Chevrolet confirmed to me today that the Volt will always be able to charge, even if your local utility company doesn’t want it to.
Smart Charging is a hotly debated topic today. Many believe it is necessary to help keep power grids online, faced with ever-increasing demand. Opponents feel that it adds an additional layer of onerous government control, allowing governments to control when and how you life your life. Smart Charging, in power emergencies, can allow utilities to control thermostats and large utilities, reducing their effectivity or shutting them down completely. Utilities and companies like IBM argue that this could even be used to modify consumer behavior, to be better for the environment. Conservatives and libertarians oppose this kind of government “lifestyle shaping.”
Yesterday, a CNET article ran demonstrating OnStar’s EV lab technology for the Volt. It casually noted that the Volt will be in constant communication with the utility company, allowing them to decide when the Volt would be charged via Smart Charging on the OnStar network (in order to get the “best rate” as utilities switch to per-hour charging times for consumers).
Obviously, this got me a little outraged, as originally the first-gen Volt wasn’t going to have this kind of control from your utility.
So, after a couple of messages of concern to that effect, GM responded to me personally. The 2011 Volt will have Smart Charging, but you will always be able to tell it to charge immediately, even in a power emergency. Smart Charging on the Volt will never ignore the commands of the consumer.
Let’s hope GM keeps it that way. The Volt needs an Emergency Mode that lets you access its remaining battery power, not an Emergency Mode that lets your utility company… disable your car. That’s the last Volt I’ll suggest to a consumer.