and that’s why they need to hold at least 75 kWh to maybe even 100 kWh or more as a pack.

There’s more to this technology, and if you want to get all the details, then you can check the patent filing attached down below.

Until further news come from Honda, we can keep our faith in the brand. It’ll bring us something good sooner rather than later.
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Editor's note: Gallery shows photos of cars or concept cars that are currently confirmed only for the Chinese market.

 Download: Honda USPTO Filing (PDF)

About the author: Florin Amariei
Florin Amariei profile photo

Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one.
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