Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 5, 2012

Chevrolet announced that Volt owners collectively have driven more than 100 million all-electric miles since the vehicle went on sale two years ago this month. The average Volt owner travels more than 65% of the time in pure electric mode as the car was designed, only using the gasoline-powered generator for longer trips. By charging regularly, Volt owners drive approximately 900 miles, or a month and a half, between fill-ups.

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Volt All-Electric Miles Sale 362

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Two years ago, our first-ever Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy award went to the first modern battery-electric car sold in the U.S. How far we've come. This year, our third annual winner is the 2013 Tesla Model S, a car that takes the all-electric vehicle to a new and far more elevated level. But that's far from the only reason it won. The Tesla.

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Electric Cars are for Girls

DECEMBER 7, 2012

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Nissan 229

National Green Transportation

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Public transportation systems have historically shaped the structure of cities. The largest metropolitan areas typically have extensive mass transit systems providing mobility for commuters, residents and visitors while providing a backbone for.

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Transportation 105

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Green Cars News

DECEMBER 7, 2012

Delivery of the world’s first fully-electric driverless shuttle has been made in Switzerland this week. Developed by mobility solutions specialist Induct, the new Navia electric automated shuttle may be a step away from much talked about driverless cars, but the model will help prove that the technology works. The shuttle will be used and tested [.].

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Switzerland Fully Electric Electric Electrical 67

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Phase 2 body-in-white material usage front three-quarter view. Source: Lotus Engineering. Click to enlarge. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has published the results of Lotus Engineering’s Phase 2 vehicle mass reduction study on a Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV). Building on a Phase 1 Lotus study published in 2010 ( earlier post ), the Phase 2 study demonstrated the crashworthiness of a low mass body-in-white (BIW) using computer aided analysis and simulation.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Ford’s 5-cylinder, 3.2-liter Power Stroke diesel will be Ford’s second in North America. Click to enlarge. Ford’s all-new 2014 Transit full-size van, which goes on sale late next year, will be offered with a new 3.2-liter Power Stroke five-cylinder diesel. The new diesel engine, Ford’s second in North America, has already been applied in the global Ford Ranger truck sold in world markets (3.2 Duratorq TDCi 200).

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North America America Diesel Ford 343

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2012

A123 Systems, Inc. reached agreement on the terms of an asset purchase agreement with Wanxiang America Corporation through which Wanxiang would acquire substantially all of A123’s assets for $256.6 million. ( Earlier post.) Wanxiang outbid a joint Johnson Controls and NEC offer and a bid from Siemens in an auction held on 6 December for the assets of the bankrupt Li-ion battery maker.

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Ni-Li Energy Storage Li-ion Purchase 342

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Functional elements of the GEM*STAR reactor. Source : Muons, Inc. Click to enlarge. Muons, Inc. , a private-sector high-energy accelerator physics firm, and ADNA (Accelerator-Driven Neutron Applications) Corp., are proposing using spent nuclear fuel (SNF), natural uranium, or excess weapons-grade plutonium (W-Pu) in a proposed GEM*STAR accelerator-driven subcritical reactor (ADSR) to provide the process heat and steam for the Fischer-Tropsch production of synthetic diesel from natural gas and ot

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Molten Salt Fuel Production Coal 320

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, and the United States Air Force USAF) have completed flight testing for the latest enhancement for the T56 engine for the C-130, with preliminary results exceeding expectations for reducing fuel consumption and reliability improvements. The Rolls-Royce T56 engine powers all legacy C-130 aircraft, with the Series 3.5 program the latest improvement aimed at enhancing performance.

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Engine Indianapolis Fuel United States 316

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 20, 2012

Vehicle automation is set to be rolled out in stages, starting with partially automated driving from 2016; high levels of automation from 2020; and fully automated systems available from 2025. Click to enlarge. The development of products and systems for automated driving is one of the central themes of international automotive supplier Continental’s long-term technology strategy.

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Nevada Vehicles 2020 2016 312

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology (Japan) have demonstrated the transfer of electric power from wheels to power an electric car using dielectric coupling between a steel belt in a tire and a metal plate in a roadway. A paper on their work is published in IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Innovative Wireless Power Transmission.

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Power Powered Suzuki Japan 310

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2012

2013 Fusion Energi. Click to enlarge. The US Environmental Protection Agency has rated the new Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid ( earlier post ) at up to 108 MPGe city, 92 MPGe highway and 100 MPGe combined (2.2, 2.6 and 2.4 l/100km-equivalent, respectively). Fusion Energi is the Ford brand’s fifth electrified vehicle to launch in the past year—and its second plug-in hybrid after the C-MAX Energi.

