Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2014

'Cell schematic. Discharge mode is shown; the arrows are reversed for electrolytic/charge mode. AQDSH 2 refers to the reduced form of AQDS. Huskinson et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Harvard have demonstrated a metal-free organic–inorganic aqueous flow battery—a quinone–bromide flow battery (QBFB)—as an example of a class of energy storage materials that exploits the favorable chemical and electrochemical properties of a family of molecules known as quinones.

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Low Cost Grid Batteries Battery 374

Green Car Reports

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Cars described as "ahead of their time" are usually regarded fondly, but often commercially unsuccessful--the resulting vehicles often too unusual for many consumers. Daimler''s Smart brand and the Fortwo minicar fits that bill and could well be described as ahead of its time, but company boss Dieter Zetsche believes the brand''s time may finally.

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Green Cars News

JANUARY 13, 2014

'The global car industry is entering a global age of innovation according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), making leaps and bounds in four key technology areas; powertrain, lightweight materials, connectivity and active safety (or assisted driving). A new report from the Group is released as t[.].

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Boston Consulting Group Industrial Industry Boston 83

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'2015 F-150. Click to enlarge. Ford introduced the all-new Ford F-150 at its press conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The “reinvention” of this critical vehicle for Ford features an improved fully boxed ladder frame that incorporates more high-strength steel than ever, making it stronger and lighter. Aluminum alloys are used throughout the F-150 body for the first time, improving dent and ding resistance and also saving weight.

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F-150 Ford Engine Fuel Economy 329

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Norway

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'Hino Motors, Ltd., a Toyota Group company focused on diesel trucks and buses, has signed on as a participant in the Scuderi Group’s Scuderi Split-Cycle (SSC) Engine Consortium. The SSC Engine Consortium is a cooperative research group of participants engaged in the development of the pre-competitive SSC engine technology. The mission of the SSC Engine Consortium is to develop and to demonstrate SSC technology, complete with compressed air energy storage (CAES) capability ( earlier post ), for b

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San Antonio Motor Motors Motoring 309

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Elements of the dual injection system. Red is for the high-pressure direct injection system, blue for the low pressure MPI system. Credit: Audi. Click to enlarge. The 2.0-liter EA888 Gen3 engine featured in Audi’s all-road shooting brake plug-in hybrid concept unveiled at the North American International Auto Show this week ( earlier post ) features—as does its production ilk—a dual injection system that combines direct injection with indirect injection into the intake manifold.

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Gasoline Audi Fuel Engine 304

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'A study by a team from the DOE’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Center has concluded that focusing on the yield of an energy crop alone can come at the expense of many other environmental benefits. The study, published as an open access paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that switchgrass and prairie plantings harbored significantly greater plant, methanotrophic bacteria, arthropod, and bird diversity than corn.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'SwRI’s V2G aggregation system allows electric delivery truck fleet owners to make money by using normal vehicle charge times to assist in managing grid frequency. This laboratory test framework, using light bulbs in place of the vehicle chargers, allows SwRI engineers to continue to test and fine-tune the system post-deployment. Click to enlarge. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has deployed the first vehicle-to-grid (V2G) aggregation system qualified by the Electric Reliability Council of T

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Grid Vehicles Fleet Store 281

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'A modeling study by researchers at MIT projects that 5 billion (52%) of the world’s projected 9.7 billion people in 2050 will live in water-stressed areas. The researchers also expect about 1 billion more people to be living in areas where water demand exceeds surface-water supply. A large portion of these regions already face water stress—most notably India, Northern Africa and the Middle East.

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MIT Water Global Climate Change 281

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'At the North American International Auto Show, Michelin introduced the Premier A/S tire with new EverGrip technology, which provides drivers with greater levels of safety even as their tires wear down. Even when worn, the MICHELIN Premier A/S with EverGrip technology stops shorter on wet roads than a new Goodyear tire, according to Michelin. Michelin based the claim on internal wet braking test results from 40 and 50 mph versus new Goodyear Assurance TripleTred A/S tires in size 235/55R17 (99H)

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Water North America Fusion Cadillac 262

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'2015 Fit. Click to enlarge. Honda unveiled the all-new 2015 Fit at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Set to go on sale in the US this spring, the new subcompact Fit is completely redesigned, featuring a sportier style. Retaining a similar exterior footprint to the current model, the new Fit is slightly shorter (-1.6 in.) and wider (+0.3 in.) with a longer wheelbase (+1.2 in.), resulting in improved handling and maneuverability.

