GM readies its EVs to do more than drive

The country’s biggest automaker said it will turn a significant portion of its cars into backup power sources for homes in the next two years.

GM announced this week that it plans to expand vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging for all electric vehicles on its Ultium platform by model year 2026. That means drivers who own vehicles compatible with GM’s Ultium battery and energy management system will be able to tap their cars for extra power in the event of blackouts or strained energy grids.

The news comes as power companies and government agencies are increasingly experimenting with how such power sharing between cars and homes—as well as between cars and the grid at large—can help relieve utilities taxed by rising energy usage.

PG&E CEO Patti Poppe told Bloomberg that two-way charging from EVs will be “a huge resource” for California’s grid, which has been plagued by wildfires, excessive heat, and other climate-related events.

GM and PG&E last year announced a joint pilot program to test the use of bidirectional charging with GM’s EVs in the utility’s service area, which spans most of northern California and the Central Valley.

The latest rollout is part of the carmaker’s move into home power management products under the banner of its new GM Energy division. First unveiled last year, the unit offers devices and software to support bidirectional charging, as well as batteries and solar panels beyond EVs for residential and commercial customers.

Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy, said in a statement that vehicle-to-home charging would offer “benefits that extend well beyond the vehicle itself.” That’s perhaps an easier sell to consumers than vehicle-to-grid charging, through which drivers could get paid to send energy back into the power grid.

While GM has previously announced that its energy ecosystem would eventually support vehicle-to-grid charging, the company has yet to roll out any products to support that type of power sharing. In addition to California, states like New York, Colorado, and Massachusetts have also initiated pilots to study the effectiveness of bidirectional charging.

The first vehicles to receive the technology will include the 2024 models of the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST, the GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1, the Chevrolet Blazer EV, the Chevrolet Equinox EV, and the Cadillac Lyriq, as well as the new Cadillac Escalade IQ.