Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

The XL1. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen has confirmed that its XL1 Super Efficient Vehicle, featuring fuel consumption of 0.9 l/100 km (approx. 261 mpg US), will go into limited production at the company’s Osnabrück factory in Germany. The plug-in diesel-electric hybrid, which Volkswagen will showcase at the Geneva show, can cover a distance of up to 50 km (31 miles) in all-electric mode. The XL1 is low weight (795 kg), aerodynamic (Cd 0.189) and with a low center of gravity (1,153 mm high).

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2013 Plug-in MPG Diesel 303

Green Car Reports

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Remember the world's first all-electric monster truck? If you're at the AutoRama Car Show in Kansas City, Missouri this weekend, you'll be able to see it in action. We're told it'll be "participating in two car-crush demonstrations per day", which sounds like a polite way of saying it'll be causing total mechanical carnage as it pulverises a

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2013 Kansas City Missouri Kansas 124

National Green Transportation

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is blasting an NY Times reporter over what appears to be a shoddy Tesla Model S test drive report last weekend. Musk's twitter posts on Monday call the article, by John Broder

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2013 Transportation Tesla Motors Motor 82

Green Cars News

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Buying an automatic instead of a manual car often come at the expense of fuel economy and emissions. But not if you buy a Volvo. The Swedish carmaker has been hard at work reducing the emissions and improving the fuel economy of its models. That includes ensuring that automatic models deliver the same economy as [.]. Volvo CO2 emissions fuel economy

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2013 CO2 Volvo Buy 65

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Total US petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) were down 1.7% for January against the same month a year ago to just under 18 million barrels per day—the lowest level for the month in 18 years, according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API). The January numbers reprise last year’s theme of weak demand. This isn’t surprising given an economy that’s still treading water.” —API Chief Economist John Felmy. Gasoline deliveries were up for the month by 2.4%

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2013 2012 Oil 2000 292

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

UPS announced the deployment of 100 fully electric commercial vehicles that will be delivering packages around the state. The vehicles were manufactured in Stockton, California by Electric Vehicles International ( EVI ). Earlier post.). These UPS electric trucks will reduce the consumption of conventional motor fuel by approximately 126,000 gallons per year. Additional benefits include reduction of carbon emissions and noise.

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2013 Commercial California Fresno 292

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Researchers at startup Liox Power, a California-based company developing rechargeable Li-air batteries, have demonstrated for the first time the operation of a lithium-air battery with a Li anode in a straight-chain alkyl amide electrolyte solvent (N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA)/lithium nitrate (LiNO 3 )). O 2 cell containing this electrolyte composition cycled for more than 2000 h (>80 cycles) at a current density of 0.1 mA/cm 2 , retaining >95% capacity and a consistent charging profile.

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2013 Li-ion 2000 Lithium Air 282

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Achates Power says that its 2-stroke OP engine offers higher best point brake thermal efficiency than diesel or gasoline engines. Source: Achates Power. Click to enlarge. In December 2012, the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) awarded Achates Power, Inc., developer of a two-stroke, compression-ignition (CI) opposed-piston (OP) engine, and AVL Powertrain Engineering, Inc.

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2013 Diesel Power Powered 272

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Electrochemical performance of the modified hollow carbon nanofiber cathode. (a) a) Specific capacities of the PVP modified sulfur cathode at C/5, C/2 and 1C cycling rates. (b) b) Comparison of cycling performance at C/2 with and without the PVP modification. Credit: ACS, Zheng et al. Click to enlarge. Lithium sulfur batteries are of great interest due to their high specific energy and relatively low cost (e.g., earlier post ).

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Lithium Sulfur 2013 Polymer Batteries 272

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Global sales of the Nissan LEAF EV since its introduction in December 2010 have passed the 50,000 mark. The owners of Nissan LEAF around the world have now covered a total distance of more than 260 million km (162 million miles). The highest mileage LEAF globally has been a Japanese customer who has covered more than 175,000 km (109,000 miles) in a car that has only been on sale for two years.

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2013 Global Nissan Sale 264

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Voltage curves of the first discharge?charge charge cycle, K?O O 2 battery (0.5 M KPF6 in DME) at a current density of 0.16 mA/cm 2. The dash lines indicate the calculated thermodynamic potentials for the batteries. Credit: ACS, Ren and Wu. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) have demonstrated the concept of a potassium-air (K?O O 2 ) battery with low overpotentials.

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2013 Lithium Air Concept Batteries 261

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

A comprehensive assessment of black-carbon climate forcing accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres estimates that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1?W?m m -2 , is the second-most important human emission in terms of its climate-forcing in the present-day atmosphere. Only carbon dioxide has a greater forcing, the international team of researchers who performed the study found.

