February, 2017

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Update: SAE J2954 wireless charging validation to 11kW, Recommended Practice to enable autonomous vehicle parking and charging in 2017

Green Car Congress

At the SAE 2017 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium last week, an overview of the plans for testing to validate power levels up to WPT 3, (11kW) for SAE J2954TM were shown along with a preview of the technology to be standardized in the upcoming Recommended Practice. ( Earlier post.). The SAE Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) and Alignment team has been working with the Idaho National Lab and US Department of Energy (DOE) regarding testing for the validation of WPT 1-2 (3.7-7.7kW) in 20

2017 290
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Tesla granted patent on metal-air battery charging

Green Car Reports

When it comes to Tesla and electric-car batteries, the eyes of most analysts are currently on the automaker's "Gigafactory," which began battery-cell production earlier this year. The Gigafactory is expected to build cells in massive numbers, but using a variation of the same lithium-ion chemistry that currently dominates in the electric-car.

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The Grand Tour

Greenways Insurance

Some thoughts on electric motoring. Greenways’ business development executive, Daniel West, has been putting an electric vehicle to the test so he can truly understand his customers’ needs. He has spent a week driving a Nissan Leaf, kindly supplied by Greenhous Nissan in Shrewsbury, using it to commute to work, business and social trips, and then taking it on a longer trip from Shropshire to Blackpool.

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Review: 2017 BMW 5 Series

Green Cars News

We could easily spend the whole of this review focusing on the technology packed into the new BMW 5 Series.

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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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Study links PM2.5 pollution with millions of preterm births globally

Green Car Congress

A new study, led by a team from The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York, has found that in 2010, about 2.7 million preterm births globally—or 18% of all pre-term births—were associated with outdoor exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ).The open-access study is published in the journal. Environment International.

Pollution 283
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Mercedes-Benz starting small series production of heavy-duty Urban eTruck with electric drive this year for customer trials

Green Car Congress

Mercedes-Benz Trucks is bringing its all-electric heavy-duty truck ( earlier post ) to market in a small series this year. Following the presentation of the Urban eTruck with 25 t perm. GVW and a range of up to 200 km at the International Commercial Vehicle Show in 2016, the first vehicles will be delivered to customers this year. The electric truck is based on a three-axle truck, with the entire conventional drivetrain replaced by an electrically driven rear axle with electric motors directly a

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More Trending

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GKN, SDS begin production of all-wheel drive disconnect system in China; up to 4% improvement in fuel economy

Green Car Congress

GKN Driveline’s Chinese Joint Venture partner SDS has commenced production of its complete all-wheel drive (AWD) Disconnect system for small- to medium-sized vehicles in China. The system will initially feature on the Jeep Renegade built for the Chinese market by GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Co., Ltd. (GAC FCA) in Guangzhou City, southern Guangdong Province.

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Ford researchers to present paper on fast-charging Li-ion batteries at SAE WCX

Green Car Congress

At the upcoming WCX 17: SAE World Congress Experience (the re-imagined SAE World Congress) in April, Xiao Yang and Ted Miller from Ford will present a paper on the fast recharge capability of Li-ion batteries and its effect on capacity degradation. Of note in the abstract: We find out that 5 Ah prismatic Li-ion cells can be fully recharged in 3 minutes under a constant rate of 20C, or in 2 min (25.5C) from 0% to 85% SOC (state of charge) without undue stresses.

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€8.5M INTEGRAL thermoelectric generator project with focus on vehicles kicks off in Europe

Green Car Congress

The €8.5-million (US$9-million) INTEGRAL project to develop thermoelectric generator technology for application in vehicles and remote sensors has kicked off. INTEGRAL is an Innovation Action project coordinated by CEA within the PILOTS-01-2016 call of the European Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. The European Commission is provided €7 million of the funding.

