Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2015

'The large specific surface area (SSA)—i.e., the surface-to-mass ratio—of graphene, combined with its high electrical conductivity, high mechanical strength, ease of functionalization, and potential for mass production, makes it an extremely attractive platform for energy applications, such as a transparent conductive electrode for solar cells or as flexible high-capacity electrode in lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, notes a team of researchers from Europe, the US and Korea

Energy 247

Energy Lithium Ion Energy Storage Hydrogen 247

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'This was the year when it became obvious that upstart electric-car maker Tesla Motors has startled and worried all of the German luxury-car companies. And now that they''re taking the Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan seriously--as well as the expected arrival next year of the much-delayed Model X crossover utility vehicle--Audi, BMW.

Audi 167

Audi BMW Electric Cars Plug-in 167

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 31, 2014

'Power and torque curves for stock and performance-tuned Focus ST with 2.0L I-4 EcoBoost. Click to enlarge. Ford is now offering EcoBoost engines in all of its high-performance nameplates—from Fiesta ST to Mustang—enabling a new kind of aftermarket tuning. Modifying engine performance can be accomplished with hand-held programmers that adjust several engine parameters; adjusting engine control unit programming can result in performance gains of up to 90 lb-ft (122 N·m) of torq

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Ford Africa Engine 2015 290

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'A study by researchers led by a team from the Air Health Science Division of Health Canada (the Federal department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health) finds that commuters may be exposed to increased levels of traffic-related air pollution owing to close proximity to traffic-emissions. The study also found that traffic characteristics, land use, road types, and meteorology are important determinants of these exposures.

Pollution 271

Pollution Canada 2013 2010 271

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Norway

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 1, 2015

'Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University are using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to study pollutant diffusion and to analyze the mechanism of space-time pollution interaction. Current domestic stereoscopic observations of atmospheric pollution studies have used unconventional observation tools such as manned aircraft, balloons, airships, meteorological towers, laser radar and satellite remote sensing technology.

Pollution 226

Pollution Universal Light Vehicles 226

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'Ford has issued its third annual trends report, a compilation of consumer research and insights from thought leaders around the world, which is intended to provide a look at micro-trends expected to influence products and brands for 2015 and beyond. From the growing influence of young, socially conscious consumers, to a greater acceptance of modern-day rebels and a shifting perspective that de-stigmatizes failure, Ford Motor Company’s trend report suggests 2015 will be marked by a broad desire

2015 246

2015 Ford Escape Japan 246

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 1, 2015

'Theoretical discharging behavior and high cycle stability of 5 nm NPs. (a) Discharge/charge profile of 5 nm S NPs at 0.1 C. (b) XRD patterns of discharge products of 20 and 5 nm S NPs discharged to 1.0 V. (c) XPS spectra of discharge products of 5 nm S NPs at DoD of 72 and 100%. (d) Cycling performance of 5 nm SNPs at 0.5 C and 1 C. Credit: ACS, Chen et al.

Lithium Sulfur 207

Lithium Sulfur Li-ion F-150 Batteries 207

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 1, 2015

'Pacific Ethanol, Inc., the leading producer and marketer of renewable fuels in the western US, and Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc., a midwest-based producer of ethanol and related co-products, have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Pacific Ethanol will acquire all of Aventine’s outstanding shares in a stock-for-stock merger transaction.

Renewable 207

Renewable Production Nebraska Energy 207

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2015

'Enerpulse Technologies secured an OEM purchase agreement from Raider Outboards for its Nano-Plasma Assisted Combustion (n-PAC) spark plugs. ( Earlier post.) Raider Outboards was awarded a contract by the Department of Defense to provide marine engines that must run efficiently on multiple battlefield fuels. Enerpulse designed an application-specific n-PAC spark plug for Raider Outboards that features the same patented capacitor found in its Pulstar spark plug line and uses materials designed to

Mariner 204

Mariner Power Powered Fuel 204

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 1, 2015

'Green Biologics Inc. has acquired the assets of Central MN Ethanol Cooperative LLC (CMEC). Green Biologics intends to repurpose the operation, which includes a 21 million gallon per year ethanol plant, to produce renewable n-butanol and acetone, utilizing its proprietary advanced fermentation process (AFP) technology platform. Green Biologics Inc. is a wholly owned US subsidiary of Green Biologics Ltd., a UK industrial biotechnology and renewable chemicals company.

