Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

'X-ray microscope snapshot of nanoparticles in a battery midway through charging. Particles range from fully charged (green) to intermediate charge (orange/yellow) to drained of charge (red) The scalebar equals 500 nm. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) Click to enlarge. A new study has found that rapid-charging a lithium-ion battery and using it to do high-power, rapidly draining work may not be as damaging as researchers had thought, and that the benefits of slow draining and charging may

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Green Car Reports

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'Electric-car buyers who want to feel the wind in their hair don''t have many choices. Aside from the 2014 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive--and the now-discontinued Tesla Roadster--electric convertibles haven''t been a segment in which carmakers have expressed much interest. However, a California firm has decided this could be a niche worth filling. ALSO.

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National Green Transportation

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

'On Tuesday, Terry Hershner made history as the first person to ride an electric motorcycle over 1000 miles in 24 hours, following his historic win about two weeks ago in the Vetter Fuel Economy challenge. Both events shatter preconceived.

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Green Cars News

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

'Anyone who has ever been involved in the automotive industry will know all about its unsung heroes. Behind every successful brand and vehicle manufacturer sits a team of suppliers rich in expertise designing and building the parts that drive these motoring success stories. Now, for our latest Green[.].

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Norway

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

'EOLAB. Click to enlarge. Renault has presented EOLAB, a new prototype which explores ways to deliver ultra-low fuel consumption. EOLAB delivers NEDC combined cycle fuel consumption of 1 liter/100 km (235 mpg US), equivalent to 22g of CO 2 /km. To achieve such low figures, the designers focused their efforts on three main areas: minimizing weight; leveraging aerodynamics with active systems; and using the “Z.E.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

'In August, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ovadan-Depe near the capital of Ashgabad in Turkmenistan to launch the construction of a major plant focused on the conversion of natural gas into synthetic gasoline. The plant will be based on Haldor Topsøe’s TIGAS (Topsøe Improved Gasoline Synthesis) technology (earlier post ) and will become the first full-scale large commercial facility using this technology.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

'WiTricity, the MIT spin-off commercializing strongly coupled magnetic resonance wireless charging technology for EVs as well as consumer devices, industrial, medical and military applications ( earlier post ), has work underway to deliver wireless charging systems capable of delivering 10s of kilowatts for plug-ins, compared to the current 3.3 or 6.6 kW, says CEO Alex Gruzen.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'Top: Components of well-to-wheels pathway. Middle: WTW efficiency for CNGVs. Bottom: WTW efficiency for EVs. Curran et al. Click to enlarge. A well-to-wheels analysis of the use of natural gas for passenger vehicles by a team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has found that, with a high PTW (pump-to-wheels) efficiency and the potential for high electrical generation efficiency with NGCC (natural gas combined cycle) turbines, natural gas currently is best used in an effici

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

'Lux Research forecasts that Tesla Motors’ Gigafactory—the announced new 35 GWh lithium-ion cell production facility that is the target of hot competition between five states ( earlier post )—will bring about only a modest reduction in Li-ion battery costs and create significant overcapacity, given likely Tesla EV sales in 2020 of less than half of the company’s targeted 500,000.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

'Divergence of real-world CO 2 emissions from manufacturers’ type-approval CO 2 emissions for various on-road data sources, including an average estimate for private and company cars as well as all data sources. Source: ICCT. Click to enlarge. The gap between official and real-world fuel-economy figures in Europe has risen to about 38%, according to a new report published by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).

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Fuel Economy Europe Economy Fuel 327

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

'MANs TGX hybrid concept at IAA. Click to enlarge. At the IAA, MAN (part of the Volkswagen Group) presented a concept diesel-electric parallel hybrid version of its long-haul TGX truck. (MAN showed the Metropolis research truck, a range-extended electric refuse collection truck developed in collaboration with Benteler Engineering Services for use in the city, at IAA 2012, earlier post.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

'Boeing recently successfully flight-tested an innovative engine nozzle made of ceramic composites designed to reduce noise and weight and to lower fuel use. The ceramic matrix composite (CMC) nozzle, attached to a Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine, went through a series of tests on the ecoDemonstrator 787 Flight Test Airplane, including community noise testing, passing over a large acoustic array in Moses Lake, Wash.

