Cody U. 
The potential for the General Motors Ultiium battery technology has potential to do more than simply power vehicles like the GMC Hummer EV. It can go beyond vehicle applications from the start. Which is a pragmatic strategy from the company, as it appears to understand the strain that (mandatory) electric vehicles may put on the nation’s power grid. Therefore, GM is rolling out a suite of energy services and new products, all of which are aimed to alleviate the massive draw of energy that comes with a population of fully electric vehicles. All of this is expected to coincide with the retail launch of the 2024 Silverado EV which has been announced to be capable of bi-directional charging.
GM along with other partners like Sunpower, one of the nation’s leading solar technology provider’s have teamed up to mitigate the chances of blackouts and improve the energy integration between the home and car. In order for this to happen GM has announced the arrival of Ultium Home and Ultium Commercial, which, in combination with Ultium 360 charge, creates a total ecosystem of energy management, all of which will be now housed under the new business arm of GM called GM Energy.
The new business unit will offer 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.
In addition to all of that, Sunpower and GM will offer customers an entire home energy system that is expected to enable drivers to deliver power to their homes with the battery in their compatible electric vehicle. The system will also enable customers to power their home’s in the event of a blackout via stored energy.
As for bi-directional charging for the Silverado EV, a pilot program has been established in partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric company (PG&E) and GM Energy to offer select residential customers a bi-directional charger. After lab test results come back giving the green light, the expectation is to offer the ability to a larger batch of customers within the PG&E service area starting next year.
