Green Car Congress

MARCH 19, 2012

Long-term stability of specific discharge capacity for: (A) Cu-coated a-Si:H and (B) pristine a-Si:H.The theoretical charge storage capacity of graphite is given for comparison. Credit: ACS, Murugesan et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a scalable, chemical approach for synthesizing copper-coated hydrogenated amorphous silicon particles (Cu-coated a-Si:H) through a polyol reduction method for use as anode material in Li-ion batteries.

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Li-ion Lithium Ion Batteries Battery 353

Green Car Reports

MARCH 20, 2012

Nissan’s all-electric Leaf hatchback has only been on sale in the U.S. for the past 15 months, but Nissan has already confirmed it will get some much-needed upgrades for the 2013 model. Speaking to The Detroit News yesterday, Mark Perry, director of product and advanced planning for Nissan Americas confirmed that the 2013 Leaf will get an.

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Revenge of the Electric Car

MARCH 20, 2012

Next month the world will draw its attention to Earth Day on April 22nd, and over the next several weeks we're all guaranteed to see more environmental action and activism in the news. The filmmakers of "Revenge of the Electric Car" urge you to bring electric vehicles to the front of the conversation next month, so we can introduce alternative energy mobility to more people and free us from inefficient oil dependance.

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National Green Transportation

MARCH 22, 2012

During his trip to Columbus Ohio today, President Obama announced a $14 million program to support development of lightweight materials for advanced vehicles. Reducing vehicle weight will reduce the energy required by vehicles, leading to less.

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Obama Columbus Ohio Vehicles 76

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 23, 2012

California Governor Edmund Brown Jr. and the California Public Utilities Commission to announced a $120-million settlement with NRG Energy Inc. (stemming from claims reaching back to Dynegy and the California energy crisis in 2000 and 2001) that will mostly be applied to fund the construction of a statewide network of plug-in vehicle charging stations, including at least 200 public fast-charging stations and another 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 locations across the state.

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Green Car Reports

MARCH 21, 2012

There's a saying that the best way to convince someone he wants an electric car is to let him drive one. In light of lower-than-projected Chevrolet Volt sales and continued media misinformation about the car's capabilities, GM is taking that lesson to heart. In Southern California, members of the GM communications team are running an informal.

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National Green Transportation

MARCH 22, 2012

During his trip to Columbus Ohio today, President Obama announced a $14 million program to support development of lightweight materials for advanced vehicles. Reducing vehicle weight will reduce the energy required by vehicles, leading to less.

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Obama Columbus Ohio Vehicles 73

Green Car Congress

MARCH 20, 2012

Spider9 , a cleantech company launched in 2011 at the University of Michigan, has finalized the license agreement for patented dynamic control systems and plans to launch its first commercial integration at the historic Henry Ford Valve Plant, known as the Water Wheel Center, in Northville, Michigan. The control systems boost the cost efficiency of grid-scale batteries and solar fields by constantly monitoring individual cells within a battery or solar installation, and making real-time adjustme

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Grid Solar Batteries Battery 317

Green Car Reports

MARCH 22, 2012

Over the past few months, gas prices have been creeping ever upward, fueled by political uncertainty in the Middle East and a reduction in U.S. oil refining capabilities. In California, a state traditionally plagued by high gas prices, a gallon of Regular now costs well over $4.50 at most gas stations. But according to USA Today’s Chris.

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Alaska USA Oil Gas 135

Green Cars News

MARCH 19, 2012

PSA Peugeot Citroen has announced that it is to reduce the price of its electric models, allowing them to undercut the price of rival, the Nissan Leaf. The Citroen C-Zero and Peugeot iON now cost just £21,216 (after a £5,000 Plug-in Car Grant is deducted), bringing them below key rival, the Leaf, which costs £25,990 [.].

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Citroen Price Electric Cars Cars 56

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 19, 2012

A team from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore has used DNA to functionalize double wall carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) and to direct the growth of ultra-small FePO 4 nanoparticles (~5 nm) uniformly distributed on the DNA@DWNT for the development of a novel network nanostructure. The synthesized FePO 4 -DNA@DWNT nanostructure was used as a cathode in lithium-ion batteries, and demonstrated a specific capacity of 174 mAh g -1 for FePO 4 active material—nearly 100% of the theoretical stor

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Lithium Ion Li-ion Singapore Conversion 294

Green Car Congress

MARCH 17, 2012

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted a preliminary draft version of the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) for the 19 March 2012 Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) public workshop to discuss lifecycle assessment of crude oil production, including high carbon-intensity crude oil (HCICO). The model was authored by Hassan M.

