Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) is partnering with a development team to advance a new process that converts natural gas to hydrogen, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes. The low-emission process, selected for funding as part of the H2@Scale initiative ( earlier post ) by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO), will create both hydrogen that can be used in fuel cell vehicles and industrial processes, as well as carbon fiber used in applications from medica

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Green Car Reports

JANUARY 5, 2018

As Americans collectively sigh at their credit-card bills from the holiday season, GasBuddy has some bad news that won't help ease the financial pain. The fuel price-tracking website predicts the cost of a gallon of fuel will rise by $0.19 per gallon in 2018, on average, to the highest level gas prices have been since 2014. That might not seem.

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EV Driver

JANUARY 3, 2018

Between now and the next couple of years, EVs are going to become more and more prolific, it is inevitable. Humans don't like change but when it is undeniably impending we tend to get on with it and start learning how to adapt. That said, we are all interested in savings, whether we are earning at the top or getting by in lower income streams and EVs can offer significant savings to those who have company cars.

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Companies Cars 52

Green Fleet Magazine

JANUARY 4, 2018

Another change in state law adds marijuana consumption to the law prohibiting alcohol consumption while driving or riding in vehicles.

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Vehicles 52

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2018

As the retail industry is basking in what’s predicted to be a profitable holiday shopping season, we look to the year ahead, working to stay ahead of consumer trends, emerging technologies, and disruptive changes.

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Green Car Reports

JANUARY 4, 2018

Buyers of electric vehicles in South Korea won't need to consider the pros and cons of charging standards in the near future. The South Korean Agency for Technology and Standards announced in mid-December it would revise the current charging standard in the country to recommend the use of "Combo 1"—also known as the Combined Charging System.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2018

In a curious twist, Eriq Gardner reports that the controversial Music Modernization Act has already prompted the inevitible litigation from a publisher seeking to beat the bill’s new safe harbor deadline applicable to lawsuits filed after January 1, 2018. Wixen Pubilshing filed the new lawsuit on December 29, 2017, two years to the day after David Lowery filed the first class action against Spotify, but before the Music Modernization Act legislation is even available on thomas.gov.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

Molex and Excelfore have developed a 10 Gbps Ethernet Automotive Network designed to accelerate data bandwidth in intelligent connected vehicles. Integrating highly reliable high-speed data transmission, prioritization, scalability and security, the new Molex network platform featuring Excelfore connected mobility solutions will be officially unveiled at CES 2018.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

California state legislator Phil Ting has introduced a bill— AB 1745 —that all new passenger vehicles in the state be zero emissions vehicles after 1 January 2040. For the purposes of the bill, zero emissions vehicles cannot produce exhaust emissions of any criteria pollutant or greenhouse gas under any operational mode or condition; upstream emissions are not counted.

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California Vehicles Exhaust Pollution 218

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2018

A team comprising researchers from Samsung and academic colleagues in China and the US have determined the reason for voltage loss in Li-ion batteries using lithium-rich layered transition metal oxide cathodes. Combining various X-ray spectroscopic, microscopic, and structural probes, they found that partially reversible transition metal migration decreases the potential of the bulk oxygen redox couple by?

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Li-ion Batteries Battery Lithium Ion 207

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

General Motors and its joint ventures sold more than 4 million vehicles in China for the first time in 2017. Retail sales totaled 4,040,789 units, which was up 4.4% from the previous high in 2016. China was GM’s largest retail market for the sixth consecutive year. The company benefited from record domestic sales by the Cadillac, Buick and Baojun brands.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2018

The Volkswagen brand produced more than six million vehicles in 2017, setting a new record. The largest model offensive to date in the history of the Volkswagen Group’s core brand and growing demand from customers across the globe led to the new record. This development is driven by the long-standing best-sellers Jetta, Golf, Santana, Passat and Polo, growing demand for the Tiguan and recently launched products such as the new Polo, Arteon and T-Roc.

