General Motors is opening a new business unit called GM energy to compete with Tesla. GM energy will be in charge of GM’s Ultium Home, Ultium Commercial batteries, and Ultium Charge 360 power storage system.
The American automotive manufacturer seeks to build strong batteries that will charge electric vehicles for homeowners and companies. The batteries will also utilize solar energy and serve as a support to the main grid, a type of Tesla’s Powerwall-to-grid program in California.
General Motors energy company is almost identical to the Tesla energy company. At Tesla, solar cells supply power to batteries which then power the home with light and electricity.
General Motors energy company also plans to partner with SunPower Corporation. SunPower will supervise the solar panel and battery installation for either commercial users or residential users.
GM sees this milestone as an opportunity to fulfill its lifelong dreams, one of which is to find its way into the power storage business. This plan can also provide electric car owners with low-cost ways to power up their cars.
‘We are not just focused on the vehicle. We’re focused on energy, on the infrastructure, on the entire ecosystem because we know we really need to enable it for EV adoption,’ said Mark Bole, vice president and head of V2X battery solutions at GM.
GM’s chief EV officer Travis Hester said, ‘We’re getting into the entire ecosystem of energy management. Our competition in this space on the (automaker) side is really only Tesla, which is a strong energy management company. There are a lot of analogies you can draw with Tesla.’
General Motors has also planned with Pacific Gas and Electric, based in California. They have agreed to take on a pilot program as a means for bifacial electric charging to be used as an option for houses and homes.
General Motors announced that based on the laboratory test series, Pacific Gas and Electric and General motors will have to enlarge the program to a subdivision of household clients of Pacific Gas and Electric service in 2023.
Also, the GM Energy Services Cloud is the central interface connecting customers through software apps with residential, retail, and commercial energy assets. Bole explained that third-party applications, non-GM vehicles, and power utilities could utilize these apps. ‘Through the telematics, we can actually instruct the car to stop charging [or] start charging.’
Businesses can also make use of the service cloud to manage their fleets as well. ‘We are talking to some of our large fleet customers today about their electrification needs,’ said Bole, adding that fleets need help managing charging infrastructure and energy costs.
‘GM Energy’s mission is to offer customers access to a full suite of energy products and services, including solutions beyond the vehicle, accelerating the seamless transition to an all-electric future,’ added Travis Hester.
GM energy will offer stationary wall boxes via the Ultium home service, similar to Tesla’s Powerwall units. Sales and installation will begin in late 2023, to be launched alongside the first Chevrolet Silverado EV trucks for private customers.
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