Sat.Apr 09, 2011 - Fri.Apr 15, 2011

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Toyota targeting thermal efficiency of more than 45% for next-generation gasoline engines for hybrids

Green Car Congress

Among the R&D projects Toyota Motor is exploring to further lower fuel consumption and emissions are two concepts on a pathway to deliver gasoline engines featuring more than 45% thermal efficiency for application in its future hybrid vehicles, according to Koichi Nakata of Toyota in his presentation today at SAE 2011 High Efficiency IC Engines Symposium in Detroit.

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Miles-Per-Gallon Is Just Stupid. No, Really, It Is.

Green Car Reports

Americans aren't stupid. We're just badly informed. And occasionally, stubborn. Why else would we ignorantly cling to using miles per gallon as the way to measure how efficiently a car uses fuel? But maybe you don't quite see the problem. OK, so here's a little test: Which saves more gasoline, going from 10 to 20 mpg, or going from 33 to 50 mpg?

Miles 167
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CHAdeMO DC Fast Charge network coming to Norway

Plugs and Cars

The Norwegian energy company Ishavskraft yesterday unveiled its plan to make the stunning vistas of Norway's isolated fjords accessible to vacationers in electric cars with a 2500 mile network of DC Fast Chargers using the CHAdeMO connector. Displaying a stunningly Nordic prototype charger in downtown Oslo, Ishavskraft announced it is looking for partners, public and private, to make this electric highway a completed reality within two years.

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DoE Secretary Chu brings Sputnik Moment message to San Francisco

National Green Transportation

David Herron On Saturday (April 9) Energy Secretary Stephen Chu brought the "sputnik moment" message to the 7th Berkeley-Stanford Cleantech Conference in San Francisco, saying "The countries that lead the 21st century clean energy economy will. April 10, 2011.

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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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EPFL team discovers molybdenum-based catalysts enable more cost-effective hydrogen production from water

Green Car Congress

A team led by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Professor Xile Hu has discovered that a molybdenum-based catalyst allows the electrolytic production of hydrogen at room temperature, and is inexpensive and efficient. The results provide new opportunities for the development of renewable and economic hydrogen production technologies. A paper on the work appears in the RSC journal Chemical Science.

Water 294
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BMW Hires Lead Electric-Car Engineer From Chevy Volt Team

Green Car Reports

Not so long ago, the notion of luxury German brand BMW hiring an engineer from General Motors might have been a stretch. The company prefers to promote engineers from within its Munich engineering headquarters. But reports that Frank Weber, the lead engineer of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt team, has been hired by BMW demonstrate how radically times.

Volt 143

More Trending

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Myth Busting Electric Car Myths: Yes, You Can Use a Car Wash

All Cars Electric

We’ve talked before about how all major electric cars on the market today have to undergo just as rigorous a water testing as their gasoline counterparts. But just like the many people who ask us on a weekly basis what happens when electric cars meet water perhaps there’s a voice somewhere that says the automakers are wrong. After all.

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DOE to provide nearly $170M in funding to advance solar energy technologies

Green Car Congress

As part of the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is making nearly $170 million for funding over three years available to support a range of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology areas. The SunShot Initiative aims to reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75%—to roughly $1 per watt—before the end of the decade.

Solar 294
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7 Ways To Save Gas And Go Green With The Cars You Own Today

Green Car Reports

Sure, it'd be nice to have a brand-new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. But not everyone is able to buy one of the growing number of new cars with at least 40 mpg highway mileage. So here are our tips for getting better mileage out of whatever vehicles are in your driveway right now, today, from hybrids to HUMMERs. (1) Lighten up, leadfoot! It's.

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Could algae oil replace imported petroleum oil?

Green Cars News

Oil grown in outdoor raceway ponds located in the Gulf Coast, Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes could help solve the US’s reliance on imported oil. According to a new Pacific Northwest National Laboratory study, algae oil could replace up to 17 per cent of the US’s imported oil for transportation; with the study also [.].

Oil 57
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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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Washington's I-5 To Become America's First "Electric Highway"

All Cars Electric

Construction workers digging a hole at a rest stop doesn't sound like something that would be of interest to electric-car owners. But the end result of their efforts might be. This is because work has begun in preparing Washington stretch of the I5 to become an "Electric highway". Whilst this sounds like something George Jetson or Philip J. Fry.

