Sat.Nov 29, 2014 - Fri.Dec 05, 2014

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Report: Toyota to invest ~$165M to triple Japan production capacity for Mirai fuel cell vehicle

Green Car Congress

'The Nikkei reports that Toyota will invest about ¥20 billion yen ($165 million) to triple production capacity in Japan for its new Mirai fuel cell vehicle ( earlier post ) to meet what it describes as strong corporate and public-sector demand. The Mirai is due to go on sale in Japan 15 December; Toyota expects orders to exceed its current annual capacity of 700 units by the release date.

Japan 348
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How To Quit Smoking: Buy An Electric Car?

Green Car Reports

'Electric cars are good for the environment, but could they also benefit the health of the people who drive them? There''s now a small amount of anecdotal evidence that buying an electric car may help you quit smoking. CHECK OUT: Raw Diesel Fumes Worse Than Second-Hand Smoke, Says W.H.O. It comes from a newsletter issued by advocacy group Plug-In.

Buy 167
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Used Electric Cars

Electric Cars are for Girls

'For the first time in around 80 years, it is possible in many parts of the world to buy a used electric car.

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Siemens, Duke Energy and Ford demonstrate lower cost home smart charging technology for plug-ins; due on market next year

Green Car Congress

'Siemens Energy Management Division has teamed with Duke Energy and Ford to demonstrate the results of an 18-month effort to reduce the cost and expand electric vehicle charging technologies. Held at the Duke Energy Envision Center in Erlanger, Ky., and utilizing a Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid, Siemens provided the first UL-approved residential electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) to demonstrate the ability to monitor status, report energy use, and be controlled locally from the local a

Plug-in 299
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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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Stanford team develops model and controller for reducing HCCI cycle-to-cycle variation

Green Car Congress

'A team led by researchers from Stanford University has developed a simplified, discrete-time analytical model of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) dynamics. The model forms the basis for the design of a simple controller that reduces combustion timing variations in simulation. Late-phasing homogeneous charge compression ignition operating conditions have the potential to expand the useful operating range of homogeneous charge compression ignition in internal combustion engines.

Exhaust 286
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Commentary: Could falling oil prices spark a financial crisis?

Green Car Congress

'by Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. The oil and gas boom in the United States was made possible by the extensive credit afforded to drillers. Not only has financing come from company shareholders and traditional banks, but hundreds of billions of dollars have also come from junk-bond investors looking for high returns. Junk-bond debt in energy has reached $210 billion, which is about 16 percent of the $1.3 trillion junk-bond market.

More Trending

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MHI completes development of next-generation LNG carrier; apple-shaped tanks and hybrid propulsion

Green Car Congress

'Sayaringo STaGE. Click to enlarge. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has completed development of the “Sayaringo STaGE,” a next-generation LNG (liquefied natural gas) carrier. The Sayaringo STaGE was developed as a successor to the Sayaendo ( earlier post ), the company’s LNG carrier evolved from carriers with Moss-type spherical tanks that offer a high level of reliability.

Hybrid 265
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Start-up Eco-Motive developing dual-fuel “H” engine; parallel, independently fueled piston banks

Green Car Congress

'The H-engine—basically two separate engines housed within the same engine block—comprises two switchable parallel piston banks, independently fueled by gasoline and CNG. Click to enlarge. Startup Eco-Motive has developed what it calls the first dual-fuel “H” engine; it recently received a patent (# 8807098 ) on the design. The H-shaped engine comprises parallel left-side and right-side vertical inline piston banks, each having a crankshaft and pistons, a cylinder head, and individua

Engine 257
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Calls for an international 48V electrical standard for vehicles; looming WLTP implementation

Green Car Congress

'At the 2 nd International Conference Automotive 48 V Power Supply Systems , held last week in Düsseldorf, Germany, Controlled Power Technologies (CPT), a major sponsor of the event, together with leading car makers and Tier 1 suppliers, argued the need for an internationally agreed 48V electrical standard. Such a standard will be necessary for the global automotive industry to achieve the economies of scale demanded by original equipment manufacturers.

