Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Auto Start-Stop technology will be available on 70% of Ford’s North American vehicle lineup by 2017, the company said. Ford Auto Start-Stop can increase fuel efficiency by up to 10% in city driving. A major part of the company’s Blueprint for Sustainability, the expansion of Auto Start-Stop comes as the 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine ( earlier post ) is set to go on sale in the 2014 Ford Fiesta.

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Available Ford 2017 America 351

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 10, 2013

'Don''t let the name fool you; Normal, Illinois, is actually unique. That''s because this small town--with a population of 53,837--has more than 300 plug-in cars roaming its streets. And that''s because the town, along with neighboring Bloomington, has made a concerted effort to encourage the adoption of electric cars. Dubbed EV Town, the initiative.

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Illinois Plug-in Plug Cars 167

DIY Electric Car

DECEMBER 10, 2013

'Lo and Behold! The future is here. Yes, we''re talking about the electric car. This modern marvel has actually been around for quite some time. However, it is only recently that cost effective electric cars have started getting manufactured. Unlike our fuel powered cars, these cars work on electric motors which basically rely on electrically charged batteries to function.

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Electric Cars Re-Charge Cars Electric 113

Green Cars News

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'Honda’s new CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC model has smashed its official fuel economy figure by almost a quarter in independent, real-world driving tests. Tested by the team behind the recent MPG Marathon challenge under the same rules and conditions, the CR-V achieved 77.6mpg over 500 miles of testing, trashin[.].

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Fuel Economy Honda Economy Fuel 71

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 10, 2013

'ClipperCreek introduced its latest product, the HCS-40, a 30 Amp, 240 Volt Level 2 electric vehicle charging station, with prices starting at $590. The indoor/outdoor HCS features a fully sealed NEMA 4 enclosure and comes standard with 25 feet of charging cable and a 3-year warranty; an optional connector holster costs $19. The HCS-40 is designed to be easy to install by any licensed electrician; after the junction box is run from the main service, installing the HCS requires just two wall scre

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Charging Vehicles Low Cost Volt 317

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Many drivers with a 130-mile round-trip each day to work and back and deem the Nissan Leaf''s 75-mile EPA-rated range a little too short for comfort. Not Steve Marsh, though. The Washington resident has racked up 100,000 miles in his Leaf, and is set to be honored for that achievement at an event this Monday, December 16. We''ve covered Steve.

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Miles Nissan Washington Electric Cars 167

Green Cars News

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'A racing team founded by the Hollywood actor, Leonardo DiCaprio is latest and final team which will join the new Formula E electric racing championship in 2014. Co-founded with Monaco-based Venturi Automobiles, the new Venturi Grand Prix Formula E Team becomes the tenth team confirmed to compete i[.].

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Monaco Electric Cars Cars Automobile 66

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 8, 2013

'VMT per capita has declined across the US (2006 to 2011). States with shading are missing reliable data for all or part of an urbanized area, and ‘X’s denote the location of excluded urbanized areas. Source: US PIRG. Click to enlarge. A new report by the US PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group details reduced driving miles and rates of car commuting in the US’ most populous urbanized areas, as well as greater use of public transit and biking in most cities.

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2006 2000 2011 Transportation 309

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'Soon, New York City''s electric-car drivers will have an easier time finding a parking space. A new law will make 20 percent of the city''s off-street parking charger-ready over the next decade or more. Giving drivers more places to charge plug-in electric cars, in a city where spaces are as coveted as any other real estate, could help make.

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New York City Electric Cars New York Cars 151

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'Royal DSM, together with DONG Energy (Denmark), has demonstrated the combined fermentation of C 6 and C 5 sugars from wheat straw on an industrial scale. The combined fermentation results in a 40% increase in ethanol yield per ton of straw, which can result in significant cost cuts in the production of bio-ethanol from cellulosic feedstock. The demonstration took place in DONG Energy’s Inbicon demonstration plant in Kalundborg (Denmark), the longest running demonstration facility for cellulosic

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Industrial Industry Denmark Supplies 287

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'Bosch has developed a new start-stop system with coasting mode; the system stops the engine when the vehicle is traveling at speed, helping to reduce fuel consumption by up to 10%. The function can be combined with any type of combustion engine. First generation start-stop systems stop an engine only when the vehicle is completely stationary; enhanced versions of this start-stop system cut the engine as soon as the vehicle is coasting to a halt—e.g., at a red light.

