Green Car Congress

JUNE 30, 2012

Scanning electron micrograph of wood being decayed by the white rot fungus. Punctularia strigoso-zonata. (Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota) Click to enlarge. Coal deposits—the fossilized remains of plants—were formed during a 60-million year period from around 360 to 300 million years ago. A team of 71 researchers from 12 countries, including researchers at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), has proposed a new factor that may have contributed to t

Coal 261

Coal Production IDEA Carbon 261

Green Car Congress

JULY 3, 2012

The Opbrid B?sbaar stations will be located at the ends of the #60 route. Click to enlarge. Göteborg Energi, the electricity provider for the City of Gothenburg, awarded a contract to Opbrid SL (Granada, Spain) to provide two Opbrid B?sbaar ultra-fast bus charging stations ( earlier post ) for the HyperBus (Hybrid and Plug-in Extended Range) demonstration project in Gothenburg City.

Charging 257

Charging Energy Volvo Li-ion 257

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

2013 Ford C-MAX Hybrid. Click to enlarge. Ford projects that its upcoming C-MAX Hybrid ( earlier post ) will achieve an EPA-rated 47 mpg city (5.0 L/100km) and 44 mpg highway (5.3 L/100km)—higher fuel economy than the Toyota Prius v (44 mpg / 5.3 L/100km city and 40 mpg / 5.9 L/100km highway) and at a $1,300-lower base price. The vehicle can be driven 500-plus miles with total system output of 188 hp (140 kW), compared to the 134 hp (100 kW) from Toyota Prius v and Prius.

MPG 252

MPG Hybrid Ford Prius 252

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

London has introduced its 300 th hybrid bus into its fleet; 1,000 hybrid buses are set to be introduced in the next four years as part of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s plans to improve air quality. The 300th hybrid bus is now in service on route 211 between Waterloo and Hammersmith. A further 104 hybrid buses are on order using £5 million (US$7.8 million) funding from the Department for Transport.

London 250

London Fleet Hybrid Pollution 250

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

Ford reported selling 89 Focus Electric vehicles in the US in June, bringing the total sold year-to-date to 97 (6 in May and 2 in January). The company also reported that it has produced 763 units of the battery-electric vehicle Jan-Jun 2012. The company sold 1,265 hybrids in June—mostly the Ford Fusion hybrid (797 units), followed by the Lincoln MKZ (451).

Ford 250

Ford Escape Fusion 2011 250

Green Car Congress

JUNE 30, 2012

US-based Green Automotive Company has signed an agreement to acquire UK-based Liberty Electric Cars Limited ( earlier post ). Liberty Electric Cars is a electric vehicle design, engineering and manufacturing company. Green Automotive will purchase all of the issued and outstanding stock of Liberty Electric Cars Ltd. and its subsidiary LEC 2, Limited, in exchange for 39,172,178 shares of Green Automotive Company common stock.

Green 250

Green Electric Cars Cars Electric 250

Green Car Congress

JULY 2, 2012

Vehicle electrification is not limited to hybrid or electric drive. Conventional automobiles of today are partly electric in their own way, with most systems in the vehicle having electrical and electronic connections for better functionality. Some high-end vehicles have more than 90 Electronic Control Units (ECUs) to control the various modules within the car, making the car both sophisticated and complicated.

Power 247

Power Powered MIT BMW 247

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2012

A new policy brief published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) International Transport Forum (ITF) notes that existing electricity systems will need to be reconfigured to support the widespread adoption of electric mobility and suggests that Smart Grid technologies and EVs and EVs could be mutually beneficial. EVs could both benefit from and help to drive forward investment in Smart Grids.

Grid 244

Grid International Transportation Supplies 244

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2012

Demio EV. Click to enlarge. Mazda Motor Corporation will begin leasing the Demio EV in October 2012. The Demio EV is an independently developed electric vehicle based on the Mazda Demio (known outside of Japan as Mazda2). Mazda intends to lease approximately 100 units in total, mainly to local governments and corporate customers in the Chugoku region of Western Japan (where Mazda’s headquarters are located).

