GM Energy launches V2H PowerBank solution, tailored for its EV customers

• General Motors’ energy ecosystem branch, GM Energy, is offering more energy storage solutions to U.S. customers with the new launch of the ‘GM Energy PowerBank’.
• The solution will be a comptetitor to the Tesla Powerwall battery solution, but with higher tailoring towards GM EVs.
• This standalone storage unit will come in battery capacity sizes of both 10.6 kWh and 17.7 kWh, helping power homes either during blackouts or to reduce reliance on grid energy during higher pricing times.

GM’s take on Tesla Powerwall

GM is pushing the modularity of this solution, thanks to the ability to add more than one PowerBank unit to a household. As an example, GM Energy say that a combination of two fully-charged 17.7 kWh units have the capability to charge the average home, completely disconnected from the grid, for 20 hours.

While owning an EV isn’t mandatory for such a setup, the potential savings can be reaped when in combination with an EV, allowing the car to be charged up with stored energy which was loaded onto the PowerBank when the unit price of energy was cheaper. We can expect GM to soon start highlighting how this solution will reduce the cost of ownership of its EVs – as comparing between ICE and EV isn’t as simple as looking at the initial purchase price.

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GM will offer the PowerBank as an optional package alongside new EV purchases, which also includes a PowerShift home charger and a vehicle-to-home enablement kit. Putting multiple bits of technology into a simplified package such as this will be key for encouraging mainstream EV adoption. Whether GM will go down the route of Ford in the U.S., and begin offering such similar solutions free-of-charge, remains to be seen.

Wade Sheffer, Vice President of GM Energy, commented:

“One of the core differentiators of GM Energy’s portfolio is its modularity. The flexibility of our energy management tools, combined with one of the market’s largest lineups of vehicle-to-home-capable EVs, gives our customers more control over their energy use, helping to mitigate the impact of power outages, integrating renewable energy options and unlocking additional values.”