Green Car Congress

APRIL 16, 2011

The overall market for energy storage technologies that power electric vehicles is set to grow from $13 billion in 2011 to $30 billion in 2016, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%. Despite the visibility of plug-in passenger cars with large packs such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf grab most of the headlines, the bulk of future growth will be driven by more humble vehicles, such as e-bikes and micro-hybrids, according to a new report from Lux Research.

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Energy Storage Lead Acid Market Hybrid 370

Creative Greenius

APRIL 5, 2011

How’d you like to enjoy 7-and-a-half miles of L.A. streets free of motorized vehicles and open only to bicyclists and pedestrians? Stroll, play, talk, celebrate -do whatever you want on the public street without sucking up gas fumes or fearing for your life from drunk drivers, texting drivers, drivers eating or putting on makeup or just plain dangerous behind the wheel lunatics.

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Coal Sierra Los Angeles Green 257

Plugs and Cars

APRIL 24, 2011

A story on Toyota's announcement that an ordering system for the plug-in prius will be coming later this year prompted me to check out the site. I find it rather funny and rather sad. "THE FIRST-EVER prius plug-in hybrid," it says. Really? Ask Felix Kramer of CalCars. Ask any of the hundreds of individuals and fleets driving around in prius converted to have plug-in capability.

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Prius Plug-in Plug EV1 220

Green Car Reports

APRIL 14, 2011

Americans aren't stupid. We're just badly informed. And occasionally, stubborn. Why else would we ignorantly cling to using miles per gallon as the way to measure how efficiently a car uses fuel? But maybe you don't quite see the problem. OK, so here's a little test: Which saves more gasoline, going from 10 to 20 mpg, or going from 33 to 50 mpg?

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Miles MPG Gasoline Fuel 167

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All Cars Electric

APRIL 27, 2011

A study conducted by the energy research and advisory firm E Source has revealed that as much as 85 percent of consumers could be ready to buy plug-in electric cars, provided the conditions were right. The data for the report was collected from the Nielsen Energy Survey, which asked 3,200 energy consumers across the U.S. their views on energy.

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Electric Cars Cars Buy Plug-in 106

National Green Transportation

APRIL 10, 2011

David Herron On Saturday (April 9) Energy Secretary Stephen Chu brought the "sputnik moment" message to the 7th Berkeley-Stanford Cleantech Conference in San Francisco, saying "The countries that lead the 21st century clean energy economy will. April 10, 2011.

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San Francisco 2011 Economy Clean 103

Creative Greenius

APRIL 6, 2011

From my great friends, Carolyn Miller and Transition South Bay L.A. and Sona Kalapura and the green city of Manhattan Beach. If you don’t know how damaging plastics are to our environment here are two free showings on Earth Day 2011 – Friday, April 22 – of the movie BAG IT that will enlighten you and make you angry. Angry is good when it comes to more petroleum based products that we have shoved down our throats until they choke our landfills and oceans.

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Environment 2011 Clean Cleaning 236

Green Cars News

APRIL 26, 2011

The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf have earned top safety ratings in the very first US crash tests evaluations on electric cars. According to the country’s Institute for Highway Safety, both models earned the top rating for front, side, rear, and rollover crash protection. With standard electronic stability control, they qualify as winners of Top [.].

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Volt Nissan Chevrolet Standards 60

Green Car Reports

APRIL 18, 2011

It’s been more than a decade since Volkswagen’s new-generation ‘New Beetle’ first hit showrooms but a successor is finally here, making its debut this week at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show before reappearing just a couple of days later at the 2011 New York Auto Show. It won’t be on sale in the U.S. until the second half.

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MPG 2012 New York Diesel 129

All Cars Electric

APRIL 23, 2011

From Michael Moore's Roger And Me in 1989 to Chris Paine's 2006 Who Killed The Electric Car?, there's no shortage of documentaries that portray auto-industry executives as incompetent, bumbling, short-sighted, arrogant fools. So it may be a surprise that merely five years later, two global automakers and one upstart new car company are the heroes.

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Electric Cars 2006 Auto Industry Cars 106

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National Green Transportation

APRIL 20, 2011

Zero Motorcycles announced today they will enter competition in the 2011 AMA Mini Moto race in Las Vegas. The May 6 race will be held at the South Point Hotel and Casino, and is the worlds biggest mini bike. David Herron April 20, 2011.

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Las Vegas Motorcycles 2011 63

Green Car Congress

APRIL 3, 2011

Contribution of each metric to the FCI Success and VMT-FE Success scenarios. Credit: ACS, Melaina and Webster. Click to enlarge. Aggressive near-term actions are necessary in three areas—vehicle miles traveled (VMT), vehicle fuel economy (FE), and fuel carbon intensity (FCI)—in order to achieve a “fair share” reduction within the light-duty-vehicle sector toward meeting US goals of an 83% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2050, according to a new study by a t

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Fuel Economy Fuel Carbon Economy 346

Green Car Congress

APRIL 11, 2011

Among the R&D projects Toyota Motor is exploring to further lower fuel consumption and emissions are two concepts on a pathway to deliver gasoline engines featuring more than 45% thermal efficiency for application in its future hybrid vehicles, according to Koichi Nakata of Toyota in his presentation today at SAE 2011 High Efficiency IC Engines Symposium in Detroit.