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Engine Fuel Emissions Design 321

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

'by James Stafford of Oilprice.com. One of the world’s legendary investors is upping his bet on Argentina’s shale oil and gas industry in a show of confidence for shale production in South America’s largest unconventional prize—and a big boost for both supermajors and smaller players making big waves in the heart of new discovery areas. George Soros has doubled his stake in YPF SA, the state-owned oil company in Argentina, which sits atop some of the world’s largest shale oil and gas resou

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

'Boeing and the US Army have demonstrated the capabilities of the truck-mounted High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator ( HEL MD ) under maritime conditions (i.e., wind and fog), successfully targeting a variety of aerial targets at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The demonstrator is the first mobile, high-energy laser, counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) platform to be built and demonstrated by the US Army.

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Wind Diesel Florida Li-ion 316

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Guyana

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

'Southwest Airlines has signed an agreement with Red Rock Biofuels LLC ( RRB ) to purchase low carbon renewable jet fuel, made using forest residues that will help reduce the risk of destructive wildfires in the Western United States. The airline’s agreement with RRB covers the purchase of approximately three million gallons per year. The blended product will be used at Southwest’s Bay Area operations with first delivery expected in 2016.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

'The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has closed on a $105-million Biorefinery Assistance Program loan guarantee through Bank of America, N.A. to Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels, LLC to build a biorefinery to produce jet fuel from municipal solid waste (MSW) via a proprietary two-stage thermochemical process. ( Earlier post.). USDA Rural Development’s loan guarantee represents less than half of the $266 million project cost.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

'The DENZA EV is manufactured by a Sino-German joint venture of BYD and Daimler in Shenzhen. Click to enlarge. DENZA, the “made in China, for China” electric vehicle from Daimler’s technology joint venture with its Chinese partner BYD ( earlier post ), has started rolling off production line at Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. (BDNT), in Shenzhen.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

'The Strati is being 3D-printed at IMTS. Click to enlarge. A team led by Local Motors is 3D-printing a full vehicle body over 44 hours during the International Manufacturing Technology Show 2014 and will follow it up with a first drive set to take place the morning of Saturday, 13 September. Local Motors collaborated with Cincinnati Incorporated, a large-scale manufacturing system builder; Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a pioneer in advanced materials research; and SABIC to develop and va

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Motors Motoring Motor Carbon Fiber 303

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

'Lucas di Grassi, FIA Formula E Beijing (Audi Sport ABT Formula E Team). Click to enlarge. Audi factory driver Lucas di Grassi and the Audi Sport ABT Formula E team won the inaugural event of the new all-electric FIA Formula E Championship in Beijing. (Next weekend, di Grassi will return to the cockpit of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro hybrid sports car in round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Austin).

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

'PEUGEOT is showcasing its 208 HYbrid Air 2L Demonstrator at next month’s Paris Motor Show. The 2L stands for two liters per 100 km, equivalent to 118 mpg US, and is based on a production version of the Peugeot 208 1.2-liter PureTech 82 hp 5-seater Hatchback. Peugeot’s Hybrid Air ( earlier post ) is a full-hybrid solution combining compressed air and hydraulic power, with no battery required for energy storage.

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Hybrid Energy Storage Gasoline Environment 301

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

'Honda will showcase several of its latest developments in intelligent transportation technology at the 2014 ITS World Congress in Detroit, 7-11 September. Activities include the first US demonstration of Honda’s automated driving technology with capabilities such as automated freeway merging; exiting; and lane changing, which will be demonstrated on actual Detroit freeways, as well as a unique vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) “virtual tow” capability for assisting a driver in distress.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

'Passat GTE sedan. Click to enlarge. In his remarks before the opening of the Geneva Motora Show in March 2014, Volkswagen Group Chairman of the Board of Management Prof. Dr. Winterkorn said that a plug-in hybrid version of the Volkswagen Passat would join the Group’s range of low-CO 2 vehicles “soon.” ( Earlier post.). Accordingly, at the Paris Motor Show, Volkswagen will introduce the new Passat GTE plug-in hybrid, the Volkswagen brand’s third plug-in hybrid (after the XL1, earlier post and Go

