General Motors is moving ahead with its competition with Tesla in all aspects. The automaker plans to offer energy storage and management services beyond just making cars. These services will be offered to residential and commercial customers through the new GM Energy division in a move to compete.
Image credits: CNN
In addition, GM Energy will expand its existing Ultium Charge 360 public charging service into two new categories: Ultium Home and Ultium Commercial for stationary storage batteries as well as solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells, the company reported Tuesday. GM CEO Travis Hester said, “We’re moving into a whole energy management ecosystem. Our competition in this space is really only Tesla, which is a strong energy management company. There are many examples you can draw with Tesla.
On the other hand, Tesla’s seven-year-old power generation and storage business, which includes solar panels and stationary batteries, lost $129 million on $2.8 billion in revenue last year. Hester said GM sees a total addressable energy storage and management market of $120 billion to $150 billion. He declined to provide an earnings forecast for GM Energy.
Energy storage
Ultium Home Services offers stationary wall boxes that mimic Tesla’s Powerwall units, which are slated to begin sales and installation in late 2023, when the first Chevrolet Silverado EV trucks, aimed at private customers, are launched. As Ford Motor Co. does with the F-150 Lightning, the Silverado EV will have bi-directional capability, meaning it can return electricity to the home during a power outage.
GM’s commercial service offers similar capabilities to businesses through large stationary storage units and microgrids connected to the automaker’s hydrogen fuel cells. Businesses can in turn sell power to utilities during periods of peak energy consumption. GM has teamed up with SunPower Corp to provide customers with solar panels to improve their power generation. “This is a new place for us,” Hester said. “We have core competencies in vehicles and batteries, cell chemistry and scale manufacturing. Combine that with our knowledge of what we’re doing in fuel cells, our near-field network, OnStar and connectivity, and it seems like an obvious step for us.”
It has a Ford engine Same deal with PG&E for the electric F-150 Lightning. He also shared. Sunrun As a preferred installer of domestic power systems. Installation of those systems began earlier this year.
Comments
