Sat.May 17, 2014 - Fri.May 23, 2014

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Study shows two-stroke scooters dominant source of air pollution in many cities; asymmetric polluters

Green Car Congress

'A study by European researchers has found that two-stroke (2S) scooters, although constituting a small fraction of the fleet, can dominate urban vehicular pollution through organic aerosol and aromatic emission factors up to thousands of times higher than from other vehicle classes. The study by the team led by researchers from the Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, appears in the journal Nature Communications.

Pollution 362
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2014 BMW i3 Test Drive: No Help From Salesman For Electric-Car Buyer

Green Car Reports

'Every time I visit a conventional car dealership to test-drive an electric car, I''m struck by the salesman''s lack of savvy about plug-in cars. The first time I drove a Chevy Volt three years ago, the salesman barely knew how to turn the car on, and had no clue about electric cars in general. The Nissan salesman showing me a Leaf wasn''t much.

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2015 VW e-Golf going on sale in U.S. in late 2014, price and markets unknown

National Green Transportation

'Volkswagen is beginning an electric car sales push they claim will make the company the world leader in e-mobility by 2018. The step VW recently announced is to begin sales of the 2015 VW e-Golf in the.

2015 72
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Robert Llewellyn: Formula E gears up to change motor racing for good

Green Cars News

'It’s far to early to tell if Formula E will work. By that I mean we don’t know if it will survive for more than one season, will get sufficient long term financial backing (they''re fine for this year), will be exciting to watch or will attract widespread attention. But after spending a day with th[.].

Motor 71
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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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Hyundai’s first mass-produced Tucson fuel cell vehicles arrive in Southern California; $499/month, including H2

Green Car Congress

'The first of Hyundai’s Tucson Fuel Cell CUVs arrived in Southern California; first retail sales are expected in the next few weeks. Under the Hyundai leasing program, approved lessees can drive Hyundai’s next-generation Tucson Fuel Cell for $499 per month, including unlimited free hydrogen refueling and “At Your Service” valet maintenance at no extra cost.

Tucson 319
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Electric Cars For Speed Freaks: Which One Is Quickest?

Green Car Reports

'Debate still rages on the best way to sell electric cars. Should automakers be boasting of their environmental credentials? Or should they talk in a language people understand--money--and highlight the economic benefits? Maybe it''s all about silence and refinement? Rarely mentioned is just how fun electric cars can be to drive. So we''ve taken a.

More Trending

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Robert Llewellyn: Porsche’s hybrid is a combustion beast dolled up as a EV beauty

Green Cars News

'Up until the other day I had never even sat in a Porsche so when I was handed the keys of a two tonne Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid I was a little bit overwhelmed. I''ll say this at the start, those Porsche chaps love buttons. There are so many buttons on the dense, information rich console the initi[.].

Porsche 61
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Toyota and Denso develop SiC power semiconductor for power control units; targeting 10% improvement in hybrid fuel efficiency

Green Car Congress

'Toyota intends to leverage the benefits of high frequency and high efficiency of SiC power semiconductors to enable PCU downsizing of 80%. Click to enlarge. Toyota Motor Corporation, in collaboration with Denso Corporation (Denso) and Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc. (Toyota CRDL), has developed a silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor for use in automotive power control units (PCUs).

Toyota 296
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Formula E Draws Closer, Teams Receive Their Electric Race Cars

Green Car Reports

'There are now just four months to go before a new, global all-electric race series gets underway in Beijing, China. Formula E has been in the works for several years now, and has a ten-race schedule and ten-team roster for its inaugural season. Those ten teams have now received the first batch of SRT_01E race cars built by Spark-Renault, the.

Cars 167
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2015 VW e-Golf going on sale in U.S. in late 2014, price and markets unknown

National Green Transportation

'Volkswagen is beginning an electric car sales push they claim will make the company the world leader in e-mobility by 2018. The step VW recently announced is to begin sales of the 2015 VW e-Golf in the.

2015 55
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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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Hybrids: better in small packages? Sales numbers say yes.

Green Cars News

'Tuesday 20 May, 2014. The Green Piece Column. Recently, we discovered how many larger hybrid models in the US are being dropped from the range as customers fail to warm to them. Though they might have seemed like the perfect solution; offering the size which Americans are renowned to love with a[.].

Hybrid 60
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Bultaco brand returning to market with electric two-wheelers

Green Car Congress

'The Bultaco Rapitán. Click to enlarge. A start-up is bringing the old Bultaco motorcycle brand back to the market with the planned launch of a line of electric two-wheelers. The new company unveiled the Rapitán and Rapitán Sport prototypes—close approximations to the Bultaco motorcycles that will be brought to market later in 2014. The Rapitán & Rapitán Sport will be powered by a 40 kW air-cooled brushless induction motor delivering 125 N·m (92 lb-ft) of torque, and a Li-ion batter

Market 290
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Now Electric-Car Drivers Can Use Google Glass To Find Charging Stations

Green Car Reports

'Google Glass has taken the tech sector by storm--and now it''s giving electric-car drivers a reason to pay attention as well. Charging-station operator SemaConnect has developed an app (via BWWGeeksWorld) for the wearable computer that helps drivers find places to charge. The app allows drivers to locate the nearest charging station within a.

