Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2014

'Cell schematic. Discharge mode is shown; the arrows are reversed for electrolytic/charge mode. AQDSH 2 refers to the reduced form of AQDS. Huskinson et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Harvard have demonstrated a metal-free organic–inorganic aqueous flow battery—a quinone–bromide flow battery (QBFB)—as an example of a class of energy storage materials that exploits the favorable chemical and electrochemical properties of a family of molecules known as quinones.

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Low Cost Grid Batteries Battery 374

Green Car Reports

JANUARY 7, 2014

'Recently, we attracted flak from some quarters of our readership for featuring pickup trucks. While not green by the standards of modern electric vehicles and hybrids, their push towards greater efficiency is equally important--because the biggest gains come from the most popular and least-efficient vehicles. Fuel-efficient big rigs take that to.

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Green Cars News

JANUARY 13, 2014

'The global car industry is entering a global age of innovation according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), making leaps and bounds in four key technology areas; powertrain, lightweight materials, connectivity and active safety (or assisted driving). A new report from the Group is released as t[.].

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Boston Consulting Group Industrial Industry Boston 83

National Green Transportation

JANUARY 10, 2014

'Tesla Motors announced on Friday that the company is replacing Tesla Model S Universal Mobile Connector’s to mitigate the fire risk in case of overheating. The move follows a garage fire in November involving a Tesla Model.

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Tesla Motors Motor Motoring Motors 77

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Norway

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 27, 2014

'The 400 hp DIG-T R race engine. Click to enlarge. Nissan unveiled a 400 hp (298 kW) 1.5-liter, three-cylinder turbo gasoline engine weighing only 40 kg (88 lbs) as the companion internal combustion engine for its electric ZEOD RC which will debut at Le Mans this year. ( Earlier post.). The Nissan ZEOD RC will become the first entry at Le Mans to complete a lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe under nothing but electric power in June.

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Nissan Engine Downsizing Gasoline-Electric 372

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 26, 2014

'Israel-based NewCO2Fuels (NCF), a subsidiary of GreenEarth Energy Limited in Australia, reported completion of stage 1 testing of its proof-of-concept system for the conversion of CO 2 into fuels using solar energy. NewCO2Fuels was founded in 2011 to commercialize a technology developed by Prof. Jacob Karni’s laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

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Solar Fuel Companies CO2 366

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2014

'During 2014, the global plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) industry is poised to grow by 86% and will surpass more than 346,000 new vehicles sold, according to a new white paper—“ Electric Vehicles: 10 Predictions for 2014 ”—published by Navigant Research. This would bring the global total of PEVs on the road to more than 700,000 by the end of the year, according to the firm’s calculations.

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2014 Global Sale Motorcycles 346

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2014

'Energy intensities of flying (blue) and driving (green), 1970-2010. Data: Sivak, UMTRI-2014-2. Click to enlarge. Currently, the energy intensity (BTU per person mile) of driving is 57% greater than that of flying, according to a new analysis by Dr. Michael Sivak, Director, Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 21, 2014

'A Virginia Tech research team led by Dr. Y.H. Percival Zhang has developed a high-energy-density sugar “biobattery”—a sugar-fueled fuel cell based on a synthetic enzymatic pathway. This enzymatic fuel cell is based on non-immobilized enzymes that exhibit a maximum power output of 0.8?mW?cm ?2 and a maximum current density of 6?mA?cm ?2 —far higher than the values for systems based on immobilized enzymes.

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Virginia Energy Fuel Energy Storage 343

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 28, 2014

'The new Volkswagen Polo. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen is introducing its next generation of the supermini (B segment) Polo, featuring a range of new EU6 engines that are up to 21% more fuel-efficient and new driver assistance technologies. All versions are available with a stop-start system and a regenerative braking mode. The new Polo TDI BlueMotion takes the efficiency lead with combined fuel consumption of 3.2 l/100 km (73.5 mpg US ), or 82 g/km CO 2.

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MPG Engine Fuel Gasoline-Electric 333

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 7, 2014

'Toyota opened the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with a strong affirmation of the benefits of and potential for hydrogen fuel cell technology. “ We aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel; just everything necessary to make them turn, ” said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc. “ Fuel cell electric vehicles will be in our future sooner than many people believe, and in much greater numbers than anyone expected. ”.

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2015 Hydrogen Toyota Fuel 332

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'2015 F-150. Click to enlarge. Ford introduced the all-new Ford F-150 at its press conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The “reinvention” of this critical vehicle for Ford features an improved fully boxed ladder frame that incorporates more high-strength steel than ever, making it stronger and lighter. Aluminum alloys are used throughout the F-150 body for the first time, improving dent and ding resistance and also saving weight.