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PNNL study finds algal oil could replace 17% of US petroleum oil imports

Green Car Congress

A new Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) study shows finds that oil from algae grown in outdoor raceway ponds located in the Gulf Coast, the Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes could replace 17% of the United States’ imported oil for transportation. The study also found that shows that water use for algae cultivation is much less if algae are grown in the US regions that have the sunniest and most humid climates: the Gulf Coast, the Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes.

Oil 281
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Land Rover's First Hybrid Coming In 2013, Plug-In Hybrid One Year Later

Green Car Reports

Land Rover’s ongoing pledge to become more environmentally friendly is starting to result in some interesting developments, with the automaker’s brand director recently confirming the launch of the first Land Rover hybrid in 2013. Speaking with Inside Line, Land Rover’s John Edwards said the hybrid model would launch in 2013.

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Greener car numbers double in the UK

Green Cars News

The number of low carbon cars on the UK’s roads more than doubled in 2010, according to the latest statistics released by the Department of Transport (DfT). The number of cars emitting less than 100g/km CO2 registered in the UK increased from 28,549 in 2009 to 57,000 in the last year. Cars with emissions below [.].

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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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Siemens Inductive Charging Testing Begins In Berlin With BMW

All Cars Electric

German electronics company Siemens is set to begin field trials of an inductive charging system, in partnership with BMW. Inductive charging is a popular concept for charging away from home - it allows for charging without trailing cables and plugs around, and without requiring charging posts lining every street. Instead, a ground-mounted charging.

BMW 84
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DOE announces EcoCAR 2; focus on electric drive technology

Green Car Congress

EcoCar 2 Malibu. Click to enlarge. At the SAE 2011 World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, David Sandalow, announced the official launch of the EcoCAR 2 : Plugging into the Future competition and the sixteen university teams selected to participate. Established by the DOE and General Motors, EcoCAR 2 is a three-year competition that. builds upon a 23-year history of DOE Advanced Vehicle Technology Compet

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2011 Hyundai Elantra Vs 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco (Video)

Green Car Reports

Two of the newest compact cars on the road today are the 2011 Hyundai Elantra and the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze. Now we've driven both of them, testing each car with a six-speed manual transmission. In the case of the Chevy, we drove the 2011 Cruze Eco model, which gets the highest EPA gas mileage rating: 28 mpg city, 42 mpg highway, for a combined.

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Electric powertrains take on ‘Engine of the Year’ awards

Green Cars News

Internal combustion engines will, for the first time, go head to head with electric powertrains for the ‘International Engine of the Year’ award. In a seeming contradiction, some of this year’s winners could in fact be electric powertrains powering the first electric cars to reach the market. Each year, the judging panel for the International [.].

Engine 53
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Daimler Adds Bosch To Electric Car Collaborative Projects

All Cars Electric

You’d be forgiven for thinking that German automaker Daimler was trying to build its own little electric car empire. Not only does it have active electric car projects running with Nissan-Renault, BYD and Tesla, but it has now announced intent to work on a project with the automotive arm of electronics firm Bosch. In a deal which is.

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Study finds aluminum can reduce vehicle body structure weight safely by up to 40%

Green Car Congress

Body in white is the next area of focus for downweighting. Source: ATG. Click to enlarge. Using aluminum in select automotive components could reduce vehicle body structure weight safely by as much as an additional 40% compared to today’s vehicles, according to a recent study by the University of Aachen (Germany) for the European Aluminium Association (EAA).

Vehicles 268
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Survey: Consumers Growing Greener -- And They'll Shell Out The Green To Prove It

Green Car Reports

With gas prices barreling toward $4 per gallon, there's lots of talk on the evening news about consumers shopping for fuel-efficient cars. In fact, many theorists see $4 as the tipping point at which car buyers prioritize fuel economy above all other criteria. But a new survey indicates that people aren't just interested in greener cars to save.

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Electric car plug standards: The battle rages on. The Green Piece.

Green Cars News

Tuesday 12 April 2011. The Green Piece Column. As electrically powered cars are made available and we read reports about many more being close to production, it seems almost comical that debates are still raging about a common standard for the plugs they use for charging. Just this week there were reports of “industrial jealousy” [.].

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Audi Presents Battery-Powered A3 e-tron Prototype

All Cars Electric

The growth of Audi’s ever-expanding family of ‘e-tron’ electrified concept cars and prototypes shows no signs of slowing with two more additions joining the fold this month alone, the latest being the battery-powered A3 e-tron revealed this week. The newest addition brings the number of e-tron vehicles to five, and we’re.

