OnStar Interview: Standards, HTML5, and the OEM

Have you ever explained to your kids why the solid rocket boosters on the Space Shuttle are the width of two Roman warhorses standing side-by-side? If you haven’t, I suggest you do. The incredulous looks are well worth it. For additional bonus laughter from the younger crowd, you may want to add in the fact that we’re talking about the rear ends of horses.

What this little bit of trivia does for us, the 'older' crowd, is offer a lesson in standardization. A set of specs, rules, measurements, and so on can have long-lasting repercussions. And so, on the one hand, it behooves us to choose wisely; while on the other hand, it reminds us about the importance of being open to change.

Steve Schwinke, director of advanced technology for OnStar, is among a growing number of industry leaders who believe that HTML5 has the potential to dramatically change our industry for the better. Steve believes in strength in numbers and has great faith in the OEM community to work together to help shape the standard and promote its widespread adoption.

Here’s what Steve had to say about HTML5 when we visited him in Detroit just before the holidays in December.



This interview of Steve Schwinke is the fifth in a series from QNX on HTML5.

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SOLAR CARS

Solar-powered vehicles (SPVs), such as cars, boats, bicycles, and even airplanes, use solar energy to either power an electric motor directly or charge a battery, which powers the motor. They use an array of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells (or modules made of cells) that convert sunlight into electricity. The electricity either goes directly to an electric motor

powering the vehicle or to a special storage battery. The PV array can be built (integrated) onto the vehicle body itself, or fixed on a building or a vehicle shelter to charge an electric vehicle battery when it is parked.

A solar car is basically a type of EV, but the main difference from an EV is that the batteries are charged using solar panels fitted on the surface of the car. We probably won’t be able to harness the sun’s rays to power our regular vehicles because current photovoltaic cells are too inefficient and it would need a large area of cells to create even a small amount of electricity.

SPVs that have a built-on PV array differ from conventional vehicles (and most EVs) in size, weight, maximum speed, and cost. The practicality of these types of SPVs is limited because solar cells only produce electricity when the sun is shining. Even then, a vehicle completely covered with solar cells receives only a small amount of solar energy each day, and converts an even smaller amount of that to useful energy only about 1500 to 2000 watts of electricity. Even state-of-the-art PV cells only get up to around 24% efficiency. At present, most SPVs with built-on PV arrays are only used as research, development, and educational tools, or to participate in the various SPV races held around the world.

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Handbook of

Automotive Power

Electronics

and Motor Drives

Edited by

Ali Emadi

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Boca Raton London New York Singapore

A CRC title, part of the Taylor & Francis imprint, a member of the

Taylor & Francis Group, the academic division of T&F Informa plc.

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