LOS ANGELES - KB Home, a major American homebuilder, announced it will begin offering an option to pre-wire its new custom homes to accommodate charging stations for homeowners' electric vehicles. 

This new option is "designed to ease the future installation of a station to charge an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle conveniently at home," the company said. The pre-wire option is now available to KB Home homebuyers nationwide. 

"KB Home is building new homes that are relevant to the way homebuyers are living -- now and in the future," said Jeffrey Mezger, president and CEO of KB Home. 

The Rocky Mountain Institute recently launched Project Get Ready, a program that aims to help communities prepare for and support plug-in vehicles. 

"It is critical for the mass adoption of electric vehicles to have companies like KB Home leading the industry by offering this pre-wire option, as the majority of electric vehicle charging will be done at home overnight," said Matt Mattila, project manager for Project Get Ready. "Not only is it convenient, but when managed correctly, charging overnight, at home, will put less strain on the grid than opportunity day-time charging at public charging stations."