Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2017

The SOLETAIR project ( earlier post ) has produced its first 200 liters of synthetic fuel from solar energy and the air’s carbon dioxide via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Project partners include INERATEC, a spinoff of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT). The mobile chemical pilot plant produces gasoline, diesel, and kerosene from regenerative hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

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Green Car Reports

AUGUST 10, 2017

With Tesla, there's always something new coming up to keep owners, buyers, and fans excited. The company's main task over the next year is to get its lower-priced Model 3 electric car into volume assembly at high quality, a process CEO Elon Musk has called "production hell." But there's more to come, one of the new products being Tesla's promised.

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Green Cars News

AUGUST 10, 2017

It was reported last month that UK vehicle theft has increased 20% in recent years, and recent evidence suggests that a new computerised ‘relay’ style

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

Siemens has been commissioned by the German state of Hesse to build an overhead contact line for electrified freight transport on a ten-kilometer stretch of autobahn. The line will supply electricity for the electric drive of a hybrid truck. Siemens originally presented its innovative “eHighway” concept in 2012. ( Earlier post.) The system will be installed on the A5 federal autobahn between the Zeppelinheim/Cargo City Süd interchange at the Frankfurt Airport and the Darmstadt/Weiterstadt interc

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) reached. settlements with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) and Union Pacific Railroad Company (UPRR) to resolve violations of the state’s drayage truck regulation, which requires cleanup of trucks servicing the state’s busy ports and intermodal rail yards. An investigation by CARB’s Enforcement Division documented that both companies had failed to accurately report all the required information for noncompliant trucks entering 12 separat

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 7, 2017

Through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) negotiated by the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Technology Transfer and Outreach Office, ARL and Brown University researchers are attempting to address the difficulty of characterizing and then engineering the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer that forms on the anode of lithium ion batteries, with particular emphasis on experimental silicon anodes with very high capacities for lithium.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

Traffic is a major source of harmful pollutants; daily peak exposures tend to occur near roadways or while traveling—or being stuck—on them. For example, a team at the University of Surrey found that particulate pollution levels inside cars are up to 40% higher when the vehicle is stuck in a traffic jam or stopped at a red traffic light compared to free-flowing traffic conditions. ( Earlier post.).

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

New analysis commissioned by Ceres, a sustainability nonprofit organization working with investors and companies, suggests that national fuel economy and emissions standards can help increase the viability and international competitiveness of domestic automakers and suppliers. The analysis prepared by Alan Baum, founder and principal of Baum and Associates, proposes that legacy automakers are experiencing low stock valuations and cutting jobs and expenses largely due to two factors: Overall dema

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2017

Mazda Motor Corporation announced “Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030,” a new long-term vision for technology development that looks ahead to the year 2030. As part of the new technology to achieve this vision, the company disclosed plans to introduce a next-generation gasoline engine called SKYACTIV-X in 2019. SKYACTIV-X—which Mazda believes will be the first commercial gasoline engine to use compression ignition—uses a proprietary combustion method called Spark Controlled Compression Ignit

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 5, 2017

The state of Minnesota will implement a new biodiesel standard next spring, as Minnesota moves to a 20% biodiesel blend (B20) at pumps across the state. This new standard builds on Minnesota’s national leadership—in 2005, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to require all diesel fuel to have a blend of at least 2% biodiesel (B2). Beginning in May 2018, B20 will be sold at filling stations across Minnesota during summer months, when higher biodiesel blends can be used reliably.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

Norway-based Hexagon Composites’ subsidiary Hexagon Lincoln has completed the development and initial deliveries of storage tanks for a Toyota heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck. ( Earlier post.) Toyota Motor North America Research and Development (TMNA R&D) has received the first hydrogen tanks to be used in the project. With this delivery of the Type 4 high-pressure hydrogen cylinders, the Hexagon Composites Group is strengthening its position in the hydrogen heavy-duty vehicle market.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have concluded a basic agreement for studies on energy conservation and CO 2 emissions reduction in convenience store distribution and operation. The two companies aim to contribute to the realization of a low-carbon and hydrogen-based society in the future, by way of introducing vehicles and power generators to be newly developed by Toyota that use hydrogen.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

