Sat.Jun 04, 2011 - Fri.Jun 10, 2011

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MIT and IEA reports take different views of the future of natural gas in transportation

Green Car Congress

MIT and the IEA both have newly released reports exploring the potential for and impact of a major expansion in global usage of natural gas, given the current re-evaluation of global supplies. ( Earlier post.) Although the reports both focus strongly on the increased use of natural gas in power generation, they also explore the likely impact of increased natural gas use on transportation.

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From Scooters to High Speed Rail, China is Electrifying

Plugs and Cars

I’m sure I’m not the first to say it. China is electrifying. When I was studying China and Mandarin Chinese 35 years ago, “Red” China was unrecognized by the US, literally, and dark in a way difficult to imagine now. Who knew what was going on over there? Was “reality” that the world’s oldes t civilization was throwing off the shackles of Western domination and its own past to offer a new vision of civilization, or was it bodies floating downriver to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution?

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Why Buy Electric Cars? Iraq Vet Says: For National Security

Green Car Reports

Most Nissan Leaf owners are passionate about their electric cars, especially the earliest ones who've already taken delivery. But not all of them have served three tours of military duty, including service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tim Goodrich was posted to Afghanistan as an avionics technician, supporting the AWACS planes that feed aerial.

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DIY Electric Car Wiki - A Tremendous Conversion Resource

DIY Electric Car

Some of the members here will find this obvious but I've spoken with several people recently who had no idea that we have such a fantastic resource built up. For those of you who don't know, we have an electric car conversion wiki which has tons of info for beginners and pros. It's the same one as the link on the top right of the page, but I admit, our site design is a little weak so I'm not terribly surprised that it gets overlooked.

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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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Carbon Sciences to produce first samples of diesel fuel from methane and CO2 using catalytic dry reforming process

Green Car Congress

Overview of Carbon Sciences’ process. Click to enlarge. Carbon Sciences, Inc., a technology developer focusing on the conversion of carbon dioxide and methane to fuels, plans to produce samples of diesel fuel in an end-to-end process demonstration. In December 2010, Carbon Sciences announced a worldwide exclusive license agreement with the University of Saskatchewan (UOS), Canada, for catalyst technology for the dry reforming of methane with CO 2. ( Earlier post.

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The approaching Tesla dry spell

Plugs and Cars

Interesting piece by Katie Fehrenbacher about Tesla and the period of limited revenue that approaches. ". this latest funding underscores how Tesla will be transitioning into a period where the company will be generating a lot less revenue for several months — hence part of the reason it needs to raise more funds now." Fehrenbacher had thought components sales might provide a backstop until the Model S appears, but points to the recent S-1 filing. " Tesla doesn’t have any signed agreements for p

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More Trending

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Capacitors for an Electric Car?

Electric Cars are for Girls

So, could you create a system that uses alternators and the spin of the tire to create an electrical current that you could store in capacitors and then

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DOE seeks to cut cost of Level 2 EV charging equipment in half in 3 years; $12M FOA

Green Car Congress

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) has issued a funding opportunity announcement (DE-FOA-0000554) for up to $12 million in cost-shared projects to develop and make available to the market in three years smart-grid capable Level 2 electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) at half of the current costs of commercially available EVSE with comparable functionalities.

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'Flow Cells' May Let Electric Cars Recharge With Liquid Refills

All Cars Electric

Just two months ago, we published an April Fool's piece about a fictional new BP cell research project that would allow battery packs to be refilled at fuel station pumps. Truth is stranger than fiction, truly. Yesterday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology described a nascent research project--a real one--involving a battery that could.

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More Sites Install Solar Carports For Electric-Car Charging

Green Car Reports

It's the green ideal: Charging an electric car or plug-in hybrid using electricity generated purely from the sun. But it's not fiction; a handful of large, multi-space solar carports are popping up in areas as diverse as Silicon Valley, New York City, Detroit, and Tennessee. The latest one, unveiled last week, sits outside the headquarters of GE.

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

Brief

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How Many Volts to Run an Electric Car on a Generator?

Electric Cars are for Girls

If I can come up with something that produces electric power for a car motor, how many volts would I need to keep it running?

