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."