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GM Patents Data Mining Method For Refining the Chevy Volt
An anonymous reader writes "A patent application published yesterday may show an important tool that GM is using to refine future models of the Volt and especially the future size of the Volt's battery. The application is directed to uploading driving habit data from a plurality of vehicles to a remote server via a telematics system (e.g., such as GM's OnStar) and then providing alternate fuel-related analysis based on different vehicle profiles (e.g., an EV with a 40-mile range). The application contemplates that this analysis may be valuable to vehicle designers or to operators for comparison purposes."
When I was a kid I watched my Dad buy a few cars. You could customize a lot of things. Some of them were technical. You could even customize your rear differential ratio. The salesman would explain that to you if you didn't know.
I wasn't asked anything like that when I bought my first new car. Then again, it wasn't an American make so perhaps the big 3 dealers still do this?
Anyway, why not just offer different batteries as an option? If I've worked the same job for the past 5 years and it's a 10 mile commute, and I think I'll be working it for the next 5 years then why should I pay for a 30 mile battery that fits the "average driver"?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The Chevy Volt inherently has a complex use cycle. It can be plugged in for slow charge, fast charged, or fueled. Heating and air conditioning use matters a lot. So do hills. Info about the use cycle is needed to figure out the tradeoffs. Would adding 50% more battery capacity be a win or a lose? What about if battery prices dropped 20%?
The Volt's software notices if the gasoline engine isn't needed for 6 weeks or so, and prompts the driver to run the engine briefly, so it gets warmed up and rotated. If there's almost no fuel use in a year, it prompts you to run the engine and add some fresh gasoline (there's a shelf life problem). How many drivers hit those limits? Nobody knows yet.