The auto industry's first working smartphone application will allow Chevy Volt owners connection and control of vehicle functions. This makes it finally official — if the iPhone's the "Jesus Phone," then the Chevy Volt is the "Jesus Car."
As we first reported way back last year — in addition to traditional OnStar features like door lock and unlock –- typically only accessible through a call to OnStar –- new functions like charge status and remote start will be available for Chevy Volt owners via a downloadable application for iPhone, BlackBerry Storm and Motorola Android.
The Chevrolet Volt OnStar smartphone application will display charge status -– plugged in or not, and voltage (120V or 240V). It'll provide flexibility to "Charge Now" or schedule charge timing and display the percentage of battery charge level, electric and total ranges. It'll also allow the owner to manually set grid-friendly charge mode for off-peak times when electricity rates are lowest and then send text or email notifications for charge reminders, interruptions and full charge. It also will remotely start the vehicle to pre-condition the interior temperature.
That's the active stuff. The passive stuff's pretty cool too — displaying miles per gallon, electric-only miles, and odometer readings for last trip and lifetime. Basically, it helps turn the Chevy Volt into the most technologically-advanced vehicle ever built.
Want to see it for yourself? Demonstration applications for the Motorola Droid and Blackberry Storm will be available at OnStarMobileDemo.com beginning 10 p.m., EST, January 5. The demonstration application for the Apple iPhone will be available on the iTunes store on January 6. Or you can watch the video below.
Oh and, yeah, to answer your question — yeah, there's an app for that.