July, 2010

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Porsche Developing Electric Vehicles; 3 Electric Boxsters Slated for Testing

Green Car Congress

A Porsche Boxster. Click to enlarge. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart is researching and developing all-electric vehicles, with three electric Boxsters to be in testing as part of the Stuttgart Model Region for Electromobility project. The work is in conjunction with the ongoing development of hybrid concepts already in regular production. Through the test process, Porsche intends for the three electric Boxsters to provide an initial insight into new electric drive components and battery s

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Greetings from ToxicTown Torrance! Breathe Deep… That’s the Smell of Dirty Money

Creative Greenius

My pals at Greenpeace, spearheaded by my sister from another mother, Jenny Binstock, produced the video above to warn folks like me, who live in ToxicTown Torrance, that we’re not really safe from the danger that surrounds us all over the South Bay and throughout all of Los Angeles. Luckily we have Greenpeace on the case to do the job that our own Mayor and City Council just aren’t courageous or visionary enough to do.

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Chelsea Sexton test drives the Leaf

Revenge of the Electric Car

Who Killed the Electric Car? alumnus and Revenge of the Electric Car consultant Chelsea Sexton recently got her turn to test drive the Nissan Leaf, and posted her findings on AutoBlogGreen : After inviting hundreds of people to Japan to check out the production-ready Leaf electric vehicle, Nissan has begun a much smaller effort in launch markets in the U.S., thus far conducting test drives in San Diego and Los Angeles, California.

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Green Driving Tips To Improve Your Gas Mileage This Summer

Green Car Reports

While the July Fourth holiday weekend has ended, many Americans still have a hefty amount of summer travel ahead. With gas prices slowly inching toward $3 a gallon, many of us who don't have the luxury of owning a fuel-sipping hybrid vehicle are looking for simple ways to save some extra cash at the pumps. There are still many ways to stretch.

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How serious is Norway about climate change? So much that its streetlights self-dim

emissions global warming Norway climate change carbon dioxide youtube lighting

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Electric Land Rover Conversion

Electric Cars are for Girls

I need a SUV for work, but feel guilty about the gas mileage. Thinking about buying a used Land Rover and converting it myself. I've seen on the Internet.

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Japanese Firm Lets EVs Refill Faster Than a Gas Car

All Cars Electric

What can you do in three minutes? Boil a egg? Buy a Coffee? Check your Mail? Visit the bathroom? Thanks to Japanese based JFE Engineering, you can now add half-charging your EV to the list, courtesy of its ultra-fast charge station. Designed to comply with the CHAdeMo standard developed by Tokyo Electric Power Company, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru.

More Trending

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Should employers pay for recharging employee-owned electric cars?

National Green Transportation

Electric vehicle owners have different recharging needs than owners of gasoline vehicles. Gasoline vehicles can recharge at the convenient gasoline recharging stations, but electric vehicle owners today don't have that convenience.

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Electric Ampera spends the day with royalty

Green Cars News

The range-extended electric Ampera enjoyed an audience with a Royal this week after a visit to Kensington Palace. Prince Michael of Kent, a keen car enthusiast took quickly to the car after he was shown how the it operates and performs. According to its maker, Vauxhall, the Prince was impressed by the cars strong [.]. Tags: Vauxhall ampera electric car Prince Michael of Kent royal.

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Bill Gates Backs EcoMotors' New OPOC Engine With $23.5 Million Investment

Green Car Reports

Throughout the history of the internal combustion engine there have been a multitude of scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs shouting claims about revolutionary new engine designs promising greater efficiency, more power, fewer emissions and lower production and running costs. However, to this day we are yet to see anything come up to replace.

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Charging Dead 8v Golf Cart Batteries With a Car Charger

Electric Cars are for Girls

My charger was not working and my batteries got so low that they do not have enough charge in them to call for the charger to cut on and charge them.

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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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2011 Nissan Leaf Drive Review: A Real Electric Car for Real People

All Cars Electric

Just days after Nissan announced its 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty option for the 2011 Leaf, we've had a chance to do our second test-drive of the week in Nissan's $33,750 electric baby. Earlier this week, Nissan gave us some time behind the wheel of the Leaf in San Jose, California. We had a great time and totally geeked out about the Leaf's.

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Cyclone Power Technologies Successfully Combusts Recovered Gulf Crude to Power Mark V Engine

Green Car Congress

Cyclone Power Technologies, Inc. has successfully performed combustion acceptability tests of crude oil recovered from the Gulf of Mexico with its heat-regenerative external combustion engine. During the tests, Cyclone ignited a small amount of crude oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon accident through its combustion chamber fuel atomizers without any system modifications.

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Lightning almost strikes at Laguna Seca e-Power electric motorcycle race, instead MotoCzysz sizzles

National Green Transportation

FIM's electric motorcycle race series, e-Power, arrived this weekend at the famed Laguna Seca raceway accompanied by the MotoGP.