SGL Carbon Holdings BV, a subsidiary of SGL Carbon SE, signed the sale and purchase agreement to sell SGL Group’s cathodes, furnace linings, and carbon electrodes (CFL/CE) business to funds advised by Triton. The two parties have agreed on an enterprise value (cash and debt free) of €250 million, which, after deduction of standard debt-like items (mainly pension provisions) as well as other customary adjustments, results in cash proceeds of more than €230 million.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2017

Volkswagen is offering an incentive of up to €10,000 (US$11,815)—depending upon the model purchased—for the purchase of Euro 6 vehicles in Germany if an older diesel vehicle (Euro 1 to Euro 4 standards) is scrapped at the same time. The incentive is one of a number of elements of a new environmental program launched by the automaker in its home country.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2017

Nissan Motor has entered into a definitive sale and purchase agreement with GSR Capital (GSR), a private investment fund, for the sale of Nissan’s automotive electric battery operations and production facilities to GSR. The sale and purchase agreement covers Nissan’s battery subsidiary, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation ( AESC ), as well as battery manufacturing operations in Smyrna, Tennessee, owned by Nissan North America Inc.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2017

The average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the US in July was 25.4 mpg (9.25 l/100 km)—up 0.3 mpg from June, according to the latest monthly report from Dr. Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). This increase likely reflects the decreased proportion of light trucks in the sales mix in July compared to June, they suggested.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 7, 2017

MAHLE has developed a highly efficient 48-volt electric vehicle concept for urban mobility. “MEET” (MAHLE Efficient Electric Transport) will make its world debut at IAA Cars 2017 in Frankfurt/Germany in September. The modular design could be transferred to a wide range of platforms, MAHLE said. The technical focus of MEET is on maximum energy efficiency.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

Acura unveiled a redesigned 2018 Acura RLX reflecting the brand’s new design direction. The 2018 Acura RLX will make its public debut during Monterey Automotive Week next week on the Monterey peninsula. The 2018 Acura RLX features Sport Hybrid Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive (Sport Hybrid SH-AWD) technology, shared with the NSX supercar ( earlier post ).

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

Continental has developed a new wheel and braking concept for electric vehicles. The “New Wheel Concept” wheel rim consists of two aluminum (Al) parts: an inner Al carrier star with an Al brake disk and an outer Al rim well with the tire. In contrast to conventional wheel brakes, the New Wheel Concept brake engages the Al disk from the inside. This allows it to have a particularly large diameter, which benefits the braking performance.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

Volkswagen is now offering the latest member of its gasoline engine family—the 1.5 TSI delivering 96 kW/130 PS—for the Golf and Golf Variant. ( Earlier post.) Volkswagen previewed the introduction of this variant of the 1.5 TSI—which supports a coasting function for the first time in a Golf—back in March, along with the introduction of the more powerful 1.5 TSI Evo. ( Earlier post.).

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is developing a measure to reduce emissions from Transport Refrigeration Units (TRUs) by transitioning to zero-emission technologies. To that end, ARB staff is holding two more workshops on the development of a regulation to limit the amount of time that internal combustion engine-driven TRUs and TRU gensets operate while stationary, as well as requiring an overall zero-emission mode operating time.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

China-based bike-sharing provider ofo Inc. and SoftBank Commerce & Service Corp. have. reached a basic agreement to collaborate on the deployment of ofo’s global bike-sharing business in Japan. ofo and SoftBank C&S plan to enter an exclusive partnership for a large-scale deployment, with SoftBank C&S serving as strategic partner of ofo's bike-sharing services in Japan.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2017

GM’s Maven Gig ( earlier post ) launched in San Francisco in November 2016 to provide vehicles for rideshare drivers; it since expanded the offering for package, grocery and food delivery drivers. Maven Gig is expanding geographically, and provides vehicles for freelance drivers in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Future cities include Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

