Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2013

Elements of the “Hybrid Air” hydraulic hybrid powertrain under development for B, C, and D vehicles. Click to enlarge. Following the introduction of the Bosch electric axle-split hybrid in PSA Peugeot Citroën diesel vehicles ( earlier post ), the two companies are now planning to develop a hydraulic hybrid powertrain for passenger cars. The hydraulic system, which uses compressed air for energy storage, basically comprises two hydraulic units and their pressure accumulators.

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Creative Greenius

OCTOBER 18, 2013

'Why would your Creative Greenius walk away from his high-paying, highly rewarding executive role at CBS EcoMedia where I was working to fund environmental, education, and wellness projects all across the USA, just as the company hit more growth milestones and was likely to pay generous bonuses? The answer is simple and direct – because I have done The Math. .

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Climate Change Climate Oil Chevron 358

Green Car Congress

MARCH 7, 2013

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will has outlined a vision for a £913-million (US$1.48-billion) investment in cycling infrastructure for the city. Among other features, the plans would create a “Crossrail for the bike”—a route that will run for more than 15 miles (24 km), very substantially segregated, from the western suburbs, through the heart of London, to Canary Wharf and Barking.

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London Transportation Grid Think City 389

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

'The 9.5 MW solar park at Chattanooga is owned and operated by Silicon Ranch; VW has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen Chattanooga has received a 2013 Green Power Leadership Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—the only automaker to be so recognized. The annual awards recognize the country’s leading green power users for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market.

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Climate Change

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2013

'Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed an automated pulse-and-glide technique using a flywheel energy storage system for on-road vehicles; the technology, which NASA Glenn says can improve fuel economy over existing internal combustion or battery hybrid systems by 40-100%, is available for licensing. Drivers can use a manual “pulse-and-glide” (PnG) driving technique—accelerating and decelerating an automobile in cycles of approximately 10-30 seconds—as a way to im

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 9, 2013

Transportation fuel mix in millions of oil-equivalent barrels through 2020. Source: ExxonMobil Outlook. Click to enlarge. Diesel will surpass gasoline as the number one transportation fuel worldwide by 2020 and continue to increase its share through 2040, according to ExxonMobil’s recently published Outlook For Energy: A View To 2040. The relative shift away from motor gasoline to diesel is driven by improving light-duty vehicle fuel economy and the growth in commercial transportation activity.

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Gasoline Transportation 2020 Diesel 383

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 4, 2013

'Ford’s changing share of the hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid electric, battery-electric vehicle segments and total ED market in the US in 2012 and YTD 2013. Data: EDTA, Ford Motor. Click to enlarge. Ford Motor Company’s C-platform electric drive strategy has driven an increase in Ford’s overall electric drive market share (hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric) from 7.3% in calendar year 2012 to 14.7% for the first nine months of 2013.

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Plug-in 2013 2012 Plug 381

Green Car Congress

JULY 28, 2013

'Alabama and Mississippi are forming a partnership to further study the oil sands resources in the two states, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant announced on Saturday while speaking to the Southern States Energy Board. The State of Alabama has the third largest oil sands resource in the United States, which may extend into the State of Mississippi.

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Oil-Sands Mississippi Alabama Oil 379

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 29, 2013

'Annual average concentrations of fine particulates from US sources of combustion emissions from (a) electric power generation; (b) industry; (c) commercial and residential sources; (d) road transportation; (e) marine transportation; (f) rail transportation; (g) sum of all combustion sources; (h) all sources. Source: MIT. Click to enlarge. Researchers from MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment have concluded that ground-level PM 2.5 emissions from combustion sources such as industria

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MIT Emissions Ozone Powered 378

Green Car Congress

JULY 14, 2013

'Capacity of Tesla Roadster batteries versus miles driven using the three types of capacity measurement: range mode (blue diamonds), standard mode (red squares), and calculated Ah capacity (green triangles). n=122. Source: PIA. Click to enlarge. A study of Tesla Roadster user data published by plug-in vehicle advocacy organization Plug In America (PIA) projects that the battery packs in the Roadsters will retain 80-85% of capacity after 100,000 miles (160,934 km) driven.

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Plug-in America Miles Plug 374

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 17, 2013

'Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicle share of the California retail market. Source: California Auto Outlook. Click to enlarge. Hybrid vehicle market share (excluding plug-in hybrids) in California increased to 7% in the first half of 2013, up from 6.2% in 2012, according to the California Auto Outlook for the second quarter of 2013.

