Green Car Congress

JULY 17, 2012

Knittel/Smith results for implied gasoline price effects from elimination of ethanol for 2010 using Du/Hayes model and pooled-sample estimates. Results from Du/Hayes are indicated by the large square. Source: Knittel and Smith (2012). Click to enlarge. Two professors from MIT and UC Davis have released a paper challenging the recent claims by the Renewable Fuel Association (RFA) and US Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack that ethanol production decreased gasoline prices by $0.89 and $1.09 in 2010 a

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Electric Cars are for Girls

JULY 20, 2012

Maybe there's something even better for EVs than lithium ion batteries. These have never been very robust, but maybe that's all changing now.

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Green Car Reports

JULY 20, 2012

Man-made carbon dioxide might be something we're trying to reduce, but on its own, carbon is an abundant and rather useful element. It's also been central to two of the most important scientific materials discoveries of recent years--graphene, and carbon nanotubes. The latter involves rolling the former--a one atom thick sheet of carbon.

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DIY Electric Car

JULY 20, 2012

Today was constructive - I cut the rear off the body, cleaned and painted the transmission, and painted the new front spindles and rear drums. I'm converting the front to disc. I also received the "unused" Curtis 1231C-8601 from a fellow Ebayer at a great price. Earlier this week the VW adapter from Rebirth Auto arrived, so I ordered a lightened flywheel and a clutch kit in order to keep the assembly moving along.

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Kits Convert Clean Cleaning 100

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Green Car Congress

JULY 20, 2012

Eaton Corporation will develop an affordable home refueling station for natural gas vehicles, utilizing existing natural gas sources in the home and innovative compressor technology. The effort is funded in part by a $3.4-million grant from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) MOVE project. ( Earlier post.).

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Electric Cars are for Girls

JULY 20, 2012

Maybe there's something even better for EVs than lithium ion batteries. These have never been very robust, but maybe that's all changing now.

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Lithium Air Lithium Ion Batteries Battery 229

DIY Electric Car

JULY 19, 2012

On July 1st, 2012, I started my latest (and first EV) project. The donor is a 1969 VW Beetle we've owned since 2001, but it's been in storage since 2003. The body is in great shape, and it even has the factory floorpans still. The car was stripped to just a shell before putting it in storage, so getting the body off the pan was easy. The pictures show where I am in the process, and I plan to add more photos each week.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 16, 2012

TCDB plot of projected total cost of battery-electric vehicles to manufacturers. Click to enlarge. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a new public database featuring cost and performance estimates for electric generation, advanced vehicle, and renewable fuel technologies. The Transparent Cost Database (TCDB) provides technology cost estimates for companies, utilities, policy makers, consumers, and academics, and can be used to benchmark company costs, model energy scenarios, and info

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Revenge of the Electric Car

JULY 15, 2012

You've asked for it, and this week you've got it: the film releases in theatres in the UK on July 20th, and tickets are available now for screenings at the Empire Leicester Square. Grab your best mate and head to the cinema to take REVENGE for the electric car and see this film! The film will also be able to be streamed online at Dogwoof.tv for subscribers, and will be on DVD on August 6th.

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Available Now Buy Electric Cars Available 100

Green Car Reports

JULY 17, 2012

Some used cars are better bets than others. And just as there are new hybrids you may want to consider avoiding, some used hybrids may be a more conservative bet than others. A used Toyota Prius is by far the most familiar and most numerous hybrid, with a few million sold in the U.S. since 2000. But there are also orphan hybrids showing up on.

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Electric Cars are for Girls

JULY 20, 2012

From Kelly R.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

Sketch of the targeted at-home unit. Click to enlarge. GE researchers, in partnership with Chart Industries—a global manufacturer of standard and custom-engineered products and systems for cryogenic and heat transfer applications—and scientists at the University of Missouri, have been awarded $1.8 million by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) ( earlier post ) to develop an affordable at-home refueling station that would meet ARPA-E’s target of $500 per station

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National Green Transportation

JULY 20, 2012

Ford Motors today released partial specifications for the eagerly awaited C-MAX Energi Plug-in Hybrid. The C-MAX Energi is the plug-in twin to the C-MAX Hybrid, both of which together are Ford's first.

