PG&E Will Test The Use of GM EVs to Power Homes!
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- California will serve as a testing base for US utilities and automakers.
PG&E Corp., a major utility in the Western United States, and General Motors Co. are collaborating to determine if electric vehicles can be used as a backup power supply for houses in Northern California.
According to a joint statement released Tuesday by the firms, they aim to begin testing the potential of a GM battery-powered car to deliver energy to a dwelling at a PG&E facility.
By the end of the year, General Motors and PG&E hope to expand the testing initiative to a small number of residences. The idea, according to Aaron August, PG&E’s vice president of business development & customer engagement, is to show how an electric vehicle may be used to power a house if it loses energy from the utility.
The development is being carried out as the state of California pushes for wider use of electric vehicles in an area prone to regular power outages owing to utility shutoffs caused by inclement weather. According to PG & E, one out of every five electric vehicles on the road in the United States is in its service zone.
After the company’s equipment was accused of causing some of the biggest wildfires in California history, PG&E started intentionally disconnecting power to select customers during dry and windy weather in 2018 to prevent live wires from sparking blazes.