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2013 California Hybrid Market 372

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 3, 2013

The US Department of Energy announced more than $10 million in funding to five new projects that will develop new synthetic biological and chemical techniques to convert biomass into advanced biofuels and bioproducts such as plastics and chemical intermediates. Two of these projects will develop cost-effective ways to produce intermediates from the deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass, while three projects will propose new conversion techniques to transform biomass intermediates into advanc

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Production 2007 Kansas Universal 373

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 30, 2013

'A team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and General Motors, led by ORNL researcher Dr. Jun Qu, has developed a new group of ionic liquids as lubricant additives that could help improve the energy efficiency of cars and trucks. Prototype low-viscosity ionic liquid-additized engine oil demonstrated a 2% improved fuel economy compared to Mobil 1 5W-30 engine oil (3.93% over the 20W-30 baseline oil) in standard fuel efficiency engine dynamometer tests.

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Fuel Economy Oil Economy Engine 369

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2013

'A composite blend of carbon fibers and polymer resin is being developed that can store and charge more energy faster than conventional batteries can. Volvo Cars is the only car manufacturer participating in the EU-funded project, which started in early 2010. Click to enlarge. Volvo Car Group—the only automaker participating in a 3.5-year EU-funded project developing a prototype material which can store and discharge electrical energy and which is also strong and lightweight enough to be u

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Energy Storage Volvo Carbon Fiber Energy 368

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Oil

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Total US petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) were down 1.7% for January against the same month a year ago to just under 18 million barrels per day—the lowest level for the month in 18 years, according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API). The January numbers reprise last year’s theme of weak demand. This isn’t surprising given an economy that’s still treading water.

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2012 Oil Gasoline 2000 368

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 23, 2013

'Audi''s Gen 2 3.0L TDI. Click to enlarge. Audi of America introduced four new TDI clean diesel models for the US market this year—the Audi A8, A7, A6, Q5—along with an updated Q7 TDI, all equipped with a second-generation 3.0L V6 TDI diesel engine. ( Earlier post.) This week in Washington, the company held a series of media drives (“TDI Efficiency Rally”) for the Q5, A6 and A7 diesel models to highlight their efficiency and performance, and also offered up its—as well as sever

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Diesel Audi Sale Fuel Economy 366

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 2, 2013

'An evaluation of different fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV) powertrain designs—such as fuel cell/supercapacitor (FC/SC), fuel cell/battery (FC/B), and a combination of supercapacitors and batteries (FC/SC/B)—and different control strategies by researchers in Belgium concluded that the FC/SC HEV has slightly higher fuel economy than the FC/B HEV and FC/B/SC HEV powertrains.

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Energy Storage Fuel Hybrid Fuel Economy 364

Green Car Congress

JULY 11, 2013

'Renault’s comparison of the carbon footprint of EV and ICE vehicles over production, operation and end of life. The EV footprint (Fluence Z.E.) is shown with both UK and French grid mixes. Click to enlarge. Renault recently made public the findings of an internal study, published first in October 2011, detailing and comparing the lifecycle assessments (LCAs) of the battery-electric and two internal combustion engined versions (gasoline and diesel) of the Renault Fluence.

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Li-ion Gasoline-Electric Ozone Diesel 364

Green Car Congress

APRIL 20, 2013

'Ragone plot showing the performance of the new microbattery cells (A-H) and conventional power technologies. The energy and power density of our microbattery cells (A–H) at low to high C rates, along with previous microbattery cells having 3D electrodes (MB1 through MB3). The plot also includes the performance range of conventional power technologies and commercial batteries from A123 (high power) and Sony (high energy).

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Illinois Li-ion Powered Power 364

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

UPS announced the deployment of 100 fully electric commercial vehicles that will be delivering packages around the state. The vehicles were manufactured in Stockton, California by Electric Vehicles International ( EVI ). ( Earlier post.). These UPS electric trucks will reduce the consumption of conventional motor fuel by approximately 126,000 gallons per year.

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California Commercial Sacramento Fresno 363

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

'Volvo Bus’ plug-in hybrid. The pantograph for rapid charging can be seen on the roof. Click to enlarge. Field tests being conducted in Gothenburg show that Volvo Buses’ plug-in hybrid reduces fuel consumption by 81% and total energy consumption (diesel plus electricity) by 61% compared to a comparable Euro 5 diesel bus. ( Earlier post.). The field test in Gothenburg began in June 2013 and includes three plug-in hybrid buses, the batteries of which are rapidly recharged at the terminals.

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Plug-in Volvo Plug MPG 362

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2013

'Life-cycle energy use and GHG emissions normalized with NYCC diesel case (8.06 MJ/t·km and 0.63 kgCO 2 e/t·km) at 100%. Numbers in red are net total including recycling effect. Credit: ACS, Lee et al. Click to enlarge. Comparing life-cycle energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and total cost of ownership (TCO) of medium-duty electric and diesel urban delivery trucks for a range of drive cycles and electricity generation scenarios, a team from Georgia Tech found that all in all, th

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Diesel Georgia Energy Li-ion 361

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 22, 2013

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) will award approximately $36 million to 22 projects to develop transformational electric vehicle (EV) energy storage systems using innovative chemistries, architectures and designs. ARPA-E’s new program, Robust Affordable Next Generation Energy Storage Systems (RANGE) ( earlier post ), aims to accelerate widespread EV adoption by dramatically improving driving range and reliability, and by providing low-cost,

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Lithium Ion Range Zinc Air San Diego 360

Green Car Congress

MAY 28, 2013

'At a panel discussion on the topic of “research and development perspectives in electromobility” in Berlin, Dr. Volkmar Denner, the chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH said that he expected that by 2020, electric cars will have a range of at least 300 kilometers (186 miles). Electromobility is currently still a niche business, but after 2020 it could very well become a mass market.