Europe 218
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Next-Gen Ford Fiesta St with new 200 PS 3-cylinder, 1.5L Ecoboost with 3 drive modes; cylinder deactivation

Green Car Congress

Ford Performance unveiled the next generation Ford Fiesta ST, powered by an all-new three-cylinder, 1.5-liter EcoBoost engine. Shown for the first time ahead of its global public debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month, the next generation Fiesta ST will deliver 200 PS, 290 N·m of torque, and anticipated 0-100 km/h (0‑62 mph) acceleration in 6.7 seconds.

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

Brief

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European truck manufacturers call for action to prevent aftermarket manipulation of NOx emissions controls

Green Car Congress

In the wake of a report by the German television station ZDF identifying widespread aftermarket manipulation of NO x emissions control technologies on trucks, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) is calling for government action to preclude such manipulation. The ZDF report , based on research ZDF commissioned at the University of Heidelberg, found that some 20% of trucks operating in eastern Europe have effectively circumvented NO x reduction technology, causing around 14,0

Emissions 207
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New ultrafast camera for self-driving vehicles and drones

Green Car Congress

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed an ultrafast high-contrast camera that could help self-driving cars and drones see better in extreme road conditions and in bad weather. Unlike typical optical cameras, which can be blinded by bright light and unable to make out details in the dark, NTU’s new smart camera can record the slightest movements and objects in real time.

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Honda R&D developing high-power dynamic charging system for EVs at speeds up to 96 mph

Green Car Congress

At the upcoming WCX 17: SAE World Congress Experience, a team from Honda R&D will present a paper on their study of a dynamic charging system that uses high power to charge a traveling EV, with the goal of realizing an unlimited vehicle range. Major issues facing EV include range, charging (hassle, time, construction of infrastructure), and reduced driving performance due to increased vehicle weight.

MPH 199
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Strong honeycomb cargo shelf in new Ford EcoSport SUV made of recycled paper; 6lb floorboard holds ~700 lbs of cargo

Green Car Congress

The adjustable cargo floorboard in the all-new 2018 Ford EcoSport is made of high-strength 100% recycled paper honeycomb. Constructed from all-natural paper and water-based glue, the six-pound honeycomb floorboard is both eco-friendly and strong enough to handle nearly 700 pounds of cargo across its 38.5-inch by 25.25-inch surface. Ford introduced the EcoSport for North America in November 2016 (via the first Snapchat reveal).

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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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USC team uses mixed conduction membranes to suppress polysulfide shuttle in Li-S batteries

Green Car Congress

One of the major issues hobbling the commercialization of high energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries is the “polysulfide shuttle”—the shuttling of polysulfide ions between the cathode and anode. The polysulfide shuttle is a major technical issue that limits the electrical performance and cycle life of this type of battery. Addressing this polysulfide shuttle—which causes self-discharge, low charging efficiencies, and irreversible capacity losses—has been a major focus of rese

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Waymo suing Otto and Uber over autonomous driving technology

Green Car Congress

Waymo, formerly the Google self-driving car project, is suing Otto and its parent company Uber, charging that the two mis-appropriated Waymo trade secrets and infringed Waymo patents. The complaint was filed on Thursday in US District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. Waymo said that a key element of its self-driving technology is is custom-built LiDAR.

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Auto Alliance urges EPA to withdraw premature Final Determination on light-duty GHG regulations, resume Midterm Evaluation process with NHTSA

Green Car Congress

The Auto Alliance has sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt requesting that the US Environmental Protection Agency withdraw the Final Determination on the Appropriateness of the Model Year 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards under the Midterm Evaluation which EPA announced on 13 January 2017. ( Earlier post.). It its letter, the Alliance argues that by rushing to issue the Final Determination (which maintains the current GHG standards as defined through 2025

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BMW Group to introduce Mobileye REM in new models starting in 2018; crowdsourced data for autonomous driving

Green Car Congress

BMW Group and Mobileye signed an agreement that will lead to the introduction of Mobileye’s Road Experience Management (REM) data generation technology in newly developed BMW Group models entering the market in 2018. This agreement to crowd-source real-time data using vehicles equipped with camera-based Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) technology is a critical enabler for autonomous driving through next-generation high definition (HD) maps aimed at making driving safer and more efficient for

BMW 186
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Audi wins VDA Logistics Award for automated vehicle transport

Green Car Congress

Audi has won the Logistics Award for 2017 from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) in recognition of its FTS driverless vehicle transport system. The autonomously operating system has been in production operation at the Ingolstadt site since the beginning of the year. The parking robot, RAY , from Serva Transport Systems, sorts up to 2,000 cars per day for loading onto railway freight cars. ( Earlier post.

