(Bloomberg) -- Perusing the halls of CES usually means watching robot dogs dance and checking out the latest TVs amid the dull roar of the ever-present crowd. Those things still happen at CES. (The dogs dancing were frankly anticlimactic.)

At this year’s show in Las Vegas, though, you can ride e-bikes, learn about cutting-edge battery manufacturing techniques and see how your home could be completely electrified. “Consumer tech” and “climate change” are not synonymous. Or at least they weren’t. But with a worsening climate crisis, more government incentives and pressure from buyers for electrification, that’s shifting. 

Limor Schafman, a director at LG Nova, said that two years ago at CES, electrification was starting to appear. “There were companies mentioning it, but now everyone is talking about it,” she said.

How all this cleaner tech might find its way into the average household depends on which corner of the trade show floor you’re perusing. Companies, including Honda and Kia, brought futuristic electric concept cars to CES. Segway is debuting its first e-bikes, including one that’s like a motorcycle with pedals — and as fun to ride as it sounds. And companies like Siemens are pitching an array of new tools designed to help homes manage all the new electric appliances being plugged in. The show also features a surprise star in green hydrogen, with multiple companies laying out their plans to make and use it.

Of course, even a robust CES presence is no guarantee of future consumer uptake or that products will deliver on their promise and individuals will need to keep an eye out for greenwashing. But CES does reveal some of the biggest trends and — critically for climate tech — how they’re being marketed to individuals. Here are four trends Bloomberg Green is seeing, testing and riding in Las Vegas. 

Pitch 1: The grid sucks. Batteries don’t. 

There are plenty of reasons for US consumers to consider installing a home battery, from storing excess power generated by rooftop solar panels to nabbing a tax credit or simply upping their garage gadgetry game. But the companies selling home batteries at CES are highlighting a more dire motivation: The US grid is increasingly rickety and home energy bills are increasingly volatile. 

Among those honored with a CES Innovation Award was EcoFlow Technology, a startup whose DELTA Pro Ultra battery can serve as a backup source of power for an entire house. The system is stackable — users can link up multiple batteries — and can connect to the company’s smart electrical panel as well. Anker, meanwhile, is showing off an Innovation Award-honored battery that can live on a balcony with the company’s balcony-ready solar panels. (They’re currently available in Europe.) 

Read More: Your House Is Due for an Electrical Upgrade

Pitch 2: The hydrogen economy picks up steam.

Hydrogen as a sustainable fuel alternative to oil and gas is still far from reality: It costs a lot to make it using renewables and there are valid safety concerns. But you wouldn’t know that at CES, where it’s been touted as a game changer for applications from freight transport to energy storage.

At Hyundai’s booth, with a line stretching around the corner, visitors first walk in to an immersive video display of the company’s waste-to-hydrogen process. Hyundai already sells hydrogen-powered cars and it sees an even wider application for heavy-duty transport.

Korean multinational Doosan is also promoting the would-be hydrogen economy, as are truckmakers like electric vehicle manufacturer Nikola, which showcased its hydrogen-electric hybrid. Mach2, a group awarded funding by the Biden administration for a hydrogen research hub, is also here to talk up how to reduce costs to produce the fuel.

“ESG initiatives, net zero initiatives by a lot of the large corporations: Ultimately you'll start to see those coalesce into large areas of demand,” said David Alonso, chief commercial officer of HyAxiom, a Doosan company that develops hydrogen fuel cells.

 

Pitch 3: It’s time to electrify everything. 

As the EV transition picks up in earnest, consumers are increasingly comfortable imagining a future where cars, trucks, bikes and other means of mobility are powered by electrons. But CES also features a number of startups taking on the electrification of less obvious home goods. 

Take grilling: It’s largely fossil fueled. The average charcoal grill emits a few pounds of carbon dioxide with every use. The electric option from Current Backyard — another Innovation Award nominee — emits none in comparison and fires up to 700F (370C). The company debuted its grills at CES and they’ll be available to consumers in February. A long walk to another part of the convention center is Silicon Valley-based Pebble, which is pitching passersby on its electric RVs. They’re just two of the ways in which nearly every aspect of life could be electrified.

Pitch 4: Sustainability isn’t the first pitch

The push from consumers for carbon-free products is what’s really led to the shift in corporate calculus on electrifying their wares, Schafman said. Yet the promise to deliver carbon cuts is very low on the pitch list for most of the products above. Instead, companies are focused on marketing their products as making life easier, more comfortable or just more fun. 

Consider the Segway e-bike, set to go on sale later this year. You can set it race mode, which juices acceleration. Cruising around a parking lot and feeling the instant torque is undeniably a joyful experience that’s central to the bike’s appeal. 

Or take Current Backyard’s grills. Rather than the carbon benefits, the company likes to tout how you no longer have to lug around a propane tank. Being electric also means the grill plugged in, which means it comes with smart features like WiFi and app-based alerts. At the heart of the pitch by Tom Penner, the company’s chief executive officer, is that electrifying lets users spend less time over the grill and “more time with friends and family.”

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