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2017 Vehicles 2020 SUV 186

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2018

Researchers at Tianjin University in China report that combing split injection to the Miller cycle with boost pressure can effectively decrease the knock tendency and increase the engine torque in a downsized spark-ignition engine. Their paper is published in the journal Fuel. The Miller cycle is generally achieved through early intake valve closure (EIVC) during the intake stroke and late intake valve closure (LIVC) during the compression stroke, thereby reducing the effective compression ratio

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

Cummins Westport Inc. (CWI) received certifications from both the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (ARB) for its 2018 ISX12N natural gas engine. ( Earlier post.) Like the Cummins Westport L9N engine, the ISX12N meets California ARB optional Low NO x standard of 0.02 g/bhp-hr, a 90% reduction from engines operating at the current EPA NO x limit of 0.2 g/bhp-hr.

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2018 Gas Engine Emissions 170

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 1, 2018

Hyundai’s 2018 Plug-in Hybrid Ioniq ( earlier post ) is heading to dealerships now—joining the Hybrid and Electric models—with an aggressive starting price of $24,950—$5,000 less than the full battery-electric version of the Ioniq but with more than five times the range. Depending upon the carbon intensity of the electricity used to charge the battery, the PHEV model can also have well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions relatively close to that of its electric sibling.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 31, 2017

Researchers in China are proposing a new strategy to retard dendrite formation on Li metal anodes in high-capacity Li-ion batteries. In a paper published in the ACS journal Nano Letters , they describe trapping Li within hollow silica microspheres with a carbon nanotube core to suppress dendrite growth. Such an electrode exhibited a dendrite-free morphology after plating 2 mA h cm –2 of Li.

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Li-ion Batteries Battery Carbon 170

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

The average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the US in December was 25.0 mpg 9.4 l/100 km)—down 0.2 mpg from the revised value for November, according to the monthly report from Dr. Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). This drop likely reflects the increased proportion of light trucks versus passenger cars in the sales mix, they suggested.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

US regular retail gasoline prices averaged $2.41 per gallon in 2017, 27 cents/gal (13%) higher than in 2016, but two cents/gal less than in 2015, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Higher crude oil prices in 2017 contributed to higher gasoline prices. Source: US EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update. In 3 of the 10 cities for which EIA collects weekly retail price data, gasoline prices exceeded $3.00/gal at least once in 2017, and prices in every city except Houston exce

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San Francisco 2017 Gasoline 2016 150

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

DENSO Corporation and FLOSFIA Inc., a tech startup spun out from Kyoto University, are partnering to develop a next-generation power semiconductor device expected to reduce the energy loss, cost, size and weight of inverters used in electrified vehicles (EVs). Through the joint development project, the two companies aim to improve the efficiency of EV power control units, a key to drive widespread EV use.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

Continental has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 5% indirect ownership stake in HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location services. The share will be sold by HERE’s current indirect shareholders, Audi AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG. The involved parties have agreed not to disclose any financial details. The transaction is subject to merger control approval.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

Anellotech, developer of a process for the production of cost-competitive renewable aromatic chemicals and fuels from non-food biomass ( earlier post ), has completed the commissioning of its 25-meter tall TCat-8 pilot plant, and has begun a development and testing program. An integrated team of Anellotech and IFPEN research engineers and technicians will optimize process variables and generate data for process development and scale-up.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

ON Semiconductor has joined the global Charging Interface Initiative e.V. ( CharIN ) ecosystem with the goals of promoting standards for charging systems in electric vehicles (EV), creating requirements for the evolution of EV charging systems and developing a certification system for manufacturers to implement charging systems into their products. ON Semiconductor offers core technologies for vehicle electrification, particularly the company’s extensive automotive qualified power management por

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes or modified graphene nanoribbons may be suitable replacements for platinum for fast oxygen reduction, the key reaction in fuel cells that transform chemical energy into electricity, according to Rice University researchers. The findings are from computer simulations by Rice scientists who set out to see how carbon nanomaterials can be improved for fuel-cell cathodes.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 5, 2018