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Extensive rollout for GM 9-speed transmission in China

Green Car Congress

General Motors said it will rapidly and extensively deploy its new nine-speed automatic transmission in China, which is debuting in a high-volume SUV later this year. The state-of-the-art transmission, which optimizes efficiency, performance and refinement, will be adopted in 13 models in China from the Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac brands by 2020. The new nine-speed automatic offers a fuel efficiency improvement of up to 2% compared to a six-speed transmission.

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Wireless charging J2954 testing to 11 kW in 2017 for LD, HD starting up to 250 kW; autonomous charging and infrastructure proposal for California

Green Car Congress

SAE International is working to ensure that electric vehicle wireless power transfer systems from diverse manufacturers will interoperate seamlessly with each other to prepare for commercialization in 2020. The SAE TIR (Technical Information Report) J2954 provides guidance to ensure performance and safety of Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) Systems provided from one vendor as well as interoperability when parts of the system are provided from different vendors.

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NSF to award $13M to projects focused on electrochemical and organic photovoltaic systems

Green Car Congress

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) will award more than $13 million to projects in the Energy for Sustainability program. The goal of the Energy for Sustainability program is to support fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and for energy storage. Processes for sustainable energy production must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources.

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Toyota delivers fuel cell bus to Tokyo Metropolitan Government; more than 100 planned by 2020 Olympics

Green Car Congress

Toyota Motor Corporation delivered the first fuel cell bus (FC bus) sold under the Toyota brand to the Bureau of Transportation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. This FC bus will be put into operation as a Toei route bus in March along with a second bus that is scheduled for delivery in the same month. Toyota plans to introduce more than 100 FC buses mainly within the Tokyo area, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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New Turbo S E-Hybrid PHEV to be the flagship model in the Panamera line

Green Car Congress

Porsche is launching the new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid plug-in hybrid as the flagship of a model line for the first time. The four-liter V8 engine from the Panamera Turbo is combined with an electric motor, resulting in 500 kW/680 hp of system power and outstanding power delivery—even when just above idle speed, the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid—the second hybrid variant in the Panamera lineup—offers an 850 N·m (627 lb-ft) of torque.

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Shell opens its first hydrogen fueling forecourt station in UK

Green Car Congress

Shell, in partnership with ITM Power, opened the first hydrogen station to be situated on a forecourt in the UK. The new hydrogen station has been supplied by ITM Power and is the first fully branded and public hydrogen refueling site in the UK. It is the first of three hydrogen stations Shell plans to open in the UK in 2017. The hydrogen refueling station is located at Cobham services on the M25, the nation’s busiest refueling station.

Hydrogen 170
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MAN and Austria’s CNL partnering on medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks; trials this year, production 2018

Green Car Congress

MAN Truck & Bus, a member of the Volkswagen Group, and the Austrian Council for Sustainable Logistics (CNL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into a development partnership on electric drive medium- and heavy-duty trucks. MAN also presented an all-electric prototype of a semitrailer tractor unit for urban distribution transport. As part of its partnership with CNL—a group of fifteen of Austria’s largest companies in the retail, logistics and production sectors—MAN wi

2018 170
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Mobileye completes installation of collision avoidance technology across 4,500 New York City for-hire vehicles

Green Car Congress

Mobileye has completed the installation of collision avoidance technology across 4,500 for-hire vehicles in New York City. Together with Atlas Financial Holdings, Inc., a provider of passenger transportation insurance, Mobileye has equipped thousands of New York City-based rideshare vehicles—such as those available through Uber and Lyft—with Mobileye technologies enabled by a high-resolution vision sensor that analyzes potential dangerous scenarios in real time, alerting drivers to i

