August, 2013

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MIT study says combustion emissions cause ~200,000 premature deaths/year in US; vehicles and power generation top sources

Green Car Congress

'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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Tesla Model S Gets Five Stars For Crash Safety From NHTSA

Green Car Reports

'The Tesla Model S electric sedan has become the latest car to be awarded a full five star crash test rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While it''s no surprise for modern cars to score highly in such tests, it''s still an impressive feat for a young automaker like Tesla Motors, which hasn''t had previous decades of safety.

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Nissan Leaf selling well outside West Coast strongholds, across the US

National Green Transportation

'Nissan Leaf sales are up 335 percent over 2012, thanks to the introduction of the lower priced 2013 Nissan Leaf that's manufactured in the U.S. Nissan said on Friday they're seeing demand for electric.

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London Underground services welcome electric car drivers with new charging points

Green Cars News

'A new network of electric car charging points will make it easier for electric car owners to connect to London Underground services. Benefitting from exemption to the London Congestion Charge, electric cars can be driven into the capital without paying the fee, but are still then faced with the [.].

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How serious is Norway about climate change? So much that its streetlights self-dim

emissions global warming Norway climate change carbon dioxide youtube lighting

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Hybrids take 7% of California market in 1H 2013; PHEVs 0.7%; EVs 1.1%

Green Car Congress

'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.

2013 372
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Audi banking on Gen 2 3.0L TDI diesel for US sales; calls for a “fair shot” for diesel

Green Car Congress

'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

Diesel 366

More Trending

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Strategic Vision: Tesla owners show differences from rest of EV buyers

Green Car Congress

'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.

Tesla 354
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Petrobras awards Technip/DOF Subsea JV ~$3.5bn in contracts for four new pipelay support vessels; ultra-deep water capabilities

Green Car Congress

'Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) has awarded the joint venture formed by Technip (50%) and DOF (50%) has eight contract covering the construction of four new pipelay support vessels (PLSVs) and operation in Brazilian waters to install flexible pipes. The combined value for Technip is approximately €1.35 billion (US$1.8 billion). The combined value for the DOF Group is approximately NOK 10 billion (US$1.7 billion).

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Top 15 Nissan LEAF markets in US in 2013

Green Car Congress

'Top 15 LEAF market year-to-date in 2013. Source: Nissan Click to enlarge. Nissan provided a list of the top 15 markets in the US for the Nissan LEAF battery-electric vehicle. Nissan LEAF sales in the United States are up by 335% year-over-year since the launch of the enhanced 2013 model in March. ( Earlier post.) Nissan has sold 11,703 LEAFs in the US during the first 7 months of 2013—an increase of 230% from the 3,543 units for the same period in 2012.

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BMW’s hybrid motor design seeks to deliver high efficiency and power density with lower rare earth use

Green Car Congress

'Drawing from a 2012 BMW patent application showing one embodiment of a proposed method to increase the efficiency of an electric motor. In addition to magnetic layers, the rotor has two magnetic flux influencing groups comprising a number of air-filled recesses. Source: BMW patent application Nº 2012/0267977. Click to enlarge. With its introduction of the eDrive motor—a proprietary hybrid synchronous motor designed to exploit both permanent magnets and the reluctance effect—in both

Motor 326
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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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RFA, ABFA and UNICA announce joint biofuel trade mission to Brazil

Green Car Congress

'Leading biofuels advocacy organizations from the United States and Brazil announced a joint trade mission to improve and enhance biofuels trade by matching businesses seeking greater trade opportunities in ethanol and other biofuels as well as green technology designed to expand and enhance biofuel production. Since January 2013, the United States has exported more than 97 million liters (25.6 million gallons US) of ethanol to Brazil, while 397 million liters (105 million gallons US) of Brazili

Brazil 323
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ZF and start-up Levant Power partnering on first fully active, regenerative suspension for automobiles

Green Car Congress

'The first fully active and regenerative suspension is based on a pioneering electrohydraulic functional unit fitted to the exterior of the damper. Photo: ZF. Click to enlarge. ZF Friedrichshafen AG has entered into a partnership with Levant Power Corp. to build the first fully active suspension system with energy recovery function. GenShock technology is a fully active system for passenger cars which combines dynamics, safety and comfort characteristics with minimum energy consumption.

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Mercedes-Benz introduces latest E 200 Natural Gas Drive and E 220 BlueTEC BlueEFFICIENCY Edition

Green Car Congress

'E 200 Natural Gas Drive. Click to enlarge. Mercedes-Benz is introducing the latest version of the bivalent drive E 200 Natural Gas Drive (NGD) variant to the E?Class family in Europe. The E200 NGD can run on either gasoline or natural gas; benefits of running the car on natural gas include a 20% reduction in CO 2 emissions compared with comparable operation using gasoline, and much lower fuel costs.