Google 166
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Hyundia begins shipping Tuscon FCEV for compliance car sales in Southern Calif.

National Green Transportation

'Hyundai's first "mass produced" fuel cell vehicles, the Tuscon Fuel Cell CUV, began arriving Wednesday on US soil ahead of first retail sales expected in a few weeks. As one of the first fuel cell.

Sale 40
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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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Nissan’s new electric van from under £14,000

Green Cars News

'Nissan’s new electric van will cost from under £14,000 thanks to an option to lease the battery separately. The new van is expected to arrive in the UK in July and will be available in both panel van and five seat combi versions, with a choice of two trim grades. While the panel van will ben[.].

Nissan 60
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DOE to award up to $2M to develop supply chain, manufacturing competitiveness analysis for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies

Green Car Congress

'The Energy Department announced up to $2 million to develop the domestic supply chain for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and to study the competitiveness of US hydrogen and fuel cell system and component manufacturing. ( DE-FOA-0000854 ) ( Earlier post.). This funding will support projects that focus on scaling-up the production of today’s hydrogen and fuel cell components and systems to commercial scale.

Hydrogen 285
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Crushed BMW ActiveE Test Fleet Headed For Scrapyard

Green Car Reports

'Just two weeks ago, drivers of the BMW ActiveE fleet of electric test vehicles were delighted to see that their cars would have a second life. BMW announced that it would redeploy 80 ActiveE electric cars to its DriveNow car-sharing program in San Francisco. But then, yesterday, a photo appeared on Facebook that underscores the fate--sooner or.

BMW 166
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The Curious Case of Buying A New State Senator From The South Bay

Creative Greenius

'Candidate Ben Allen, running as a democrat, gets $300,000 from the right wing guy who wanted Henry Waxman out of office – Bill Bloomfield – and then Ben tells me he feels “weird” about it. But not weird enough to make a public statement about the money, where it came from and what Bill Bloomfield wants in return for his three hundred thousand bucks.

Chevron 290
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Time for a bargain: Why electric car might just be within your price bracket

Green Cars News

'Electric cars are great, aren’t they? They’re quick, easy to drive, affordable to run, and never cause you to queue for petrol in the morning. And if you’ve got a car which rapid charges, you can even stop and recharge on the motorway at a DC or AC quick charge station. For the most part then, the[.].

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New ruthenium oxide/graphene and CNT foam material improves supercapacitor performance

Green Car Congress

'Microstructure of RGM electrode. (a) Schematic illustration of the preparation process of RGM nanostructure foam. SEM images of (b–c) as-grown GM foam (d) Lightly loaded RGM, and (e) heavily loaded RGM. Source: UCR. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a novel nanometer scale ruthenium oxide (RuO 2 ) anchored graphene and CNT foam architecture (RGM) for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes.

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Largest Auto-Industry Employer In California: Electric-Car Maker Tesla Motors

Green Car Reports

'Tesla Motors is one of the youngest U.S. automakers, but has made a disproportionately large impact in the automotive media''s headlines over the last few years. It''s also, amazingly, become California''s biggest auto-industry employer--edging out even Toyota. When Toyota makes its move to Texas, taking most of its 5,300 jobs to the Lone Star State.

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GM reduced energy intensity and carbon intensity per vehicle in 2013

Green Car Congress

'In 2013, GM reduced the energy-intensity per vehicle manufactured 3.5% from 2012, down to an average 2.22 MW/vehicle from 2.30 MW, according to the company’s just released 2013 sustainability report. GM has set a target of 1.97 MW/vehicle for 2020, a reduction of 20% from the 2010 baseline of 2.47 MW. The carbon intensity (CI) per vehicle dropped to 0.87 tonnes CO 2 e/vehicle in 2013, down 1.1% from 0.88 tonnes in 2012.

2013 271
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Intelligent Energy unveils next-generation, integrated, compact fuel cell power unit; developed with Suzuki

Green Car Congress

'The new Gen4 unit. Click to enlarge. Intelligent Energy introduced its Gen4 air-cooled fuel cell power unit, designed for easy integration into two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles, at the 2014 JSAE (Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan) Annual Congress in Yokohama. The technology has been developed in collaboration with the Suzuki Motor Corporation.

Suzuki 268
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GM has installed 401 EV charge stations at its facilities in US; 5,900 at dealerships

Green Car Congress

'Based on growing employee demand, General Motors has installed 401 electric vehicle charging stations at its US production and business facilities; nearly 160 of these are at various manufacturing facilities. More than 20% of the stations use electricity generated from solar canopies to help charge employee vehicles. The majority of the stations are located at GM’s large engineering and corporate facilities in Michigan, where employee EV ownership is growing steadily.