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Fuel Lithium Ion Hybrid Engine 275

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of the 2013 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards are presented in five categories: academic, small business, greener synthetic pathways, greener reaction conditions and designing greener chemicals. In the academic category, Professor Richard Wool, University of Delaware, Newark, Del. was recognized for creating several materials from less toxic and renewable biobased fe

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EPA 2013 Green Delaware 271

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'Scientists at the University Claude Bernard Lyon have discovered a simple process for producing copious volumes of hydrogen. The researchers will present a paper on the discovery at the American Geophysical Union’s annual Fall Meeting in San Francisco this week. In a microscopic high-pressure cooker called a diamond anvil cell (within a tiny space about as wide as a pencil lead), Muriel Andreani, Isabelle Daniel, and Marion Pollet-Villard combined aluminum oxide, water, and the mineral olivine.

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Hydrogen San Francisco Water Universal 271

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) ( DE-FOA-0001055 ) for light-duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) fueling infrastructure financing strategies within the context of an early market introduction. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from the financial/investment/business community and light-duty vehicle (LDV) hydrogen transportation stakeholders.

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Financing Light Fuel Hydrogen 270

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'Late in November, the AutomotiveCampusNL in Helmond at Brainport opened the third hydrogen station in the Netherlands. Built by Dutch construction multinational Ballast Nedam in cooperation with Hydrogenics, the station will serve VDL Bus and Coach to test its future fuel cell buses. Within the next few months the station will be expanded to include a 700 bar dispenser to make it suitable for passenger cars.

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Hydrogen Concept Fuel Netherlands 270

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'SUPERVALU INC. has purchased 35 Class 8 Volvo trucks that operate on compressed natural gas (CNG). The fleet, which operates out of SUPERVALU’s Mechanicsville, Va., distribution center and currently serves approximately 500 grocery stores in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Washington, D.C. and North Carolina, is the largest private fleet of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region.

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Fleet Gas West Virginia Virginia 261

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 7, 2013

'Statoil announced its fifth discovery in Block 2 offshore Tanzania. The discovery of an additional 2-3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in place in the Mronge-1 well brings the total of in-place volumes up to 17-20 Tcf in Block 2. (1 Tcf gas = 180 million barrels of oil equivalent.). Drilled by the drillship Discoverer Americas , the Mronge-1 site is located 20 km (12.4 miles) north of the Zafarani discovery, and at a water depth of 2,500 meters (8,202 feet).

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Torotrak’s M-KERS unit. Click to enlarge. Supercharger, kinetic energy recovery and transmission specialist Torotrak will acquire , pending shareholder approval, the remaining 80% of flywheel hybrid innovator Flybrid for up to £23.0 million (US$37.4 million), of which £15.0 million (US$24.4 million) is subject to performance targets. Torotrak had acquired 20% of its partner in March of this year. ( Earlier post.).

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2015 Commercial Financing Hybrid 247

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Manufacturer-specific technology adoption over time for key technologies. EPA projects advanced transmissions (6+ speeds and CVTs), gasoline direct injection (GDI) systems, and turbocharged engines will be installed on at least 15% of all MY 2013 vehicles. Click to enlarge. Average new vehicle CO 2 emissions rate and fuel economy in the US achieved record levels in MY 2012, and have improved in 7 of the last 8 years, according to the newly released Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxi

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Fuel Economy 2012 Economy EPA 247

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 12, 2013

'Cutaway of the Protean Electric in-wheel motor. Click to enlarge. In-wheel electric drive developer Protean Electric is partnering with FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. (FAW-VW) in China to develop a new electric propulsion system that will include Protean Electric’s Protean Drive with intent towards a demonstration vehicle program and production.

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Motor Motors Motoring Production 247

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Ford Fusion Hybrid automated research vehicle with four LiDAR sensors. Click to enlarge. Ford, in conjunction with the University of Michigan and State Farm, unveiled a Ford Fusion Hybrid automated research vehicle that will be used to make progress on future autonomous driving and other advanced technologies. The result of an ongoing project that builds on more than a decade of Ford’s automated driving research, the Fusion Hybrid automated vehicle will test current and future sensing systems a

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Fusion Ford Hybrid Vehicles 246

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 10, 2013

'Honeywell and key suppliers will invest approximately $300 million to increase production capacity for HFO-1234yf, its low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant for mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems in automobiles. ( Earlier post.) GWP is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere, with carbon dioxide setting the comparison with a GWP of 1.

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Louisiana Production Fuel Economy Europe 246

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'Researchers in Taiwan report on the production of hydrogen from rice straw fed into a microwave plasma system in a paper in the journal Fuel. They evaluated the conversion rate according to the concentration of hydrogen and other gas products (CO 2 and CO). When feed rice straws into the microwave plasma system at 800 W, 900 W, and 1000 W using an upstream method, the concentrations of hydrogen production were 48%, 53%, and 56%, respectively.