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2015 Honda Detroit Fuel 262

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2014

'Following up on a December 2013 over-the-air software upgrade to the Model S to enable safer charging under certain conditions, Tesla Motors announced that it has also designed an improved wall adapter with a thermal fuse. Tesla will provide this upgraded adapter to existing and new customers free of charge starting in a few weeks. Both measures are designed to reduce the risk of garage fires.

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Charging Tesla Connect Connected 261

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'In a conference call on Friday, KiOR President and CEO Fred Cannon said that the company will halt production of cellulosic gasoline, diesel and fuel oil at its plant in Columbus, Mississippi in order to implement a number of optimization projects it identified as necessary—based on its experience in 2013—to optimize production to enhance yield, throughput and operability and to minimize cost.

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Columbus Production Fuel 2014 257

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 12, 2014

'EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) is soliciting proposals ( EPA-OAR-OTAQ-14-02 ) that achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions in terms of tons of pollution produced by diesel engines and diesel emissions exposure, from fleets operating at marine and inland water ports. The total estimated funding for this competition is approximately $4 million.

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EPA Diesel Emissions Fleet 257

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'Annual global sales of TMC hybrids. Click to enlarge. Cumulative global sales of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles topped the 6 million unit mark as of 31 December 2013, reaching 6.072 million units. The latest million-unit milestone was achieved in the fastest time yet for Toyota, taking just nine months. As of this month, Toyota sells 24 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid model in approximately 80 countries and regions around the world.

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Toyota Hybrid Sale Japan 255

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'On the eve of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Group, announced a more than $7-billion investment program in North America over the next five years. Winterkorn also confirmed a coming Volkswagen midsize SUV for America and reaffirmed the goal to sell one million vehicles from the Volkswagen and Audi brands per year in the US by 2018.

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2016 America SUV North America 252

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'2015 GMC Canyon All Terrain SLE Extended Cab Short Bed Click to enlarge. GMC revealed the new 2015 Canyon midsize pickup on the eve of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Based on a proven global architecture, the new Canyon will initially offer two engines, with a Duramax 2.8L turbodiesel engine coming in the 2016 model year. The standard 2.5L I-4 is estimated at 193 horsepower (146 kW) and 184 lb-ft of torque (253 N·m), with approximately 90% of the peak torque avail

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GMC 2015 2016 Diesel 249

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 16, 2014

'President Obama announced the selection of a consortium of businesses and universities, led by North Carolina State University, to lead a manufacturing innovation institute for next-generation power electronics. ( Earlier post.). More specifically, the Next Generation Power Electronics Institute is focused on making wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technologies cost-competitive with current silicon-based power electronics in the next five years.

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Obama North Carolina Manufacturer Power 247

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Sales of the Tesla Model S in the fourth quarter of 2013 were the highest in company history by a significant margin. With almost 6,900 vehicles sold and delivered, Tesla exceeded prior guidance by approximately 20%. A higher than expected number of cars was manufactured as a result of an excellent effort by the Tesla production team and key suppliers, particularly Panasonic, the company said.

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Tesla Gasoline-Electric Norway Gasoline 247

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2014

'Petrobras launched new regular and premium ultra-low-sulfur gasoline throughout Brazil on 1 January 2014, entirely replacing the previous regular and premium gasoline. The new gasoline is called S-50 because it has a maximum sulfur content of 50 mg/kg or parts per million (ppm)—representing a 94% decrease in sulfur content compared to gasoline previously sold in Brazil, allowing vehicles to be introduced with modern technology to treat and reduce of sulfur oxide (SO x ) emissions by 35,00

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Brazil Gasoline South Korea 2005 247

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'Alcoa has completed a $300-million expansion at its Davenport, Iowa facility dedicated to supplying aluminum sheet products to the automotive industry. According to automakers, demand for aluminum to produce vehicles—already the second-most-used material used to make cars today—is expected to nearly double by 2025. The amount of aluminum body sheet content in North American vehicles is expected to quadruple by 2015 and increase tenfold by 2025 from 2012 levels. 2014 marks the beginn

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Iowa Saudi Arabia Tennessee 2014 239

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'PowerGenix, a leading developer of high performance, rechargeable Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) batteries, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Asian battery manufacturer Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (ATL). ATL will become PowerGenix’s partner for the high-volume manufacturing of NiZn batteries for the worldwide start-stop Automotive and Industrial energy storage markets. ( Earlier post.).

