GM’s new business unit will help people mitigate power outages

General Motors is announcing a new business unit called GM Energy that will offer energy management products as the automaker expands into other businesses such as electric commercial delivery vans with its BrightDrop business and self-driving taxis with its subsidiary Cruise in San Francisco.

GM said Tuesday GM Energy will consist of two new products: Ultium Home and Ultium Commercial. The third is the already existing Ultium Charge 360. The three products create a complete ecosystem for business, residential and electric vehicle customers to manage their energy usage, GM said in a statement.

GM Energy’s connected product and services will give customers bidirectional charging capabilities, vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid applications, stationary energy storage, solar products, software applications, cloud management tools and more, GM said. It will also allow customers to sell energy from EV and stationary storage batteries back to utilities during peak energy consumption times.

“The reliability of the U.S. electrical power grid has never been more important,” Travis Hester, vice presidentof GM EV Growth Operations, said in a statement. “GM Energy has the opportunity to help deliver sustainable energy products and services that can help mitigate the effect of power outages and provide customers with resilient and cost-effective energy management.”

GM introduced Ultium Charge 360 in April 2021 for residential EV customers and followed it up with a fleet option as well. It is technology that ties GM’s vehicle mobile apps to other products and services that make it easier for drivers to find charging stations and pay to charge their vehicles. As part of GM Energy, Ultium Charge 360 will continue to expand its existing portfolio of integrated public charging networks, integrated mobile apps, and other products and services over time, GM said.

The GM Energy Services Cloud will house data and energy management tools to connect customers with residential, fleet and commercial energy assets. Customers will be able to manage their energy consumption through GM’s energy software applications.

GM said it already has EV customers enrolled in managed charging programs through the Energy ServicesCloud and it said several large companies have agreed to work with GM Energy such as SunPower, one of the nation’s leading solar technology and energy services providers.

GM Energy and SunPower will offer a home energy system of integrated EV and battery solutions, solar panels and home energy storage. The home energy storage will enable drivers to power their homes with the battery in their compatible EV during a blackout or draw from stored energy during peak rate times.

GM said the home energy system will be available during the retail launch of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, which is expected to begin production around this time next year.