General Motors and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company have announced a new collaboration, which will test using GM’s EVs as an on-demand power source. The two companies plan to test EVs bidirectional charging technology that can power up a home.
“We are really excited about this innovative collaboration with GM. Imagine a future where everyone is driving an electric vehicle — and where that EV serves as a backup power option at home and more broadly as a resource for the grid. Not only is this a huge advancement for electric reliability and climate resiliency, it’s yet another advantage of clean-powered EVs, which are so important in our collective battle against climate change,” said PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe.
PG&E and GM plan to test the pilot’s first vehicle-to-home capable EV and charger by summer 2022. The pilot will include the use of bidirectional hardware coupled with software-defined communications protocols that will enable power to flow from a charged EV into a customer’s home, automatically coordinating between the EV, home and PG&E’s electric supply. GM says that the pilot will include multiple GM EVs, like the Chevy Silverado EV.
Following lab testing, PG&E and GM plan to test vehicle-to-home interconnection allowing a small subset of customers’ homes to safely receive power from the EV when power stops flowing from the electric grid. Then by the end of 2022 both companies hope to scale the pilot and include customer trials.