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Green Car Reports

JULY 17, 2012

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has an enthusiastic base of fans who consider him a visionary. And with Paypal in the past, and SpaceX as well as Tesla today, Musk has an impressive track record. So ears perked up when he recently predicted that in 20 years, half of all new cars sold would be plug-in electric cars. The problem is that knowledgeable.

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All-Electric Tesla Motors Cars Plug-in 155

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Green Cars News

JULY 17, 2012

The UK has lost also a third of its front gardens as householders paved lawns to create driveways for cars, new research from the RAC Foundation reveals. Figures analysed by the RAC Foundation show around 80 per cent of Britain’s 26 million homes were built with a front plot. Of these around seven million gardens [.].

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Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

Nestlé Switzerland and Renault Trucks (part of the Volvo Group) recently introduced an experimental all-electric refrigerated truck—nicknamed the e-Truck—that combines an all-electric 13t Renault Midlum developed by Renault Trucks with a refrigerated body that is also entirely powered by electricity. A second identical vehicle will be joining the Nestlé Switzerland fleet in September.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 16, 2012

Kandi Technologies Corp., a China-based manufacturer and developer of battery electric vehicles (EVs) and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Zhejiang Kandi Vehicles Co., Ltd. signed a cooperative letter of intent (LOI) with China Aviation Lithium Battery Co., Ltd. (CALB), a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to promote 20,000 pure electrical vehicles in Hangzhou.

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China Batteries Battery Automobile 274

Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

Components of the emDRIVE MD system. Click to enlarge. Ioxus, Inc., a manufacturer of premium performance ultracapacitor technology ( earlier post ) is providing ultracapacitors to ElectroMotive Design LLC (EMD), an engineering services company and a manufacturer of hybrid electric conversion systems for Class 2 through 8 buses and trucks. Ioxus’ ultracapacitors are used for energy storage in EMD’s emDRIVE systems, which come in a range of sizes. emDRIVE lite is available in two sizes to accommo

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Conversion Hybrid Energy Storage Maintenance 273

Green Car Congress

JULY 14, 2012

Recent US energy regulations proposed or enacted by the US Department of Energy (DOE), the US Department of Transportation (DOT, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have a negligible effect on reducing greenhouse gases. Instead, according to a new working paper by a duo from The Brookings Institution and Vanderbilt University, the bulk of the estimated benefits from the regulations stem from private benefits such as fuel savings to consumers, based on the regulators’ presumption of

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Energy Pollution EPA Fuel 265

Green Car Congress

JULY 19, 2012

The new Ford Fusion will be the first non-hybrid Ford vehicle available in the US with Auto Start-Stop. ( Earlier post.) Priced at an incremental $295, Auto Start-Stop can improve real-world fuel efficiency by 3.5%, and can pay for itself in fuel savings in less than 18 months, according to the company. In its quest to keep the system very affordable, Ford wanted to keep the supporting battery a 12V battery, but also didn’t want to compromise durability, said Birgit Sorgenfrei, Ford’s Auto Start

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Green Car Congress

JULY 17, 2012

RelayRides reservation app. Click to enlarge. General Motors’ OnStar subscribers can now rent out their idle vehicles through the RelayRides marketplace, leveraging OnStar connectivity already active in their vehicles ( Earlier post ), and with no need to hand over their keys. RelayRides’ renters can unlock reserved OnStar-enabled cars simply by using their smart phones.

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GM Vehicles San Francisco Shelby 257

Green Car Congress

JULY 15, 2012

The Nikkei reports that Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is joining forces with Toyota Motor Corp. and other major manufacturers to develop technology for recycling rare-earth metals. Under the initiative, automakers and home-appliance manufacturers will tap government subsidies to establish a technology for recovering rare-earth metals from discarded motors and electronics.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $2.4 million to 5 projects to collect and analyze performance data for hydrogen fueling stations and advanced refueling components. The award winners will provide a 50% cost-share. The five projects—located in California, Illinois, and Connecticut—will track the performance and technical progress of innovative refueling systems at planned or existing hydrogen fueling stations to find ways to lower costs and improve operation.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 15, 2012

Financial Times Deutschland. BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer is calling for tax subsidies in Germany to help meet the federal government’s target of having 1 million electric cars on the road in eight years. “But last year, we sold just 2,000, including 100 at retail,” Reithofer said on Thursday at the “Handelsblatt” annual conference in Munich. Because of the high purchase prices for electric cars, there is a need for incentives.

