PG&E customers can snag huge incentives on GM Energy charging products through a V2X pilot program
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) residential customers can now take advantage of incentives in the thousands off the price of qualifying GM Energy home charging and energy management products. GM has joined PG&E’s vehicle-to-everything (V2X) pilot program, enabling energy customers to bundle their GM Energy systems and eventually get paid to supply excess energy back to their local grid.
While this particular incentive program only applies to certain customers of PG&E, it is big news for the growing segment of home energy management solutions, including energy storage systems, solar panels, and bidirectional EV charging.
GM Energy, the home and commercial charging solutions arm, spun out from Ultium Charge 360 three years ago, is establishing itself as a leader in that segment. In the summer of 2023, GM Energy launched its initial portfolio of Ultium Home products, which consisted of three separate bundles complete with vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging capabilities.
In May of 2024, GM Energy showed off the capabilities of its energy management products by powering an entire mansion using the products and a Chevy Silverado EV. Since then, GM Energy has expanded its business to all 50 United States, giving EV owners nationwide access to its portfolio of energy management products, which also includes two versions of an energy storage system (ESS) called PowerBank, which was introduced last October.
With a growing lineup of home energy management and EV charging solutions, GM Energy is working alongside PG&E to expand its reach by incentivizing those customers to implement said technologies and explore more sustainable solutions. There may also be an option for vehicle-to-grid capabilities, which could be an absolute game-changer in how we use and manage our daily energy.
PG&E customers can save $4,500 on GM Energy charging
GM shared that now that it has joined PG&E’s V2X pilot program, those energy customers in Northern and Central California can take advantage of incentivized pricing on specific charging and power hub products.
Customers who enroll in the Vehicle-to-Everything pilot program can receive up to $4,500 off the price of GM Energy home products, such as its Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) Bundle, which includes a PowerShift EV charger and V2H Enablement Kit or the all-encompassing Home System, which includes bidirectional EV charging plus a GM Energy PowerBank, Home Hub, and Inverter.
GM Energy’s products also currently qualify for federal tax incentives, so PG&E customers can get a robust energy management setup complete with EV charging for upwards of $5,000 off. GM Energy Vice President Wade Sheffer spoke about these savings opportunities:
For Northern California customers looking to take more control of their home energy, this program with PG&E represents a great opportunity. For utilities, legislators, customers and others, this pilot is an opportunity to see the full value of our V2H technology beyond just providing power to a home during power outages. This can be a tool that helps overall grid resiliency and showcases the unique advantages of EVs while, in the future, may even reduce the overall total cost of EV ownership.
In exchange for the incentives, GM Energy and PG&E plan to study charging data from customers to evaluate the potential of bidirectional charging and its ability to support electrical grids by flushing excess energy from those storage devices (EVs, PowerBanks, etc) during peak energy demand.
The goal is to scale bidirectional c,harging installations to more PG&E customers and eventually throughout all of California to demonstrate the energy freedom and financial benefits it can provide to all customers. Mike Delaney, Vice President of utility partnerships and innovation at PG&E also spoke:
PG&E is leading the way to enable vehicle-grid-integration technology creating a path for EVs to power customer homes, ultimately benefiting all Californians. We are proud to continue leading this electric renaissance as we collaborate with automakers and some of the world’s top innovators to pioneer bidirectional charging technology where EVs have the potential to offer greater reliability, resiliency and cost savings.
To begin, the following GM EVs will be eligible for the V2X program, but the American automaker plans to add all 2025 model-year EVs soon:
You can learn more about the PG&E pilot program and bidirectional charging on GM Energy’s website and enroll here. GM also provided more details of the capabilities of its home energy management products in the video below:
Electrek’s take
While this particular incentive program only applies to customers from one energy company in a single state, PG&E is a behemoth in California, and it’s encouraging to see it at least exploring the possibility of bidirectional charging enabling vehicle-to-grid capabilities.
Anyone who will lend an ear has heard me go on and on about how the energy companies should be shaking as more energy management power (and freedom from the grid) is being put into the hands of individual homeowners. I can easily imagine a world where most homeowners have an EV paired with solar panels on their roof and some sort of power bank in their garage. They can charge their vehicle and power their home during peak hours using free energy from the Sun and/or store it to sell back to energy companies via V2G.
