California energy giant Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and General Motors are collaborating on a new pilot project to test how GM electric vehicles (EVs) could be used as an on-demand power source for homes.
The companies will test EVs with bidirectional charging technology that can help safely power the essential needs of a properly equipped home. EVs are playing a role in helping California to meet greenhouse-gas emissions and the pilot is designed to bring further value to consumers with home electricity bills.
By the end of 2025, GM will have more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America due to growing demand for electrified vehicles as the automotive market embarks on the largest transition in its history to sell primarily EVs by 2040.
The project would envision using EVs as a backup power source for homes in the event of power blackouts or when a natural disaster happens.
“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,” said Patti Poppe, CEO of PG&E. “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.”
How it will work
In the summer, PG&E and GM will test its first vehicle-to-home capable EV and charger. This will include the use of bidirectional hardware coupled with software-defined communications protocols for power to flow from a charged EV into a customer’s home automatically.
The pilot will include multiple GM EVs and the companies will coordinate the use of the EV, home and PG&E’s power supply.
Following this initial testing, the companies plan to test vehicle-to-home interconnection allowing a small subset of PG&E customers to receive power from the EV when power stops flowing from the electricity grid.
The goal is to demonstrate a user-friendly vehicle-to-home customer experience for the new technology. Once working, the companies will scale the pilot with the goal of opening larger customer trials by the end of 2022.
Ford testing too
GM isn’t the only U.S. automotive OEM pursuing vehicle-to-home power possibilities. Last month, Ford formed a partnership with Sunrun, a U.S. solar company, to enhance home energy management using the onboard battery capability of the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
Truck owners would be able to use the onboard battery when the grid goes dark or when a natural disaster impacts the electricity grid.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, America experienced the most power interruptions on record in 2020.
“F-150 Lightning brings new innovations to customers, including the ability to power their homes when they need it most,” said Matt Stover, charging and energy services director at Ford. “Teaming up with Sunrun leverages their expertise to bring solar power to even more customers, giving them the chance to turn their truck into an incredible energy storage source — and future truck features can help accelerate the development of a less carbon-intensive grid.”
Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power system made its debut on the F-150 Lightning with the ability to use bidirectional power technology to provide energy to the homes. The battery can store 131 kilowatt hours of energy and delivers up to 9.6 kilowatts of power. Additionally, the power is cleaner and quieter than gasoline-powered generators and has a greater capacity than many wall battery units, Ford said.
The system allows the F-150 Lightning to automatically kick in when the power goes down in the home. Once power is restored, the system automatically reverts to utility power.
Curbing emissions
A study from the University of Michigan and Ford found that light-duty vehicles such as pickups are responsible for 14% of U.S. transportation sector emissions.
Electrification of these pickups would allow these vehicles to have about 64% lower cradle-to-grave life cycle greenhouse gas emissions than internal combustion engine vehicles on average.
“This is an important study to inform and encourage climate action,” said Greg Keoleian, professor at University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability. “Our research clearly shows substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions that can be achieved from transitioning to electrified powertrains across all vehicle classes.”
The study found that switching to battery-electric vehicle powertrain results in a greater total tonnage of emission reductions as the vehicle size increases, due to the greater fuel consumption of larger vehicles.
Particularly, replacing an ICE SUV engine with an electrified model saves 56 metric tons of carbon dioxide and replacing an ICE pickup engine with a battery electric pickup saves 74 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the lifetime of the vehicles.
While the survey found battery EVs have larger greenhouse gas emissions in their manufacturing — due to battery production — the impact offset by saving in the operation is still substantial compared to ICE vehicles.
