Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 20, 2010

by Mike Millikin and Jack Rosebro. The Volt drive unit combines two motors and three clutches to deliver four distinct operating modes to maximize efficiency and provide a seamless driving experience. Click to enlarge. During the serial media launch events for the Chevrolet Volt, GM provided more detail (subsequent to the completion of related patent work) on the novel drive architecture applied in their first extended range electric vehicle to enhance the efficiency of both the battery electric

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Creative Greenius

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Members of the newly formed South Bay Bicycle Coalition are happy with the Hermosa Beach "sharrows," which allow bicyclists to use a lane of traffic on Hermosa Avenue. The group hopes to see more South Bay cities install such bicycle-friendly facilities. (Steve McCrank, Daily Breeze Staff Photographer). I’ve written before about the sharrows Hermosa Beach painted on Hermosa Ave earlier this year and how much I like them.

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Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 21, 2010

The U.S. is just getting its first taste of the funky Mazda2, a car that has helped rewrite the rulebook on affordable hatchbacks by showing that cheap doesn’t have to mean drab and boring to drive. However, the next-generation of Mazda’s global small car is currently in the works and is set for debut in Japan as early as the first.

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MPG Mazda Cheap Motoring 148

All Cars Electric

OCTOBER 26, 2010

We all know that battery packs are the weakest link in electric vehicles. Not only are they heavy and expensive, but they take a long time to recharge and on average can only provide around 100 miles per charge. A German-based company has changed all that with a new vehicle capable of driving up to 375 miles at moderate highway speeds.

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Recharge Miles MPH Electric Cars 111

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National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 6, 2010

This week battery component makers from around the world are meeting in San Jose at The Battery Show. Among boths from companies that make Anodes and Cathodes is a highly advanced electric superbike motorcycle made by Chip Yates and his SWIGZ.COM Racing team. Chip Yates is a pro motorcycle racer and engineer. He and his team have been working on their motorcycle for over a year, tantalizing us with teaser shots and data the whole time.

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Motorcycles San Jose Electrical Electric 85

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 11, 2010

If you’re a regular reader of TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk you probably already consider yourself an expert on the subject of electric vehicles. However, do you think you would be good enough to earn a Masters Degree in the subject? Believe it or not, that could actually be a possibility after The Renault Foundation and ParisTech developed a [.]. Tags: Electric cars Green cars Latest news Renault Electric Vehicle Masters Degree electric vehicles Masters Course ParisTech Renault Foundation Sustainabl

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Electric Vehicles Sustainable Transportation Vehicles Green Cars 88

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 25, 2010

Turbocharged HCPC engine scheme. Click to enlarge. A team from Universita degli Studi di Pisa (Italy) and Rolf Reitz at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are proposing a novel combustion concept—Homogenous Charge Progressive Combustion (HCPC)—based on a split-cycle principle to control HCCI combustion in diesel-fueled engines. Ettore Musu from the University of Pisa presented a CFD study of concept at the SAE 2010 Powertrains, Fuels and Lubricants Meeting in San Diego.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Supercapacitor energy storage unit for the E-Booster Click to enlarge. Continental AG is supplying Maxwell Technologies ultracapacitor-based booster systems to PSA Peugeot Citroën for its second-generation e-HDi Start-Stop Systems. PSA plans to sell around one million vehicles equipped with the new E-Booster micro-hybrid technology e-HDi over the next three years.

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Supplies Energy Storage Diesel Recharge 286

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Computer-generated image of the Turbulent Jet Igniter, designed to replace the spark plug in a modern spark ignition combustion system. Click to enlarge. MAHLE Powertrain is developing an advanced spark-initiated pre-chamber combustion system—Turbulent Jet Ignition (TJI)—for otherwise standard spark-ignition (SI) engines found in current on-road vehicles.

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Engine 2010 Plug-in San Diego 285

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 11, 2010

The Renault Foundation and ParisTech have, in partnership with the Sustainable Mobility Institute, developed a program dedicated to new forms of mobility and electric vehicles in particular. The new Masters course, lasting sixteen months, includes four phases. After a three-month period covering the main issues in sustainable mobility, students choose one of the following options: mastering electric vehicle energy: electro-mechanical conversions, static conversions and storage; or. electric vehi

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 22, 2010

The roles for hydrogen and fuel cells in the energy mix. Source: DOE. Click to enlarge. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a draft version of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Plan, which outlines the strategy, activities, and plans of DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program. It is initially published as a draft to solicit feedback from relevant stakeholders, with a final version to be published in FY 2011.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Annual worldwide sales of the Prius to September 2010. Data: TMC. Click to enlarge. Worldwide cumulative sales of the Toyota Prius have passed the 2-million mark, with approximately 2,012,000 units sold as of the end of September, according to Toyota. Currently, the Prius is sold in more than 70 countries and regions. Worldwide Prius sales have been buoyed since 2009 by the introduction in Japan of a government subsidy for green cars that propelled Prius to be the top-selling car in Japan for 17