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F-150 Ford Engine Fuel Economy 329

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 19, 2014

'Exhaust particle size distributions measured by ELPI (color map) and particle concentration measured by CPC (white line) during individual engine braking conditions (speed change from 32 km/h to 0 km/h). The starting point of engine braking is marked by a vertical green line, and the end point is marked by a vertical red line. The exhaust sample was taken from the exhaust manifold.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 21, 2014

'Average annual percentage of black carbon pollution related to Chinese exports. Credit: Lin et al. Click to enlarge. Chinese air pollution blowing across the Pacific Ocean is often caused by the manufacturing of goods there for export to the US and Europe, according to findings of a new study to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Pollution Chinese Manufacturer Ozone 318

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2014

'Audi Sport quattro laserlight concept. Click to enlarge. Audi will present the Audi Sport quattro laserlight plug-in hybrid concept at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) from 6 to 10 January in Las Vegas. The coupe represents a new evolutionary stage of the Sport quattro concept ( earlier post ). The e-tron powertrain delivers 515 kW (700 hp) of system power with 2.5 l/100 km (94.09 US mpg) fuel economy, equivalent to CO 2 emissions of 59 g/km (94.95 g/mile); higher performance laser headlight

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'Hino Motors, Ltd., a Toyota Group company focused on diesel trucks and buses, has signed on as a participant in the Scuderi Group’s Scuderi Split-Cycle (SSC) Engine Consortium. The SSC Engine Consortium is a cooperative research group of participants engaged in the development of the pre-competitive SSC engine technology. The mission of the SSC Engine Consortium is to develop and to demonstrate SSC technology, complete with compressed air energy storage (CAES) capability ( earlier post ), for b

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2014

'Ford Motor Company is expanding its MyEnergi Lifestyle program ( earlier post ), announced at last year’s CES, to include home energy storage. The program originally set out to demonstrate how a typical American family can significantly lower its electricity costs while limiting its impact on the environment. MyEnergi Lifestyle, a Ford Motor Company collaboration with Eaton, Infineon, SunPower and Whirlpool, retrofitted the homes of two families with energy-efficient appliances and solar panels

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Energy Storage Ford Energy Eaton 306

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Elements of the dual injection system. Red is for the high-pressure direct injection system, blue for the low pressure MPI system. Credit: Audi. Click to enlarge. The 2.0-liter EA888 Gen3 engine featured in Audi’s all-road shooting brake plug-in hybrid concept unveiled at the North American International Auto Show this week ( earlier post ) features—as does its production ilk—a dual injection system that combines direct injection with indirect injection into the intake manifold.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2014

'First launched in selected European markets (The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland) in October 2013, Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV (plug-in hybrid) ( earlier post ) collected more than 12,000 orders in these markets. These orders have already translated into 8,197 deliveries to end-customers by the end of December, of which 8,009 units went to The Netherlands, the latter boosted by a tax scheme favorable to eco-friendly technologies such as low-emission vehicles.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 31, 2014

'Aquion Energy, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) batteries and stationary energy storage systems, recently completed the closing of a $55-million Series D financing round. Due to strong investor interest, the total amount of funding for this round was increased from the $35-million level previously announced by the company in April of 2013. ( Earlier post.).

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Financing Hybrid Companies Energy Storage 301

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 27, 2014

'Schaeffler Efficient Future Mobility North America demo vehicle in Detroit. Click to enlarge. At the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Schaeffler highlighted its range of fuel-efficiency technologies and systems in the form of its current demonstration vehicle: Efficient Future Mobility North America. Based on the current version of a popular mid-size SUV, the demonstration vehicle achieves the limit values specified by the CAFE standard for 2020 with no additional electrification

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2014

'Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Laureate and the former Secretary of Energy, has joined the Board of Directors of Amprius, a developer of high-energy and high-capacity lithium-ion batteries using silicon nanowire anodes ( earlier post ). The company introduced its first generation of batteries in May 2013, and is currently sampling and selling 650 Wh/L batteries.

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Li-ion Companies Energy Batteries 301

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 31, 2014

'Saleen Automotive, Inc., a US specialty manufacturer of high performance vehicles, technical performance parts, lifestyle accessories and apparel, will produce a Saleen Tesla Model S sports car. The Saleen Tesla design will be Saleen’s first effort in enhancing an existing electric vehicle. Saleen set no release date for completion of the Saleen Tesla Model S, but said it will release renderings as its efforts evolve.