Standards 257
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Kroger division takes delivery of first 11 of 40 Freightliner LNG heavy-duty tucks; replacing diesel

Green Car Congress

'Oregon-based Fred Meyer Stores, a division of The Kroger Co. has taken delivery of its first 11 Freightliner heavy-duty trucks that run on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Fred Meyer will receive a total of 40 LNG trucks over the next several months, making Fred Meyer the first in Oregon to deploy a fleet of heavy-duty LNG trucks. The trucks are equipped with the Cummins Westport ISX12 G engine and Westport iCE PACK systems for LNG storage.

Diesel 255
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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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Mercedes-Benz S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID can cut lifecycle CO2 by up to 56% compared to S 500

Green Car Congress

'Comparison of CO 2 emissions for the S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID and the S 500 [t/car]. Source: TÜV SÜD. Click to enlarge. The Mercedes-Benz S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID ( earlier post ) can cut CO 2 emissions by some 43% when recharged using the European electricity mix and by up to 56% when using hydroelectricity compared to the conventional S 500 model on a full lifecycle basis, according to the environmental certificate awarded by TÜV SÜD.

Plug-in 255
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SK Innovation to end Li-ion JV with Continental due to slow demand growth for EVs

Green Car Congress

'Yonhap News reported that SK Innovation Company will end the battery-pack joint venture with German partner Continental AG ( earlier post ) due to slow growth in demand for electric cars. The two companies launched the JV, SK Continental E-motion, in January 2013, with the mission of developing, producing and distributing lithium-ion based battery systems for cars and light commercial vehicles. ( Earlier post.).

Li-ion 244
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Major power and gas company E.ON splitting in two; focusing on renewables, spinning off conventional power generation

Green Car Congress

'Düsseldorf, Germany-base E.ON, one of the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas companies, is adopting a new strategic direction under which is will split itself in two. E.ON itself will focus on renewables, distribution networks, and customer solutions. The existing conventional generation, global energy trading, and exploration and production businesses will be combined in a new, independent company (“New Company”), a majority of which will be spun off to E.ON SE shareholders.

Power 244
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Honda begins sales of new Grace Hybrid in Japan; 4WD option

Green Car Congress

'Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has begun sales of the all-new Grace hybrid sedan at dealerships across Japan. The Grace is equipped with Honda’s Sport Hybrid i-DCD one-motor hybrid system that enables the driver to start in EV mode and realizes fuel economy of 34.4 km/L (81 mpg US or 2.9 l/100 km) under the JC 08 mode—best among all hybrid sedan models in the Japanese market.

Japan 240
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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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Toyota Motor to consolidate development and production of diesel engines under TICO; manual transmissions under Aisin Seiki; brake systems under Advics

Green Car Congress

'Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) will consolidate their joint diesel engine development and production under the control of TICO. The purpose of this decision is to strengthen the competitiveness of both companies by bringing the development and production of diesel engines under one roof and enabling more efficient allocation of resources.

Diesel 236
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UPM and WWF Finland co-operate to promote the sustainability of wood-based liquid biofuels

Green Car Congress

'Finland-based bio and forest industries company UPM and WWF Finland have engaged in a dialogue on the status of wood-based liquid biofuels in Finland and present a list of joint measures to be carried out to promote sustainability. UPM is the developer and producer of UPM BioVerno—wood-based renewable diesel. ( Earlier post.). When wood-based liquid biofuels are produced using raw materials from sustainably managed (such as FSC certified) forests and provided that the carbon stock impacts

Finland 231
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Toshiba targeting practical implementation of conversion of solar energy and CO2 to feedstock and fuel in 2020s

Green Car Congress

'Mechanism of the technology. Source: Toshiba. Click to enlarge. Toshiba Corporation has developed a new technology that uses solar energy directly to generate carbon compounds from carbon dioxide and water, and to deliver a viable chemical feedstock or fuel with potential for use in industry. Toshiba introduced the technology at the 2014 International Conference on Artificial Photosynthesis ( ICARP2014 ) on 26 November.