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Toyota Gasoline Engine Hybrid 337

Green Car Congress

APRIL 9, 2011

The donor Lupo, the old diesel powertrain, and the new electric powertrain. Click to enlarge. Over the past year the Dynamics and Control group of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) (The Netherlands) has developed a battery electric research vehicle based on a VW Lupo 3L 1.2 TDI. The vehicle, formally launched this week, will be on display at AutoRAI in Amsterdam, 13-23 April.

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Convert Range Li-ion DC 337

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Green Car Congress

APRIL 21, 2011

Flow diagram of the battery system, defined by the functional unit of 50 MJ stored and delivered to the powertrain. Credit: ACS, Majeau-Bettez et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have performed life cycle assessments (LCA) of three batteries for plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and full performance battery electric (BEV) vehicles.

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Nickel Metal Hydride NiMH Li-ion PHEV 334

Green Car Congress

APRIL 4, 2011

Siemens has launched a new electric-vehicle charging station on the market that can fully recharge a battery within one hour. By doubling the output to 22 kW, the charging station cuts charging times in half. The station is also protected against vandalism, with a doubly secured charging cable and the option of connecting the device to a remote surveillance system so that it can be used as part of a smart grid.

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Plug-in Plug Charging Recharge 330

Green Car Congress

APRIL 16, 2011

Cartoon of the proposed turbocharged split-cycle engine. Note the reduction in size of the intake/compression cylinder. Click to enlarge. The Scuderi Group announced at the SAE 2011 World Congress in Detroit that boosting one of its air-hybrid split-cycle engines ( earlier post ) with a turbocharger to 3.2 bar decreases the BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) up to 14% compared to the air-hybrid engine, while resulting in a simultaneous increase in the engine’s power BMEP (brake mean effectiv

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Engine Power Powered Downsizing 316

Green Car Congress

APRIL 27, 2011

The London Congestion Charging Scheme (CCS)—which charged for travel into central London and reduced traffic volume ( earlier post )—has shown little evidence that it improved air quality as well, according to Part I of a new study published by the Health Effects Institute (HEI). The study, “The Impact of the Congestion Charging Scheme on Air Quality in London”, was led by Professor Frank Kelly of King’s College London as part of HEI’s research program to meas

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London Charging Pollution Diesel 299

Green Car Congress

APRIL 27, 2011

Better Place and China Southern Power Grid Co. (CSG) signed a strategic agreement calling for the companies to open a battery switch station and joint education center in Guangzhou before the end of the year, while working to formalize a joint-venture partnership. CSG is the world’s eighth-largest utility, according to the Fortune Global 500. The agreement, which focuses on joint electric car and infrastructure projects in CSG’s service areas, will further advance electric cars with switchable b

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Grid China Battery Batteries 299

Green Car Congress

APRIL 8, 2011

At Hannover Messe 2011, Siemens presented a development project for inductive charging (“Contactless Charging of Battery-Electric Vehicles”), developed in cooperation with BMW. In June 2011, the capabilities of this non-contact charging system will be tested in a project funded by the German Environment Ministry and involving several vehicles in Berlin.

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2011 Plug-in BMW Charging 299

Green Car Congress

APRIL 15, 2011

A team led by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Professor Xile Hu has discovered that a molybdenum-based catalyst allows the electrolytic production of hydrogen at room temperature, and is inexpensive and efficient. The results provide new opportunities for the development of renewable and economic hydrogen production technologies. A paper on the work appears in the RSC journal Chemical Science.

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Water Hydrogen Production 2011 294

Green Car Congress

APRIL 9, 2011

As part of the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is making nearly $170 million for funding over three years available to support a range of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology areas. The SunShot Initiative aims to reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75%—to roughly $1 per watt—before the end of the decade.

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Solar Energy Energy Grid Grid 294

Green Car Congress

APRIL 29, 2011

BYD all-electric e6 Taxi in service in Shenzhen. Click to enlarge. In conjunction with the one-year anniversary of its all-electric vehicle Taxi fleet test, BYD announced high-level results of several pilots of its plug-in electric vehicles—the F3DM, e6 and eBUS-12—in fleet testing across the world. In total, BYD plug-ins have accumulated more than 1.769 million all-electric miles (2.847 million km) and have seen no diminished range or capacity due to rapid-charging.