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Prius Toyota 2012 Sale 268

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 1, 2010

Audi e-tron Spyder. Click to enlarge. Audi introduced the e-tron Spyder, a study of an open sports car with plug-in hybrid drive, at the Paris Motor Show. The two-seater is equipped with a 221 kW (300 hp) twin-turbo V6 TDI at the rear axle and two electric motors producing a total of 64 kW at the front axle. The Audi e-tron Spyder requires on average just 2.2L diesel/100 km (107 mpg US), corresponding to CO 2 emissions of 59 g/km (95 g/mile).

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Audi Plug-in Diesel Concept 268

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2010

Hybrid electric Cascadia. Click to enlarge. Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA) and Walmart have collaborated to build the first hybrid electric Freightliner Cascadia. This truck also marks the beginning of a long-term strategic partnership between DTNA and Walmart to develop innovative, green technologies. Developed based on a Walmart spec’d truck, the 72-inch raised-roof Detroit Diesel DD15-equipped Cascadia features a parallel hybrid system based on an electrically-driven second drive axl

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North America America Hybrid Engine 257

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Contour Energy Systems, Inc. has acquired a carbon nanotube technology that can significantly improve the power capability of lithium-ion batteries, through an exclusive technology licensing agreement with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ( Earlier post.) Early findings from researchers at MIT confirm that using carbon nanotubes for battery electrodes can produce a ten-fold increase in the amount of power that can be delivered from a given weight of material when compared to a conven

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Li-ion MIT Carbon Lithium Ion 257

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric. Click to enlarge. Backed by research support from the Swedish Energy Agency, Volvo Cars is initiating development of a fuel cell system that can extend an electric car’s operating range. The aim is to have two prototype chassis based on the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric ready for testing in everyday traffic in 2012. Volvo Cars is working together with the company PowerCell Sweden AB on this project.

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Volvo Fuel Range Sweden 253

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2010

J.D. Power forecast of hybrid-, plug-in hybrid- and battery-electric vehicle global sales through 2020. Click to enlarge. A new report from J.D. Power and Associates estimates combined global sales of hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) will total 5.2 million units in 2020, or some 7.3% of the 70.9 million passenger vehicles forecasted to be sold worldwide by that year.

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2020 Global Electric Vehicles Hybrid 250

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 6, 2010

The Bůsbaar rapid charger. Click to enlarge. Spain-based Opbrid Transporte Sostenible S.L. has introduced the Bůsbaar—an overhead, pantograph-based fast-charging station for buses. Based on technology from the European rail industry, and leveraging the rapid charge capability of nanotechnology Lithium Titanate (nLTO) technology batteries such as those from Altair Nano, the Bůsbaar is a high power (~250 kW) opportunity charging station that rapidly charges a bus at one or bot

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Lithium Titanate Charging Hybrid Batteries 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 25, 2010

System components of cyanobacterial ethanol life cycle analysis. Credit: ACS, Luo et al. Click to enlarge. Algenol Biofuels’ Direct to Ethanol technology is based on an intracellular photosynthetic process in cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that produces ethanol that is excreted through the cell walls, collected from closed photobioreactors as a dilute ethanol-in-water solution, and purified to fuel grade ethanol.

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Carbon Gasoline Gas-Electric Gasoline-Electric 246

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 20, 2010

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has certified the Chevrolet Volt as meeting California LEV-II ULEV (EPA Bin 4) emissions standards. For bi-, dual- or flex-fueled vehicles, the certification is based on the results testing with gasoline fuel—i.e, in this case, when the Volt’s range-extending engine is operating. Under California’s LEV-II, there are three sets of increasingly more stringent emission standards: LEV, ULEV, and SULEV.

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Volt Chevrolet California Standards 244

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Normalized fuel consumption reduction from TSCi over the mini-map operating points compared to production PFI SI engine. Click to enlarge. Engine testing of the Transonic Combustion injection-ignition system (TSCi, earlier post ) applied to a gasoline-fueled production passenger car engine (with a diesel engine architecture) has shown fuel consumption reduction in the range of 5% to 21% across a number of speed and load conditions compared to a production port fuel injection (PFI) spark-ignition

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Engine Fuel Gasoline-Electric Gasoline 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2010

Volvo has received its first order for buses that operate on both biogas (biomethane) and diesel, for 11 buses from Vårgårdabuss in Sweden, for putting in service in July 2011. It involves the Volvo 8500 intercity bus model. Using diesel technology increases environmental efficiency compared with current gas-operated buses, Volvo notes. A diesel engine is 30-40% more efficient than current gas-operated engines.

