GM Vehicles To Feature Wireless Cell Phone Chargers

Recommended Reading: GM Partners with Powermat to Offer Wireless Charging in Chevy Volt, Other Cars

Last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) saw the debut of a number of new vehicle electronics systems. Hyundai announced BlueLink, Toyota announced Entune, and GM had two announcements: first, they’re going to start selling OnStar systems at BestBuy. Next, they’re going to start adding wireless charging pads to new GM vehicles (including, pardon the pun, the new Volt).

While it’s great to see GM thinking about integrating cell phones into vehicles, here are two questions:

1. The biggest car-cell phone problem is placement, and this doesn’t help. I stash mine in a cupholder or a cubby, but neither solution is perfect. Some people buy dedicated holders, but that seems sort of problematic too. GM’s prototype (seen in the image below) seems like a bad idea…there’s not a lot of space in the console area anyways. If GM adds a big flat pad for the cell phone, don’t they lose space for cup holders, storage, etc.?
2. By the time this hits dealer lots, there’s a good chance that power for cell phones can be sent entirely over oscillating electro-magnetic waves. Seriously – no pads, no cords, just a device that transmits energy through the air. Watch. Cool, huh?

GM should get credit for thinking about this problem, but this seems like an imperfect solution. Frankly, I’d rather have a charger and a better place to put my phone than a wireless pad and wasted space.

From Car & Driver Blog

We’ll refrain from making any voltage jokes. General Motors and Powermat, makers of wireless charging equipment for mobile devices, have announced a partnership that will see the inductive chargers installed in GM vehicles. One of the first products to get the Powermat tech will be the Chevy Volt, with rollout sometime in 2012.

It’s a natural fit, according to both Powermat and GM. Read the full article…