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Fusion Ford Plug-in Hybrid 307

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Components of the e-gas plant. Click to enlarge. Audi is celebrating progress on its e-gas plant under construction in Werlte, Germany with a topping-out ceremony. End products from the plant will be hydrogen and synthetic methane (Audi e-gas), to be used as fuel for vehicles such as the new Audi A3 Sportback TCNG. ( Earlier post.). The Audi e-gas plant, which can convert six megawatts of input power, will utilize renewable electricity for electrolysis, producing oxygen and hydrogen, the latter

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Audi 2013 Gas Production 301

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Nissan has launched production in its new battery plant in Smyrna, Tenn. The plant, which is making battery components for the ramp-up of production of the 2013 Nissan LEAF early next year, is located adjacent to Nissan’s existing vehicle assembly plant in Tennessee, which itself has been retooled to accommodate production of the Nissan LEAF. Combined, the construction of the battery plant and modification of the Smyrna manufacturing facility represent an investment of up to $1.7 billion when bu

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Nissan Manufacturer Batteries Battery 301

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 5, 2012

The layout of the proposed multi-agent system (MAS) for driverless vehicles at intersections. Zohdy and Rakha. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) have developed a heuristic optimization algorithm for driverless vehicles at unsignalized intersections using a multi-agent system (MAS). Their research, presented at the Intelligent Transportation Society World Congress in Vienna in October, won the Best Scientific Paper Award for North America.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 18, 2012

In a new research brief , Pike Research forecasts that wireless charging equipment for light duty plug-in vehicle sales will grow by a CAGR of 91% from 2013 to 2020, as wireless systems move from a retrofit technology to an integrated part of new EVs, reaching annual sales of 283,000 units in 2020. Although wireless charging for plug-in initially appeared to be mainly a promising technology with no viable market, nearly all of the major EV manufacturers have now announced partnerships to develop

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Plug-in Plug Market Sacramento 290

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 26, 2012

Average external costs from cars per 1,000 vkm by country. Click to enlarge. A recent study from Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) commissioned by the Greens/European Free Allianace (EFA) in the European Parliament concluded that the cars used within the EU-27 externalize up to about €373 billion (US$493 billion) per year (high estimate) of costs on to other people, other regions and other generations.

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Cost Of International Transportation Price 284

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 30, 2012

The Ford Focus is tracking to become this year’s best-selling global nameplate, while the Ford Fiesta is on pace to be this year's best-selling global B-Car—giving Ford the best-selling B and C-Car in the world— based on the latest Polk global industry data through September. Global Focus new registrations totaled 737,856 through September.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2012

PureTech 3-cylinder engine. Click to enlarge. Citroën is introducing the first members of its new PureTech family of three-cylinder gasoline engines on the C3, DS3 and C-Elysée (for international markets) ranges. The PureTech engines offer equivalent or better power compared with the previous generation powerplants, combined with significantly lower fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, down by roughly 25%.

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Engine Gasoline Fuel MPG 281

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 18, 2012

The 2014 Cadillac ELR extended-range electric luxury coupe, based on the Converj concept ( earlier post ), will make its world debut 15 January at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. The Converj concept made its debut at the NAIAS in January 2009; in August 2011, GM announced that the concept would move forward as a production car called the Cadillac ELR. ( Earlier post.).

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Extended Range Cadillac 2014 GM 281

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 20, 2012

AMP Electric Vehicles, a manufacturer of electric drive systems for medium-duty class 3-6 commercial truck platforms, and wireless high-power electronics company Momentum Dynamics Corporation (Momentum) formed a joint venture to supply fully electric vehicles and wireless charging pads for the existing Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority (BARTA) pilot project to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

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Pennsylvania Electric Vehicles Vehicles Tax Credit 277

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2012

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing $300 million towards a project that will replace 100,000 gasoline-burning tricycles in the Philippines with electric tricycles, or E-Trikes. About 3.5 million gas-fueled motorcycles and tricycles are currently operating in the Philippines, typically serving as short-distance taxis, with the average tricycle driver earning less than $10 a day.

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Philippines India Gasoline Gasoline-Electric 277

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 7, 2012

BP Biofuels plans to invest $350 million to expand the ethanol processing capacity of Tropical, one of its sugarcane processing ventures in Brazil. Tropical’s processing capacity will double to five million tons of sugarcane producing 450 million liters (119 gallons US) of ethanol equivalent per year. The expansion, which is scheduled to start next year, includes the building of a new mill.

