Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

'The 9.5 MW solar park at Chattanooga is owned and operated by Silicon Ranch; VW has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen Chattanooga has received a 2013 Green Power Leadership Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—the only automaker to be so recognized. The annual awards recognize the country’s leading green power users for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market.

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Electric Cars are for Girls

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

'National Plug In Day is a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today''s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more. They are fun to drive, are less expensive and more convenient to fuel than gasoline vehicles, are better for the environment, promote local jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

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Green Car Reports

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

'Tesla is on a roll right now, with 14,000 of its all-electric Model S luxury sedan on the road and its stock at record highs. If it achieves its planned production levels--21,000 cars this year, perhaps 40,000 by 2015--its voracious appetite for lithium-ion battery cells will only increase. The massive scale of cell purchases by Tesla Motors.

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Lithium Ion Global Batteries Battery 167

National Green Transportation

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

'The Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid sports car made an impressive debut by setting the street-legal production car lap time record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. This track is frequently used to establish speed records.

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Porsche Legal Germany Plug-in 80

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Green Cars News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

'For the first time in its history, Volkswagen has been declared as the most sustainable carmaker in the world, as part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. As part of a 2013 review, the analysis looked at the environmental, economic and social sustainability performance of 31 automotive compani[.].

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2013 Parts Companies 84

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

'KHI’s view of a “CO 2 -free hydrogen chain”. Source: KHI. Click to enlarge. The Nikkei reports that Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (KHI) will build the first ocean-going ships to carry liquefied hydrogen (LH 2 ), with plans for a demonstration test by 2017 in which liquefied hydrogen will be shipped from the state of Victoria in Australia to Japan.

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Japan Hydrogen 2017 Transportation 351

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

'Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neußer, of the Volkswagen Brand and Stephan Grühsem of Volkswagen AG present the new Volkswagen eGolf and the new e-up! in Frankfurt. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen marked its serious entry into the battery-electric vehicle market with the introduction in Frankfurt of its first two series production EVs: the e-up! and the e-Golf. ( Earlier post.

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Electric Vehicles Batteries Battery Vehicles 337

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

'The US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is awarding grants totaling $7.4 million to fund two research projects aimed at improving measurement and standards for the rapidly developing field of additive manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a group of new technologies that build up objects, usually by laying down many thin layers on top of each other.

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Manufacturer Grant El Paso North Carolina 335

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

'Areal discharge capacities for Miura-folded versus unfolded cells. Credit: ACS, Cheng et al.Click to enlarge. Researchers at Arizona State University have shown that paper-folding concepts can be applied to Li-ion batteries in order to realize a device with higher areal energy densities. In a paper published in the ACS journal Nano Letters , the team reported that folded cells showed higher areal capacities compared to the planar versions with a 5 × 5 cell folded using the Miura-ori pattern dis

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Li-ion Concept Energy Batteries 331

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

'The Volkswagen Group is aiming for global market leadership in electric mobility. “We are electrifying all vehicle classes, and therefore have everything we need to make the Volkswagen Group the top automaker in all respects, including electric mobility, by 2018”, said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen AG on the eve of the 65 th International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main.

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All-Electric 2014 Hybrid Vehicles 324

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

'The retail price of E85 motor fuel (a gasoline blend with up to 85% ethanol), has fallen in recent months, notes the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). While ethanol has been less expensive than regular gasoline on a per-gallon basis for several years, ethanol’s lower energy content often meant that consumers paid more per mile when using higher ethanol blends such as E85.

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Gasoline Price Energy Parts 322

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

'Generalized form of the molten air battery. Licht et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at George Washington University led by Dr. Stuart Licht have introduced the principles of a new class rechargeable molten air batteries that offer amongst the highest intrinsic electric energy storage capabilities. In a paper just accepted and published online by the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science , Licht and his colleagues show three examples of the new battery’s electron transfer chemistry.

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Energy Batteries Battery Recharge 309

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

'The LEAF with semi-autonomous ADAS. Click to enlarge. Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn took delivery of Japan’s first license plate for a car equipped with semi-autonomous advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). It clears the way for a Nissan LEAF equipped with the technology to be tested on the public roads in Japan for the first time. The research program will accelerate the development of technologies fundamental to Autonomous Drive (AD).

