Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Saying that “ investment-grade climate change and clean energy policy is required to shift private sector investment from high-carbon to low-carbon assets ”, a group of 285 investors has urged governments and international policy makers to take new and meaningful steps in the fight against climate change. In a joint statement, the group, representing more than $20 trillion in assets under management, stressed the urgent need for policy action which stimulates private sector investmen

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Electric Cars are for Girls

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Because electric cars are all "back to the future", aren't they? I'm just surprised nobody thought of doing this before.

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Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 1, 2011

We already know a lot about the all-electric 2012 Tesla Model S sedan -- but at a press event ahead of tonight’s exclusive VIP event at the former Toyota NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Tesla was making a faster Model S for those with a sporty side. Cutting the brisk 0-60 time of the standard Model S from.

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National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 3, 2011

There are some among the powers-that-be who are salivating over the thought of vast parking lots full of electric vehicles, each plugged into the smart grid. Every so often this salivation bubbles up with articles glowing with.

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Grid Electric Vehicles Nissan Vehicles 104

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Green Cars News

OCTOBER 13, 2011

The global market for biofuels is predicted to double over the next ten years as governments encourage their use, motivated by growing concerns about energy security and economic stagnation. At least 38 governments around the world have introduced blending mandates or targets to increase the production and consumption of biofuels in the transport sector, a [.].

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Market Transportation Global Energy 88

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

A team of MIT researchers lead by Prof. Yang Shao-Horn, in collaboration with Prof. John Goodenough from the University of Texas as Austin, has found one of the most effective catalysts yet discovered for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for use in water-splitting to produce hydrogen or in rechargeable metal-air batteries. The new compound, composed of cobalt, iron and oxygen with other metals (Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3–?

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MIT Recharge Hydrogen Batteries 326

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 4, 2011

Merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the smart grid, energy storage, and electric vehicle (EV) sectors during the first six months of 2011 already totaled twice those made during all of 2010, and many more cash-starved start-ups are due for the auction block, according to a new report from Lux Research. After reaching an all-time six-month high of $1.79 billion in H1 2010, venture funding for these start-ups had all but dried up in the subsequent twelve months.

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Energy Storage Grid 2011 Energy 306

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

A new Siemens gas turbine operated in a combined cycle with a steam turbine in Irsching, Bavaria, has set a world record for efficiency, achieving net efficiency of 60.75% during the test run. The target was 60%; the previous generation of the turbine had an efficiency of 58.5%. The new turbine is designed to generate 400 megawatts (MW) alone and 600 MW when combined with a steam turbine.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 12, 2011

Drawing of the split-cycle TourEngine beta prototype. Click to enlarge. Tour Engine Inc., the developer of a novel opposed-cylinder split-cycle engine, presented details of its new beta prototype at last week’s DOE Directions in Engine-Efficiency and Emissions Research (DEER) conference in Detroit. At the 2010 DEER event, Dr. Oded Tour, CEO and co-founder (and son of Hugo Tour, inventor and co-founder and former Lt.

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Engine Exhaust Design Connect 290

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have agreed on the combined charging system as an international standardized approach to charge electric vehicles (EV) in Europe and the United States. ( Earlier post.). This universal charging system needs only a single charging interface at the vehicle allowing the customer to charge with all existing charging methods: one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home or ultra-fast DC-charging at public cha

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Manufacturer Electric Vehicles Auto Charging 286

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 21, 2011

Setup of the fluoride-ion battery: A fluoride-containing electrolyte separates the metal anode from the metal fluoride cathode. Click to enlarge. Researchers from the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) have developed and demonstrated secondary (i.e., rechargeable) battery cells based on a fluoride shuttle. A paper on their work is published in the RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry.

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Li-ion Kits Batteries Battery 285

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2011

AC Propulsion’s sister company e.motor Advance Corp. of Beijing (China) has entered into a supplier contract with Beiqi Foton Motor Co. of Beijing. The contract between the two companies provides that e.motor Advance will deliver 100 sets of its drivetrain and battery pack systems to Foton for their Midi-E electric car. The 100 Midi-E vehicles will be in service as taxis in the Yanqing area of Beijing in 2012.

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Supplies Motor Motors Motoring 279

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 3, 2011

Noting that split-cycle engine technology “ really looks promising ”, GM Vice President of Global Research and Development Dr. Alan Taub said that the company is putting on a “ major thrust ” in its R&D laboratory to see if it can get split-cycle technology “ moving ” He made the remarks during the introductory plenary session today at the DOE’s 17 th Directions in Engine-Efficiency and Emissions Research (DEER) Conference in Detroit.