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Volvo Diesel Sweden Gas 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2010

Hybrid electric locomotive sales will have an increasing presence in global rail markets between 2015 and 2020, according to a new report from Pike Research. During that period, hybrid locomotive sales will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.4% under a baseline forecast scenario, with annual unit sales of 109 locomotives by 2020.

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2015 2020 Hybrid North America 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 25, 2010

Audi reported that two Audi A3 TDI models running on Rentech, Inc. synthetic RenDiesel fuel—a Fischer-Tropsch fuel—flawlessly completed the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) ‘Eureka! Diesel Drives the Future’ tour spanning the length of California. ( Earlier post.). The results of the driver were promising, Audi said, demonstrating that RenDiesel synthetic fuel can operate for more than 1,000 miles with no noticeable differences in performance compared to traditional fuels; further research is p

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Audi Fuel MPG Diesel 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 18, 2010

smart car2go with solar roof. Click to enlarge. Daimler subsidiary car2go GmbH and Hamburg-based Europcar Autovermietung GmbH will launch the car2go mobility concept in Hamburg in spring 2011. Initially there will be 300 smart fortwo vehicles for the car2go scheme in the Hanseatic city. The cars being used are two-seater smart car2go edition models equipped with carsharing telematics and a solar roof.

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2011 Solar Austin 2010 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 1, 2010

The new electric WIV from FCCC and Morgan Olson. Click to enlarge. Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) and Morgan Olson LLC launched the next generation vehicle with new exterior and interior body styling for the all-electric walk-in van (WIV). Introduced at the Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF), the MT-EV WIV features a lightweight, aerodynamic design for improved efficiency.

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All-Electric Alternative Fuels Vehicles Federal Grant 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Supported by an EPA grant worth nearly $1.5 million, two Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Inc. (TOTE) cargo ships will now plug into electrical power and shut down diesel engines while docked during weekly calls at their Tacoma terminal. The $2.7 million shore power project will reduce diesel and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% during TOTE’s 100 ship calls each year in Tacoma.

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Plug-in Plug Power Powered 236

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Porsche is consistently targeting improving fuel economy with each model change. Depending on the model, the savings achieved by all currently available model series in comparison with the corresponding predecessors lie in the double-digit percentage range while simultaneously offering significantly increased performance. With consumption reductions of 20 to 23% in the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), the savings achieved by the new generation of Cayenne models are the highest.

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Fuel Economy Cayenne Porsche Economy 236

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Examining the potential impact of large-plug-in vehicle use in the context of the Netherlands, a study by Oscar van Vliet at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis and colleagues at Utrecht University concluded that, if off-charging is successfully introduced, electric driving need not require additional generation capacity, even in the event of a 100% switch to electric vehicles.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 2, 2010

GE unveiled the residential GE WattStation electric vehicle charger. Following the announcement of the public charger in July ( earlier post ), the residential GE WattStation is designed to help accelerate the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles by decreasing time needed for vehicle charging and, using smart grid technology, allowing utility companies to manage the impact of electric vehicles on the local and regional grids.

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Grid Electric Vehicles Vehicles Electrical 236

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Testing in a single cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition (DISI) test engine comparing ethanol, gasoline and 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), using the optimized spark timings for each fuels, found that DMF produces competitive combustion and emissions qualities to gasoline, which, in some cases surpass ethanol. ( Earlier post.). Recent work has improved the high yield conversion of biomass-derived carbohydrates to DMF, and there is growing interest in using this as a bio-based substitute for petrole

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Gasoline Emissions Engine Universal 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2010

The flywheel-hybrid system bolts directly onto the automatic transmission. Click to enlarge. Construction has begun on the first “Flybus” prototype vehicle, designed to demonstrate the viability of a cost-effective alternative to battery-hybrid buses by using flywheel energy storage. ( Earlier post.) The Flybus system could deliver up to 20% savings in fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions in stop-start city center operation.

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Energy Storage Low Cost Hybrid Energy 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2010

A team from Japan’s AIST and Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd. has developed a new titanium oxide material—H 2 Ti 12 O 25 —that exhibits 28.5% higher energy capacity than lithium titanate (Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 , LTO). Additionally, the team developed a synthesis method that can be used at a relatively low temperature of 200-300 °C. Charge-discharge curve of the new material vs.

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Japan Li-ion Lithium Titanate Sodium 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Toyota Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (Toyota Chemical Engineering), Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (Sumitomo Metal Mining) and Primearth EV Energy Co., Ltd. (PEVE, formerly Panasonic EV Energy) have launched what they say is the first business to recycle nickel in used hybrid-vehicle nickel-metal-hydride batteries for use in new nickel-metal-hydride batteries.

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