New analysis by energy, metals and mining consultancy Wood Mackenzie, in collaboration with GTM Research , a Wood Mackenzie company focused on researching decarbonization and the decentralization of energy, suggests that electric vehicles could account for 21% of the global car stock by 2035 under a carbon-constrained scenario. Wood Mackenzie’s carbon-constrained scenario focuses on consistent, marginal change that will disrupt established markets long before a wholesale switch away from hydroca

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

DENSO Corporation, Ericsson, Intel Corporation, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), NTT DOCOMO, INC., Toyota InfoTechnology Center Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have initiated the formation of the Automotive Edge Computing Consortium. The objective of the consortium is to develop an ecosystem for connected cars to support emerging services such as intelligent driving, the creation of maps with real-time data and driving assistance based on cloud computing.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

The BMW Group reported that it has delivered more than 50,000 BMW i, BMW iPerformance and electrified MINI vehicles to customers around the world since the start of the year. The BMW Group now has a total of nine electrified automobiles on the market: sales of these vehicles totalled 50,711 in the first seven months of the year, an increase of 74.8% on the same period last year.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

The California Energy Commission awarded more than $16 million to Equilon Enterprises, LLC, which does business as Shell Oil Products US, to develop seven new hydrogen stations in Northern California. Three will be located in San Francisco, one in Walnut Creek, one in Berkeley and two in the Sacramento region. The stations will help expand the hydrogen refueling network in California.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

Researchers at Rice University and their colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have learned to manipulate two-dimensional materials to design in defects that enhance the materials’ properties. Combining theory and experimentation, they showed it’s possible to give 2D materials specific defects—especially atomic-scale seams called grain boundaries.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2017

BMW Group UK has launched a new Lower Emissions Allowance scheme that offers an additional £2,000 (US$2,600) off all new BMW and MINI vehicles with emissions of 130 g/km or less. This will enable customers to drive away in a new cleaner Euro-6 BMW from under £155 (US$202) per month (plus initial rental) and MINI under £130 (US$169) per month (plus initial rental).

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

The German government has awarded €233,000 (US$274,000) to N-ERGIE from the Federal Charging Infrastructure program to build 84 charging points in northern Bavaria. The aim of the Federal Charging Infrastructure is to build 15,000 charge points across Germany. The BMVI will provide a total of €300 million (US$352 million) to that end from 2017 to 2020.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced a trial for a new type of electrolyzer which could see excess renewable energy stored in the gas grid and used to decarbonize Australia’s gas supply. On behalf of the Australian Government, ARENA has provided A$5 million (US$4 million) in funding to Wollongong-based AquaHydrex to develop commercially its new class of electrolyzer to produce cheap hydrogen from splitting water.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

Sustainable Development Technology Canada announced an award of C$3.8 million to Electrovaya to fund the development of safe and long-lasting lithium-ion ceramic batteries for commercial vehicles. Electrovaya designs, develops and manufactures proprietary Lithium Ion Super Polymer batteries, battery systems, and battery-related products for energy storage, clean electric transportation and other specialized applications.

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2017

Audi AG is offering trade-in bonuses to customers who switch to an Audi with Euro 6 standard from diesel-powered cars with emission standards Euro 1 through Euro 4. The price advantage is scaled by model. Depending on the category of the new car, it amounts to between €3,000 and €10,000. The bonus is especially attractive for customers who select an Audi with plug-in-hybrid technology or a g-tron model that runs on CNG (compressed natural gas).

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Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2017

Aeron.aero is launching an Ethereum blockchain-based solution for tracking and verification of aircraft and pilot log records: Aeron Register. The current system for logging training and flight hours is easily manipulated, as flight logs are mostly done on paper, with the numbers, signatures, and confirmation stamps all being done manually. Flight logs monitor the progressive experience of a pilot; this is one of the ways that determines when a pilot can be licensed.

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