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Taiwan Hydrogen Production Conversion 246

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Ford Motor Company demonstrated a Ford Focus test car equipped with its obstacle avoidance technology ( earlier post ) that automatically steers and brakes to direct the vehicle away from traffic if the driver fails to steer or brake following system warnings. The obstacle avoidance demonstration was conducted for the first time in North America at the Dearborn Development Center test track in Michigan.

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Ford Cars North America Michigan 239

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'3M and Korea-based Ecopro have entered into a patent license agreement that aims at further expanding the use of Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries. ( Earlier post.) Under the agreement, 3M grants a license to US6964828, US7078128, US8241791 and all global equivalents. The cathode compositions composed of Nickel, Manganese and Cobalt offer a balance of power, energy, thermal stability and low cost.

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Lithium Ion Low Cost Grant Corporation 239

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'Baden-Württemberg Minister President Winfried Kretschmann will use a fuel cell-powered Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL ( earlier post ) as his new official car in Berlin. Prof. Dr. Herbert Kohler, Vice President Group Research and Sustainability, Chief Environmental Officer of Daimler AG, officially handed over the vehicle in Berlin. The minister president of Baden-Wuerttemberg Winfried Kretschmann and Prof.

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Mercedes Fuel Vehicles USA 239

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'Symbio ALP-5 range extender. Click to enlarge. The Franche-Comté region and La Poste (the French postal service) are testing hydrogen fuel cell range extender kits from Symbio FCell in three Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric mail delivery vehicles under real working conditions. This system is expected to double the range of the electric cars used for postal delivery.

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Hydrogen Range Fuel Vehicles 236

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'At the 2014 Geneva Motor Show Hyundai Motor will unveil Intrado, a concept car previewing future developments for the brand. Intrado is built around a super-lightweight structure made from a mixture of advanced materials and joined using a technique that Hyundai says has the potential to change the way cars are constructed in the future. The car also features a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain that is both smaller and lighter than that powering the assembly-line-produced Hyundai ix

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Hyundai Concept Fuel 2014 236

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued US Patent Nº 8,597,914 to Proterro, Inc., protecting Proterro’s unique, biosynthetic sugar-making process. ( Earlier post.). The only biofeedstock company that makes sugar instead of extracting it from crops or deconstructing cellulosic materials, Proterro has developed a process that integrates unique transgenic sugar-producing microorganisms with a robust, modular photobioreactor made from off-the-shelf materials.

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Manufacturer United States Affordable Water 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 9, 2013

'While technologies for low carbon buses such as hybridization offer the prospect of significant reductions in fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions compared to conventionally powered vehicles, the improvement in terms of regulated emissions (criteria pollutants) may not be as great, according to a new report by Ricardo. Local emissions from buses are of particular significance, as the vehicles mainly operate in urban areas.

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Emissions Hybrid Vehicles Carbon 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 13, 2013

'The California Energy Commission (CEC) is awarding $1,135,862 to 12 small-scale projects to research that will reduce the cost of producing electricity, save energy and improve the environment. The research projects will receive grants of up to $95,000 each from the Energy Innovations Small Grant (EISG) Program, part of the Energy Commission’s research and development work.

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Gas-Electric California Gas Energy 230

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 12, 2013

'EPA is announcing the availability of $4 million in grant funding to establish clean diesel projects aimed at reducing emissions from marine and inland water ports. This grant competition is available under the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) Program and is the first competition to focus on solely reducing emissions at ports. DERA funds are used to clean up the legacy fleet of diesel engines that were produced before more recent environmental standards.

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 11, 2013

'Coca-Cola is converting all of its newly purchased 2014 Chevrolet Express service vans into fuel-efficient hybrid-electric vehicles using XL Hybrids’ powertrain technology. ( Earlier post.) The updated vans will be on the road across the country by year’s end. The latest version of the XL Hybrids system features an inline traction motor delivering 40 kW, along with a 1.8 kWh Li-ion battery pack.

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Convert 2014 Hybrid San Francisco 230

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 10, 2013

'Overview of the outer limits of the expanded Canadian continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean. Click to enlarge. On 6 December, Canada filed a submission to define the outer limits of its expanded continental shelf area in the Atlantic Ocean with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. At the same time, Canada also filed preliminary information concerning the expanded outer limits of its continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean, which could include the North Pole.

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