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Tesla Electric Cars All-Electric Design 299

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 27, 2014

'EVDrive torque vectoring. Click to enlarge. EVDrive has developed and demonstrated an electric 4-wheel, 4-motor torque vectoring technology (Terra-Torque-Drive) specifically targeted at 4-wheel off-road powersports vehicles such as side-by-side Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTVs). The Terra-Torque-Drive-powered e-UTV demonstrator uses four sealed liquid-cooled EVDrive EVD35 35kW/47hp peak drive sub-systems, de-tuned to ~30kW/hp each or delivering a total of ~160hp/120kW peak.

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Motor Motors Motoring Electrical 299

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2014

'BMW 7 Series Long Wheel Base. Click to enlarge. BMW will introduce the diesel-engined BMW 740Ld xDrive Sedan in the US. The new model will feature BMW’s 3.0-liter TwinPower Turbo diesel engine in the long-wheelbase 7 Series body and will include xDrive, BMW’s intelligent all-wheel drive system. The 2014 BMW 740Ld xDrive Sedan will have a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of $83,425, including $925 destination and handling.

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BMW Diesel Exhaust 2014 294

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 23, 2014

'Boeing and research partners in the United Arab Emirates have made breakthroughs in sustainable aviation biofuel development, finding that desert plants fed by seawater (the oilseed-producing halophyte Salicornia bigelovii ) can produce biofuel more efficiently than other well-known feedstocks. ( Earlier post.) The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium ( SBRC ), affiliated with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, will test these findings in a project that could supp

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 16, 2014

'The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced plans that would require all new taxis presented for licensing in the capital to be zero-emission capable from 1 January 2018, with the expectation that they will automatically operate in zero-emission mode while in areas where the capital’s air quality is at its worst—such as parts of central London.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2014

'RMIT University (Australia) researchers have developed a concept battery based on storing protons produced by splitting water—a reversible fuel cell with integrated solid proton storage electrode. As only an inflow of water is needed in the charge mode, and air in discharge mode, the system is called a “proton flow battery”. This new concept has the potential to increase roundtrip efficiency compared to the conventional hydrogen-based electrical energy storage system by eliminating the in

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Concept Batteries Battery Lithium Ion 291

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'2015 Chrysler 200. Click to enlarge. Chrysler introduced the revamped new 2015 Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan at the Detroit Auto Show. The mid-size sedan segment is one of the largest segments in North America, with more than 2 million sales annually. The 200 is the industry’s first mid-size sedan with a standard nine-speed automatic transmission, which enables expected highway fuel economy ratings of 35 mpg US (6.7 l/100 km) when coupled with the 2.4-liter MultiAir2 Tigershark I-4 engine.

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Chrysler Standards MPG Fuel Economy 291

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 29, 2014

'The Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company is working with Ricardo and test equipment specialist HORIBA on an advanced research project in the UK that aims to investigate the emissions of a range of buses operating in a modern commercial public transport fleet. Brighton & Hove operates a fleet of approximately 280 modern buses in and around the city of Brighton & Hove which, according to recent Department for Transport statistics, boasts the country’s highest—and consistently growing&mdash

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2014

'In a new study published in the journal Applied Energy , Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) researchers found that controlled charging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) reduces the costs of integrating the vehicles into an electricity system by 54–73% depending on the scenario. More specifically, controlled charging can cut the cost of integrating PHEVs approximately in half.

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Wind PHEV Cost Of Powered 286

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2014

'Passat BlueMotion Concept. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen of America will introduce the Passat BlueMotion Concept at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week. Based on the current Passat that was developed specifically for North America, the BlueMotion label defines the version that has the best efficiency in the model lineup.

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MPG Detroit Concept Fuel Economy 285

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'A study by a team from the DOE’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Center has concluded that focusing on the yield of an energy crop alone can come at the expense of many other environmental benefits. The study, published as an open access paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that switchgrass and prairie plantings harbored significantly greater plant, methanotrophic bacteria, arthropod, and bird diversity than corn.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'SwRI’s V2G aggregation system allows electric delivery truck fleet owners to make money by using normal vehicle charge times to assist in managing grid frequency. This laboratory test framework, using light bulbs in place of the vehicle chargers, allows SwRI engineers to continue to test and fine-tune the system post-deployment. Click to enlarge. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has deployed the first vehicle-to-grid (V2G) aggregation system qualified by the Electric Reliability Council of T

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