GM connects Chevy Volt to OnStar EV Lab

DETROIT--General Motors on Monday opened the doors to the OnStar EV Lab here, a testing center for in-car communications the company hopes will give its electric Chevy Volt more high-tech appeal.

The OnStar EV Lab, housed in GM's downtown Detroit corporate headquarters, is now using the OnStar communications system to gather data on 19 Chevy Volt vehicles for engineering purposes. The same technology will give consumers the ability to tap online services and perform tasks specific to a plug-in electric vehicle, company executives said.

Photos: OnStar EV Lab connects to Chevy Volt

When GM releases the Volt at the end of next year, consumers will be able to program when to charge the vehicle much like they operate home heating and cooling system, said Tony Posawatz, the vehicle line director for the Chevy Volt. GM is considering more advanced features as well, such as demand response where car charging slows down during peak times in exchange for lower rates from the utility.

"The car will have to talk to the grid and be able to pull very sensitive (utility) data," Posawatz said. "Electric vehicle customers want to manage their energy--they're very into data. OnStar is an enabling tool for us."

The OnStar system could broker communications with the utility so that consumers can charge at off-peak times, such as the middle of the night, and potentially take advantage of lower rates. "Smart charging," or charging at off-peak times, is important to manage so that plug-in electric vehicles don't add to peak-time electricity demand. In the near term, utility executives say the biggest concern is that many cars in one local area will tax one particular electricity distribution point.

Because rolling the Volt out will require coordination with utilities, General Motors plans to offer the Volt only in certain regions of the U.S. when the car is first made available. "It certainly won't be a nation-wide roll-out," Posawatz said.

The Chevy Volt at GM's newly opened OnStar EV Lab.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

Having an integrated communications system, which uses the digital cellular network, with OnStar is a boon to Volt engineers because there isn't a lot of available data on battery performance from cars of similar design, company executives said. The Volt is an extended-range electric vehicle that can drive 40 miles on battery charge and then uses an internal combustion engine to sustain the battery charge for longer rides.

There are 20 modules on the Volt that can feed information back to GM engineers at the OnStar EV Lab, allowing them to get performance and diagnostic information on individual cars. The system also allows GM to get data on the battery subsystem, which the company is testing rigorously as it finalizes the car. For example, OnStar can monitor battery charge, temperature, and the performance of the liquid-cooling system.

OnStar, which is a subsidiary of GM, now has 5.6 million subscribers who pay either $199 or $299 per year for services, such as road-side assistance or remote car unlocking, which are handled by people in GM call centers. Although the system was designed to poll performance data on gasoline cars, GM executives said that the technology platform is flexible enough to work with different powertrains.

GM plans to offer the OnStar service in China next year. Also, GM intends to sell the Chevy Volt in China, western Europe, and Canada, executives said.

[Joe Real]

I hope that GM will not require their Chevy Volt buyers to use the very expensive OnStar system. In my opinion, such system should not cost more than $50 per year, the basis of which is the quality of service that I get from my premium triple A road side service.

The main problem with Car manufacturers of today is they tend to rip-off customers for so little investment in the service designed by their engineers. Take for example the practically no-advantage chip-in-a key. With the cost of less than 2 cents per chip, they will be charging you for $50 for duplicating a key. It doesn't deter car thieves anyway, but it surely does take out your $50 instead of a $0.99 cents cost of duplicating keys. And talking about reprogramming a remote for the car? They will be charging you at least $150 for a 5-second job or less! These new system of remote key and chip in keys are truly rip-offs. In the same way the OnStar system is. They are not really worth that much unless you travel from time to time to remote areas where cell phones doesn't work and the OnStar system works.

I hope they don't bundle the price of OnStar with the Volt, otherwise, the Chevy Volt would be off of my list and any other GM vehicle that they force you to buy their OnStar system for such a hefty price tag. But if the OnStar system is free, why not? For $199-$299 per year, no way! Good luck selling that type of service to the Chinese.

[RoughstockCowboy]

While this doesn't help on the cost of the keys, it seems that the latest vehicles allow owners to reprogram remotes to the vehicle using the "drivers information center." My 2008 Silverado is one example.

Also, the value of OnStar is different for everyone. For myself, I appreciate the vehicle integration and while I hope I won't need them, crash notification and unlock services. Ironically, I still maintain my AAA for travel discounts, too.

Cheerios!

[weegg]

I'm holding on to my 93 Intrepid until someone makes an electric car for under 40k that can go 150 freeway miles. Until then, I have no interest in the hybrids. People should realize that hybrids are more maintenance intensive because now you have 2 drive systems to maintain when there should be only one.

I'll just hold on, until I can make the move over to full electric and then I can eliminate most of the maintenance cost of the gas vehicle.

[RoughstockCowboy]

I don't think you'll have to wait very long for a pure electric that will do 150 miles, but I suspect they will be smaller and lighter-chassied vehicles than the Volt, which is actually a bit larger than many people will expect.

Also, for your consideration, the Volt is a called an "extended range" EV and can be called a series hybrid. The key here is that the Volt is an electric car. When the batteries are drained down to a certain point, the generator kicks in to supply power to the batteries. This is the "extended range" mode and even so, the Volt is still an EV, only this time, with power being added to the batteries at roughly the same rate as it is being consumed in operation.

The nice thing about the Voltec architecture is that it does not have a transmission at all. Remember, the engine is connected (wired) to the batteries which are connected (wired) to the electric motors. All currently available hybrids still have a transmission and full hybrids have the added complexity of their power split systems that are unnecessary in a series hybrid.

Cheerios!