Say you’re going out of town for a week and you know you won’t need your car or the energy you’ve gained from solar. Flush it back to the grid when everyone is home from work at night and booting up Netflix, and you’ll get some money back on your monthly bill!
It’s a no-brainer to me, and I see V2G as inevitable. That said, I feel most energy companies will fight tooth and nail to at least slow that transition down to maintain their energy monopolies as long as possible. That’s why it’s refreshing to see a company like PG&E at least open to possibility… especially since it’s an energy company that’s not exactly known for its moral fiber (see Erin Brockovich).
California often serves as a crystal ball into the future for the rest of the US, so this pilot program, albeit small, is a step forward in full-scale integration throughout the state and into additional ones. We must wait and see what the data brings before anything becomes a bonafide standard for energy customers. Still, this program does offer a sweet little taste of a future in which sustainable energy becomes widespread… not because it’s the right thing to do unfortunately, but because it will save everyone money.
Well, maybe not the energy companies, but they will continue to do just fine.
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In yet another new example of an industry defying progress out of preference for “the old ways”, X Games riders and fans are going to be seeing a lot fewer electric motorcycles in the air this year. That’s after a new rule change has quietly banned electric motorcycles from competing. And the reasoning? It’s not fair to the gassers who are trying to keep up.
That’s not hyperbole; that’s the reasoning given by the X Games leadership.
The X Games is an annual extreme sports competition featuring top athletes in events like skateboarding, BMX, motocross, and snowboarding. Known for high-flying tricks and intense competition, it showcases the best in action sports while pushing the limits of what’s possible.
Think of it like the Olympics of dirt bikes, so to speak.
As electric motorcycles and dirt bikes have become more popular, riders have discovered that the new technology has opened the door to trick innovation and stunt riding at a level not previously possible with internal combustion engine (ICE) dirt bikes.
Powerful electric dirt bikes like the Stark Varg are often lighter and faster than their gasser counterparts, and their lower weight distribution allows them to rotate and perform tricks in ways that only electrics can achieve.
In the face of that new innovation, the X Games has responded not by encouraging their use in an effort to encourage new stunts, but instead by banning them altogether.
In a statement provided to RideApart, an X Games representative explained that the move was designed to create a “level playing field” so that gassers could keep up.
“At X Games, we are committed to preserving the core of action sports while continuously evaluating new technologies. Our current competition formats are designed around the performance and characteristics of traditional gas-powered bikes, which remain the global standard for elite competition. While we recognize the advancements in electric bike technology, our focus is on maintaining a level playing field and delivering the best experience for both our athletes and fans. We’ll continue to monitor the evolution of the sport and assess how new innovations fit within X Games competitions.”
As RideApart rightly pointed out, that answer seems to fly in the face of years of technological innovation that has helped individual athletes push their sports further. X Games competitors rely on their tools, whether a dirt bike, a skateboard, or a mountain bike, to perform mind-blowing feats, and advancements in those tools have allowed each sport to progress to increasingly gravity-defying stunts.
In fact, journalist Jonathan Klein’s response to the X Games statement just about sums up the ridiculousness of the situation.
“What we likely have here are a bunch of cry-baby competitors that don’t like the Starks and other EV dirt bikes allowing riders to up the ante to the next level. To go harder than before. To take the sport of freestyle motocross to the next level just like Deegan and Pastrana and Carmichael and McGrath and Hart and Bartram did before them. And these same current riders got the folks at the X Games to capitulate to their crocodile tears.”
Ultimately, the X Games have simply confirmed what we’ve all suspected: Electric motorcycles are superior machines, and the old guard doesn’t like that their gas bikes can’t keep up anymore. Period.
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes a new e-bike it from Clip, Orbea’s unveiling of the Denna e-bike, our Velotric Nomad 2 review, Rad Power Bikes’ CEO has stepped down, Segway and Apollo are shipping new scooters, and more.
The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We also have a Patreon if you want to help us to avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the Wheel-E podcast today:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 6:00 a.m. ET (or the video after 7:00 a.m. ET):
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