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2020 Range Porsche Connect 360

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

'Long-term cycling test results of the Li/S cell with CTAB-modified S?GO composite cathodes. This result represents the longest cycle life (exceeding 1,500 cycles) with an extremely low decay rate (0.039% per cycle) demonstrated so far for a Li/S cell. Credit: ACS, Song et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have demonstrated in the laboratory a lithium-sulfur (Li/S) battery that has more than twice the specific energy of lithi

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Li-ion Lithium Sulfur Energy Industry 359

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2013

Nissan announced that US pricing for the updated 2013 Nissan LEAF electric vehicle ( earlier post ) will start at an MSRP of $28,800 for the newly-added entry-level S grade—an 18% reduction from the $35,200 MSRP of the 2012 LEAF entry model, the SV. The entry-level 2013 LEAF S becomes the lowest priced five-passenger electric vehicle sold in the United States.

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2013 Nissan Tax Credit Tax 360

Green Car Congress

MARCH 25, 2013

Total injected hot fluid and total produced liquid for the nanocatalyst experiments at temperatures of 320 and 340 °C. Credit: ACS, Hashemi et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the University of Calgary are developing ultra-dispersed (UD) nanocatalysts for the in situ upgrading of heavy oil and bitumen from deep reservoirs. Such an “underground refinery” approach is one of the alternatives to surface upgrading that may become the next-generation of oil sands industry improvement, they suggest

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 5, 2013

'Mustang 2.3L EcoBoost. Click to enlarge. Ford revealed its new 2015 version of the Mustang (with great fanfare simultaneously in six cities on four continents and CEO Alan Mulally on ABC’s Good Morning America ) with a choice of three powertrains: a upgraded 5.0L V8, a 3.7-liter V6 and an all-new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine developed specifically for Mustang.

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Ford Exhaust Fuel Economy Engine 355

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

'The average fuel-economy (window-sticker) value of new vehicles sold in the US in October was 24.8 mpg (9.49 l/100km), up 0.2 mpg from September, according to the monthly analysis from Michael Sivak and Brendan Schoettle from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). Vehicle fuel economy is up 4.7 mpg since October 2007 (the first month of their monitoring).

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 28, 2013

'Strategic Vision’s New Vehicle Experience Study (NVES), using a rapidly growing sample of Tesla buyers, finds what it calls “significant” differences between Tesla owners and the rest of the electric vehicle market. Creating complete buyer experience profiles, NVES gathers more than 400 variables to provide comprehensive views of the new vehicle driver, including the electric vehicle owner/shopper.

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Prius Tesla Volt Fuel Economy 354

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

'In 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), classified diesel engine exhaust (DEE) as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). ( Earlier post.). Now, a study by researchers from the Netherlands, the US, and France estimates that approximately 6% of annual lung cancer deaths in the US and UK—combining both environmental and occupational exposures—may be due to DEE exposure.

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Exhaust Diesel Emissions Brazil 353

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 11, 2013

'Initial sales of the 2014 Cadillac ELR extended range electric luxury coupe ( earlier post ) will begin in January in all major US metropolitan areas. The 2014 ELR has a starting price of $75,995, including a $995 destination charge but excluding tax, title, license and dealer fees. (Base price of a 60 kWh Tesla Model S—without Federal tax incentive, but with destination fee—is $71,070.

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Cadillac Tax Credit Price Sale 353

Green Car Congress

MAY 31, 2013

'Close-up of the charging mechanism on the demo TOSA bus. Source: ABB. Click to enlarge. ABB has developed and is demonstrating a high-capacity “flash charging” system for electric buses. The system enables onboard batteries to be charged in 15 seconds with a 400 kW boost at selected stops using a roof-mounted system (“Flash station”). The flash stations are connected to the 50kVA electricity network and also have a 3kWh storage unit (supercap) for smoothing peaks in consumption.

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Charging Recharge Congress Electrical 354

Green Car Congress

APRIL 25, 2013

'Volvo Car’s flywheel KERS system. Click to enlarge. Results of Volvo Car Group’s testing of kinetic flywheel technology on public roads during 2012 show that the flywheel technology combined with a four-cylinder turbo engine has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up to 25% compared with a six-cylinder turbo engine at a comparable performance level, according to Derek Crabb, Vice President Powertrain Engineering at Volvo Car Group. ( Earlier post.).

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