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Brazil Production Grid 2014 276

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2012

With the relevant authorities having given their approval, Bosch is moving ahead with the reorganization of its lithium-ion traction battery operations following the dissolution of its joint venture with Samsung, SB LiMotive. ( Earlier post.) Effective immediately, the former operating units SB LiMotive Germany GmbH in Stuttgart and Cobasys LLC based in Orion, Michigan, will be incorporated into the Bosch Group as a wholly owned subsidiary under the new name Robert Bosch Battery Systems.

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Lithium Ion Batteries Battery Los Angeles 275

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 7, 2012

Iveco Daily Natural Power vehicles awaiting delivery. Click to enlarge. Iveco contracted to deliver 115 Daily Natural Power light commercial vehicles to TNT Express Italy by 2013. The methane gas-powered vehicles will be used by TNT for its express courier activities in the Rome area as well as other parts of Central Italy. The New Daily Natural Power is equipped with a 100 kW, 3.0L, in-line 4-cylinder Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT) Industrial CNG engine with three-way catalytic converter, u

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Italy Gas Supplies Vehicles 275

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 18, 2012

Global automotive Li-Ion battery production capacity is outstripping demand five-to-one as automakers refocus on hybrids and away from full electric vehicles, according to Dr. Menahem Anderman’s recently released xEV Industry Insider Report. Anderman is founder and chairman of the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC); the 13 th annual conference is scheduled for February 2013 in Pasadena, California.

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Li-ion Hybrid 2012 PHEV 273

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 14, 2012

Québec’s Cabinet has adopted the Regulation Amending the Regulation respecting a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emission (GHG) allowances. The amendment is aimed at harmonizing Québec’s system with California’s as well as with those of future partners. Its adoption now makes it possible to link the Québec and California systems. By adopting this regulatory amendment, Québec has taken a major step in pursuing the deployment of further action within the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) to

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California Carbon Market Light 268

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Evonik Group subsidiary Evonik Litarion GmbH has selected materials technology group Umicore as the supplier of cathode materials for large format Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems applications. ( Earlier post.). Umicore’s Cellcore MX, a Li-ion NMC (Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt) cathode material, offers an engineered material solution to optimize electric vehicle requirements of power, energy, safety and battery cycle life.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 21, 2012

Pike Research has published an update to its earlier forecasts on xEVs: hybrid (HEVs); plug-in hybrid (PHEVs); and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). As a result of new assumptions, Pike Research has slightly reduced its forecasts for plug-in vehicles (PEVs: PHEVs and BEVs combined) from past forecasts. This reduction was driven largely by. the slow growth of BEVs in the United States (the largest market for PEVs) in 2012 and the postponement of some vehicle launches, the research firm noted.

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Market North America PHEV Ford 268

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 8, 2012

Alaska Governor Sean Parnell proposed a $355-million financial package for construction of a natural gas liquefaction plant on Alaska’s North Slope and a Fairbanks-area natural gas distribution system through the private sector, and an area-wide utility. A North Slope LNG plant has the potential to deliver gas via truck to Fairbanks and to provide access to gas for road and river communities, as well as Southcentral Alaska.

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Alaska Tax Credit Gas Financing 268

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2012

Argentina state-owned energy company YPF and Bridas, an Argentina-based oil and gas company 50% owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation, agreed to invest $1.5 billion over the next 24 months to begin development in the massive shale oil deposits in the Vaca Muerta (“Dead Cow”) formation in the province of Neuquén—one of the largest shale oil formations in the world.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 21, 2012

A new report from IDTechEx , “Electric Buses and Taxis 2012-2022”, projects that the market for electric buses and taxis at ex-factory prices will rise 8.7 times from $6.24 billion in 2011 to $54 billion in 2021. The report concentrates primarily on buses defined as enclosed vehicles with a driver that have been designed for stage carriage or transit work and carrying at least 10 passengers.

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Taxi Market China Lithium Ion 262

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Neste Oil has joined the ITAKA (Initiative Towards Sustainable Kerosene for Aviation) project, which is being funded by the EU to support the commercialization and use of renewable aviation fuel comprising hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids in Europe. Neste Oil’s role in the consortium will be to produce the renewable fuel used in the project. The 36-month ITAKA project has been granted approximately €10 million (US$13.3 million) of funding under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Resea

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