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Oil California Gas Emissions 285

Green Car Congress

MARCH 22, 2012

The US Department of Energy will provide up to $450 million to advance the development of American-made small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The funding is targeted to support first-of-its-kind engineering, design certification and licensing for up to two SMR designs over five years, subject to congressional appropriations. Small modular reactors, which are approximately one-third the size of current nuclear plants (about 350 MWe or less), have compact, scalable designs that are expected to of

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Design Commercial Obama Georgia 275

Green Car Congress

MARCH 21, 2012

The Bio-DME project aims to assess whether there is a market for Bio-DME (Di-Methyl-Ether) for commercial vehicles. ( Earlier post.) Halfway through the two-year project the preliminary results show that Bio-DME already functions in daily commercial operations. If diesel fuel were to be replaced by Bio-DME, CO 2 emissions could be reduced by 95%, according to Volvo Trucks.

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Volvo Commercial Alternative Fuels Fuel 275

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 23, 2012

CV of the Ppy(Lig) composite electrode. (A) Voltammograms recorded between 0.1 and 0.4 V. (B) Voltammograms recorded between 0.1 and 0.75 V versus Ag/AgCl, scan rates 5 to 25 mV s?1 (inner to outer). Milczarek and Inganäs. Click to enlarge. Grzegorz Milczarek from Poznan University of Technology (Poland), and Olle Inganäs from Linköping University (Sweden), have combined lignin derivatives, which are electronic insulators, with polypyrole, a conductive polymer, into an interpenetrating composite

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Polymer Batteries Battery Renewable 268

Green Car Congress

MARCH 22, 2012

Automotive Partnership Canada (APC)—a 5-year, $145-million initiative launched in 2009—is awarding nearly $19 million to six new projects to advance R&D in Canada’s automotive industry by supporting new technologies that will lower the cost of PEM fuel cells by reducing platinum loading, provide lighter material alternatives for cars, and significantly enhance battery efficiency for vehicles.

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Canada Li-ion Fuel Batteries 262

Green Car Congress

MARCH 19, 2012

Patenting activity in the four indicator technologies peaked during traditional environmental regulation and declined during CTP trading to nadirs comparable to levels observed before the start of national SO 2. and NO 2 regulation in the US in 1970. Taylor 2012. Click to enlarge. Policies incentivizing the private sector to push to develop innovative “clean” technologies are likely to play a key role in achieving climate stabilization.

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 20, 2012

Varley Electric Vehicles has taken possession of a passenger bus from Brisbane City Council that it will retrofit with electric vehicle technologies as part of a multi-million dollar growth program for the company called Instant Charge Electric Bus. Varley Electric Vehicles is a division of The Varley Group, one of Australia’s oldest specialty vehicle manufacturers and has recently celebrated 125 years of service.

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Electric Vehicles Building Vehicles Recharge 257

Green Car Congress

MARCH 21, 2012

Airbus has joined a consortium that includes Virgin Australia, Renewable Oil Corporation, the Future Farm Industries CRC, Canadian biofuels company Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation and GE to study a new pathway for the production of sustainable aviation fuels from mallee trees using fast pyrolysis and subsequent bio-oil upgrading. ( Earlier post.).

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Renewable Fuel Australia Alternative Fuels 255

Green Car Congress

MARCH 17, 2012

An analysis of the US refining sector, based on linear programming (LP) modeling, finds that refining plausibly high volumes of Canadian oil sands crudes in US refineries in 2025 would lead to a modest increase in refinery CO 2 emissions (ranging between 5.4% to 9.3%) from a 2010 baseline, depending upon the supply scenario. The estimates account both for increased oil sands crude in the refinery crude slate and the imposition of new fuel sulfur specifications, which require additional refining

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Oil-Sands Oil Emissions CO2 247

Green Car Congress

MARCH 20, 2012

Pike Pulse Grid for oil majors commercializing biofuels. Source: Pike Research. Click to enlarge. With “easy oil” increasingly difficult to source and with an obvious stake in the future of the $2 trillion transportation fuel market, the world’s largest oil companies have begun charting strategies to bring biofuels to market at scale. According to a new Pike Pulse report from Pike Research, the oil majors currently best positioned to drive and profit from the growth of biofuels are Shell and BP.

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 22, 2012

Cummins Inc. has begun development of a 15-liter heavy-duty, spark-ignited natural gas engine to meet demand for on-highway applications. As natural gas production grows in North America and the fuel becomes more readily available, Cummins believes that there is a strong market for engines powered by an alternative to diesel fuel. Cummins has been investing significantly in the development of natural gas engines.