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PNNL team reports growth of dendrite-free lithium films with self-aligned and compact nanorod structure

Green Car Congress

'Suppressing lithium (Li) dendrite growth is one of the most critical challenges for the development of Li-metal batteries—i.e., high-energy density batteries using a Li-metal anode such as Li-sulfur or Li-air. ( Earlier post.) Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) report for the first time the growth of dendrite-free lithium films with a self-aligned and highly compacted nanorod structure.

Li-ion 231
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Daimler investing ~€100M in Deutsche ACCUmotive to expand lithium-ion battery system production; stationary storage

Green Car Congress

'Daimler AG is expanding its production capacities for lithium-ion battery systems with investments of around €100 million (US$125 million) in its Deutsche ACCUmotive subsidiary in coming years. Currently, a new building to be completed by mid-2015 is under construction in Kamenz, Germany. With the completion of the third construction phase Deutsche ACCUmotive will have nearly 20,000 m² of production and logistics space at its disposal—four times the area since the start of production in t

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ARB staff posts CA-GREET 2.0 for public comment; to be model for LCFS CIs

Green Car Congress

'California Air Resources Board staff has posted for public feedback an updated preliminary draft of the California-modified Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation, Version 2.0 model ( CA-GREET 2.0 ). Staff will propose to the Board in February 2015 that a final draft of GREET 2.0 will be the model that must be used to calculate direct fuel pathway carbon intensities (CIs) for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

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Airbus Group signs MOU with Emerging Fuels Technology on sustainable aviation fuels

Green Car Congress

'Airbus Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Emerging Fuels Technology, Inc. ( EFT ) to promote EFT in the commercialization of technologies to produce sustainable fuels for aviation. EFT’s proprietary Advanced Fixed Bed (AFB) Fischer-Tropsch reactor and catalyst system can convert synthesis gas from virtually any carbonaceous feedstock into transportation fuels such as renewable diesel and sustainable jet fuel.

Fuel 225
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Novozymes launches commercial enzyme technology to convert waste oils into biodiesel

Green Car Congress

'Novozymes has launched Eversa Transform, the first commercially available enzymatic solution (a liquid lipase) to convert both glycerides and free fatty acids (FFA) into biodiesel. Biodiesel producers can thereby use cooking oil or other lower grade oils as biodiesel feedstock, reducing their raw material costs. The resulting enzymatic biodiesel is sold to the same trade specification as biodiesel created through traditional chemical processing.

Waste 225
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Imergy Power Systems’ vanadium flow batteries selected for Navy/California Energy Commission microgrid demonstration project

Green Car Congress

'Foresight Renewable Solutions has selected Imergy’s ESP30 series vanadium-based flow batteries ( earlier post ) for a Smart Microgrid project sponsored by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and hosted by the US Navy. To be deployed at the Navy’s Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) Facility in Port Hueneme, California, the Smart Microgrid project will focus on developing applications and use-case scenarios to optimize power consumption at military bases, college campuses, industrial pa

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Westport Innovations acquires alt fuel systems company Prins Autogassystemen for €12.2M

Green Car Congress

'Natural gas engine and vehicle company Westport Innovations Inc. has acquired Netherlands based Prins Autogassystemen Holding B.V. for €12.2 million (US$15.1 million) through a combination of €6.6 million (US$8.2 million) in assumed liabilities and €5.6 million (US$6.9 million) in cash. Founded in 1986, Prins is a leading developer of high quality alternative fuel systems powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or propane), compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for light

Companies 220
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DOE awarding up to $7M to two projects to develop advanced logistics for bioenergy feedstocks

Green Car Congress

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award up to $7 million for two projects aimed at developing and demonstrating ways to reduce the cost of delivering bioenergy feedstocks to biorefineries. Examples of bioenergy feedstocks include corn stover, switchgrass, and woody biomass. The State University of New York—College of Environmental Science and Forestry of Syracuse, New York will receive up to $3.5 million to lower the delivered cost of short rotation woody crops; rapidly, accurately, and re

Tennessee 218
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New efficient catalytic system for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to hydrocarbons

Green Car Congress

'Photocatalytic reduction products formed on various catalysts. The Au 3 Cu@STO/TiO 2 array (red arrow) was the most reactive photocatalyst in this family to generate hydrocarbons from diluted CO 2. Kang et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers from Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and TU-NIMS Joint Research Center, Tianjin University, China have developed a new, particularly efficient photocatalytic system for the conversion of CO 2 into CO and hydrocarbons.

