GM Energy: ‘We’re really excited about the business opportunity,’ GM CEO says

Yahoo Finance's Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer discusses General Motors' new business unit with CEO Mary Barra.

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BRAD SMITH: Shifting gears here, General Motors recently announced a new business unit called GM Energy to offer stationary battery packs, solar panels, electric vehicle chargers, and other energy management products for homes and businesses. For more on this, we're joined by Yahoo Finance's editor-in-chief Andy Serwer. Andy, you spoke to Mary Barra just yesterday. What did you take away from that conversation regarding GM Energy?

ANDY SERWER: Yeah, that's right, Brad. And the company announced this on Tuesday. And I spoke with Mary Barra yesterday, as you said-- first time she's talked about this new business endeavor, which is sort of a holistic end-to-end way of introducing EVs and related products and services to consumers and businesses. Here's what she had to say about that.

MARY BARRA: One of the things we want people to understand is not only is an electric vehicle your mode of transportation, how you get from point A to point B, but it can also be a power source. And I think that's going to be very important as we look and really strengthen the grid in whatever country we're doing work.

And in addition, we can leverage the technology we have, the battery technology, to provide clean energy, energy storage, and also supplement the grid. So we're really excited about the business opportunity based on the altium technology that we have.

ANDY SERWER: I also asked Barra exactly how big the business opportunity is here, and she declined to be specific about it. But a GM executive also indicated that it was significant and said it was probably in the $200 billion range. You guys, does this remind you of another company a little bit, though, that has a similar sort of vision in terms of its vehicles and how it relates to consumers with tertiary products and services that relate to the electric economy?

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, I would say. I mean, I was actually going to bring up Jim Farley. And, like, he has been so fired up about the electric opportunity. And I just wonder sort of, vibe wise, since you were out there, kind of, what it was like, and are you getting that similar kind of energy-- pardon the pun-- from a GM?

ANDY SERWER: Yeah, well, I mean, you have to have that energy-- pardon the pun, Julie-- if you're in this business. And they've got a full fleet of EVs more on sort of the drawing board than actually in the marketplace right now. They have a few in the marketplace, a lot more coming in Q1 and Q2 of '23. But when you look at this, it's sort of, really, a vertically integrated take on the electric economy.

And, you know, I'm not sure how this is going to pan out for not only GM and Ford, but even Tesla as well. Is it really the case that because people want an EV from a company, that they also want storage packs and batteries that connect to the house and can serve as generators if there are power outages and could possibly even get power back into the grid? I mean, that is a huge question.

I mean, I think EVs, yes, we all know they're for real, and they're going to be dominating the business going forward. But as far as this sort of vision where everything is connected, I'm not sure that's really the case. And, you know, it'll be interesting to see whether there really is an ROI to this business for, again, not only GM and Ford, but even Tesla.

JULIE HYMAN: Or if there is a case for all of that connection, is it not five years from now, but maybe it's 10 or 20 years from now, right? So I think that's one of the big questions around all of this as well. Andy, thanks so much. Can't wait to see that full interview. Appreciate it.