Onstar

  • BMW using 1-Series and MINI Cooper in DriveNow initiative

    In case you haven't heard: car sharing is big business. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of car-sharing companies. Zipcar -- America's pioneer in the sector -- represents one type, which is similar to a traditional rental car business, except it operates on a membership model. Renters pay annual dues, which give them access to the company's fleet of vehicles that can be rented by the hour on very short notice and with very little hassle. The other kind of car-sharing company has been made possible by smartphones and allows individual car owners to loan their vehicles to car-less...

  • Continuous electric miles in 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car [photo: David Noland]
    Onstar Will Let Chevy Volt Owners Share Their Data Again, Soon

    Owners of the Chevy Volt range-extended electric car are often pretty technically advanced. Many are conversant not only with auto technology but also with apps and software analysis tools. Two weeks ago, the online Volt community erupted when OnStar abruptly shut stopped giving data access to...

  • Chevrolet Volt OnStar EcoHub App
    New Chevy Volt Electric-Car App Shows (Low) Cost Of Home Charging

    How much does it cost to charge your electric car? Do you know? That might initially sound like a simple enough question to answer, but in some homes--especially ones signed up to time of use electricity metering--it’s often far from straightforward to find an answer. Now a new smartphone app...

  • 2011 Nissan LEAF iPhone App
    Keeping An Eye On Your Electric Car? You’re Not The Only One

    If you drive an electric car, the chances are you’ve experienced at some point the fear that your car will run out of charge before you reach your destination, otherwise known as range anxiety. But what about the fear that the battery pack in your new electric car will suffer rapid...

  • Onstar Hopes To Make Charging Chevrolet Volts Greener
    2013 Chevy Volt, OnStar, Is Smart-Grid Ready: The Utilities Aren’t

    Imagine a future where plug-in cars not only know when the cheapest time to charge is, but also work in concert with utility companies to recharge when it is greenest or when grid power demand is the lowest. For years, automakers, charging station manufacturers, utility companies and even the U.S...

  • GreenCharge Electric Car iPhone App
    Green Charge Offers 3rd Party Monitoring Of 2012 Volt, Leaf Charging

    In case you hadn’t heard, smartphone apps are the number one accessory for any plug-in car owner. In fact, nearly every mainstream electric car on the market today has its own dedicated iOS, Android and Windows Mobile applications, designed to help you monitor your car’s charge level...

  • OnStar utility grid

    As electric cars start to trickle into the market and public charging infrastructure grows, their drivers will need to know the best times to charge, the best places to charge on longer journeys, and the exact amount they will pay for the electricity they use. That will require automakers, utility companies, and consumers to develop new ways to manage and offer a new set of data to those drivers. And that’s where new energy-management tools come into play. OnStar is hoping to be one of the leaders in this field, announcing at the recent DistribuTECH utility industry conference plans for...

  • Mitsubishi - Best Buy
    Best Buy Adds Onstar, Electric-Car Chargers; Are Cars Next?

    If you haven't been keeping an eye on Best Buy, you may have been stunned by their recent announcements at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). First, on January 6, Best Buy announced that it will offer General Motors' OnStar system (conveniently packaged within a rear-view...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    2011 Chevrolet Volt: What Do Owners Think, A Few Weeks In?

    Much of 2010 was spent learning more and more details about Chevrolet's exciting new range-extended electric car, the Volt. Towards the end of the year our colleagues at GreenCarReports finally got to drive the vehicle, and more recently the first owners have taken delivery. So what do owners...

  • GM logo, with cash
    GM Launches Venture Arm To Keep Up With Automotive Tech

    Cars are quickly become the new connected devices. Equipped with voice-command, streaming media centers, navigation displays and more, the newest line of vehicles out of major automakers are borrowing more from computers, the web and mobile technology than ever before. Now, riding this wave of...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show Car
    OnStar Teams Up With Google To Develop New Chevrolet Volt Smartphone Apps

    OnStar is already one of the most handy features you can get in a GM vehicle but soon it will be even better thanks to a little help from Google. Together, the two will develop a number of new mobile app features that strengthen Chevrolet’s commitment to providing Volt customers with the most...

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