One of the more useful advantages of having an electric vehicle in the garage is that some have the ability to share the energy stored in their battery packs to power an entire home in the event of an electrical blackout. Cadillac recently announced that this tech, known as Vehicle-To-Home (V2H) or bidirectional charging, will soon be featured in its future slew of battery electric vehicles.
Bidirectional charging will be offered on all of Cadillac’s Ultium-based EVs by 2026, starting with the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq and expanding into the recently-revealed 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ. The luxury marque indicated that it will announce availability of the technology for other EV models later on.
The nifty V2H tech will be facilitated by GM Ultium Home offerings and GM Energy Cloud, the latter of which is a software platform that enables users to manage the transfer of energy between eligible GM Energy products and their homes. When enabled, V2H will allow EV owners to transfer energy from their battery-electric vehicle to a properly outfitted home. Not only can this keep a household running during a power outage, it can also help offset energy usage across the grid during times of peak demand.
“GM Energy’s growing ecosystem of energy management solutions will help accelerate GM’s vision of an all-electric future by further expanding access to even more benefits that EVs can offer,” said Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy. “By integrating V2H across our entire Ultium-based portfolio, we are making this groundbreaking technology available to more consumers, with benefits that extend well beyond the vehicle itself, and at broader scale than ever before.”
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Steve V
As long as this V2H technology is truly optional and not bundled with other desirable features where you have to buy it ti get those other features, it could be useful in areas prone to outages. However, since the cost to modify a home’s electrical service in order to be able to use this technology can be tens of thousands of dollars, for me it is a cool technology in search of a need. (Just because the Ford Lighting has it doesn’t mean GM cars have to have it).
GM Owner
It does not cost “tens of thousands” to modify the home electrical systrm. I added a 240 VAC 100 A transfer switch and inlet for less than $2,000. I use it with my Onan generator, and now I have Bluetti system with PV panels. My home is ready for V2H!
Bill Howland
I use a 2,000 watt 12 volt inverter as part of my emergency power plans. The garage basically backfeeds power back to the rest of the house.
Running the inverter with the LYRIQ on will make the 12 volt battery go dead, even with the LYRIQ ‘on’, a defect GM is unaware of, but I don’t want them to know about it, since I’ve found an easy work around to make the battery keep charging. And any official fix I’m sure would break things that are already working..
Obviously this is free emergency juice to keep refrigerators and freezers working, and, occasionally, sump pump, tv, a few lights, etc, working under emergency conditions. During cold weather, it provides enough electricity to keep natural gas appliances working with small incidental electrical loads, and can run the furnace blower to make the main heat for the house stay functional.
Obviously this doesn’t cost me tens of thousands of $$$, my cost is zero.. So again, obviously, I don’t need or want anything else. The Lyriq high-voltage battery at 102.5 kwh is large enough to provide light emergency loading for several days. And of course it is drivable to someplace to recharge it and then come back to supply the house for a few more days.
This causes me mainly to worry about Natural Gas Piping integrity, as I am no longer concerned about providing backup electricity… I don’t need much electricity, but in a pinch, I need a few very valuable kilowatt hours.
ML
Two rings I’m not digging I. The new Escalade look. You lost the huge grill in front. That was the strong message of that car. Now it looks like all the other cadies. The grill looks even smaller comparing to the size of the car. Also don’t want a video screen dash. Looks like a gaming screen not a luxury vehicle. I do like the back end. Smart and attractive. And the curves in the frame. Losing the big box look is smart move.