Mazda 244

Mazda Japan Motor Motors 244

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

At the ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing this month in Portugal, researchers from MIT, Georgetown University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) will present a new algorithm that would allow Wi-Fi-connected cars to share their Internet connections. In this setting, we’re assuming that Wi-Fi is cheap, but 3G is expensive.

Connect 244

Connect Connected Cheap Cars 244

Green Car Congress

JULY 1, 2012

The European Union implemented a cap and trade scheme in 2005 for reducing carbon emissions; Scandinavian nations (including the non-EU state of. Norway) had independently imposed a carbon tax in the 1990s as part of their effort to reduce carbon emissions. US researchers have tracked the carbon disclosures from both regions of Europe and found that neither the EU’s carbon allocation scheme nor Scandinavia’s carbon taxes have made a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Tax 244

Tax Carbon Emissions 2005 244

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

Volvo D13 Euro 6 with EGR and aftertreatment system. Click to enlarge. Volvo Trucks is introducing a Euro-6-compliant heavy-duty engine, with NO x emissions lowered by 77% and PM emissions halved compared to Euro 5. The first implementation of the new engine is the D13 460 hp (343 kW) unit. The Volvo D13 for Euro 6 is based on Volvo’s Euro 5 engine.

Volvo 240

Volvo Engine Exhaust Emissions 240

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

Audi increased its unit sales in China and Hong Kong in the first half of the year by 37.8% to 193,871 automobiles, achieving new record results. In June, the company increased its unit sales by 20.4% year-on-year to 33,309 automobiles. This success in the first half of the year was due in particular to the models produced in Changchun, with sales of 157,441 units and growth of 38.8%.

Audi 240

Audi Sale China Automobile 240

Green Car Congress

JULY 2, 2012

The US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (AEO2012) includes a High Technology Battery case that examines the potential impacts of significant breakthroughs in battery electric vehicle technology on the cost and price of all types of battery powered electric vehicles. Relative to the Reference case, the prices of HEVs and PHEV10s (plug-in hybrids with 10-mile electric range) in the High Technology Battery case are 5% below the price in 2035.

Battery 240

Battery Batteries Gasoline-Electric Recharge 240

Green Car Congress

JULY 2, 2012

2010 NO x emissions (all sectors) and ceilings for 12 EU countries exceeding their limits. Source: EEA data viewer. Click to enlarge. Air pollution emitted from sources such as traffic, industry and households is still above internationally agreed limits in 12 European countries, according to newly published data. The accompanying report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) confirms an initial assessment published earlier this year, showing 12 EU Member States exceeded limits under the Nat

2010 240

2010 Emissions Pollution Finland 240

Green Car Congress

JUNE 30, 2012

Petrobras announced that its average domestic and foreign oil and natural gas output in May was 2,601,223 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), up 1.9% on the figure for April. Fields in Brazil produced an average 2,350,476 boed, a rise of 2% on the previous month’s output. Foreign output stood at 250,747 boed, an increase of 1.7% on April. Domestic output included 1,989,210 barrels/day of oil, up 1.4% on oil output in April.

Oil 240

Oil Gas Brazil Maintenance 240

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

PEV Sales in China by segment: 2012-2017. Source: Pike Research. Click to enlarge. The government of China—now the world’s largest automotive market—has made vehicle electrification central to its plan for growing the automotive market both domestically and internationally, and accordingly has created many national and local incentives for plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) purchases.

Plug-in 239

Plug-in 2017 China Market 239

Green Car Congress

JULY 4, 2012

Teijin Chemicals, Ltd., the Teijin Group’s resin and plastic processing business arm, has developed Panlite AM-9937F, a material that combines dimensional precision and an ultra-smooth surface for automotive applications. Panlite AM-9937F enables product designs that were previously unachievable due to the limitations of conventional metal. The company plans to market the material for external automotive body parts and garnish, and expects to achieve annual sales of ¥10 billion (US$125 million)

Design 239

Design Auto Automobile Manufacturer Lexus 239

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2012

Elements of the hybrid drive for Eco Hybrid: electric motor between clutch and Duonic gear box; Li-ion battery pack; power electronics. Click to enlarge. Daimler will begin production of Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid in Europe and launch it in major western European markets beginning in the third quarter of this year, with other countries to follow in succession.