ON Semiconductor announced a scalable family of CMOS image sensors to address the spectrum of applications for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. The sensors have resolutions scaling from 8.3 megapixels (MP) down to 1.2 MP, with industry-leading low-light performance from 4.2 µm pixels. The AR0820AT, AR0220AT and AR0138AT form a scalable image sensor family which provides a range of resolutions suited to new-generation ADAS and autonomous driving systems.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

Tesla reported Q4 deliveries of 29,870 vehicles, of which 15,200 were Model S (51%); 13,120 were Model X (44%); and 1,550 (5%) were Model 3. These results marked the best quarter for combined Model S and X deliveries, representing a 27% increase over Q4 2016, and a 9% increase over Q3 2017, Tesla’s previous best quarter. In total, Tesla exceeded its previously announced guidance by delivering 101,312 Model S and X vehicles in 2017—a 33% increase over 2016.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

New Flyer of America Inc., the US subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI Group), the largest transit bus and motor coach manufacturer and parts distributor in North America, announced that its Anniston, Alabama facility has successfully completed its first full build of an Xcelsior CHARGE battery-electric heavy-duty transit bus. The Anniston facility now joins all other New Flyer locations with capability to manufacture the Xcelsior CHARGE battery-electric bus, including Winnipeg, Manitoba

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

At CES, Continental will showcase a highly flexible computing platform for automated driving systems and the processing of large amounts of data. Developed by Continental’s San Jose Research & Development Center in collaboration with Xilinx, the Assisted & Automated Driving Control Unit will enable Continental’s customers to get to market faster by building upon the Open Computing Language ( OpenCL ) framework, standardized by the Khronos Group, a consortium focused on the creation of open stand

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

Sales of BMW Group electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased 31.2% in 2017 to 21,208 units, accounting for 6.0% of total BMW Group sales in the US. BMW offers six electrified vehicle models in the US, including the BMW i3 and BMW i8, as well as the BMW i Performance models: BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e and the BMW X5 xDrive 40e. MINI offers the MINI Countryman plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

Ricardo is supporting a trial run by UK Power Networks into using smart grid technology to unlock spare capacity for increased electric vehicle use—maximizing the power available from existing infrastructure while avoiding costly network reinforcement or substation replacement. The project, called Active Response , will trial a responsive, automated electricity network that reconfigures itself, moving spare capacity to where the demand is.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

The Volkswagen Group and self-driving technology startup Aurora Innovation, founded by technology veterans from Google, Tesla and Uber, announced a strategic collaboration ahead of the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The collaboration brings the two companies together to realize self-driving electric vehicles in cities as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) fleets.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

Hyundai Motor Company and Aurora Innovation, an autonomous vehicle technology startup ( earlier post ), announced a strategic partnership to bring self-driving Hyundai vehicles to market by 2021. This partnership will incorporate Aurora’s self-driving technology into Hyundai vehicles starting with models custom-developed and launched in test programs and pilot cities.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 4, 2018

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) will show its next-generation automated driving research vehicle, Platform 3.0, at CES next week in Las Vegas. The new platform, which is built on a Lexus LS 600hL, combines greater technological capabilities with new harmonized styling that integrates the automated vehicle technology into the LS model’s design. TRI approached development of a new research platform with three core principles: (1) Elevate perception capabilities to be an industry pacesetter among a

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 3, 2018

Magna will showcase key products in electrification, autonomy and mobility during CES 2018. By using virtual reality technology, attendees will experience firsthand how an autonomous vehicle works. Attendees can also design their own new mobility vehicle and take their bespoke design for a virtual test drive. In addition, the company will showcase its latest electrification technology through its e1 demonstration concept vehicle.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 3, 2018

Caterpillar Marine is collaborating with Sanmar Shipyards in Istanbul, Turkey to build an innovative tugboat with a hydraulic hybrid propulsion system. Sanmar is the largest tug builder in Turkey with over 40 years of experience and known as a market leader at the forefront of the tug building industry. The Cat Marine Advanced Variable Drive (AVD) is a patented system leveraging Caterpillar’s extensive experience with heavy-duty continuously variable transmission (CVT) technology, advanced contr

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