Green 204

Green Iowa Renewable 2016 204

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'The Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) published its summary report (1,193 pages) from the 2014 Annual Merit Review (AMR) and Peer Evaluation Meeting held June 16-20. The VTO Merit Review is held jointly with the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) Merit Review. The objective of the annual review meetings is to review the accomplishments and plans for VTO over the previous 12 months, and provide an opportunity for industry, government, and academia to give in

2014 231

2014 Hydrogen Industrial Industry 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 31, 2014

'AccuWeather, a leader in digital weather information, is introducing its MinuteCast to Ford SYNC AppLink customers. The technology uses an exact street address or GPS location to provide minute-by-minute hyper-local weather forecasting, information about precipitation type, intensity and duration to the driver. MinuteCast predicts start and end times for precipitation by-the-minute for the next two hours, specific to a user’s exact street address.

Las Vegas 230

Las Vegas Ford United Kingdom Ireland 230

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 31, 2014

'Schematic illustration of a Li-O 2 cell employing a mesoporous catalytic polymer membrane. Credit: ACS, RYu et al. Click to enlarge. A team at Yale University has introduced a new Li-O 2 cell architecture that uses a mesoporous catalytic polymer-based membrane between the oxygen electrode and the separator to achieve high reversibility and efficiency, rather than placing the catalyst particles on the oxygen electrode itself.

Ni-Li 225

Ni-Li Li-ion Polymer Batteries 225

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'The Canadian Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt announced a suite of amendments to Canada’s Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations (TDGR), including a ban on transporting lithium metal batteries as cargo on passenger flights in Canada. The new ban does not apply to Li metal batteries already contained in devices, nor to Li-ion batteries. The US has already banned the transportation of lithium metal batteries as cargo on passenger flights.

Canada 225

Canada Li-ion Batteries Battery 225

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2015

'Ballard Power Systems has given termination notice on two fuel-cell licensing agreements in the China market as a result of what it said were material breaches of these agreements by Azure Hydrogen. The first license agreement, originally announced on 26 September 2013, is related to the assembly of Ballard’s FCvelocity-HD7 Bus fuel-cell power modules in China for the Chinese market. ( Earlier post.

2014 195

2014 China Fuel Chinese 195

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 31, 2014

'On 30 December, the city government of Shenzhen, China announced that it will only issue 100,000 license plates per year via lotteries and auctions, with immediate effect, to fight congestion and pollution. Shenzhen, a major high-tech and manufacturing hub in southern China’s Guangdong province, is located just north of Hong Kong and is the home of BYD as well as the Denza joint venture of BYD and Daimler.

Pollution 218

Pollution New York City BYD 2013 218

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'At the Consumer Telematics Show (CTS) and Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 in Las Vegas, Autonet Mobile, Inc., a provider of internet-based telematics application services designed for vehicles, will showcase the first end-to-end OTA solution that allows Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to adopt a phased approach towards OTA service deployment.

Las Vegas 218

Las Vegas Connect Connected Vehicles 218

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'A team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and MIT has used high-throughput first-principles calculations to evaluate systematically the performance of spinel-structure compounds as multivalent intercalation cathode materials. Their work, reported in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science , spanned a matrix of five different intercalating ions and seven transition metal redox active cations.

MIT 218

MIT Li-ion Energy Batteries 218

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'Researchers at Washington State University report microwave-induced pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene (a model of waste plastics) using ZSM-5 as a catalyst to generate significant amounts (74.73–88.49%) of gasoline-range hydrocarbons. This marks the first time that plastic was used for microwave-assisted pyrolysis over ZSM-5, the researchers said in their paper in the journal Fuel.

Gasoline 210

Gasoline Range Oil Washington 210

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2014

'Petrobras has received authorization from Brazil’s National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) to initiate the early production system of well 2-ANP-1RJS, located in Búzios field (formerly known as the Franco area), in the Santos Basin pre-salt. Through this temporary system, the company will be able to produce for approximately seven months, while obtaining information for optimizing the field’s first definitive production system.

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Production Oil Gas 2013 210

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'In the Douglas-Westwood Monday note , Andy Jenkins from the energy research group’s London office observes that the decline in oil prices may impact deepwater production and in particular a key future enabler: subsea processing (SSP). SSP encompasses a number of technologies, all with the potential to reduce costs and improve recovery from deepwater fields.

Oil Prices 199

Oil Prices Oil Price London 199

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'The Financial Times reports that Raízen, Shell’s joint venture in Brazil, will invest about R$2.5 billion (about US$927 million) on eight cellulosic ethanol plants using sugarcane bagasse, straw and leaves as feedstock before 2024 in an effort to increase its biofuel output by up to 50%. Its first second-generation ethanol plant, with an annual capacity of 40 million liters (10.6 million gallons US), began operation earlier this month. ( Earlier post.).