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2013 Climate Carbon Emissions 260

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 10, 2013

Rate performance of all the samples at the 0.1 C rate, 0.5 C rate, 1 C rate, 2 C rate, 5 C rate, and 10 C rate. The GeO 2 /Ge/C sample showed the best rate performance, and the capacity at the 10 C rate was 1680 mAh/g. Credit: ACS, Seng et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers from the University of Wollongong, Australia and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), S.

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2013 Li-ion Conversion Carbon 259

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and California Lithium Battery , Inc. CalBattery) have signed a licensing agreement for an Argonne-developed, silicon-graphene composite anode material for high-energy lithium batteries. CalBattery says it plans to move forward rapidly in the commercial scale-up and production of the novel composite anode material and to offer it in commercial production in the US by 2014.

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2013 Li-ion 2014 Available 258

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Research in mesoscale atmospheric modeling by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte’s Amanda S. Adams and Harvard University’s David W. Keith suggests that the power capacity of large-scale wind farms may have been significantly overestimated. Their open access paper appears in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Large-scale wind farms can comprise hundreds of tower-mounted turbines. Each wind turbine creates a “wind shadow” behind it, in which the turning blades slow the air.

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2013 Wind Charlotte North Carolina 257

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

The new 1.6 CDTI diesel delivers 100 kW/136 hp and 320 N·m of torque for fuel consumption in the Zafira Tourer of 4.1 l/100 km and 109 g/km CO 2. Click to enlarge. At the Geneva Motorshow (7-17 March, 2013) Opel will introduce a new generation diesel engine, the 1.6 CDTI ECOTEC—its cleanest diesel yet—in the seven-seater Zafira Tourer. Equipped with Opel’s “BlueInjection” SCR (selective catalytic reduction) technology, the engine already meets Euro 6 emissions limits.

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2013 MPG Diesel Portugal 252

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Preliminary industry data reveals that year-end geothermal growth in 2012 was up 5% from the previous year, according to the Geothermal Energy Association ( GEA ). This uptick in development— representing 147.05 MW of new gross online geothermal capacity—is due in part to pioneering developments in geothermal technology, GEA said. In 2012, seven new geothermal projects and additions came online in three different states.

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2013 2012 California Nevada 251

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

An Ohio State University team has demonstrated the successful operation of Coal-Direct Chemical Looping (CDCL)—which chemically harnesses coal’s energy and efficiently contains the carbon dioxide produced before it can be released into the atmosphere. The technology is now ready for testing at a larger scale. For 203 continuous hours, an OSU combustion unit produced heat from coal while capturing 99% of the carbon dioxide produced in the reaction.

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2013 Coal Carbon Ohio 250

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Consumer Reports’ own fuel economy tests of vehicles equipped with small turbocharged engines has found in many cases that the turbocharged cars tested by CR have slower acceleration and no better fuel economy than the models with larger conventional engines, the organization said. Consumer Reports tests many cars with small, turbocharged engines, and many competitors with traditional, naturally aspirated engines, large and small.

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2013 Fuel Economy Economy Engine 245

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Ford is partnering with PlugShare, an aggregator of public charge stations, to provide real-time charge station information to drivers of Ford’s plug-in vehicles. Ford’s MyFord Mobile smartphone app and Web portal now features a charging station finder powered by PlugShare.com. In addition to aggregating publicly available lists of charging stations from a variety of sources, PlugShare incorporates crowd-sourced information from users to provide the most comprehensive dataset available.

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2013 Ford Charging Fusion 244

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

In a study published in the journal Energy Economics , MIT researchers have found that a fuel economy standard is at least six to fourteen times less cost effective than a fuel tax when targeting an identical reduction in cumulative gasoline use (20% by 2050).

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2013 MIT Fuel Tax Fuel Economy 241

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Peugeot 2008 HYbrid Air. The energy tank can be seen in the central tunnel, and the low-pressure tank at the rear. Click to enlarge. Like its group partner Citroën ( earlier post ), Peugeot will display an application of the new Hybrid Air technology ( earlier post )—the 2008 HYbrid Air—at the upcoming Geneva show.

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2013 2008 Hybrid Gasoline 241

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Powertrain of the McLaren P1. Click to enlarge. McLaren Automotive will unveil the production-ready version of its P1 plug-in capable hybrid supercar at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. McLaren had introduced a design study version of the P1 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show.) Deliveries are expected to commence in late 2013—the year of McLaren’s 50 th anniversary.

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2013 Plug-in Hybrid Plug 240

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 3, 2013

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) ( DE-FOA-0000855 ) seeking input from stakeholders on proposed cost targets for fuel cells designed for automotive applications. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from developers, manufacturers, end users, and other stakeholders on proposed cost and durability targets for automotive fuel cell systems.