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

'Citroën will unveil its new C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L concept at the Paris Motor Show. With the C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L concept, Citroën is demonstrating fuel consumption of 2l/100 km (118 mpg US) through the use of optimized design with a 20% improvement in aerodynamics; lower rolling resistance (Tall&Narrow) tires; efforts to use lighter parts and thus reduce overall vehicle weight by 100 kg; and the implementation of Hybrid Air technology ( earlier post ), which cuts fuel consumption by 30%.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

'Allowing single-occupant low-emission cars in California to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on congested highways exacerbates the congestion and causes up to about $4,500 per car in adverse social costs annually, including increased commute times and carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new study in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

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California Hybrid Los Angeles Pollution 287

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

'At the fourth annual Toyota Advanced Safety Seminar (TASS) in Ann Arbor, Toyota displayed a range of its future advanced safety system technologies, including environment-mapping systems that can track objects on the road both day and night; 3D information displays that transform the ability to provide road information to drivers, and an advanced driving support system that will be available to US customers in the mid-decade.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

'Californians have purchased more than 100,000 plug-in cars (PEVs) since the market started in 2010, according to figures gathered by the California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative. Californians buy approximately 40% of all the PEVs sold in the US. According to data collected by the California Air Resources Board and new sales figures released this week from hybridcars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm, Californians bought 102,440 PEVs from December 2010 thr

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

'A team led by Dr. Michael Grätzel at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland has developed a highly efficient and low-cost water-splitting cell combining an advanced perovskite tandem solar cell and a bi-functional Earth-abundant catalyst. The combination of the two delivers a water-splitting photocurrent density of around 10 milliamperes per square centimeter, corresponding to a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 12.3%.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

'Scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Chemical Energy Conversion and Coal Research and from the research group Photobiotechnology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have discovered a way of increasing the efficiency of hydrogen production in microalgae by a factor of five by using a combined metabolic engineering approach. An open access paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

'San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has awarded Siemens a contract to deliver an initial 175 light rail cars for its Muni transit system at a value of US$648 million. Siemens, which beat CAF for the contract, will deliver a newly-developed light rail car based on its Model S200 for the San Francisco order. With an option for an additional 85 cars, this is one of the biggest orders for light rail cars ever placed in the USA.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

'Kia Motors America (KMA) announced pricing for the all-electric version of the Kia Soul. ( Earlier post.) Offered in two trims, Base and + (Plus), the 2015 Soul EV MSRP will be $33,700 (not including federal tax rebate of $7,500) for the Base and $35,700 for the Plus (not including federal tax rebate of $7,500). 2015 Soul EV +. Click to enlarge. With an expected introductory lease price of $249 per month, the Soul EV offers an EPA-estimated range of 93 miles (150 km) and 92 MPGe on the highway

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'Li-ion battery maker Boston-Power Inc. ( earlier post ) recently launched its Ensemble Module System; a “kit” of standard components that provides OEMs and pack assemblers with a simple, cost-effective way to assemble large format battery pack solutions for electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage system (ESS) applications. Available in 155 Wh and 116 Wh increments, module designs can be created to meet a wide variety of voltage and capacity requirements.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

'A new study concludes that using ethanol can be a cost-effective approach to increasing the octane rating of the US gasoline pool. Source: ACS, Hirshfeld et al. Click to enlarge. A number of studies recently have pointed out that increasing the octane rating of the US gasoline pool (currently ?93 Research Octane Number (RON)) would enable higher engine efficiency for light-duty vehicles through reducing engine knock constraints, thereby enabling the design of new spark-ignition engines with hig

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Engine Gasoline Fuel Standards 275

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

'Children living in polluted megacities are at increased risk for brain inflammation and neurodegenerative changes, including Alzheimer or Parkinson’s disease, according to a study led by University of Montana Professor Dr. Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas and her colleagues. The study found when air particulate matter and their components such as metals are inhaled or swallowed, they pass through damaged barriers, including respiratory, gastrointestinal and the blood-brain barriers and can result in

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

'Sion Power announced that its proprietary lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries played a critical role in the Airbus Defence and Space Zephyr 7 prototype High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) aircraft completing a southern hemisphere winter weather flight of more than 11 days duration controlled by satellite communications. The Zephyr 7 is a solar/battery powered electric UAV with a wing span of 70 feet (22.5 m) and a weight of just over 110 lbs. (50 kg).

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