General Motors will add bidirectional charging to its Ultium-based EVs

General Motors is adding capabilities to allow its new electric vehicles to send power from their batteries to the owner's home. Known as V2H, or bidirectional charging, it's a relatively simple idea: an EV is a giant battery on wheels, so why not be able to use that to power other things? GM says the rollout will begin with model-year 2024 EVs and will continue through to model-year 2026.

There are actually a couple of different approaches to using an EV's battery to power non-car stuff. An increasing number of EVs like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Volkswagen ID. Buzz offer AC outlets, and, depending on the region, can provide either 120 V or 240 V power. That is usually known as vehicle to load, or V2L.

V2H amps things up a bit--quite literally--by sending power from the car back into a home electrical circuit, similar to a home storage battery. Nissan demoed but never implemented the idea for the second-generation Leaf back in 2018, but Ford did implement it with its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.

GM might have noticed that, which could be why V2H will debut on the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST. It will then roll out to other Ultium-based EVs--the 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1, 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, 2024 Cadillac Lyriq, and also the new Cadillac Escalade IQ, which you'll be able to read about here at Ars tomorrow when that new EV is officially unveiled.

At the end of June, GM revealed details about some of its home charging solutions, some of which (obviously) support V2H.

"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 EV's can offer," said Wade Sheffer, vice president, 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," he said.