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MSU microbial electrolysis cell produces ethanol from glycerol, reduces wastewater in biodiesel production

Green Car Congress

'The MEC uses syntrophic cooperation within a bacterial consortium (red and green) in the anode chamber to ferment ethanol from glycerol and to remove inhibiting H 2. Credit: ACS, Speers et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Michigan State University have developed a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) which will allow biodiesel plants to eliminate the creation of hazardous wastes while reducing their dependence on fossil fuel.

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Johnson Controls and SAIC’s Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems form $7.5B global joint venture for automotive interiors; largest in the world

Green Car Congress

'Johnson Controls and Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd., the component group of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), have signed a definitive agreement to form a global automotive interiors joint venture. The agreement is a non-cash transaction comprised of asset contributions by the two parties that will create the largest automotive interiors company in the world with revenues of approximately $7.5 billion.

Global 250
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UNECE: claim that diesel on-road vehicles are the cause of increased lung cancer is misleading

Green Car Congress

'A discussion paper published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) asserts “ with a high degree of reliability that it is misleading to claim that people’s exposure to diesel engines of road motor vehicles is the cause of increased risk of lung cancer. ”. According to the review by the discussion paper, 83% of particulate matter emissions in European Union countries and 97% in the US and Canada, are generated by other economic sectors—mainly the commercial, institut

Diesel 247
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EC sets out strategy to cut CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles; short-term focus on measurement and reporting

Green Car Congress

'Heavy-duty trucks, buses and coaches would use less fuel and emit lower amounts of carbon dioxide under a strategy adopted by the European Commission. Such heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) are responsible for around a quarter of CO 2 emissions from road transport in the EU. Without action, HDV emissions in 2030-2050 are projected to remain close to current levels.

Emissions 247
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Ford: new F-150 features more than 100 new patents and/or patent applications

Green Car Congress

'Ford announced that its new 2015 F-150 ( earlier post ) 2015 Ford F-150 features more than 100 new Ford patents and/or patent applications, making this vehicle a benchmark for new technologies in Ford’s history, and its most patented truck. The scope of these innovations includes every part of the truck—body, exterior, interior, chassis, design, electrical and engine—as well as its manufacturing processes.

F-150 246
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Japanese automobile industry establishes joint Research Association of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines (AICE)

Green Car Congress

'Eight Japanese automakers and one automobile research institute—Suzuki Motor; Daihatsu Motor; Toyota Motor; Nissan Motor; Fuji Heavy Industries; Honda R&D; Mazda Moto; Mitsubishi Motors; and Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI)—have jointly established the Research Association of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines ( AICE ). AICE’s president is Keiji Otsu, Managing Officer, Honda R&D.

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Navigant forecasts plug-in and fuel cell vehicles to be 2.5% of all vehicles in use in 2035; global parc of >2B vehicles

Green Car Congress

'In a new report , Navigant Research estimates that nearly 84.1 million new light-duty vehicles (LDVs) will be sold globally in 2014, putting more than 1.2 billion vehicles on the world’s roads. The company forecasts that annual LDV sales will grow to 126.9 million in 2035, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.0%. The number of LDVs in use worldwide will grow by 72.4% over the forecast period—i.e., to more than 2 billion vehicles.

Plug-in 246
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The Volvo Group studies potential for dynamic charging for city buses with test electric road

Green Car Congress

'The Volvo Group, in collaboration with the Swedish Transport Administration, will study the potential for building electrified roads on which city buses can be charged inductively at the same time as the bus is in operation (dynamic charging). A 300- to 500-meter electric road may be built for test operations in central Gothenburg during 2015. The Volvo Group will develop a detailed proposal within the framework of innovation procurement from the Swedish Transport Administration.

Volvo 246
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Technip confirms award for the engineering, procurement and construction of Arctic Yamal LNG project

Green Car Congress

'Technip confirmed that with its partners it has finalized the award by JSC Yamal LNG of a very major contract for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility with a capacity of 16.5 million tons per year (Mt/y). The project will comprise three liquefaction trains of 5.5 Mt/y that are among the world’s largest and will make extensive use of modularized construction in yards.

Engine 246
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Neste Oil to launch a new, low-sulfur bunker fuel

Green Car Congress

'Neste Oil will launch a low-sulfur marine bunker fuel compliant with the requirements of the EU’s Sulphur Directive. EU’s Sulphur Directive is due to come into force in 2015 and will require the sulfur content of bunker fuel to be reduced from 1% to 0.1% in the Baltic, the North Sea, and the English Channel. In practice, this means that ships will have to install an on-board scrubber system or switch to low-sulfur bunker fuel.

Oil 244