OnStar Wins Award for Customer Service

OnStar was recently honored at the 2011 Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service:

When people call a company’s customer support line, the response is typically an automated recording. At OnStar, a human advisor is mere seconds away with the simple push of a button.

OnStar’s industry-leading customer service was recently honored at the 2011 Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service, where OnStar was recognized for Customer Service Department of the Year in the Telecommunications category. The Stevie Awards were created to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working people worldwide.

“Our exceptional advisors and dedicated call center staff are a critical element that separate OnStar from our competitors and we’re proud to see them recognized,” said Terry Inch, director, subscriber services.” Our advisors are expertly trained specialists who are prepared to assist drivers in the most extreme situations.”

OnStar advisors are available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and respond to more than 100,000 customer requests daily. Advisors deliver over 2 million turn-by-turn routes monthly, OnStar’s most requested service.

Read entire article here.

Learn more about the Chevrolet vehicles equipped with OnStar by visiting Tyrrell-Doyle Chevrolet.

Chevy Volt Drivers Tell Their Fuel Economy Stories

Three Chevy Volt owners shared their fuel economy stories on the Chevrolet website:

Three Volts. Three distinct fuel economy stories. Unlike most cars, where mileage differences vary slightly from driver to driver, the Volt defies conventional MPG measures because it runs approximately 35 miles on a single charge of electricity to its 16 kWh battery, and then can travel another 344 miles on an onboard gasoline-powered electric generator that seamlessly kicks in when the battery is drained.

By recharging their Volt regularly, owners are easily surpassing the 93 miles per gallon equivalence, or MPGe, on full electric operation and an overall 60 MPGe composite fuel economy during extended-range operation. The EPA ratings make the Volt the most energy efficient compact car on the market today.

“I really believe that over the long-term we have to have technology that is going to get us off fossil fuels and the Volt does that – I have the option of never buying gas again,” McCarver said.

Said Volt marketing director Cristi Landy: “The Volt is great for any lifestyle and can handle the driving demands of daily life. The majority of Volt customers are finding that by recharging their cars daily they are seeing exceptional real-world fuel economy. ”

Read their stories here. 

Stop by Tyrrell-Doyle Chevrolet to learn more about the Chevy Volt.

What is So Special About the Chevy Volt Gas Tank?

The Chevy Volt offers a special pressure-sealed gas tank:

For the last several decades, new vehicles have been equipped with charcoal canisters to trap evaporating gasoline and then feed it back to the engine. Since the Volt’s engine may not fire up for extended periods, hydrocarbons potentially could build up in the canister, so the sealed tank contains the vapor. The extra pressure meant that a lightweight steel tank had to replace the lightweight plastic tanks used in most modern vehicles.

Volt engineers and supplier Spectra Premium Inc. developed the tank from 1.4 millimeter thick hot-dip tin-zinc coated steel to resist corrosion from both inside and outside. Despite the strength of the tank, it has a mechanical pressure relief valve that begins opening at 3.5 psi and a vacuum relief that opens at -2.3 psi, levels that are rarely exceeded.

Even with a tank that resists fuel vapors escaping or humidity getting in, the gas inside still needs to be used up and replenished periodically. That’s where the Volt’s “maintenance mode” comes in. If the engine hasn’t started after six weeks, the powertrain controller sends a message to the driver telling him the engine needs to run for maintenance.

Volt drivers can defer the engine maintenance mode for up to 24 hours, after which the engine will run for a while on its own to use up some of the gas and keep the internals lubricated and ready for use. If a driver manages to go a full year between fill-ups, the fuel maintenance mode will run the engine until the old gas is used up or the driver adds fresh fuel.

Read entire article here.

Learn more about the Chevrolet Volt at Tyrrell-Doyle Chevrolet.

More Info About the Chevrolet Volt Battery

Engineers of the four-seat Chevrolet Volt electric car often refer to its 435-pound battery pack as the fifth passenger. Given the care taken to keep the pack at just the right temperature in all temperature conditions, there is a lot of truth to that.
The Volt’s ability to operate gasoline-free on a day-to-day basis and carry an eight-year/100,000-mile battery warranty is due to active thermal management of the advanced lithium ion battery pack.
“Every battery has a temperature sweet spot where it provides the optimal blend of power output, energy capacity and long life and we keep the Volt right on that target,” said Bill Wallace, General Motors director of Global Battery Systems. Batteries that are too cold are reluctant to release electrons while batteries that run too hot can see a significantly shorter life.
The Volt’s T-shaped battery pack consists of 288 individual cells arranged into nine modules. Plastic frames hold pairs of lithium-ion cells that sandwich an aluminum cooling fin. The design and construction of that aluminum plate is critical to ensuring an even temperature distribution with no hot or cool spots across the flat, rectangular cell. The battery pack has its own cooling circuit that is similar to, but independent from, the engine cooling system.

Read entire article here.

Learn more about the Chevrolet Volt at Tyrrell-Doyle Chevrolet.