Owners of all-electric Chevrolets and other GM brands will soon be able to use their cars as backup generators to power their homes during outages or on days of peak demand.
GM said Tuesday it is bringing its two-way vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging technology to its entire line of Ultium-based electric vehicles by the 2026 model year.

Ultium is GM’s new electric platform, which includes a new battery design.

Serves as the basis for the automaker’s electric car plans and underpins a number of future vehicle models.

Ecosystem

“GM Energy’s growing ecosystem of energy management solutions will help accelerate GM’s vision of an all-electric future by further expanding access to the even greater benefits electric vehicles can offer,” said Wade Sheffer, GM Energy vice president.

“By integrating V2H across our Ultio-based portfolio, we’re making this disruptive technology available to more consumers.

Benefits that go beyond the vehicle itself, and on a wider scale than ever before.”

The V2H offering follows a pilot project that began last year with Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California.

The first vehicles to receive this technology will be the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST, 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1.

Cadillac

2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, 2024 Cadillac Lyriq, and the upcoming Cadillac Escalade IQ, which is set to be revealed on the 9th. august

GM’s V2H offering is part of its new business unit called GM Energy, which the company launched in October 2022.

GM Energy is promoting a new line of energy products to homeowners, businesses and companies – everything from stationary energy storage.

Solar through a partnership with SunPower Technologies, and bidirectional charging.

Customers looking to use V2H technology will need to purchase the Ultium Home V2H Bundle, which includes GM’s PowerShift charger and V2H enablement kit.

These hardware products are powered by the GM Energy Cloud software platform, which will allow users to manage the flow of energy between their cars and their home.

Tesla

GM has yet to release pricing for any of its power products. While Tesla doesn’t currently offer bidirectional charging.

GM’s move into energy follows the path set by the Elon Musk-owned company. GM’s stationary storage system is similar to Tesla’s Powerwall product.

Can be powered by the automaker’s solar panels.

Solar power sales saw Tesla’s profit fall in the second quarter, but its energy storage business is booming.”

GM Energy

GM Energy’s growing ecosystem of energy management solutions will help accelerate GM’s vision of an all-electric future by further expanding access to even greater benefits than electric cars can offer,” he said Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy.

“By integrating V2H across our Ultio-based portfolio, we’re making this disruptive technology available to more consumers.

Benefits that go beyond the vehicle itself, and on a wider scale than ever before.”
But the technology holds more promise than just helping out when the grid is down.

It can also help power the home when electricity is expensive, or vehicle owners could potentially use their vehicles as batteries to store solar and wind energy during the day for use at night when it’s not being produced.

Motors plans to help owners manage all of their energy needs with the Ultium Home offering and the “GM Energy Cloud,”.

A software program that helps manage the flow of energy from the vehicle to the home and back.

The automaker said it will release more details about its V2H technology, including the timing of each model’s release, at a later date.

Sources: Techcrunch | Carscoops.com