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Japan Nissan 2020 2013 307

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

'The BMW i8 goes on sale in the US in 2014. Click to enlarge. BMW unveiled the BMW i8 2+2 plug-in hybrid sports car ( earlier post ) today at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. The i8—the first plug-in hybrid vehicle from the BMW Group—will have a manufacturer’s suggest retail price of $135,925 (including destination and handling) when it arrives in US showrooms in spring of 2014.

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BMW Plug-in 2014 MPG 306

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

'The EROI ratio and GHG emissions/MJ of (a) algae-derived diesel and (b) algae-derived gasoline produced using HTL. The results are benchmarked against commercialized biodiesel or bioethanol as well as petroleum-derived versions of the drop-in fuels. Credit: Liu et al. Click to enlarge. A new life cycle analysis by a team led by researchers at the University of Virginia has concluded that biofuel produced from algae via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) can reduce life cycle CO 2 emissions by 50 t

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Fuel CO2 Gasoline Columbus 299

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

'Scuderi split-cycle engine in power generator/CAES application. Click to enlarge. Scuderi Group, Inc., the developer of the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine for mobile applications ( earlier post ) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Asociación de Miembros de la Policia de Puerto Rico for the first Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine to be utilized as a stationary liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) generator with compressed air energy storage (CAES) capability.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

'Components of the 48 Volt Eco Drive system and the demonstrator. Click to enlarge. Continental presented its new “48 Volt Eco Drive” system at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The new system supplements the traditional 12V electrical network with a 48V electrical system and components, bridging the gap between low-end hybridization based on present-day 12V start/stop systems and more sophisticated high-voltage hybrid solutions.

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Volt 2016 Lithium Ion Production 296

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

'The six partners in the “H2 Mobility” initiative ( earlier post )—Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell and Total—have signed an agreement in principle upon a specific action plan for the construction of a Germany-wide hydrogen refueling network for fuel cell powered electric vehicles. Under the plan, the current network of 15 filling stations in Germany’s public hydrogen infrastructure will be expanded by 2023 to about 400 H 2 filling stations.

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Germany Hydrogen Automobile Industry Fuel 294

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

'Marking National Plug-in Day (NPID), California Governor Jerry Brown signed 6 bills to support California’s burgeoning electric vehicle market, including the $2-billion AB 8 ( earlier post ), which will continue clean vehicle and fuel incentives through 2023. The legislation builds on the state’s efforts to help California’s electric vehicle market grow, including an Executive Order issued by Governor Brown that established a target of 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road in Californi

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

'Citroën Cactus concept with Airbumps (not related to the Hybrid Air powertrain). Click to enlarge. At the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show, Citroën will showcase its Cactus C-segment concept car, featuring, among other technologies, the Hybrid Air powertrain co-developed by PSA Peugeot Citroën and Bosch. ( Earlier post.). Hybrid Air is a full-hybrid solution combining compressed air and hydraulic power, with no battery required for energy storage.

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Concept Hybrid Energy Storage MPG 294

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

'XRE-20 battery-electric yard tractor. Click to enlarge. Balqon Corporation, a developer of electric drive system technology for commercial vehicles ( earlier post ), has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Polar Power Inc. to develop a series plug-in hybrid system for Balqon’s line of heavy-duty electric trucks and buses. Under this agreement both companies will work towards development of a 40 kW on-board DC generator to charge batteries during the daily drive cycle to increase the

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Plug-in Plug Hybrid Powered 294

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

'Ragone plot for the new Na 1.5 VPO 4.8 F 0.7 cathode and other cathode materials for NIBs. Credit: ACS, Park et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers in South Korea have developed a novel high-energy cathode material, Na 1.5 VPO 4.8 F 0.7 , for sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries (NIBs). This new material provides an energy density of 600 Wh kg –1 , the highest value among Na-ion cathodes.

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Sodium Li-ion Energy Batteries 292

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

'The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded $13.6 million in federal funding to 8 projects to advance the commercialization of American-made fuel cell buses for the transit industry. The awards come from FY2012 funds via FTA’s National Fuel Cell Bus Program, which has provided nearly $90 million since 2006 to speed the development of fuel cell technology.

