GM Energy sees EV maker enter electricity provider market

GM is spreading its wings into the energy market in rather unusual style. The company announced a formation of Ultium Home and Ultium Commercial, both new business will be combined with already existing Ultium Charge 360 and form a new subsidiary called simply GM Energy.

In simple terms, GM Energy will offer complete energy management, either for home or for a business. The services it will encompass are quite interesting - the solutions will include bi-directional charging, V2H (vehicle-to-home) applications and V2G (vehicle-to-grid) applications. There will be hydrogen cells and energy storage solutions, solar products and cloud management tools and even microgrid services.

This is a big move for GM, clearly the company has been watching Tesla closely and decided the time is right to jump in. GM Energy will create an entire energy ecosystem with electric cars expected to play a vital part. Main goal presented by the company is to give its customers full control of their energy needs and mitigate issues caused by power outages.

GM Energy will allow its customers to sell energy from electric cars and from stationary storage back to the grid during peak times. It’s a great idea and a very simple solution to balance the grid and avoid blackouts.

The company will offer Energy Services Cloud which will be a control portal for all the services, it will have all the data and energy management tools and will allow customers to connect all energy assets as and when required.

Energy Services Cloud is already managing numerous charging programs for electric car customers that involve multiple utility companies from across the US. GM confirmed that a number of major companies have already agreed to work with GM Energy and will provide their services through the new outfit and will accept energy from customers as well.

First result of the collaboration will be a total home solution offered by SunPower to Chevrolet Silverado EV buyers from next year. GM and SunPower will develop a complete solar setup with integrated EV charging and energy storage which will be available from next year.

Collaboration between GM Energy and Pacific Gas and Electric Company will offer first V2H services (vehicle-to-home). The rollout is expected for some time in 2023 after both companies finalise the testing stage. The list of companies wanting to work with GM Energy already includes Con Edison, Graniterock and New Hampshire Electric Cooperative.

It actually is huge news, many people will say that Tesla offers solar panels and energy storage already - yes, absolutely right. GM is the first legacy automaker to go all-in into the energy delivery and management market and it will bring huge benefits to all EV owners, not just the GM customers. It will bring all energy companies into the fold and finally offer comprehensive services that take into account the fact that an electric car can be used as a reliable energy storage.

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