General Motors (hereafter GM) announced on the 10th that it held the ‘GM Empower’ event in San Francisco, USA, on the 9th (local time), where it unveiled its electrification and energy technology strategy.
At this event, GM presented its technological vision extending beyond vehicles to homes, public charging, and commercial energy infrastructure. In addition, it also announced a roadmap related to electric vehicles, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration, the Energy Path, and energy storage systems.
The announcement is significant as it showcases GM’s battery and energy strategy as a response to the rapidly growing demand for electricity and strain on energy infrastructure.
Along with updates on V2G technology, GM introduced a new service called ‘Energy Path’ to simplify the public charging experience.
Energy Path is a service aimed at making public charging searches, utilization, and payments more accessible within GM’s branded apps in the US and Canada, focusing on integrating the previously complex public charging process into a single GM user experience. Through this, GM plans to make the EV charging experience more intuitive and consistent for its customers.
In the commercial energy sector, GM also proposed expanding its battery leadership beyond vehicles to power systems. It explained that it is broadening its energy storage technology portfolio through the use of next-gen sodium-ion batteries for grid-scale ESS and second-life battery applications.
GM envisions broadening its technology application beyond electric vehicles to include batteries, charging, and energy storage, while simultaneously building an ‘integrated energy ecosystem’ connecting home energy systems, public charging, and commercial ESS, thereby expanding the value of electrification beyond vehicles.
Meanwhile, the global automotive industry, including GM, is making efforts to secure a sustainable revenue model by transitioning from a manufacturing business focused on vehicle sales to becoming an ‘energy platform company’ encompassing charging subscriptions and energy brokerage.
Sterling Anderson, GM’s Senior Vice President of Global Product and Chief Product Officer (CPO), stated, “We are at a turning point where we need to view the relationship between mobility, computing, and global energy infrastructure in a new light.” He added, “GM intends to contribute to easing the strain on the power grid by utilizing grid-scale storage and EV-based distributed energy resources together.”