The upcoming Chevy Volt is going to have the ability to communicate with you via an Iphone App.  The application will sync with the Volt’s OnStar system, allowing its owner to monitor everything from the charging schedule to pre-set temperature settings inside the car (!).  A list of the functionalities can be seen below:

• * Display the car’s charging status and schedule charging. There is also an immediate “charge now” override option
• * Display of the car’ state of charge, as well as electric and total ranges
• * Allow the driver to program grid-friendly charging times, so as to charge only when rates are low
• * Give the driver text or email notifications if the car wasn’t plugged in
• * Let the driver remotely precondition the vehicle’s cabin temperature using grid electricity when plugged in, operates both heating and air conditioning
• * Notify the driver if charging is for some reason interrupted, and when its fully charged
• * Display the car’s historic fuel economy performance data in mpg, electric only miles, and odometer reading

Sourced from here.

Other features such as remotely locking and unlocking your vehicle, and sending a request for it to blare its horn loudly to ease location in a crowded parking lot might become available soon, too.    Can anyone think of other possibilities that exist?

In addition to the Iphone, apps will be available for the BlackBerry and the Droid, Google’s open-sourced operating system.

The 2011 Volt is scheduled for release in mid-November.

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G

• The new Global Battery Systems Lab is located at the Warren Technical Center campus on the outskirts of Detroit. According to information coming from the company, it cost GM $25 million to construct, takes up 33,000 square feet, and employs over 1,000 engineers. The facility will operate 42 thermal chambers and 160 test channels that will expose batteries to real-world driving conditions and test the limits of their design and capacity. Included in the testing are 32 battery “cyclers” that will continuously charge and deplete battery cells for further efficiency studies. The battery headquarters will most likely be utilized by GM and its suppliers, LG Chem and Compact Power, to perfect the sort of lithium-ion batteries in the upcoming Volt and its successors.

While this new facility sounds like a definite step in the right direction to improve the technology and compete with Chinese battery heavyweights, some of the numbers don’t seem to add up. Firstly, $25 million is a very small number for a state-of-the art lab. To put it in perspective, Apple recently announced that it would be spending $1 billion on a server farm. Second, employing a thousand engineers would be very expensive – certainly exceeding the price tag that was given – and appears to be an excessive concentration in one facility. Additionally, the start date of construction was only last August and there is no word yet if more money is needed to operate and expand the center.

In the meantime, GM has plans to create a battery-focused engineering curriculum at the University of Michigan, around which they plan to construct another battery lab.

Amidst these developments, the speculation that the Volt program might be discontinued is probably going to quiet down, perhaps for good.

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There have been several prominent speculations over whether GM will abandon its plug-in program.   Keith Johnson, writing for the Wall Street Journal, has come out saying he believes the Volt will be an unpopular choice for consumers and the new government ownership.   He argues that with taxpayers now about to own 70% of the company, management will be trimming costs and focusing on models that are affordable and have a high certainty to sell well.   They can either cut the Volt line, or continue it in the hope that “either costs come down or consumers suddenly change their habits and run out to buy a $40,000 compact sedan.”

On the other side, Michael G. Richard writing for Treehugger.com,  believes in a more long-term approach.   Comparing the Volt to the Prius (back when oil was $20-$30/barrel), he argues that GM management will look towards a future where electric cars are in high-demand and oil prices are closer to the peak they hit in 2008.   Without introducing the Volt, they will not be able to learn about electric vehicle-technology and will thus “miss the boat” when its competitors are releasing 2nd and 3rd generation plug-in vehicles.

Is There an Internal Debate?

GM spokesman Tom Stephens proclaimed  earlier in the week that the Chevrolet Volt program has not been altered due to GM’s current financial woes.  According to Stephens, plans are still on track to bring  it to market by late 2010 — Additionally, they are even deciding on which other brand should get a vehicle based on the Volt’s Voltec technology.

Besides the optimistic statements from management,  Compact Power, GM’s battery supplier, recently offered their perspective that the Volt is GM’s highest priority program.  For now, at least, there does not seem to be any loss of commitment to the EV program.

Uncertain Future

There are dynamic forces at work affecting the supply and demand side of the electric vehicle equation.  The global recession has made consumers less apt to spend on a car with a $40,000 price tag that offers some green prestige.  Lower oil prices make the switch even less appealling.  On the other hand however, government subsidies and infrastructure spending by companies such as Better Place are providing  incentives that are hard to ignore.  If companies can plan for a future where charging stations are adequately dispersed, battery technology is improving, and competitors are cranking out newer and better models, it will be unwise to completely buck the trend.   Statements from the Saudi Arabian Oil Minister predicting  nearly $200/barrel oil within 2 years further that view.

