Power to the People

March 14, 2025Newsletter Archives

Most of the time, when I need to juice up one our family’s two electric vehicles, I simply plug into our home charger, nestled between the furnace and the washing machine in our little one-car garage. But I’m missing out on an opportunity that has the potential to become an important part of the EV story – to flip the script, and power the house from my car. 

GM Energy offers a family of bidirectional charging equipment, which allows select EVs to provide back-up power to your properly equipped home in the event of a blackout. The GM Energy PowerBank can store power from the grid – or even from solar panels. And GM is working with large electric utilities to build a future where EV owners can sell energy back to the grid.

This week, General Motors joined forces with the utility Pacific Gas & Electric, offering up to $4,500 in incentives to PG&E customers for qualified GM Energy products that enable bidirectional charging.

Writing on GM News, GM Energy Chief Revenue Officer Aseem Kapur outlined the opportunity for GM and our EV customers in California.  

“By unlocking bidirectional charging for Vehicle-to-Home applications,” Kapur writes, “GM and PG&E are demonstrating that electric vehicles can be more than just a mode of transportation. The product experience and the value for customers does not end when a GM EV is parked. The value keeps going without the customer needing to interact with the vehicle at all.”

As Kapur notes, there’s potential here for EVs to play an important role in power management in the years ahead.

“The PG&E collaboration can help set the stage for broader Vehicle-to-Grid applications – electric vehicle batteries sending power back to the grid during times of peak energy demand,” he writes. “Imagine thousands of EVs plugged in and ready to provide energy back to the grid when it’s needed most — during heat waves, storms, or other demand spikes. This virtual power plant distributed energy resource can alleviate pressure on the grid, helping to prevent blackouts and stabilize energy supply and potentially lower costs across the market.”

In another recent piece, GM Energy VP Wade Sheffer put it this way: “The GM EV in your driveway isn’t just a transportation tool – it's the key to energy freedom.” 

– Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News