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An interview with ActionAid Biofuels Campaigner, Josie Cohen

Green Cars News

As the European Commission faces a court case over its failure to release 140 documents detailing the true environmental costs of its policy of biofuel use within the transport sector, ActionAid, a charity which aims to eradicate poverty around the world, has been tirelessly working to make international governments rethink policies that encourage the use [.].

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ExxonMobil announces 6th oil discovery offshore Guyana with Ranger-1; Guyana may move from non-producer to regional powerhouse

Oil

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California Yanks Prius Perks: No More Hybrid HOV-Lane Access

Green Car Reports

You may remember that in California, 85,000 lucky owners of three hybrid vehicles were granted special stickers giving them access to High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes, even with only a single occupant in the car. Well, their luck runs out on December 31, the last day those stickers are valid. While Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill.

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Taiwanese Automaker Introduces Electric MPV

Green Car Congress

Taiwan-based LUXGEN has introduced a battery-electric MPV, the LUXGEN7 MPV EV+. Working with AC Propulsion (ACP), LUXGEN developed the core technologies for the LUXGEN7 MPV EV+ including the 180 kW (240 hp) and 265 N·m (196 lb-ft) torque AC induction motor. Components of the LUXGEN7 MPV EV+. Click to enlarge. The lithium-ion battery packs supports a 200-mile (322km) cruising range at a fixed speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) on a single charge.

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Alaska Airlines Test Flight of RNP Approach Lowered Emissions By 35% Compared to Conventional Landing

Green Car Congress

West-side approach to Sea-Tac, showing typical flight path (blue) and RNP flight path (green). Source: Alaska Airlines. Click to enlarge. Alaska Airlines demonstrated next-generation flight procedures this week during a test flight over Puget Sound that burned less fuel and reduced emissions by 35% compared to a conventional landing. The flight was part of Alaska Air Group’s “Greener Skies” project at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) focused on using satellite-based guidance techno

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Gevo Produces Isobutanol, Hydrocarbons and Renewable Jet Fuel from Cellulosic Biomass

Green Car Congress

Gevo’s production process. Click to enlarge. Gevo, a privately held renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company ( earlier post) , has successfully produced isobutanol from fermentable sugars derived from cellulosic biomass. The company also successfully converted the cellulosic isobutanol into isobutylene and paraffinic kerosene (jet fuel).

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Ford Anticipates 10-25% Of Its Global Fleet to Be Electrified by 2020

Green Car Congress

Ford anticipates that electrified vehicles—hybrids (HEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and battery-electric vehicles (BEV)—will represent 2-5% of its global fleet by 2015, and then increase rapidly to 10-25% of its global fleet by 2020, said Nancy Gioia, Ford’s Director of Global Electrification, in several talks at Plug-in 2010 in San Jose, California this week.

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Co-Electrolysis of CO2 and H2O for the Production of Liquid Fuels

Green Car Congress

Diagram of the proposed closed-loop fuel cycle. CO 2 is recycled into hydrocarbon fuels in a process based on: capturing CO 2 from the atmosphere, high-temperature co-electrolysis of CO 2 and H 2 O in a solid oxide cell to yield syngas (CO/H 2 mixture), and catalytic fuel synthesis from the syngas. Source: Lenfest Center. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, in collaboration with Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, DTU, are in

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A123 Systems Receives ISO/TS 16949 Certification for Automotive Design and Manufacturing

Green Car Congress

A123 Systems, the developer and manufacturer of Nanophosphate lithium-ion batteries and systems, has received ISO/TS 16949 certification, validating that A123’s product design and manufacturing processes meet the highest standards for excellence in the automotive industry. A123 says it is the first major US-based battery manufacturer to receive this automotive certification for cylindrical lithium-ion cells.

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Nissan Outlines Fuel-Saving Technologies Launching in FY2010; New Engines, Transmission, Stop-Start System and Hybrid System

Green Car Congress

The new 3-Cylinder HR12DE engine. Click to enlarge. In Yokohama, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. outlined the range of fuel-saving technologies—including 3- and 4-cylinder engines, CVT transmission with stop-start system and new hybrid system ( earlier post ) to be introduced on new models to be launched in fiscal year 2010. The technologies are the result of the company’s research and development efforts based on Nissan’s mid-term environmental action plan Green Program 2010 (NGP 2010)

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OriginOil Developing Technology for Harvest of Hydrogen Generated by Living Photosynthetic Algae

Green Car Congress

Concept of the Hydrogen Harvester. Click to enlarge. In what recently-appointed Chief Technology Officer Dr. Brian Goodall calls “ a landmark discovery ”, OriginOil, Inc., a developer of technologies for algae cultivation and extraction ( earlier post ), says it is developing a new technology to harvest hydrogen from living photosynthetic algae, providing an additional energy source from bioreactors.

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Strong Global Sales for Chevrolet Cruze Prior to US Introduction; More Details on Its New Small-Displacement Engines

Green Car Congress

2011 Ecotec 1.4L I-4 VVT Turbo (LUJ) for Chevrolet Cruze. Click to enlarge. Internationally, customers have purchased 140,000 Chevrolet Cruze in the first six months of 2010 and a total of 270,000 since Cruze launched in the spring of 2009 in Europe, followed by other major markets, such as China in summer of 2009. Cruze sales are rising an average of 18% per month.