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GM Engine Downsizing Detroit 278

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2011

BMW revealed first details of the new sixth-generation 3 Series; the 3 Series accounts for one-fifth of the company’s global sales. The sixth generation of the 3 Series is larger than its predecessor, with a wide track (front + 37 mm, rear + 47 mm), increased length (+ 93 mm) and augmented wheelbase (+ 50 mm). Despite the larger dimensions, the new car has a curb weight 40 kilograms (88 lb) below that of its predecessor.

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BMW 2012 Engine MPH 275

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 1, 2011

Summary of Sustainable VMT per Capita in 2050, compared to 2010 levels, under the eight scenarios analyzed in the report. Data: EMBARQ. Click to enlarge. A report released earlier this summer by released by EMBARQ—the World Resources Institute’s Center for Sustainable Transport—found that the US must achieve significant improvements in vehicle technology and reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per capita to meet targeted reductions in oil consumption and greenhouse gases.

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Oil Emissions Miles Vehicles 275

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 5, 2011

“ The future of the IC engine is bright and clear; I don’t think that could be any more obvious to all of us ,” said Byron Bunker, Director, Heavy Duty Engine Center, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, US Environmental Protection Agency during his remarks in a panel discussion on the role for internal combustion engines in the energy future at the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Directions in Engine-Efficiency and Emissions Research Conference (DEER) in Detroit.

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International Future Engine EPA 265

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 3, 2011

General Motors will sell a compressed natural gas bi-fuel commercial pickup truck early in the fourth quarter of 2012. IMPCO Automotive is the Tier-One supplier for integrating the CNG bi-fuel delivery and storage system into the pickups alongside the Express and Savana CNG-dedicated cargo vans at IMPCO Automotive’s facility in Union City, Ind. GM says it is the only US manufacturer currently providing a single-source commercial option with the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana CNG cargo vans.

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2012 Commercial GM Fuel 261

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin report the synthesis of a molybdenum-antimony composite (Mo 3 Sb 7 –C) for use as anode material for a lithium-ion battery in a paper in the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry C. With a discharge capacity of 518 mAh/g and 907 mAh/cm 3 and a tap density of 1.75 g/cm 3 for the composite, the Mo3Sb7–C composite anodes offer three times higher volumetric capacity than the graphite anode.

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Li-ion Austin Lithium Ion Carbon 259

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 11, 2011

The Detroit News reported that GM will announce on Wednesday it will introduce a full battery-electric city car in the US. Green Car Reports fleshed that basic item out with additional details: The vehicle is the Chevrolet Spark EV, unveiled as the Chevrolet Beat EV, in India. It is an conversion of the upcoming 2013 Chevrolet Spark/Beat minicar. ( Earlier post.).

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REVA GM All-Electric Chevrolet 256

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2011

The CO peak observed by gas chromatography as a. function of the total potential applied to the cell. (OC = open cell). Gas phase CO production is observed at an. applied potential of 1.5V—i.e., slightly above the 1.33V. equilibrium potential for the reaction. Rosen et al. Click to enlarge. A team from the University of Illinois and startup Dioxide Materials has developed an electrocatalytic system for the reduction of CO 2 to CO—a key component of artificial photosynthesis and thus

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Conversion CO2 Carbon Convert 255

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

GE Energy Financial Services and German fund KGAL are jointly investing €111.1 million in a 50-megawatt parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant using molten salt energy storage in Torre de Miguel Sesmero, Badajoz, Spain. The GE unit and KGAL agreed to invest structured equity in Extresol II, developed by Spain-based ACS, Europe’s largest developer, builder and operator of solar thermal power plants.

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Molten Salt Energy Storage Solar Spain 253

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 4, 2011

In the absence of major technological innovations or policy changes, the United States is unlikely to meet cellulosic biofuel mandates under the current Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) by 2022, according to a new report from the National Research Council. Further, the report found, only in an economic environment characterized by high oil prices, technological breakthroughs, and a high implicit or actual carbon price would biofuels be cost-competitive with petroleum-based fuels.The report also su

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Renewable Tax Credit Conversion Fuel 252

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 1, 2011

Integrity Exports. Nissan will begin trials of its New Mobility Concept EV on public roads starting in the area around Nissan’s HQ in Yokohama, Japan. The trial will also be extended to Aomori Prefecture (in the North) and Fukuoka Prefecture (in the South). Nissan New Mobility Concept. Click to enlarge. Nissan’s 2-seater, based on Renault’s Twizy, is 2.34 meters in length and 1.19 meters wide.