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Manufacturer Energy Storage Lead Acid Batteries 231

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'The Norwegian project “Modeling-assisted Innovation for the aluminum DC Casting Process” (MINAC), has developed modeling tools that show the impact of even minute adjustments to the casting process on casthouse products. The research being carried out in the MINAC project is of interest both for the quality-focused automotive industry, which is striving to develop cars that are lighter and more environment-friendly, and for the construction industry, where the products used must also satisfy st

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Industrial Industry Production DC 225

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'BYD Qin. Click to enlarge. BYD has officially launched its Qin plug-in hybrid in China; the performance-based hybrid car is intended to target key world markets. European availability of a similar but probably renamed model is planned for early 2015. The dual mode Qin can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.9 seconds and has a top speed of 185 km/h (115 mph) with a claimed overall fuel consumption of up to 1.6 L/100 km (147 mpg US ).

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BYD Plug-in China Plug 218

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Missouri’s multi-university Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Research and Education Consortium , led by Missouri University of Science and Technology, has selected its first two research initiatives for funding. The first initiative will involve research aimed at identifying and establishing a sustainable supply chain for SMRs. Dr. Kwame Awuah-Offei, an associate professor of mining engineering at S&T, Dr.

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Missouri Universal Grant 2013 218

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2014

'Schematic view of fabrication process and a spinel particle surrounded by layered phase surface. Credit: ACS, Lee et al. Click to enlarge. While a large amount of research is targeting the development of new materials and chemistries for Li-ion batteries and “beyond Li-ion” solutions for electric vehicles, work is also proceeding apace on improving and optimizing materials currently in use for such an application.

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Li-ion South Korea Low Cost Lithium Ion 218

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 16, 2014

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to provide approximately $1 billion ( earlier post ) of cost-shared funding to the FutureGen Industrial Alliance (the Alliance) for the FutureGen 2.0 Project. ( Earlier post.) The FutureGen 2.0 Project is a public-private partnership formed for the purpose of developing the world’s first commercial-scale, coal-fueled oxy-combustion electric generation project integrated with carbon capture and geologic storage.

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Coal Carbon Illinois Jacksonville 210

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Recargo, Inc. and VIA Motors have signed an agreement to include Recargo’s PlugShare charging infrastructure information in VIA’s in-dash electric vehicle application; VIA plans to unveil its iPad in-Dash electric vehicle control system in the 2014 production extended range electric vehicles. PlugShare is a comprehensive listing of public, paid and free charging stations with more than 28,000 plugs in North America, and 55,000 global locations currently in its database.

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Plug-in Plug Available Extended Range 210

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'BASF introduced the EvapTrap automotive air intake system hydrocarbon trap. This patented technology is applied directly onto the surface of a vehicle’s air intake box to adsorb engine hydrocarbons without increasing backpressure. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has adopted new LEV III emissions regulations which go into effect in 2015, requiring automakers to further reduce evaporative emissions.

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Emissions Fuel Economy Ozone Conversion 207

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 16, 2014

'YASA Motors, the manufacturer of highly differentiated advanced axial flux motors and generators based on its Yokeless And Segmented Armature (YASA) technology ( earlier post ), has raised £5 million (US$8.2 million) in new financing from a combination of existing and new investors. The money will be used to increase production capacity to meet customer demand and to expand its commercial activities.

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Motor Motors Motoring 2000 199

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 16, 2014

'DEINOVE, a technology company that designs, develops and markets a new generation of industrial processes based on optimized Deinococci bacteria, has produced ethanol at a titer of 9% via its fermentation of biomass sugars in 20L pre-industrial fermentors. In September 2012, the company had reported that its optimized strain of Deinococcus generated ethanol from wheat-based biomass with a titer of 3%. ( Earlier post.).

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2014 Industrial Industry 2012 199

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2014

'The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) is looking to partner on the development of broadly applicable technologies as a means to accelerate technology development and strengthen commercialization of federally-funded research and development. One specific area of interest is advancing technology associated with electrolyte additive solutions to prevent overcharge of Lithium Ion cells. ( NNJ14ZBH016L ).

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Li-ion Lithium Ion Batteries Battery 199

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 16, 2014

'Siluria Technologies, the developer of a proprietary oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) technology for the catalytic conversion of methane (CH 4 ) to ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) with high performance at low temperatures ( earlier post ) and Braskem, a leading producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas, have formed a broad-ranging collaboration around the deployment of Siluria’s technology.

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Conversion Gas Companies Li-ion 186

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2014

'VIA Motors has received an $80-million purchase agreement from Sun Country Highway to electrify hotels and other business as part of a transcontinental electrification project. The privately funded electrification project called Sun Country Highway was launched by founder Kent Rathwell, and has placed more than 1,000 charging stations across Canada to allow electric vehicle owners to travel coast-to-coast with free charging.

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Extended Range Electric Vehicles North America Motor 186