Hybrid 236

Hybrid Europe Sale Production 236

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2012

DENSO Corporation has developed a refrigerator system for light-duty hybrid trucks that contributes to better fuel efficiency while maintaining low-level freezer/refrigerator temperatures when the vehicle is idling at a stop light or in other traffic situations. With the new refrigerator system, hybrid trucks can stop engines at a red light or other short stops and keeps the freezer/refrigerator temperature low.

Light 236

Light Hybrid Supplies Japan 236

Green Car Congress

JULY 3, 2012

Mazda Motor Corporation will double production capacity at its engine plant in Hiroshima from 400,000 units to 800,000 units per year in October 2012. The plant produces SKYACTIV-D diesel engines and SKYACTIV-G gasoline engines. ( Earlier post.) The capacity increase is made in response to increasing demand for cars incorporating the company’s SKYACTIV Technology.

Mazda 236

Mazda Engine Production Gasoline 236

Green Car Congress

JUNE 30, 2012

The GREET team at Argonne National Laboratory has released a new version of the GREET fuel cycle model. The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation ( GREET ) model simulates the energy use and emissions output of various vehicle and fuel combinations, and is widely used in lifecycle analysis. Changes in the new version include: Power plant generation efficiencies, technology shares, criteria pollutant emissions, transmission losses, and associated probability dist

Fuel 236

Fuel Coal Pollution Emissions 236

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2012

GreenTech Automotive (GTA) unveiled its MyCar, a two-seat Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) with a range of up to 115 miles (185 km). GreenTech Automotive purchased Hong Kong-based EuAuto in 2010 and relocated the company’s operations and manufacturing to the United States. In the US, MyCar has a top-speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) due to regulatory restrictions, classifying it as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV).

Neighborhood 231

Neighborhood MPH 2014 United States 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 6, 2012

Perforce shifting from its advanced EGR-based strategy, Navistar International Corporation will introduce engines combining advanced in-cylinder management with urea-based aftertreatment (selective catalytic reduction, SCR) to meet 2010 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions regulations and to position the company to meet greenhouse gas (GHG) rules in advance of 2014 and 2017 requirements.

EPA 231

EPA 2010 District of Columbia Engine 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE) are accelerating the creation of an integrated automotive group through the contribution in full of Porsche’s automotive business to the Volkswagen Group, with the move expected to take effect as of 1 August 2012. The move will allow the integrated automotive group consisting of Volkswagen and Porsche to become reality some two years earlier than would have been economically feasible under the put/call options provided f

Porsche 231

Porsche Tax 2009 2011 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has posted a new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) internal pathway for biomethane produced from the high solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) (dry fermentation) of organic (food and green) wastes—with accommodations for small proportions of food-contaminated, non-recyclable (soiled) paper, and fats, oils, and greases (FOG) in the feedstock.

California 231

California Gasoline Diesel Waste 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences have devised a one-step hydrotreatment process for vegetable oil that combines deoxygenation and isomerization directly to produce low cloud point, high quality diesel. A paper on their work is published in the journal ChemSusChem. The process uses Pt/zeolite bifunctional catalysts with SAPO-11 and ZSM-22 zeolites as supports.

Oil 231

Oil Diesel Range Chinese 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 4, 2012

Global OEM connected car system penetration is expected to increase from 11.4% in 2012 to 60.1% in 2017, according to ABI Research. While penetration in the US and Western Europe will exceed 80% by 2017, developing regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe will also see strong increases in telematics penetration in new vehicles, largely driven by mandates in Brazil and Russia.