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BYD Fleet Plug-in E6 290

Green Car Congress

APRIL 20, 2011

Chevrolet Malibu ECO PowerFlow screen. Click to enlarge. Chevrolet has introduced the 2013 Malibu ECO, its most fuel-efficient midsize sedan yet. The Malibu ECO features GM’s eAssist light electrification technology ( earlier post ), which is engineered to deliver an estimated 26 mpg in city driving and 38 mpg on the highway. Malibu ECO’s eAssist system is mated to a 2.4L Ecotec direct-injection four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

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Chevrolet 2013 Lithium Ion Fuel Economy 286

Green Car Congress

APRIL 13, 2011

A new Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) study shows finds that oil from algae grown in outdoor raceway ponds located in the Gulf Coast, the Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes could replace 17% of the United States’ imported oil for transportation. The study also found that shows that water use for algae cultivation is much less if algae are grown in the US regions that have the sunniest and most humid climates: the Gulf Coast, the Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes.

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Oil Water South Carolina Climate 281

Green Car Congress

APRIL 26, 2011

High-level process schematic for hydrocarbons from isobutanol. Source: Gevo. Click to enlarge. Gevo, Inc., a renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, signed an engineering and consulting agreement with Mustang Engineering, LP for the conversion of Gevo’s renewable isobutanol to biojet fuel. This effort will focus on the downstream processing of isobutanol to paraffinic kerosene (jet fuel) for jet engine testing, airline suitability flights and advancing commercial deployment. ( Earlier

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Renewable Conversion Engine Fuel 278

Green Car Congress

APRIL 7, 2011

Ford Motor Company will stage the debut of the new Focus ECOnetic next week at the Amsterdam Motor Show. The new diesel ECOnetic, which will go on sale early next year, leverages a number of advanced technologies that Ford expects will make it more fuel efficient than any other compact vehicle on the road today in Europe, including conventional diesel-, gasoline- and hybrid-powered vehicles.

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Diesel MPG Ford Motoring 278

Green Car Congress

APRIL 25, 2011

A scheme of an M13 virus and its cloning vector for genetic engineering. Click to enlarge. Researchers at MIT led by Drs. Angela Belcher and Paula Hammond have synthesized single-walled carbon nanotube–TiO 2 nanocrystal core–shell nanocomposites using a genetically engineered M13 virus as a template. Using the nanocomposites as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells, they achieved a power conversion efficiency in the solar cells of 10.6%, up from 8%—an increase of almost one-third.

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MIT Solar Carbon Conversion 271

Green Car Congress

APRIL 4, 2011

With the first observation of thermoelectric effects at graphene contacts, University of Illinois researchers found that graphene transistors have a nanoscale cooling effect that reduces their temperature. A paper on their findings is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. All electronics dissipate heat as a result of the electrons in the current colliding with the device material, a phenomenon called resistive heating.

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Illinois Carbon 2011 Water 271

Green Car Congress

APRIL 17, 2011

Li-ion battery manufacturer Leyden Energy provided its high energy-density, high-performance Li-ion battery cells for SSI Racing’s electric Dream Car at the annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Dream Car, which holds three world records and accelerates from 0-60 mph in three seconds, was on display at the Long Beach Convention Center from 15-17 April.

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Li-ion Energy Long Beach Kits 268

Green Car Congress

APRIL 13, 2011

Body in white is the next area of focus for downweighting. Source: ATG. Click to enlarge. Using aluminum in select automotive components could reduce vehicle body structure weight safely by as much as an additional 40% compared to today’s vehicles, according to a recent study by the University of Aachen (Germany) for the European Aluminium Association (EAA).

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Vehicles Cleaner Affordable Fuel Economy 268

Green Car Congress

APRIL 5, 2011

Heckmann Corporation, a water solutions company focused on water issues worldwide and, in particular, oil and natural gas exploration and production, is teaming up with Encana Natural Gas Inc., a subsidiary of Encana Corporation, Westport and Peterbilt Motors Company, a division of PACCAR Inc to transition its truck fleet from traditional diesel vehicles to natural gas vehicles (NGVs).

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Corporation Fleet Diesel Peterbilt 268

Green Car Congress

APRIL 21, 2011

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) will recruit 500 people from Wright and Hennepin counties to take part in research to test technology that could someday be used to collect a mileage-based user fee (MBUF) in lieu of a gasoline tax. Mn/DOT will start recruiting volunteers for the Minnesota Road Fee Test in May and research will begin in July 2011.

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Fuel Tax Tax Minnesota Fuel 262

Green Car Congress

APRIL 27, 2011

Half a billion people worldwide will use their mobile devices as travel tickets on metros, subways and buses by 2015, according to new forecasts from Juniper Research. This is more than five times the number generated last year but Juniper expects usage to spread widely from the current concentration in Japan and several European countries. Outside Japan, systems in operation typically use SMS or bar codes.

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2015 Japan 2013 Europe 262