By Abhirup Roy and Kalea Hall
SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 (Reuters) – General Motors is releasing a software update that allows some U.S. electric-vehicle owners to pipe power back to the electric grid, another example of car companies pursuing business opportunities in the energy sector.
The update gives owners of GM’s vehicle-to-home energy system, which allows the EV to power the home during a blackout, the expanded capability of feeding electricity to the power grid. However, it remains unclear whether doing so will be popular with drivers, who may also want to keep their cars charged.
• Vehicle-to-home system owners would be able to sell power back to the utility at times of high demand, with GM getting a cut of those payments. A GM spokesperson said it has thousands of vehicle-to-home users, but declined to provide a specific figure.
• Very few utilities offer such capability today, and the practice essentially is still in a pilot phase. GM is in discussions with around 10 utilities, GM Energy Chief Revenue Officer Aseem Kapur told Reuters at an event in San Francisco.
• GM will need utility cooperation for the vehicle-to-grid access to work. Commercial rollout of the technology will likely happen in the next few months, starting with California and Texas, Kapur said. In Michigan, GM is partnering with utility DTE Energy on a vehicle-to-grid pilot with 30 GM employees.
• Utilities have approached the vehicle-to-grid idea cautiously because of the investment needed, the uncertainty of the technology and the number of users.
• Automakers, including GM’s crosstown rival Ford Motor, have been following Tesla’s lead by trying to build energy businesses.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Kalea Hall in Detroit; Editing by Jamie Freed)