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 17, 2012

Due to anticipated retreating Arctic ice in the coming decades, shipping is expected to increase during the summer months as will effort to exploit natural resources along the resource-rich continental shelf. This growth in activity will increase the strategic significance of the region, and will drive a need to ensure stability through effective regional monitoring, according to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

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Miles Available Water Concept 240

Green Car Congress

MARCH 21, 2012

Saft’s advanced Li-ion energy storage system will support the technology development phase of the US Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program. As a member of the BAE Systems GCV. team which has been awarded a contract for the initial phase of the program, Saft has entered into an agreement to design and build ultra high-power batteries for the vehicle’s. hybrid electric drive system.

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 20, 2012

Overview of the NAWCWD alcohol-to-jet process. Source: NAWCWD. Click to enlarge. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), China Lake has awarded a contract to Albemarle Corporation to complete the first biojet fuel production run based on bio n-butanol provided by Cobalt Technologies. For this production run, Albemarle will use NAWCWD alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technologies (developed by Michael Wright, Benjamin Harvey and Roxanne Quintana, earlier post ) to process Cobalt’s bio n-butan

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 18, 2012

Hyundai Motor Company recently awarded a $100,000 contract to the Modeling, Analysis and Process-control Laboratory for Electrochemical systems ( MAPLE ) Lab at Washington University to incorporate electrochemical model-based code in a battery management system for advanced automotive batteries. The contract, says MAPLE, is probably one of the first of its kind (publicly announced).

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Washington Lithium Ion Batteries Battery 236

Green Car Congress

MARCH 23, 2012

car2go North America, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, launches its car-sharing service in Washington DC this weekend. Beginning 24 March, car2go will begin to deploy 200 smart fortwo cars in Washington DC, distributing them throughout the entire District. Each person who registers to become a car2go member will receive a car2go membership card that will allow them to gain access to and drive in any of the available car2go vehicles, whenever they need it, for

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 23, 2012

TÜV Rheinland’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) group, together with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., will support the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office’s (ITS-JPO) work to harmonize international ITS standards for connected vehicle technologies. Specifically, TÜV Rheinland will bring to the US DOT European experiences and perspectives on the development and harmonization of international connected vehicle standards.

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Connect Connected Vehicles Standards 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 21, 2012

Colorado residents who purchase or lease a new Chevrolet Volt are eligible for a state tax credit of up to $6,000 in addition to a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for a total price reduction of as much as $13,500. Colorado is one of a number of states that is offering a state tax credit in addition to the federal tax credit, which is subject to the customer’s eligibility.

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Tax Credit Colorado Volt Tax 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 21, 2012

Volkswagen of America will begin a pilot scheme to test 20 prototype E-Golf Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) over a nine-month period in select locations in the US. Twelve of these vehicles will be allocated to selected Volkswagen employees during the time period. Separately, the company announced partnerships with Solazyme and Amyris to evaluate emissions reductions and demonstrate the performance of TDI Clean Diesel technology when powered by advanced biodiesel and renewable diesel fuels.

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Diesel Renewable Fleet Fuel 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 21, 2012

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $10 million is available ( DE-FOA-0000669 ) this year to demonstrate and deploy electric transportation technologies for cargo vehicles, such as trucks, locomotives and forklifts. DOE is seeking applicants for this funding to demonstrate cost-effective zero emission cargo transport (ZECT) systems and collect detailed performance and cost data to analyze the benefits and viability of this approach to freight transportation.

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 19, 2012

This diagram shows the new catalyst in its protonated and deprotonated states as it reversibly converts hydrogen and CO 2 gas to and from liquid formate or formic acid at ambient temperature and pressure. The gases can thereby be stored and transported as a liquid, and used later in carbon-neutral energy applications, simply by adjusting the pH. Click to enlarge.

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Hydrogen Japan CO2 Store 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 19, 2012

Summary of battery pack cost projections, 2010-2030. Source: Element Energy. Click to enlarge. Governments and vehicle manufacturers will need to introduce long-term incentives and price cuts to create a sustainable European market for ultra-low emission vans (ULEV), according to a newly published report by Element Energy, commissioned by the UK Department for Transport.

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 18, 2012

Bitumen production from the Canadian oil sands provides a point of reference that could be used to observe and better manage the land and water impacts of a rapid transition to unconventional fuels, suggests Dr. Sarah Jordaan of the Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University. The production of bitumen, the hydrocarbon mixed in the sand, has grown from 0.7 to 1.6 million barrels per day since 2000 and is expected to double ov

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