All of General Motors' electric vehicles equipped with an Ultium battery will be able to power homes by 2026.
The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV will be the first to have this vehicle-to-home (V2H) capability. It will be followed by the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1, 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, 2024 Cadillac Lyriq, and the upcoming Cadillac Escalade IQ, which GM will reveal on Aug. 9.
The list does not include the top-selling Chevy Bolt, as it does not have an Ultium battery, at least not until GM re-launches it with one.
"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 more benefits that EVs can offer," says Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy. The company plans to transition to an all-electric vehicle lineup by 2035.
GM began its foray into home energy in October 2022 when it announced a new GM Energy division. It's a point of differentiation from other EV makers, which we noted in our 2023 Best EV Brands, though Tesla kicked off the trend with its Powerwall products back in 2015. Not all EVs have bidirectional or V2H charging, though.
GM has already built out a portfolio of household power products under the Ultium Home brand, including three product bundles for customers interested in V2H and stationary energy storage systems. In the future, GM plans to help customers connect their vehicles to the electrical grid, selling excess power for cash and helping offset demands on the US' strained electric grid.
(Credit: GM Energy, 2022)"The technology allows consumers to store and transfer energy to help offset electricity needs during peak demand days and mitigate the impact of power outages, making the transition to an all-electric future even more compelling," GM says.
It's unclear how much a V2H setup will cost between the equipment and installation. If it's anything like installing a level 2 charger, it'll cost thousands of dollars with wide variation between homes based on the distance between the garage and the electrical panel and the home's electrical capacity. There are many reasons someone may want to make the investment, such as the ability to safeguard their home from power outages, possibly increase their home's resale value, and reduce energy costs through a solar panel connection.
A backend software platform called the GM Energy Cloud powers the new energy systems, and will be connected to the Ultium app, where GM drivers can already monitor their vehicle's charging levels and find chargers while on the road.
These initiatives are just a few of many GM has pursued to differentiate its EV offerings and bring in new customers (i.e. compete with Tesla). In June, it announced it would follow Ford and switch to building EVs with Tesla's charging port in 2025. A total of six automakers have now signed the same deal with Tesla, giving their drivers access to its Supercharger network as early as 2024 via an adapter. However, GM is the only major EV maker—outside of Tesla—to make such a big bet on home energy.