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Hydraulic Hybrid Company Introduces Lightweight Hydraulic Accumulators for Vehicular and Other Applications

Green Car Congress

Design of the lightweight hydraulic accumulators. Click to enlarge. Lightning Hybrids Inc. (LHI), the developer of hydraulic drivetrain technology for vehicles ( earlier post ), introduced its lightweight high-pressure composite bladder accumulators for hydraulic and other energy storage applications. LHI says its composite tanks are one-third the weight of standard steel accumulators and offer significant energy savings due to weight reduction, increased safety due to a higher than standard bur

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Uhde Gasification Selected for Commercial Biomass-to-Methanol Plant in Sweden

Green Car Congress

VärmlandsMetanol AB has selected Uhde, a ThyssenKrupp company, as technology supplier and engineering partner for a biomass-to-methanol plant in Hagfors, Sweden, with an annual production of 100,000 tonnes of fuel-grade methanol from forest-residue biomass. Investment for the plant will be about SEK 3 billion (US$416 million). The VärmlandsMetanol plant will be the first full-scale commercial biomass-to-methanol plant.

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BMW Outlines LifeDrive Architecture for Upcoming Megacity Vehicle; A Focus on CFRP-Enabled Lightweight Design and Safety

Green Car Congress

BMW Group Megacity Vehicle Design Sketch. Click to enlarge. At BMW Group’s Innovation Days: Mobility of the Future briefing in Munich, the company outlined its plans for the upcoming electric Megacity Vehicle (MCV), due onto the market in 2013 ( earlier post ), as well as the new LifeDrive architecture upon which the MCV is based. The LifeDrive concept consists of two horizontally separated, independent modules.

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EPRI / SCE Report Measures Consumers Interest in and Infrastructure Expectations for Plug-in Vehicles

Green Car Congress

Hybrid Owners have the highest interest in PHEVs. Source: EPRI/SCE. Click to enlarge. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Southern California Edison (SCE) designed and implemented a survey to characterize consumers’ perceptions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and their expectations of their electric utility as a supplier of transportation energy and associated services.

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GM to Boost Volt US Production Capacity by 50% to 45,000 Units in 2012

Green Car Congress

Due to what it termed “ strong public interest ” in the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors will increase US production capacity of the Volt by 50%, from 30,000 units to 45,000 units, in 2012. The announcement came as US President Barack Obama toured the Detroit-Hamtramck facility, where the Volt is being produced now for sale later this year. This week, participating Chevrolet dealers in launch markets began taking customer orders for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, following the release of retail and leas

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Univ. of South Florida Researchers Link Subsurface Clouds of Degraded Oil to BP Well

Green Car Congress

University of South Florida researchers say they have definitively connected clouds of degraded underwater oil found in the northern Gulf of Mexico to the Deepwater Horizon well (MC252) through Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA). Biodegraded oil was found suspended at depths of 400 meters (one-quarter mile) and 1,000-to 1,400-meters (two-thirds to three-quarters of a mile) beneath the Gulf’s surface in the form of microscopic droplets.

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Demand for i-MiEV in Australia Three Times Greater Than Limited Supply

Green Car Congress

Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) has three times as many applicants to lease the i-MiEV electric vehicle as available vehicles at this point, according to MMAL’s CEO and president, Masahiko Takahashi. “ We could not have wished for a better response ,” Takahashi said. MMAL recently announced members of the inaugural Mitsubishi i-MiEV Foundation Group—organizations which have successfully applied to lease one of the company’s electric vehicles when the first shipment arrives in Au

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LA Unified School District Orders 130 CNG School Buses from Thomas Built

Green Car Congress

Thomas Built Buses, Daimler Trucks North America’s (DTNA) school bus manufacturer, has received an order for 130 compressed natural gas (CNG) school buses—the biggest contract for natural gas buses in the company’s history—from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The vehicles are scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010.

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IBM Almaden Researchers Say Li-Air Batteries Offer Promise for Transition to Electrified Transportation, But Face Challenges and Multi-Decade Development Cycle

Green Car Congress

Four different architectures of Li-air batteries, which all assume the use of lithium metal as the anode. The three liquid electrolyte architectures are aprotic, aqueous, and a mixed aprotic-aqueous system. In addition, a fully solid state architecture is also given. Credit, ACS, Girishkumar et al. Click to enlarge. While the practical energy density of Li-air batteries could approach that of gasoline—after factoring in tank-to-wheel efficiencies—and thereby enable a transition to an electrified

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Renault Previews DeZir Electric Concept Car

Green Car Congress

The electric concept car DeZir features gull-wing doors that open in opposite directions symbolizing “a yin and yang-style amorous harmony”, according to Renault. Click to enlarge. Renault has provided a preview of its new concept electric car, DeZir, ahead of this year’s Paris Motor Show. The “Z” in the name DeZir is a direct reference to Renault’s Z.E. signature for its forthcoming electric vehicles, and several features of its design are suggestive of two q

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