With the flux in consumer spending habits and public/private expenditures, there is probably no real consensus within GM whether the Volt will be a success.  This is precisly why I believe they will continue the program.    Their survival will depend on diversification and an ability to respond to the market.   Keeping all their eggs in the combustion-engine basket could deliver a knockout blow should oil spike back up or a revolution in electric battery technology tags them as “behind the curve”.   As Mr. Richard argues, they need to have their first generation plug-in vehicle hit the market, not because it will be an instant success, but so they have the expertise and infrastructure in place to produce a best-seller years down the line.

Update (6/1/2009): Michael Moore, who has often spoken about GM and its problems, has blogged about his thoughts on the GM Bankruptcy affair.   Moore  offers his advice on how to save the entire  industrial complex built around automakers,  largely by advocating the development of an electric vehicle and light rail infrastructure.

Usually outspoken on issues of corporate incompetence, Moore takes on a more conciliatory and  foreward-looking tone.  It is an interesting read for anyone familiar with his historically “controversial” calls for action.

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Despite the financial troubles of the U.S. automaker, Patil says that he has not noticed any loss of commitment, claiming that “From GM’s side, it’s their highest priority program.”  Compact Power is a subsidiary of  LG Chem, Ltd., a South Korean battery supplier.

This statement, coming from a close supplier with supposed knowledge of GM’s future goals, provides insight that perhaps the automaker’s credibility, or even its future, is resting on the Volt.   Upper management will be pouring its resources and advertising dollars (courtesy of emergency government funds) into the car, which is scheduled to go into production at the end of 2010.

It is unclear how much success the P.U.M.A will bring GM.   However,  don’t be surprised to hear of further electric vehicle announcements  based on the design of the Volt.

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Although the company has not committed to a formal timeline, Piaggio Group Americas’ CEO has suggested in interviews that this highway-legal scooter is expected to be on the road relatively soon.

The new plug-in will be a modified version of the company’s Piaggio’s MP3 500. According to CEO Paul Timoni, the plug-in scooter will get up to 140 mpg, have an all-electric range of 40 miles per charge , and will be priced between $8000 and $9000.  There is also a  European version slated to be released later this year.

The design will utilize a 125cc combustion engine combined with an electric motor, and can be expected to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 5 seconds.  The batery can also be charged on the go through regenerative braking.

The release date of Piaggio’s hybrid scooter would put it ahead of GM’s Chevy Volt by a couple months,  and it might coincide with the release of Toyota’s upcoming plug-in hybrid.

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The major boon that a surge of plug-ins bring to utilities is as follows:  Their “surplus” power, which is all those electrons that their power sources produce and send through their wires, will now be sucked out of the grid, rather than being wasted.  This is especially beneficial at night, when most owners will be recharging their vehicles and utilities typically have excess power-generating capacity.  Some forward thinking individuals are also considering the storage capabilities of plug-in batteries as a way to power individual businesses and homes, temporarily disconnecting the need for the power grid.

On the flip-side of the coin, utilities are also planning for the infrastructure improvements and potential hurdles in the future.  Southern California Edison, a utility based in Los Angeles, is spending more than $5 million a year purchasing a fleet of plug-ins, which they are testing and researching the underlying battery technologies.   As of now, they have partnered with Ford to test its upcoming hybrid, Mitsubishi for a subcompact, Daimler for an experimental hybrid plug-in van, and GM on its Chevy Volt.  It’s also one of many utilities looking to upgrade the more than 1,000 public charging stations in California at the moment.

If clusters of car owners living in the same geographic location charge their vehicles at the same time, this will put a load on the local power grids, and might require them to upgrade their transformers.  If plug-in cars really catch on, power companies are going to be forced to adjust their rates, in effect encouraging consumers to charge their vehicles at off-peak hours.

Fortunately for the utility companies, the shift to electric vehicles is going to be gradual.   Even if we do have 1 million plug-ins on the road by 2015, that is a small fraction of the total stock of automobiles, and the drive to improve the power network has already begun.

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Speaking at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, James Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., announced that Toyota would release its version of a plug-in hybrid towards the end of 2009, a year ahead of schedule. This would put its release date ahead of the Chevrolet Volt, perhaps giving it a first-entrant advantage over the American counterpart.

Toyota plans on releasing only about 500 vehicles for commercial customers at the outset, with 150 of those plug-ins destined for the United States.   G.M. plans to release its Volt plug-in to the public at large by the end of 2010.   With this strategy, it is reasonable to speculate that Toyota is looking for real-world feedback from its first consumers, giving the company the opportunity to improve and perfect its product by the time the Chevrolet Volt is released.

The plug-ins will be powered by lithium-ion batteries.

To read more about the announcement, read the original article.

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