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2013 Fuel 2020 Gasoline 240

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Showa Denko K.K. SDK) has begun volume production of its “Polysol LB Series” water-based anode binder for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The product is a water-based emulsion containing acrylic synthetic resin particles, ensuring lower environmental impact at the time of production compared with solvent-based binders.

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2013 Li-ion Water Lithium Ion 238

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

XL Hybrids hybrid drive unit in place. Click to enlarge. XL Hybrids, Inc., developer of a low-cost hybrid electric powertrain designed specifically for class 1 to 3 commercial fleet use ( earlier post ), signed a non-exclusive installation partnership and distribution agreement with Leggett & Platt Commercial Vehicle Products (CVP), one of the top commercial vehicle upfitters.

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2013 Installation Commercial Hybrid 237

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Structure of door panels. Click to enlarge. Honda Motor Co., has developed a technology to join steel and aluminum and applied it to enable adoption of aluminum for an outer door panel, which has conventionally been made of steel. Honda will adopt this technology first to the North American version of the all-new Acura RLX, which will go on sale in the United States in March 2013, and will expand application sequentially to other models.

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2013 Honda Acura Production 237

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

35 kW free-piston linear generator module. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Institute of Vehicle Concepts in Stuttgart have developed a demonstrator multi-fuel free-piston linear generator (FPLG, or Freikolbenlineargenerator, FKLG in German) as a range extender for electric vehicles.

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2013 Universal Motor Motors 236

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Flow diagram of the solvent extraction and product recovery method used. Credit: ACS, Roberts et al. Click to enlarge. A team at the University of Kansas has demonstrated the feasibility of an integrated wastewater algae-to-biocrude process using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) that can sustainably cultivate algal biomass for biofuel production. A paper on their work is published in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels.

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2013 Kansas Conversion Water 236

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan —Strategic Analysis of Global Market for Range Extenders—estimates the total market for range extenders will exceed 329,000 units by 2018. Extended range electric vehicles (eREVs) will be equipped with different applications such as internal combustion engine range extenders, fuel cell range extenders and micro-gas turbine range extenders.

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2013 Extended Range 2018 Market 232

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Corvette’s new shape memory alloy wire replaces a heavier motorized part. Click to enlarge. As one of a number of advances to reduce its weight (90 lbs/41 kg lighter than its predecessor), the redesigned seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette is the first vehicle to use a GM-developed lightweight shape memory alloy wire in place of a heavier motorized actuator to open and close the hatch vent that releases air from the trunk.

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2013 Parts GM Motor 231

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Internal AC Kinetics testing used an AC induction motor coupled to a large inertia, following a modified EPA city traffic cycle. The AC Kinetics drive used about half of the energy of competitor commercial drives, while also having the smallest tracking error. Source: AC Kinetics. Click to enlarge. Motor control company AC Kinetics, Inc. will introduce its next-generation motor control technology at the upcoming ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., 25-27 February.

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2013 Motor Motors Motoring 231

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Zipcar, Inc. has introduced the battery-electric 2013 Honda Fit EV ( earlier post ) into the Zipcar Portland fleet, with the first vehicles located at Portland State University (PSU). Charging stations for the EVs are provided by ECOtality, Inc. The new Honda Fit EVs are located on PSU’s campus at Parking Structure 1, and are available to all Zipcar members ages 21+ for hourly reservations, starting from $10.25 per hour.

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Portland 2013 Fleet Honda 229

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Electric Defender research vehicle. Click to enlarge. Land Rover will unveil seven new battery-electric Defender research vehicles at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. Although there are no plans for the all-terrain electric Defender to enter series production, the seven EVs will go into service in specialist real world trials later this year.

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Land Rover 2013 South Africa Batteries 227

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Continental and the BMW Group are pooling their development capacities to define the long-term prerequisites for series introduction of highly automated driving on European freeways. In January 2013, the two companies signed an agreement to jointly develop an electronic co-pilot for this purpose. The overarching aim of the research partnership is to pave the way to highly automated driving functions beyond the year 2020.

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2013 BMW Nevada 2012 225

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

IBM and NXP Semiconductors N.V. announced the first results of a smarter traffic pilot conducted in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. The trial demonstrated how the connected car automatically shares braking, acceleration and location data that can be analyzed by the central traffic authority to identify and resolve road network issues.

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2013 Connect Connected Insight 225

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

The D-EGR concept dedicates one (or more) cylinders to EGR production and fuel reforming. Source: SwRI, DEER 2012. Click to enlarge. During its recent Innovation Day presentations ( earlier post ), PSA Peugeot Citroën announced that it will commercialize high-efficiency gasoline engines featuring dedicated exhaust gas recirculation (D-EGR), derived from a collaborative program with SwRI in the US. PSA has filed for two patents on its work.

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2013 2018 Gasoline Engine 225