Brazil 199

Brazil Waste Gasoline Production 199

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2014

'From 2015 through 2019, Audi plans to invest €24 billion (US$29 billion)—€2 billion (US$2.4 billion), or 9% more, more than in the previous planning period. 70 percent of the investment will flow into the development of new models and technologies. Audi aims to meet stringent CO 2 limits worldwide with a new generation of extremely economical combustion engines and alternative efficiency technologies as well as new features in the areas of connectivity and driver assistance.

Audi 199

Audi Los Angeles Connect Connected 199

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'As tough global emissions standards put more pressure on carmakers to produce larger numbers of zero-emission vehicles, the race is on to improve systems of electricity generation and storage. Graphene is a graphite-like substance first isolated in 2004. Some analysts view it as useful in improving the efficiency of batteries, but now it appears.

2004 166

2004 Solar Hydrogen Power 166

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'The Tesla Model S P85D electric car''s greatest talent seems to be generating outrageous performance figures. Tesla itself claims the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive car produces 691 horsepower. Now, the first independent test of its torque is equally impressive. DON''T MISS: 2014 Tesla Model S P85D: First Drive Of All-Electric AWD Performance Sedan.

Tesla 164

Tesla 2014 All-Electric Motor 164

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 30, 2014

'All-wheel drive is an increasingly popular option among buyers in virtually all segments of the automotive market, partly driven by surging sales of small crossover utility vehicles. But is Chevrolet developing an all-wheel-drive version of the new 2016 Chevy Volt range-extended electric car it''ll introduce next month? DON''T MISS: UPDATED: 2016.

Chevrolet 162

Chevrolet Electric Cars Renewable Future 162

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'Charging an electric car is virtually always greener than pumping gasoline, but it can also be more complicated. Among standardized AC charging (in North America), multiple standards for DC fast charging, and the various electrical connectors used in different countries, there''s a lot of charging hardware out there. DON''T MISS: Tesla Roadster 3.0.

Electric Cars 162

Electric Cars All-Electric North America Charging 162

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'After some initial hesitation, Germany is moving ahead with more aggressive plans to encourage its companies and citizens to drive electric cars. The country currently offers few electric-car incentives, but the current government hopes to change that policy--including the construction of a large network of charging stations. MORE: Germany To.

Electric Cars 160

Electric Cars Grid Charging Germany 160

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 28, 2014

'Instead of switching to more-efficient cars, what would happen if a large number of people simply gave up driving altogether? That seems to be what many Millennials--the generation born between 1983 and 2000--are doing. Without any apparent preference for cars, Millennials are the "multimodal generation," according to a new report from the.

2000 157

2000 Cars 157

Green Car Reports

JANUARY 1, 2015

'As China attempts to grapple with its rampant air pollution, the national government and municipal authorities are taking increasingly aggressive measures to encourage adoption of plug-in electric cars. Officials recently announced the details of a previously-discussed new round of electric-car incentives, while the city of Shenzhen has joined.

China 124

China Electric Cars Cars Pollution 124

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 31, 2014

'With the year all but wound down, it''s an appropriate time to look back and take stock of what''s been achieved over the past 12 months. So how did 2014 measure up in terms of boosting vehicle fuel efficiency and reducing emissions? DON''T MISS: In Just One Year, Electric Cars Have Gotten Cleaner: How''d They Do That? According to the National.

Cleaner 155

Cleaner 2014 Cars All-Electric 155

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'As General Motors works to stoke interest ahead of its 2015 Detroit Auto Show debut, the 2016 Chevrolet Volt is getting more teasers than a Hollywood blockbuster. While the last video confirmed that the new Volt can do something virtually every car can do--drive on snow--this one highlights some even more basic features. MORE: 2016 Chevrolet Volt.

Volt 153

Volt 2016 General Motors Chevrolet 153

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'We''re back from the long holiday weekend with plenty of green-car news, including a report on how Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche are targeting Tesla with their own plug-in cars, possible outcomes of an upcoming midterm review of Federal fuel-economy rules, and how Millennials are approaching car ownership. All this and more on Green Car.

Fuel Economy 152

Fuel Economy Economy Fuel Cars 152

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'If politics is the art of successful compromise--defined as outcomes that make all parties equally unhappy--then the recent budget extension bill offers something for everyone. It extended the tax credits for electric-car charging stations and natural-gas-vehicle refueling stations, which should make owners of those vehicles happy. DON''T MISS: Tax.

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Tax Tax Credit Gas 2014 150