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KAIST rolling out dynamic wireless charging in buses in South Korea

Green Car Congress

'The OLEV bus in Gumi. Click to enlarge. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is trialing a bus application for its Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) technology, a dynamic wireless charging technology that recharges a vehicle’s battery while the vehicle is in motion. ( Earlier post.) An OLEV bus thus requires no pantographs to feed power from electric wires strung above the tram route.

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ExxonMobil announces 6th oil discovery offshore Guyana with Ranger-1; Guyana may move from non-producer to regional powerhouse

Oil

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IBM introduces new wind and solar forecasting system for utilities; big data analytics and weather modeling to predict output

Green Car Congress

'IBM has developed an advanced power and weather modeling technology that will help utilities increase the reliability of renewable energy resources. The solution combines weather prediction and big data analytics to forecast accurately the availability of wind power and solar energy. This will enable utilities to integrate more renewable energy into the power grid, the company says.

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Navigant Research projects autonomous vehicles to represent 75% of all LDV sales by 2035

Green Car Congress

'Autonomous Vehicle Sales by Region, World Markets: 2015-2035. Source: Navigant Research. Click to enlarge. In a new report , Navigant Research forecasts that vehicles with autonomous driving modes will gradually gain traction in the market over the coming two decades, from about 4% of the global light-duty vehicle market in 2025, rising to roughly 41% in 2030 and 75% by 2035—about 95.4 million units annually by then.

Sale 304
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New Illinois law raises speed limit to 70 mph on rural highways

Green Car Congress

'Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a new law to increase the speed limit from 65 to 70 mph (105 to 113 km/h) on rural four-lane highways, and to lower the limit by five mph for excessive speeding. A study by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that increasing a vehicle’s speed from 60 to 70 mph results in an average 14% decrease in fuel economy. ( Earlier post.). 36 other states have speed limits of 70 mph or higher on some portion of their roadways, including other large states

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Honda unveils new Civic Tourer with 1.6L i-DTEC diesel

Green Car Congress

'New Civic Tourer. Click to enlarge. Honda unveiled the new UK-built Civic Tourer wagon ahead of its official debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. The Civic Tourer will be available with the choice of two engines: the new 1.6 i-DTEC diesel engine from the Earth Dreams Technology series ( earlier post ) and the 1.8 i-VTEC gasoline engine with manual or automatic transmission.

Diesel 299
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U. Maryland and Redox Power partnering to commercialize low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells for distributed generation and transportation

Green Car Congress

'Redox Power’s 25 kW “Cube” sitting outside a conference room. Click to enlarge. University of Maryland researchers have partnered with Redox Power Systems LLC to commercialize low-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC) technology for distributed generation—and ultimately transportation—applications at about one-tenth the cost and one-tenth the size of current commercial fuel cell systems.

Maryland 296
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Bosch eClutch enables stop-and-go driving with manual transmission without driver engaging clutch

Green Car Congress

'This electronically controlled eClutch closes the gap between automatic and manual transmissions. In addition, the eClutch makes the coasting function possible, which saves fuel. Click to enlarge. Bosch’s electronically controlled eClutch allows drivers of cars with a manual transmission to use first gear in stop-and-go traffic without engaging the clutch.

Hybrid 296
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$12+M awarded to 4 projects seeking to design crops with ability to fix their own nitrogen; no artificial fertilizers

Green Car Congress

'Four teams of researchers in the United States and the United Kingdom recently were awarded more than $12 million to begin a program of novel research to revolutionize current farming methods by giving crops the ability to thrive without using costly, polluting artificial fertilizers. The four highly innovative projects encompass: an effort to use synthetic biology to create new useful components for plants; a global search for a mysterious lost bacterium with significant unique functions; work

St. Louis 294
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Toyota launches Corolla hybrid models in Japan

Green Car Congress

'Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) launched hybrid versions of the Corolla Axio sedan and Corolla Fielder station wagon in Japan. In addition, there will be a special Corolla Fielder Hybrid G Aerotourer·WxB grade. Monthly sales target for Japan are 1,000 units of the Corolla Axio hybrid and 1,500 units of the Corolla Fielder hybrid. The vehicles are equipped with a 1.5-liter hybrid system akin to that in the Prius c ( earlier post ) and that achieves a fuel efficiency of 33.0 km/L (77.6 mpg US, 3.0

Japan 294
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Rechargeable membrane-less hydrogen bromine flow battery shows high power density

Green Car Congress

'Schematic of reactant flow within the HBLFB. During discharge, liquid bromine is reduced to hydrobromic acid along the lower solid graphite electrode, and hydrogen is oxidized at the upper porous electrode. Credit: Braff et al. Click to enlarge. MIT researchers have engineered a new rechargeable, membrane-less hydrogen bromine laminar flow battery with high power density.

Recharge 291
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Audi unveils first “ultra” production model: fuel efficient A3 1.6 TDI ultra with 73.5 mpg US

Green Car Congress

'Audi A3 1.6 TDI ultra. Click to enlarge. Audi unveiled its most fuel-efficient production model, the A3 1.6 TDI ultra. With 81 kW (110 hp) of power output, the Audi A3 1.6 TDI ultra consumes 3.2 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers (73.50 US mpg). This equates to 85 grams of CO 2 emissions per kilometer (137 g/mile). This latest A3 is not only the most efficient Audi, it is also the brand’s first model designated as “ultra”.