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Targray to distribute Golden Light LiPF6-based electrolyte materials to North America and Europe

Green Car Congress

Targray Technology International has entered into a distribution agreement with Golden Light Hi-Tech (Shantou Jinguang Hi-Tech Company (USA) Inc) for the distribution of its electrolyte materials across North America and Europe. Targray now offers a full line of customizable electrolyte solutions based on battery-grade LIPF 6 salt—suitable for a range of lithium-ion applications, from consumer electronics to EV cells.

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GM planning to boost Volt plug-in hybrid production in 2012, and reduce price

National Green Transportation

GM made a pair of announcements today that they will begin taking orders for the 2012 Volt today, that they will expand production of the 2012 Volt, and they will lower the price. Taken together these changes suggest they.

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Advertising Electric Cars: What To Make Of Leaf vs. Volt Spat?

Green Car Reports

For the first time in 80 years or so, major automakers are building and selling plug-in electric cars in the U.S. How are they letting people know about their new cars? Advertising, of course. Our colleague Richard Read looked at four electric-car TV ads, analyzing what made them work and what messages they tried to convey. Gas bad, electrons good.

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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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Tesla Model S Electric Sedan Closer To Launch, Gets Facelift

All Cars Electric

It may still be well over a year away from launch, but Tesla’s latest press photographs are certainly getting the automotive world talking. Released over the weekend, the photographs show a Model S which looks good enough to take on mainstream automotive giants on the showroom floor head-on. With a few panel changes equating to little more.

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MIT study concludes that absent climate policy, coal-to-liquids could account for around a third of global liquid fuels by 2050

Green Car Congress

The top graph depicts CTL in a no policy scenario; the bottom graph, for CTL in a world climate policy scenario. Credit: Chen et al., 2011 Click to enlarge. A new assessment of the viability of coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology by researchers from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change (JPSPGC) found that without climate policy, CTL has the potential to account for around a third of global liquid fuels by 2050.

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MotoCzysz wins 2011 TTZERO electric motorcycle race on the Isle of Man

National Green Transportation

For the third year electric motorcycles returned to the TT Week on the Isle of Man, and for the second year running MotoCzysz is the winner in todays 2011 TT Zero race. Their two bikes came in 1st and.

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New Chrysler Engine To Burn Gas And Diesel--At The Same Time

Green Car Reports

You probably drive a gasoline car. And surely you've heard of cars with diesel engines. But how about a car with an engine that burns both fuels, at the same time? That's what Chrysler is working on, it turns out, funded in part with research dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy. Author Mike Levine broke the story on KickingTires. Goal.

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Exclusive: Black Current III Electric Drag Champion - What's Really Under the Hood

All Cars Electric

Drag racing has long been perceived the preserve of gas-guzzling street-legal and hot rod cars, modified motorcycles, and highly-expensive, custom-built rail dragsters, but for years now a team of dedicated electric vehicle drag racing enthusiasts have shown the world that electric vehicles have what it takes to give most gas drag-cars a tough.

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Mitsubishi Motors and the State of Hawaii to begin effort on EV infrastructure and deployment

Green Car Congress

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., (MMNA) and the State of Hawaii have entered into an agreement that will seek to vastly improve the infrastructure and deployment for the new Mitsubishi i and other advanced 100% electric-powered vehicles (EVs) for residents. Under terms of the cooperative agreement, Mitsubishi Motors and State of Hawaii will foster a number of EV-related advancements throughout the state in areas including: Mitsubishi Motors agrees to make Mitsubishi i electric vehicles and

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Ford announces electrified vehicles and tripled production capacity by 2013

National Green Transportation

At their Van Dyke plant today, Ford Motor Company announced plans for new electrified vehicles and a tripling of production capacity to over 100,000 vehicles per year from their current 35,000/year sales of electrified vehicles. The.

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2012 Toyota Prius V Wagon: Hybrid Success, More To Be Built

Green Car Reports

The 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon hasn't even reached U.S. dealers--it'll arrive this fall--but surging global demand has already convinced Toyota to raise production. The world's largest maker of hybrid-electric vehicles will boost Prius wagon production from 3,000 to 5,000 per month by September, according to the Japanese business daily Nikkei, as.

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BREAKING: Chevrolet 2012 Volt $1,005 Cheaper, More Options

All Cars Electric

Want to buy a Chevrolet Volt but missed out on getting a 2011 model? Don’t worry. Next year’s car will offer more options and a lower sticker price, Chevrolet revealed today. Unlike Nissan, which was forced to raise the price of its 2011 Nissan Leaf in Europe shortly before it went on sale, Chevrolet has confirmed that its.

