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Looking to get in a hybrid for cheap? Used Toyota Prius 1.5 HSD 2004-2009 Review

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I knew I wanted something for her that was cheap to maintain, had a reliable automatic transmission, came with cruise control, AC. Having enough electric charge to last a 5-15 minute in silence in a traffic jam. Power steering is electric and as a result we don’t need to check the power steering oil level as there isn’t any.

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Chalmers team identifies two main challenges for bio-hydrocarbon fuel production from cheap sources

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Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have identified two main challenges for renewable biofuel production from cheap sources: lowering the cost of developing microbial cell factories; and establishing more efficient methods for hydrolysis of biomass to sugars for fermentation.

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GlobalData: Russian nickel sanctions would slow electric vehicle adoption

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Sanctioning Russian nickel will slow the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and hinder the decarbonization of Western economies, according to GlobalData. The data and analytics company notes that such actions will simply mean Western countries will be more reliant on Russian oil and gas for longer.

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IIASA-led study proposes Underground Gravity Energy Storage as long-term energy storage solution for renewables

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UGES generates electricity when the price is high by lowering sand into an underground mine and converting the potential energy of the sand into electricity via regenerative braking and then lifting the sand from the mine to an upper reservoir using electric motors to store energy when electricity is cheap.

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IDTechEx: Sales of electric motorcycles in Europe grew 50% y-o-y in 2020

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IDTechEx expects electric motorcycle sales in Europe to have grown at least 50% year-on-year in 2020, building on the momentum of recent years. Growth is also being boosted by consumer awareness and acceptance in Europe of the benefits of electric motorcycles. 2020 is an IDTechEx estimate based on Q1 - Q3 2020 data.

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Volvo Buses in project researching use of second-life electric bus batteries to store solar energy

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Volvo Buses is participating in a research project in which used electric bus batteries are used as solar energy storage units. Batteries from electric bus route 55 in Gothenburg, Sweden are being used for solar energy storage in a second-life application. The battery warehouse consists of 14 used lithium-ion electric bus batteries.

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Lux Research: despite cheap oil, niche plug-in vehicle sales will be resilient; conventional hybrids to be hardest hit

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In the likely case of only a gradual return to previous higher prices—which Lux calls the “cheap oil” scenario in its analysis—then electric vehicle (EV) sales will dip by 20% for a number of years, while plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales will dip by about 14% during that same period, the research firm found.

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