Great news for potential electric car buyers is that the upcoming Cadillac ELR will be Smart Grid ready. Apart from having the ability to save a lot of energy, the ELR will be able to communicate with the electric grid by using the extended range electric vehicle technology of luxury coupe as well as the OnStar cloud-based connection.

Apart from giving access to electric vehicle specific functions, the OnStar RemoteLink Mobile App will allow drivers to send remote commands and check their vehicle’s operating systems. The ELR owners can also check vehicle’s electric range, current state of charge, electric miles driven and eMPG through the EV-tailored app.

The OnStar RemoteLink will enable a number of other features that will benefit drivers in the coming years.

The best part about this technology is that the ELR owners will be able to schedule and control vehicle charging through the RemoteLink Mobile App. On top of that, they will have an option to charge the vehicle when electricity rates are at a minimum.

Russ Eling, the manager Smart Grid and EV Services, General Motors, said that RemoteLink is General Motors’ first Smart Grid service and it can also be used for load control and decreasing energy costs.

OnStar possesses four Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that can be used by third-parties to develop solutions for the ELR. These interfaces are:

Demand Response

This interface can be used to minimize the energy cost as well as to enhance the performance of the electric grid.

Time-of-Use Rates

Through this feature, the rate-plans can be loaded directly into the vehicles.

Charging Data

In order to identify charging locations and to determine potential load scenarios, OnStar can send and receive EV data, which includes the location-based EV data.

Aggregates Services

This interface can result in a better use of clean energy.