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Nissan Concept MPH Recharge 252

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Bubbles under the vessel bottom of the new bulk carrier with MALS. Click to enlarge. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has designed a new bulk carrier equipped with the proprietary Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS), which reduces frictional resistance between the vessel hull and seawater using air bubbles produced at the vessel bottom, along with high-efficiency hull form and enhanced propulsion system.

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Design Emissions Panama CO2 249

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 9, 2011

Glori Energy, a company seeking to commercialize a microbial enhanced oil recovery technology ( earlier post ), filed an S-1 to go public with a proposed maximum yield of $115 million. Glori Energy’s AERO System (Activated Environment for the Recovery of Oil) technology stimulates the native microorganisms that reside in an oil reservoir to improve the recoverability of the trapped oil.

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Oil Companies Environment Commercial 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 9, 2011

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) will establish a new subsidiary in China in February 2012 to manufacture and sell formulated electrolyte for Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs). Commercial operation is expected by the end of 2012. Battery production in China is expected to grow rapidly, both for the consumer electronics and for the emerging automotive applications.

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Mitsubishi Li-ion China Lithium Ion 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

A University of Maine chemical engineer and his research team have developed a new process—thermal deoxygenation (TDO)—to transform biomass, including forest residues, municipal solid waste, grasses, and construction wastes, into a hydrocarbon fuel oil. The process requires no catalysts or hydrogen, and is “ a spin on chemistry used to make acetone back in the 1800s ”, said M.

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Hydrogen Fuel Convert Oil 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Mazda Motor Corporation has announced the Mazda RX-8 SPIRIT R, a special edition version of its four-door, four-seat rotary-engined sports car. Mazda will cease RX-8 production will end in June 2012 and SPIRIT R will be the final special edition model. The RX-8 SPIRIT R will go on sale from 24 November 2011 at all Mazda and Mazda Anfini dealerships throughout Japan.

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Mazda 2012 Engine Production 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2011

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. exhibited five models from its Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) lineup, including three trucks all based on the Atlas 24 model equipped with Nissan LEAF components and other EV-related technologies at the 2011 Tokyo Truck Show: the e-NT400 Atlas Concept; the Atlas F24 Refrigerator Van by Li-ion Battery; and the Atlas F24 Power Supply Truck. e-NT400 Atlas Concept.

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Nissan Li-ion Light Commercial 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2011

Polaris Industries Inc. has made a minority investment in Brammo, an Ashland, Ore.-based maker of electric vehicle technology and two-wheel electric vehicles. By investing in Brammo, Polaris obtains access to its proprietary electric vehicle powertrain technology, as well as exposure to the rapidly growing electric motorcycle market. Founded in 2002, Brammo has made its mark by developing electric vehicle technology tailored specifically for the motorcycle segment.

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Electric Motorcycles Motorcycles Companies 2002 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 21, 2011

Siemens charging station and BMW ActiveE demonstrating the new flexible charging system. Click to enlarge. Siemens and BMW are developing a flexible rapid charging system to make it possible to use the same socket to charge up electric cars on either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). The work is part of the Modellregion Elektromobilität München – Drive eCharged project being funded by Germany’s Ministry of Transport, Building, and Urban Development.

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DC Plug-in BMW Plug 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 10, 2011

The ANSI Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP) will convene its second plenary meeting on 17-18 November 2011, in Arlington, Virginia, to continue work on a strategic roadmap identifying the standards and conformity assessment programs needed to enable the widespread acceptance and deployment of electric vehicles and associated infrastructure in the United States.

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Standards Electric Vehicles Arlington Vehicles 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) reported that a side-by-side evaluation of the performance, durability and emissions of ethanol and isobutanol fuel blends run by Briggs & Stratton (B&S) on its small engines found that isobutanol fuel blends (provided by Gevo) did not cause any irregular or unstable engine or performance issues. The results suggest that isobutanol could help meet the renewable fuel mandate with minimal to no impact on existing equipment and off-road vehicles.

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Engine Fuel Vehicles Alternative Fuels 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has developed two new fuel-saving technologies: the 4J10 lightweight and compact 1.8-liter gasoline engine incorporating a new version of the company’s MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control) variable valve timing system; and the latest version of the company’s Auto Stop & Go (AS&G) idle-stop technology.

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Mitsubishi Engine Motor Motors 239