Telematics systems can give unique benefits and insights to plug-in cars. In building a fleet of prototype Chevrolet Volts, General Motors has tapped into its OnStar system to monitor batteries, driving data, and charge cycles, as well as update software on the fly. The company has also been studying how drivers use their conventional cars equipped with OnStar in the hopes of gaining insights into their driving and refueling habits.
 
So far, they have made some interesting findings: Looking at ordinary cars in the markets where GM plans to sell the car, OnStar determined that if Chevrolet Volts were used in those same driving cycles, 35 percent of them could run all day in electric mode. Others would have to use gasoline some of the time. (The Volt is advertised to have batteries big enough to drive the car 40 miles without the engine starting.) This differs from Census Bureau numbers that show 78 percent of Americans drive 40 miles a day or less. The government numbers, however, come from a 2002 survey of household travel, and it wasn’t focused on GM drivers.
 
A key lesson here is the importance of adding so-called opportunity charging stations at workers’ office buildings to raise the number of Volts able to drive all day on electric power.
 
Once plug-in vehicles roll out to consumers, OnStar could help for example by providing a remote communication link to the car to tell it when to recharge or avoid recharging at peak energy loads, for example, or remotely turn on the heat or air conditioning to make the interior comfortable using grid power, rather than the on-board battery or engine.
 
This week at The Business of Plugging In conference in Detroit, we had a chance to tour GM’s OnStar Command Center, a high-tech space with monitors along one wall showing nationwide reports of car lockout reports, people asking for directions, and cars in accidents.
 
In another OnStar development last week, for the first time, police disabled a vehicle that had been carjacked in California. The service has been available for about a year in certain 2009 GM vehicles equipped with OnStar. In this case, the driver called OnStar, in addition to the police, after his car was stolen by a man with a shotgun. After verifying the situation and coordinating with police, who were following the car and verified the situation was safe, OnStar disabled the throttle so the engine returned to idle. The car was recovered 16 minutes after it was stolen.
 
Getting the most from electrified powertrains requires smart electronics management, and telematics may play a key role in helping drivers and even communities manage their power.

—Eric Evarts

Learn about driving green in the Consumer Reports special fuel economy section.