Connect 231

Connect Connected 2017 Global 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 3, 2012

GE and OJSC Rosneft signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that lays the foundation for the two companies jointly to evaluate and develop commercial opportunities in oil and gas exploration and production in the Russian Federation. The agreement calls for a strategic, cooperative relationship that would: leverage GE Oil & Gas technologies to help Rosneft improve efficiency and yields in its oil and gas exploration and recovery operations, and. explore opportunities to jointly develop, manufa

Oil 231

Oil Gas Industry Industrial 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 3, 2012

The extremely thermophilic, cellulose-degrading Caldicellulosiruptor bescii. Source: ORNL. Click to enlarge. A team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center from North Carolina State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Georgia have analyzed the genomes of eight species of extremely thermophilic bacteria from the genus Caldicellulosiruptor and identified key proteins for the deconstruction of plant biomass into fermentable sugars.

North Carolina 231

North Carolina Iceland New Zealand Universal 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 3, 2012

Global Bioenergies, an industrial biology company. developing sustainable routes to light olefins ( earlier post ), carried out a capital increase of €3.04 million (US$3.8 million) on NYSE Alternext in Paris. Based on the closing share price of €19.91 on 28 June 28th 2012 (last day of the subscription. period), the company now has a market capitalization of ~€36 million (~US$45.3$).

Global 231

Global Financing Convert 2013 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 2, 2012

W. R. Grace & Co. has signed a multi-year agreement with Braskem to develop process technologies and catalyst solutions to produce green chemicals. The agreement is intended to advance the commercialization of a process to convert renewably sourced feedstocks into value-added products. Grace is a global supplier of innovative catalyst technologies with a leading position in the petroleum refining and polyolefin market segments.

Green 231

Green Renewable Carbon Global 231

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

The average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the US in June was 23.6 mpg (9.97 L/100km), according to figures from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). This represents an improvement of 3.5 mpg (17%) from the value in October 2007 (the first month of UMTRI monitoring). However, the fuel economy in June was down 0.1 mpg from May (and down 0.5 mpg from the peak in March), likely reflecting the continuing reduction in the price of gasoline

Fuel Economy 225

Fuel Economy Economy MPG 2007 225

Green Car Congress

JULY 5, 2012

Researchers from the South China University of Technology are proposing the use of NiTi shape memory alloys as a simple approach to solving the long-standing problem of capacity fade with tin (Sn)—and other high-capacity metallic—anodes for Li-ion batteries. Tin (like silicon) has a high theoretical specific capacity (992 mAh g -1 for Li 22 Sn 5 ) and is one of the more attractive materials for potential negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries.

Li-ion 225

Li-ion Lithium Ion Battery Batteries 225

Green Car Congress

JULY 4, 2012

ConocoPhillips announced the sanction of development of a second 4.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) production train for its Australia Pacific LNG coal seam gas (CSG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Queensland, Australia. Sanctioning of the second train is the final step in the approval process for the project. From this point we are committed to the development and construction of all infrastructure and facilities to ensure the first delivery of LNG in 2015.

Australia 225

Australia Coal Gas 2011 225

Green Car Congress

JULY 3, 2012

Fiat has notified VEBA—Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, a UAW administered trust established to pay health care. benefits for retirees from Chrysler—of Fiat’s exercise of its option to purchase a portion of the interest held in Chrysler by VEBA. Following the consummation of the purchase, expected to occur in the upcoming weeks, Fiat. will hold 61.8% of the outstanding equity in Chrysler.

Chrysler 225

Chrysler Purchase 2012 2009 225

Green Car Congress

JULY 2, 2012

Comparison of the personnel requirements under four scenarios in the ELAB study for an idealized production of 1 million powertrains. The FCV scenario requires most workers to produce the million powertrains. Source: ELAB Studienergebnisse. Click to enlarge. The growing share of alternative drive trains in the automotive industry offers opportunities for jobs in the automotive sector, according to the “ ELAB ” study, the first broad-based, practice-oriented analysis of the effects of technologic

Auto Industry 225

Auto Industry Industry Industrial Auto 225