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Tax BMW Germany Electric Vehicles 250

Green Car Congress

JULY 16, 2012

A new analysis from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) of consumer polling data finds that the proposed MY 2017-2025 passenger vehicle fuel economy (CAFE) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards to be finalized this summer ( earlier post ) align with consumer demands and needs. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed CAFE standards are projected to require, on an average industry fleet-wide basis for cars and trucks com

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Green Car Congress

JULY 14, 2012

China-based and -focused CCID Consulting estimates that the China passenger vehicle market will need at least 1.802 million tons of aluminum sheets annually, assuming that aluminum replaces 15% of the steel used in automobile manufacturing by 2015. Even if aluminum only replaces 5% of the steel, the demand will still be as large as 601,000 tons. While the the growth rate of China’s automobile sales volume shrank in 2011 to 2.45%—partly due to the state’s suspension of auto consumption ince

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Green Car Congress

JULY 19, 2012

Honda unveiled HondaLink, a new in-vehicle connectivity system that will debut this fall on the ninth-generation 2013 Honda Accord. Featuring the first automotive OEM application of Aha by Harman, HondaLink will provide a personalized experience connecting drivers to thousands of cloud-based news, information and media feeds from around the world, using an intuitive, audio-system based interface.

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Connect Connected Honda Personal 240

Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have received a nearly $95,000 one-year grant from the California Energy Commission to develop an eco-routing algorithm that finds the route requiring the least amount of energy for a trip. The researchers, from the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) at the Bourns College of Engineering, believe they can extend the range of electric vehicles by at least 10% by taking into account real-time traffic information, road ty

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Range Grant California Gas-Electric 240

Green Car Congress

JULY 20, 2012

A123 Systems will supply a 2MW grid Li-ion energy storage system to Ray Power Systems Co. Ltd., a Chinese company focused on developing the frequency regulation market and relevant technologies. The project in China will be designed to validate the technical capabilities and benefits of energy storage as a fast-ramping, accurate and clean resource for providing frequency regulation services.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 20, 2012

CO 2 per capita emissions from fossil fuel use and cement production from the top 5 emitting regions. Click to enlarge. Global emissions of CO 2 increased by 3% last year, according to the annual report “Trends in global CO 2 emissions”, released by the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). At 3%, the 2011 increase in global CO 2 emissions is above the past decade’s average annual increase of 2.7%.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

SEAT—the Spain-based member of the Volkswagen Group—earlier this year delivered three electric-drive cars to Barcelona City Hall: two Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive plug-in hybrids, and one Altea XL Electric Ecomotive, an all-electric zero-emissions car. The vehicles will be tested by Barcelona City Hall in its municipal car fleet for an initial six-month trial period, during which SEAT will gather information and assess performance prior to mass production of electric vehicles.

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Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

Volvo Trucks has developed a new GSM-based system that allows the workshop to check a truck’s condition remotely—a development that promises increased uptime and lower maintenance costs. The system is scheduled for release in Europe in 2013. Telematics gateway. Click to enlarge. The new remote services are possible thanks to the latest version of in-truck Telematics Gateway (TGW).

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Green Car Congress

JULY 18, 2012

Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent, and Alberta’s Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen toured several of the new oil sands monitoring stations now in place in the early stages of implementation of the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring. ( Earlier post.). The Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring, announced by Minister Kent and Minister McQueen in February, commits to a scientifically rigorous, com

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Green Car Congress

JULY 16, 2012

Megatrends such as sustainability, urbanization and a materials revolution are forcing automakers to build a web of partnerships that drive innovation—or to risk being left behind, according to a new Lux Research report. Technologies such as alternative fuels, electric vehicles, and advanced composites are partial responses to these megatrends, but understanding their impact on the industry requires looking at all of them in complete automotive ecosystems, according to the report “Under th

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