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GM leads in clean-energy US patents in 2010

Green Car Congress

General Motors received more clean-energy patents last year than any other organization, according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) of US patents. The Clean Energy Patent Growth Index tracks the granting of US patents in solar, wind, hybrid/electric vehicles, fuel cells, hydroelectric, tidal/wave, geothermal, biomass/biofuels and clean, renewable energy.

Clean 257
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Chrysler To Join Honda In Selling Natural-Gas Cars.In 2017

Green Car Reports

Ask anyone to name an alternate fuel, and natural gas is rarely the first one that comes to mind. Ethanol, perhaps, and increasingly electricity. But natural gas? Not so much. Yet in other parts of the world, as many as 2 percent of the vehicles on the road are fueled by natural gas, in countries as diverse as Brazil, India, and Iran. With.

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Siemens and BMW team up for plug-in vehicle charging

Green Cars News

Technology giant Siemens has teamed up with German car maker BMW to develop a project for inductive charging – meaning a non-contact charging system for plug-in electric vehicles. The charging system will be connected to the public grid by a primary coil that is completely underground; with a secondary coil attached to the car. The [.].

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Is Your City Ready For Electric Vehicles?

All Cars Electric

Ford has identified the 25 most electric vehicle (EV) ready cities in the U.S., based on the company’s latest research. The 25 cities are dotted all over the country from Hartford to Honolulu. A previous Pike research report highlighted 6 cities expected to be early EV adopters: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and.

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General Motors launching new 1.0L 3-cylinder turbo-diesel engine to be used first in Indian market

Green Car Congress

A multinational team led by GM’s Torino Engineering Center and supported by engineers from GM India announced that production of a new 1.0-liter three-cylinder diesel engine will start in June 2011. The new compact engine will also be the peak torque leader for its displacement in the Indian market (140 N·m @ 1,750 rpm) and low-end peak torque leader for its displacement worldwide at 100 N·m @ 1,250 rpm, GM says.

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EcoCar2 Will Challenge College Teams To Build Greener Cars

Green Car Reports

The winning team for the third and final year of the first EcoCar Challenge has yet to be announced, but the next three-year competition has already been unveiled. On Wednesday, representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors officially launched EcoCar2, whose tagline will be "Plugging Into The Future." This is the latest in.

Building 107
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Zipcar shares soar on first day of trading

Green Cars News

The world’s largest car sharing service, Zipcar saw its share price soar as it floated on the stock exchange for the first time yesterday. The firm’s value exceeded all expectations as shares soared up 56 per cent on its first day as a public company. According to the Financial Times, the short term car rental [.].

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First Electric Renault Kangoo Van Z.E. Sold In U.K.

All Cars Electric

Expected to be the first of many, French carmaker Renault has become the latest company to take an order for one of their upcoming electric vehicles, the Kangoo Van Z.E. The only commercial vehicle in Renault's upcoming range of electric vehicles that includes the Fluence sedan, the Zoe subcompact and the Twizy micro car, the Kangoo Z.E. will.

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GM investigating ultracap-based Active Energy Recovery Buffer as low-cost mechanism to improve conventional vehicle fuel economy

Green Car Congress

GM is exploring the use of an ultracapacitor-based Active Energy Recovery Buffer (AERB) scheme as a low-cost means to improve fuel economy in conventional vehicles; results of a simulation study presented at SAE 2011 World Congress showed improvement of up to 1.3% on FTP composite drive cycle for a small crossover utility vehicle with a 4-cylinder, 2.4-liter engine and a six-speed transmission.

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Taking Advantage Of Your IRS Mileage: Hybrid Cars Can Help

Green Car Reports

This week is the heart of tax time. If you're like many other taxpayers or a small businessperson, right about now you're looking up the 2010 mileage rate that the IRS lets you use when deducting personal-vehicle use as a business expense. So here's the answer: The IRS mileage rate is 50 cents per mile for business miles driven during the 2010 tax.

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Peugeot Citroen makes lithium-ion battery agreement

Green Cars News

PSA Peugeot Citroen has established an agreement with GS Yuasa Corporation to supply its lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. GS Yuasa is already supplying batteries for Mitsubishi Motors to use in its’ i-MiEV vehicles and so it is a natural step for PSA Peugeot Citroen, which already has an agreement with Mitsubishi on electric vehicles [.].