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Study finds paved surfaces in Houston worsen air quality

Green Car Congress

Paved surfaces in the Houston area keep the city warmer than more natural surfaces. Credit: UCAR. Click to enlarge. New research by a team from the US, China and Japan focusing on the Houston, Texas area suggests that widespread urban development alters weather patterns in a way that can make it easier for pollutants to accumulate during warm summer weather instead of being blown out to sea.

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What does the future hold for hybrid cars? The Green Piece.

Green Cars News

Tuesday 7 June 2011. The Green Piece Column. It’s been 14 years since the Toyota Prius burst on to the scene with its hybrid engine offering a revolutionary method of passenger car travel. However, despite all its promise, and indeed the individual popularity of the Prius itself, hybrid cars are yet to break out of [.].

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Why I Sold My Mustang To Buy A 2011 Ford Fiesta SE Hatchback

Green Car Reports

Last month, as I was filling the tank on my 2008 Ford Mustang convertible, I realized my car had become untenable. I bought the metallic blue ragtop before the financial system melted down, and before gas prices soared. And yes, it was an impulse (read: stupid) decision to own a car like that in a location where roads are ice-covered and slippery.

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NHTSA Gives 2011 Chevrolet Volt Five Star Overall Safety Ranking

All Cars Electric

Back in April we heard that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had awarded both the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt its highest possible award for safety - the IIHS Top Safety Pick. Now Chevrolet's plug-in hybrid has passed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety tests, gaining five stars for overall.

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DICP vanadium redox flow battery hits 10,000 charge/discharge cycle mark

Green Car Congress

Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences report that a 2 kW vanadium redox flow battery under development there for grid storage has been in operation for 1,429 days as of 4 June, with a total running time of more than 34,000 hours and 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. This is the second vanadium flow system to attain the 10,000 charge/discharge mark, the first one being done by Sumitomo Electric in Japan, DICP said.

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Hertz launches electric bike rental

Green Cars News

Hertz has become the first major car rental firm to offer electric bikes for rental alongside its range of passenger and commercial vehicles. The bikes, supplied by Ultra Motor, will be available to hire in London. The firm is supplying its new Fast4Ward models along with its A2B hybrid models, to the rental company so [.].

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An Even Minier MINI: Tiny 3-Cylinder Carbon-Fiber Car In 2014

Green Car Reports

If you, like us, think the modern-day MINIs are simply getting too big to be called a mini, then never fear as the automaker is reportedly set to launch its smallest model yet. MINI showed off a new concept car the recent 2011 Geneva Motor Show called the Rocketman, which is probably the closest we’ll ever get to a modern-day version of the.

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U.K. Team to Attempt Electric Car Land Speed Record in 2013

All Cars Electric

Pendine Sands, a 7-mile long beach on the south coast of Wales went down in history in 1924 when a journalist and motor racer by the name of Malcolm Campbell broke the world land speed record at a heady 146.16 mph in the Sunbeam 350HP car he called Blue Bird. Since then the U.K. equivalent to the Bonneville salt flats has hosted many successful.

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New BMW 116d EfficientDynamics Edition will drop CO2 emissions to 99 g/km

Green Car Congress

BMW 1 Series, Sport and Urban Line. Click to enlarge. BMW is equipping its second-generation 1 Series with gasoline and diesel engines all of which feature new BMW TwinPower Turbo technology. The 1 Series will have a new generation of 1.6-liter gasoline engines: 116i with 100 kW/136 hp; and 118i with 125 kW/170 hp. Redesigned 2.0-liter diesel engines equip the 116d with 85 kW/116 hp, 118d with 105 kW/143 hp, and 120d with 135 kW/184 hp.

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Google expands electric car fleet with Volt and Leaf models

Green Cars News

Search engine giant, Google is expanding its fleet of plug-in cars after completing the installation of the largest corporate infrastructure in the US. The Silicon Valley firm is now adding 30 new plug-in cars including models of the range-extended Chevrolet Volt and the fully electric Nissan Leaf, several models of which have already been delivered [.].

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2012 Chevrolet Impala Improves Police Fleet Gas Mileage By 3 MPG

Green Car Reports

As we reported earlier this year, gas mileage is increasingly becoming a concern for not only individuals but corporations and government agencies as well, including most police forces. While the federal government is looking to improve the gas mileage of its fleets by switching to smaller cars and hybrids, police agencies around the country.

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