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Peugeot and Total unveiling 208 HYbrid FE concept at Frankfurt; leveraging motorsports

Green Car Congress

'HYbrid FE concept. Click to enlarge. At the Frankfurt Motor Show, PEUGEOT and Total will unveil the hybrid 208 HYbrid FE concept. Based on a production 208 hatchback, the HYbrid FE accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 8 seconds, with CO 2 emissions of 49 g/km (NEDC combined cycle). The objective of the 208 HYbrid FE is to halve the CO 2 emissions of the Peugeot 208 equipped with the 3-cylinder 1.0-liter VTi 68 hp and to provide it with acceleration comparable to a performance hatchback.

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BMW Group presents prototype of i8 plug-in hybrid; first use of new 3-cylinder engine

Green Car Congress

'Prototype BMW i8 at the track. Click to enlarge. BMW i presented a prototype of its second production vehicle, the i8 ( earlier post ), at a driving event at the BMW Group’s Miramas test track in France. Following the world debut of the first production model, the battery-electric urban-focused BMW i3 ( earlier post ), the BMW Group’s next step will be to address the sports car segment with the plug-in hybrid BMW i8.

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New high-temperature ceramic capacitor could reduce cooling needs in power electronics for hybrids and EVs

Green Car Congress

'Scientists from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK have developed a new lead-free, high-temperature ceramic capacitor that could improve the efficiency and reliability of electric and hybrid vehicles. Hybrid and electric vehicles rely on high efficiency power conversion and management, with automotive power electronics representing an emerging £40-billion (US$61-billion) global market, NPL noted.

Power 281
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Biofuels Center of North Carolina to close due to state’s elimination of its funding

Green Car Congress

'The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has begun to shut down operations over a 90-day period and will close its doors by Thursday, 31 October 2013, due to the North Carolina General Assembly’s elimination of its funding in the state budget signed recently by Gov. Pat McCrory. Based in Oxford, the statewide economic development agency will terminate its activities and grant programs; shut down its growing and development projects; truncate company relationships; convey reports and information to

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Toyota broadly outlines next-generation Prius; developing wireless inductive charging for the plug-in model; bullish on hydrogen

Green Car Congress

'Toyota’s next-generation Prius will deliver significantly improved fuel economy in a more compact package that is lighter in weight and lower in cost, according to Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) Managing Officer Satoshi Ogiso. Ogiso—who earlier in his career had been the chief engineer for the Prius, chief engineer for the Prius family, and chief engineer, product planning—made the remarks at the “2013 Toyota Hybrid World Tour” event the company staged in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

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Nissan says it will have first commercially-viable autonomous drive vehicles by 2020; across the range in 2 vehicle generations

Green Car Congress

'Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced that the company will be ready with multiple, commercially-viable autonomous drive (AD) vehicles by 2020. Nissan said that its engineers have been carrying out intensive research on the technology for years, alongside teams from universities including MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Tokyo.

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Volvo unveils plug-in hybrid Concept Coupé; the “next-generation P1800” leveraging SPA

Green Car Congress

'Volvo unveiled the new Volvo Concept Coupé, the first of a series of three concept cars that reveal the design possibilities created by the company’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). ( Earlier post.). The concept car features a two-liter high-performance Drive-E gasoline engine ( earlier post ) with a supercharger and turbo. The petrol engine is teamed with an electric motor on the rear axle.

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Monash University team develops graphene-based supercapacitor with energy density of 60 Wh/L

Green Car Congress

'A research team at Monash University (Australia) led by Professor Dan Li of the Department of Materials Engineering has developed a new strategy to engineer graphene-based supercapacitors (SC), resulting in an energy density of 60 Wh/liter—comparable to lead-acid batteries and around 12 times higher than commercially available SCs. The approach could make SCs more viable for widespread use in renewable energy storage, portable electronics and electric vehicles.

Universal 273
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New York launches $19M truck voucher incentive program; $9M for EVs, $10M for alt fuels

Green Car Congress

'New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced a $19-million New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program to encourage the purchase of battery-electric commercial trucks as well as other energy-efficient transportation, including hybrid and CNG (compressed natural gas) trucks. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) estimates that this program could encourage the purchase or retrofit of up to 1,000 low-emission trucks in areas of the state with the poorest air quality.

New York 270
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New high-performance cathode materials for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Green Car Congress

'Peak power densities of cells with LnBa 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co 1.5 Fe 0.5 O 5+? -GDC (Ln = Pr and Nd) cathode. Credit: Choi et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) (S. Korea), Georgia Institute of Technology, and Dong-Eui University (S. Korea) report the development of new efficient and robust cathode materials for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in the open access Scientific Reports.

Fuel 268