The future is electric — but GM also seems to know it’s not about a new type of car. It’s about a new way to think about energy.
Earlier today, GM launched an all-new sub brand they’re calling “GM Energy.” GM Energy which will, itself, consist of Ultium Home, Ultium Commercial, and Ultium Charge 360 products, and serve to expand the General’s business footprint beyond the vehicle business. And, if this all sounds familiar, that’s because you’ve been paying attention.
GM has been using its Ultium battery platform to build out new businesses away from the vehicle sector at BrightDrop and through its Pure marine brand. This, however, goes even further than that, with a full suite of energy management solutions that will give GM Energy customers unprecedented insight into their own energy use, and never before seen levels of control over how that energy is put to use.
Over at the Electrify News Podcast, we’re always talking about how the real difference — the real strength of electric vehicles isn’t the environmental benefit or the gut-punch acceleration. Instead, it’s this. This ability to quickly move energy from where it is to where it’s needed — be that in your car, in your home’s backup battery, or in your power lines. That kind of flexibility, combined with an army of EVs, plugged in and at the ready, is only going to make the grid stronger. In fact, if you missed the episode where we directly discuss exactly this issue, you can listen to it again in this mini-player, below.
Electrify News Podcast | Episode 247: Debunking the Electrical Grid Myth
“GM Energy’s connected product and service offerings are designed to offer cohesive energy management for home, commercial and EV customers, with solutions ranging from bi-directional charging, vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications, to stationary storage, solar products, software applications, cloud management tools, microgrid solutions, hydrogen fuel cells and more,” explains the company’s official press release. “GM Energy’s services will also enable the sale of energy from EV and stationary storage batteries back to utilities during peak, high energy consumption periods, unlocking even more potential value for customers and increasing resiliency for the electrical grid.”
GM Energy Allows Customers to Directly Manage Their Power
Throughout its announcement, GM references both the recent grid concerns in California that spawned so many misinformed tweets and the horrific weather events of the last few months that left tens of thousands without power. With a fully charged Chevy Silverado EV in the driveway, the infographic says (above), GM Energy will enable you to power your home with your EV, with excess power ultimately being shared across the connected smart grid.
GM Ultium Home EV Charging, Battery Energy Storage
The central interface for GM Energy will be called “Energy Services Cloud.” An online storehouse of data and energy management tools that, the company says, will help connect customers “seamlessly” with residential, fleet, and commercial energy assets (read: batteries). Customers will be able to manage their energy use using GM-developed apps that leverage smart grid technology. And that’s not just an optimistic promise, either. GM has already enlisted some big names like SunPower, PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric), Con Edison, Graniterock, and the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC) to back up its latest energy play.
“The massive scale of GM Energy’s solutions will allow us to better address current challenges with grid infrastructure, energy storage and energy management head on,” says Mark Bole, vice president and Head of V2X Battery Solutions at GM. “By leveraging GM’s flexible technology platforms and the power of Ultium, we’re able to provide resilient and accessible energy solutions for all customers and the grid, helping to further advance the all-electric future.”
GM’s Mark Bole will be joining other industry leaders like Snow Lake Lithium’s CEO Phil Gross at Electrify Expo’s upcoming Industry Day event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX, November 11th. You can click here to find out more.
GM says will launch alongside the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV in 2023.
SOURCE | IMAGES: GM.
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