CO2 218
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Edeniq and Global Bio-chem enter into joint development agreement to produce low cost cellulosic sugars from corn stover in China

Green Car Congress

'Edeniq, Inc., a biorefining and cellulosic technology company, has entered a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Global Bio-chem Technology Group Limited, a China-based manufacturer of chemicals from industrial sugars. The JDA follows a letter of intent signed in July, with the goal of developing the lowest cost process for converting corn stover to cellulosic sugars for use in the production of bio-based chemical products.

Low Cost 218
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ANSI EV standards panel releases progress report on standardization activities

Green Car Congress

'The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Electric Vehicles Standards Panel ( EVSP ) published of a Progress Report on activity within the standardization community to address the gaps and recommendations described in the ANSI EVSP’s Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles – Version 2.0 (May 2013). ( Earlier post.). Available as a free download, the report outlines significant developments including new areas where there is a perceived need for additional standardization work to fa

Standards 218
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EDGE3 Technologies & Honda R&D Americas awarded patent for HMI system combining gesture and voice recognition

Green Car Congress

'EDGE3 Technologies, an advanced vision analytics company, and Honda R&D Americas have been awarded US patent number 8,744,645 for their jointly developed in-vehicle human machine interface (HMI) system which combines voice and gesture recognition. The core technology, an integrated vision analytics system developed by EDGE3, is a result of years of collaboration between EDGE3 and Honda R&D which up until now has been kept confidential by both organizations.

Honda 218
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DOE JBEI team boosts methyl ketone production from E. coli 160-fold; advanced biofuel or blendstock

Green Car Congress

'In 2012, researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) engineered Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) bacteria to overproduce from glucose saturated and monounsaturated aliphatic methyl ketones in the C 11 to C 15 (diesel) range from glucose. In subsequent tests, these methyl ketones yielded high cetane numbers, making them promising candidates for the production of advanced biofuels or blendstocks. ( Earlier post.).

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BMW-Sixt car-sharing JV DriveNow launches in London; 30 i3s coming in 2015

Green Car Congress

'DriveNow, the carsharing joint venture between the BMW Group and Sixt SE ( earlier post ), has launched its flexible carsharing service in London. Initially, 210 BMW 1 Series and MINI Countryman models will be available for spontaneous hire. DriveNow furthermore intends to add 30 all-electric BMW i3 cars to the London fleet in spring 2015, expanding it to a total of 300 vehicles during the course of next year.

London 210
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CEA LITEN develops high-temperature electrolyzer for more efficient hydrogen production from water

Green Car Congress

'France’s CEA LITEN (Laboratory for Innovation in New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials) has developed a new high-temperature electrolysis system for more efficient hydrogen production. The system delivers hydrogen from steam at 150 °C and electricity with power consumption of 3.9 kWh/Nm 3 (normal cubic meters) H 2 with efficiency exceeding 90%.

Hydrogen 210
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Oerlikon Graziano showcasing hybrid and electric transmission systems at CTI; new 2-speed AMT

Green Car Congress

'Transmission specialist Oerlikon Graziano is showcasing its range of hybrid and electric transmission systems, including the OGeco torque infill unit that integrates a 6-speed automated manual with a 120 kW electric motor through a 2-speed epicyclic transmission, as well as a new 2-speed automated manual drive system, at the the 2014 CTI Symposium and Transmission Expo in Berlin next week.

Hybrid 210
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Average fuel economy for new cars in US in November unchanged from October

Green Car Congress

'The average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the US in November was 25.3 mpg (9.3 l/100 km)—unchanged from the value in October, according to the monthly report from Dr. Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The unchanged average fuel economy is likely a net consequence of two opposing trends: less demand for fuel efficient vehicles because of the decreasing price of gasoline, and improved fu