GM Cars Get Wireless iPhone Chargers

By Douglas Perry
published

General Motors just announced that it was invested $5 million in Powermat, a company that makes wireless gadget chargers.

Since virtually all modern cars today come standard or can beordered with iPod plugs, it's now time to take care of getting rid of that oldcharging cable: GM says that wireless charging should be available in a rangeof Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillaccars beginning in mid-2012.

“Imagine a mat or shelf where youcould put your iPhone, your Droid or other personal device and charge itautomatically while you commute to work, run errands or as you’re driving on afamily vacation,” said Micky Bly, GM’s lead electronics executive, includinginfotainment, hybrids and battery electric vehicles.

We are aware of that wireless charging mat, but have to admitthat it would be rather enticing option if you could charge your phone and MP3player simply by placing it on a space somewhere on your center console and/ordedicated space in the doors. While I am thinking about it, this may actuallybe a good idea for the cup holders since this is the place my phone usuallyends up

GM said that the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle will beamong the first vehicles to get this feature. GM also needs to consider that a special adapter needs to be attached to the device for it to charge wirelessly on the mat.

Douglas Perry
21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • loomis86
    weeeeelll...

    they gotta do something to overcome all that negative publicity of taking public money to bail their ass out. This aint enuf tho, GM. Keep workin at it.

    bastards
    Reply
  • edilee
    loomis86weeeeelll...they gotta do something to overcome all that negative publicity of taking public money to bail their ass out. This aint enuf tho, GM. Keep workin at it.bastards
    Weeeelll...it wasn't our decision to use our money to bail them out...that decision was made for us just like everything else this current governing body is doing. If I am not mistaken they have paid back all the money that was loaned to them. If the choice had been given to me to make on whether to loam GM the $$ they needed to re-organize then I would have done it without hesitation...it was some of the other bailouts that shouldn't have been done...I am talking about corporations that took the money then proceeded to use it to give million dollar bonuses to their executives. When your company is in financial trouble you DO NOT give bonuses to any employee...this is just common sense.

    Aside from that...why do they call it wireless charging when it is not wireless at all? There is a connector that connects to the phone or device and it lays on the charging pad which aloows the power to flow...this is not wireless. As far as I know you cannot charge a battery through the air (wirelss), it has to connect directly to a power source.
    Reply
  • jinxlab
    Wireless
    To be without wires! Kind of like the Powermat...
    Reply
  • spidey81
    wait...isn't this cordless charging technology...and furthermore, is it just Iphone charging?? Don't most new vehicles come with usb interfaces that have Ipod controls!?
    Reply
  • spidey81
    wait...isn't this cordless charging technology...and furthermore, is it just Iphone charging?? Don't most new vehicles come with usb interfaces that have Ipod controls!?
    Reply
  • zybch
    Whats the point?!
    Making you have to plug in the wireless charging module into your device so your device can use a wireless charging pad/system is freaking stupid.
    Once some forward thinking manufacturer integrates the received into their devices (like Palm did) this might be good, but until that time its just a stupid idea that results in even more cables, and disconectable (losable) ones at that.
    Reply
  • jaysbob
    Tesla saw it almost 100 years ago
    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    zybchWhats the point?!Making you have to plug in the wireless charging module into your device so your device can use a wireless charging pad/system is freaking stupid.Once some forward thinking manufacturer integrates the received into their devices (like Palm did) this might be good, but until that time its just a stupid idea that results in even more cables, and disconectable (losable) ones at that.
    And yet powermats fly off the shelf at your local Best Buy or Fry's... which is the exact thing GM is trying to push here! Good on em I say. Lets be honest how many hours does the average person have their phone on the CAR CHARGER, and not the one at home?

    From the people I know? Yea the phone gets it's charge in the car, and they lost their home charger, aaaand they are too cheap to buy another home charger. So unless they are in the car the phone doesn't' get charged.

    So why not make an option for an induction type charger into the car? Especially if this thing is powerful enough to charge through a purse or something!
    If they can integrate this into a batterypack or phone AWESOME, till then I'll live with a ribbon thin power cord in my cigarette lighter though. And I'll carry my happy little droid phone to its' media dock to sync with my PC.
    Reply
  • silverblue
    The article does mention that you can use Android phones etc. with the Powermat. It would've been helpful had the article been titled as such; simply replace the word "iPhone" with "Smartphone" for a more accurate representation of what the technology does.
    Reply
  • kelemvor4
    Nice idea; hope it spreads to other manufacturers who make good cars.
    Reply