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Georgia Tech team furthers four-stroke-cycle active-membrane piston reactor for enhanced SMR for H2 production

Green Car Congress

Steam methane reforming is currently the primary pathway for hydrogen production worldwide. However, due to its high operating temperature and use of sequential units for the reaction stages, industrial SMR does not scale down well for distributed, point-of-use applications such as fuel cell vehicle refueling stations. Seeking to develop an SMR system suited for such distributed applications, a team from Georgia Tech in 2014 proposed the sorption-enhanced CO 2 /H2 Active Membrane Piston reactor

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BIOX commissions 90M gallon biodiesel production facility in Houston

Green Car Congress

BIOX Corporation announced that World Energy BIOX Biofuels LLC (WEBB), a 50/50 joint venture between World Energy and BIOX, has completed the commissioning of its 90-million US gallon (USG) (341 million liters) nameplate capacity biodiesel production facility in Houston, Texas. The facility started operating at full capacity in December 2016. The Houston facility operates two equal-sized production trains that combine to provide its nameplate capacity.

Houston 170
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Lux Research forecasts global biofuels output to rise to 67B GPY in 2022; advanced biofuels will nearly double to 9.6B GPY

Green Car Congress

New biofuel technology is finally starting to push aside traditional biofuels such as first-generation biodiesel, according to a new report by Lux Research. New facilities based on non-food feedstocks and producing novel fuels account for over half of new capacity deployment for the first time in the biofuel industry’s history, according to Lux. However, overall output will grow at a slower pace to 67 billion gallons a year (BGY) in 2022, from 59 BGY in 2016.

Global 170
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Report: A123 Systems wins $1B contract to supply Li-ion batteries for 48V systems to SAIC-GM

Green Car Congress

Automotive News China reports that Li-ion battery maker A123 Systems won a 6.9-billion CNY (US$1 billion) contract to supply 2.6 million Li-ion batteries for 48V systems to the SAIC-GM joint venture in China. The report comes via a statement by Wanxiang Group, the owner of A123 Systems. A123 initially entered into a partnership with SAIC Motor in 2009 with the formation of Advanced Traction Battery Systems (ATBS), a battery pack joint venture (JV) company.

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Cumulative worldwide sales of Toyota hybrids surpass 10 million units; Europe outpaces N America in 2016

Green Car Congress

Cumulative worldwide sales of Toyota Motor Corporation hybrids reached 10.05 million units as of 31 January, scooting past the 10-million unit mark. Toyota said that this milestone demonstrates the staying power of a technology that is now emerging as a mainstream solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. Toyota launched the Coaster Hybrid EV in August 1997 and the Prius—the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle―in December of the same year.

2016 170
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Chevrolet 2017 Cruze Diesel EPA-rated at 52 mpg highway, 37 mpg combined; Tier 3 Bin 125

Green Car Congress

The 2017 Cruze Diesel Sedan ( earlier post ) fitted with the six-speed manual transmission offers an EPA-estimated highway mileage of 52 mpg (4.52 liters/100 km)—the highest highway fuel economy of any non-hybrid/non-EV in the US. The six-speed manual model returns an EPA-estimated city mileage of 30 mpg (7.83 l/100 km), resulting in 37 mpg (6.35 l/100 km) combined.

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DS introducing DS 7 CROSSBACK at Geneva show; PHEV model, autonomous driving features

Green Car Congress

DS Automobiles, the recent brand addition to the PSA Group, will introduce the DS 7 CROSSBACK SUV at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Powered by a 300 hp,four-wheel drive E-TENSE system, a plug-in hybrid version will be available from spring 2019. Alongside the E-TENSE plug-in hybrid, DS 7 CROSSBACK will ultimately be available with a choice of five internal combustion engines compliant with the Euro 6.2 standard: three gasoline power units (THP 225 S&S EAT8, THP 180 S&S EAT8, PureTech (twice vot

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