Power Products to Go With Your EV
In late 2022, General Motors, the parent company of Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac, announced that it would launch a new business called GM Energy, which would offer solar panels, EV chargers, and battery storage for homes and businesses. The new business takes a page from Tesla’s book with a suite of products that complements GM’s electric vehicles, and makes life with them more economical and convenient.
GM Energy, the new venture, builds not just on GM’s battery expertise, but also its software, which in an electric car manages the flow of energy between the battery, electric motors, vehicle systems, and charging hardware. That same expertise can help maximize the efficiency of power usage in a home or business – helping GM Energy customers optimize their vehicle charging and also providing energy security in the case of electrical grid disruptions.
The first products offered by GM Energy will be available to residential customers, and will be called Ultium Home. They’re designed to provide customers with greater energy resilience as well as maximizing efficiency ad lowering costs – and enable the use of backup power when electricity isn’t available from the grid. Three bundles will be sold initially: the Ultium Home V2H bundle, the Ultium Home Energy System, and the Ultium Home Energy Storage Bundle, which let customers select the solution which best meets their energy needs and budget.
Ultium Home V2H Bundle
GM Energy’s Ultium Home V2H bundle is designed for consumers that want to leverage the vehicle-to-home capabilities of their General Motors electric cars. The bundle allows the battery pack in a General Motors EV to power the consumer’s home. It includes:
- The GM PowerShift Charger, which enables bi-directional charging with a compatible General Motors EV and has an exceptionally fast 19.2-kW charging speed on AC power
- The Ultium Home V2H Enablement Kit, which includes an electric inverter, home hub, and “dark start” battery to power the home when the grid is down. The kit allows the house to draw 9.6 kW of power from the electric vehicle, and safely disconnects the home from the grid when in use
Ultium Home Energy System
The second bundle is designed for customers that not only want to use their GM EV’s vehicle-to-home functionality, but also want to have static energy storage. It includes:
- The GM PowerShift Charger
- The Ultium Home V2H Enablement Kit
- The GM PowerBank, which can connect to the enablement kit to further extend backup power capability and store solar or grid energy. Two versions of the PowerBank are available, a 5-kW/10.6 kWh version and a 7-kW/17.7 kWh version.
Ultium Home Energy Storage Bundle
The final bundle is designed for customers that want to have energy storage at their home, but don’t have an EV yet, so it doesn’t include any products that connect to a vehicle. Included are:
- GM’s PowerBank
- Inverter and home hub
Integrating Solar Panels With EVs
In addition to the initial suite of Ultium Home bundles, customers that want to integrate solar energy into their home can work with SunPower. SunPower is GM Energy’s exclusive solar provider and its preferred EV charger installer, and can install solar panels that can deliver power to the home and vehicle – providing additional value and potential electricity cost-savings.
