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Competition to provide the best energy savings to EV owners is heating up between auto makers.
General Motor’s unit GM Energy has just released PowerBank, a stationary energy storage battery pack, which gives electric vehicles (EV) owners the ability to store and transfer energy from the electric grid, and allows integration with home solar power equipment.
The PowerBank, which comes in two battery capacity variants, 10.6 kWh and 17.7 kWh, can power up a home when there is an outage or help offset higher electricity rates during peak demand, GM said. In addition, customers can also use PowerBank to store and use solar energy, supplement the charging of EVs and provide power to a home without an EV being present.
GM says that combining two of its 17.7 kWh PowerBanks can provide enough energy to power the average American home for up to 20 hours.
The PowerBank can be bought as part of two bundles: the GM Energy Storage bundle at $10,999, or the GM Energy Home System bundle at $12,700. The latter includes a bi-directional EV charger which can provide up to 19.2 kWh of power.
By comparison, Tesla’s energy storage system, PowerWall 3, can store 13.5 kWh of energy and has a price tag of $9,300.
According to GM vice president Wade Sheffer, one key advantage of the PowerBank it its “modularity”, which allows for easy integration with existing technology.
GM announced in August that it would provide vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology on all its model year 2026 models. It will now also offer vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which can provide additional energy and financial savings.
Energy savings coming from the integration of electric vehicles, solar-powered homes, and energy grids are increasingly at the center of EV manufacturers’ offerings.
Nissan, BMW, Ford and Honda have grouped together to offer the ChargeScape V2G software, which connects EVs to utilities and the power grid. EV owners can receive financial incentives to pausing charging during peak demand or sell energy back to the grid.
While Tesla has so far backed off from embracing V2G technology, CEO Elon Musk has hinted that V2G tech could be introduced for Tesla vehicles in 2025.
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