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Cleveland Fuel Industry Industrial 291

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

'ClipperCreek has announced the availability of the smallest cord and plug connected, 20A, Level 2 EV charging station on the market. Based on the LCS-25, this new product features a plug-in connection to make installation inexpensive and fast. With a standard 25-foot charge cable, there is no need to juggle cars to plug-in. LCS-25P. Click to enlarge.

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Connect Connected Plug Available 290

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

'The EU-funded project DEMA (Direct Ethanol from MicroAlgae) is working to produce bioethanol directly from cyanobacteria—a microalgae found in almost every terrestrial and aquatic habitat, including in oceans, lakes and damp soil, and on rocks—for less than €0.40/liter (US$2.00/gallon). The conversion of solar energy, H 2 O and CO 2 into ethanol will be carried out by a metabolically engineered strain of the cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp.

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Production Ireland 2017 Conversion 290

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'Second-generation 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 diesel. Click to enlarge. Ford introduced the 2015 F-Series Super Duty lineup at State Fair of Texas, featuring a second-generation 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel engine and increased towing capabilities. Ford introduced the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel in 2011. ( Earlier post.) A key Ford innovation on the original 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel was its reverse-flow layout.

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Diesel Ford Powered Power 286

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

'In a paper in the journal ChemSusChem , a team from the VU University Amsterdam suggests that with increasing demand from green and high-tech applications, the supply of rare earth elements (REEs) is likely to be disrupted (the degree of disruption depends on the REE) in the near future. Although there is no deficiency in the earth’s crust of rare earth oxides, the economic accessibility is limited.

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Supplies Future USA Australia 286

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

'Lifecycle energy findings. Source: Sujit Das, ORNL. Click to enlarge. A lifecycle study of aluminum-intensive vehicles by Sujit Das at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) found that an aluminum-intensive vehicle can achieve up to a 32% reduction in total lifecycle energy consumption, and up to a 29% reduction in CO 2 emissions, compared to a typical vehicle on the road today which uses traditional and high-strength steel in the body construction.

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Emissions Vehicles CO2 SUV 281

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

'Researchers at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are investigating an optimized two-step process for the synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons in the jet fuel range from CO 2 and hydrogen. The process, reported in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels , could leverage a recently reported process, also developed by NRL, to recover CO 2 from sea water. CO 2 is 140 times more concentrated in seawater than in air on a weight per volume basis (g/mL), the authors note.

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CO2 Fuel Range Conversion 278

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

'Germany’s Wirtschafts Woche reports that Volkswagen will produce 250 units of its ultra-efficient XL1 diesel plug-in hybrid ( earlier post ), and price them at €111,000 (US$145,000). The lightweight XL1 (795 kg, 1,753 lbs) delivers NEDC fuel consumption of 261 mpg (0.9 l/100 km) with CO 2 emissions of 21 g/km and an all-electric range of 31 miles (50 km) as well as a total range of 310 miles (499 km).

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Price Carbon Fiber Li-ion Polymer 277

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

'McPhy Energy, a France-based developer and manufacturer of solid state hydrogen storage, presented the first system coupling an industrial-scale hydrogen generator with a 100 kg solid state hydrogen storage unit. The demonstration, which showed the results of the first phase of the €12-million (US$16-million) French PUSHY (Potential Use of Solid Hydrogen) program, was given at the company’s headquarters in La Motte-Fanjas, France.

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Hydrogen Industrial Industry Energy 275

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

'In an advance that could significantly shrink particle accelerators for science and medicine, researchers have used a laser to accelerate electrons at a rate 10 times higher than conventional technology in a nanostructured glass chip smaller than a grain of rice. The achievement was reported today in Nature by a team including scientists from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.

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Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

'Viessmann Group and Panasonic Corporation have jointly developed a new fuel cell cogeneration system, which will become the first polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) fuel cell system available for single-homes in Europe. It will be sold by Viessmann, starting in Germany in April 2014. Aiming at an integrated system adapted for European markets, Panasonic and Viessmann have set up a joint development agreement and have jointly designed the complete fuel cell system.

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Fuel Germany Polymer Europe 275

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

'System boundaries (red line) schematic for liquid fuel carbon balance. For biofuels, because biogenic carbon is automatically credited within a product lifecycle, the boundary effectively excludes vehicle end-use CO 2 emissions. DeCicco 2013. Click to enlarge. In a paper that could have a significant impact on climate policies for transportation fuels, Dr.

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