May, 2020

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SwRI engineers develop near-zero emissions diesel engine technology; 90% reduction of NOx

Green Car Congress

Southwest Research Institute engineers have developed the next generation of clean diesel engine technology to reduce hazardous nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and carbon dioxide emissions while minimizing fuel consumption. Working with regulatory agencies, vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, SwRI combined engine modifications with integrated aftertreatment technology and control strategies to reach near-zero emissions levels (0.02 g/hp-hr NO x emissions).

Engine 545
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Musk announces Tesla HQ is leaving California, threatens moving assembly out too

Green Car Reports

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced via Twitter on Saturday that the company will move both its headquarters and future programs to Texas or Nevada immediately. Thursday night Tesla had moved to recall about 30% of its workers at its Fremont, California, assembly plant. Alameda County, where its Fremont assembly plant is located, moved to block that.

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Israeli firm developing disruptive EV platform technology

Discover EV

Vehicle platforms have been revolutionary in the automotive world since becoming common in the early 2000s. Building multiple different models on the same underpinnings has numerous advantages, and with electric vehicles there is even greater flexibility than with internal combustion. REE reckons that its platform could be the next big thing for EVs.

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Ford Mustang Mach-E: All-electric SUV can charge 73 miles in just 10 minutes

Green Cars News

Latest testing shows that all-electric Mustang Mach-E drivers can get up to 73 miles of range by being plugged in to a fast charger for just 10 minutes, this is up by almost 30% from early estimates.

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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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Sabrewing Cargo Drone Rises to Air Force Challenge

Cars That Think

The Rhaegal cargo drone pivots to new possible military missions under a U.S. Air Force contract.

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NREL researchers evaluating blockchain for transactive energy applications

Green Car Congress

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are evaluating the use of blockchain for transactive energy using hardware in the laboratory’s Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). Distributing grid operational decision-making is revolutionary. It’s really like somebody in the 1980s expounding on the economic opportunity of the Internet.

Energy 545

More Trending

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Researchers demonstrate fossil fuel-free jet propulsion with air plasmas

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A team of researchers at the Institute of Technological Sciences at Wuhan University has demonstrated a prototype design of a propulsion thruster that utilizes air plasma induced by microwave ionization. Such a jet engine simply uses only air and electricity to produce high temperature and pressurized plasma for jet propulsion. An open-access paper on their work is published in the journal AIP Advances.

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Successful first flight of the world?s largest all-electric aircraft: Cessna Grand Caravan 208B

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magniX, a company developing electric propulsion systems for aircraft, and AeroTEC, a leading independent company focused on aerospace testing, engineering and certification, announced the successful flight of an all-electric Cessna Grand Caravan 208B. The successful flight of the eCaravan, enabled by a 750-horsepower (560 kW) magni500 propulsion system, took place at the AeroTEC Flight Test Center at the Grant County International Airport (KMWH) in Moses Lake, Washington on Thursday.

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Alstom reports successful 1.5y trial operation of Coradia iLint fuel cell trains, next project phase begins

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After 530 days and more than 180,000 driven kilometers, the successful trial operation of the world’s first two hydrogen trains was officially completed at the end of February. Two pre-series trains of Alstom’s Coradia iLint model have been in passenger service since September 2018. ( Earlier post.). From 2022, 14 Coradia iLint series trains will replace existing diesel multiple units. ( Earlier post.

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GM Spring Hill to run on 100% solar power by 2022

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General Motors expects its Spring Hill Manufacturing plant will be powered by 100% solar energy beginning in late 2022. A green tariff agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority is expected to supply up to 100 megawatts of solar energy per year, or the amount of electricity consumed by 18,000 United States households annually. The energy will be supplied by a solar farm in Lowndes County, Mississippi, currently under development by Origis Energy.

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

Brief

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Researchers develop new composite membrane for direct ethanol fuel cells

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Researchers from IPEN in Brazil, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany, and INRA in Canada have developed a novel composite membrane for direct ethanol fuel cells. A paper on their work is published in the Journal of Membrane Science. Ethanol has five times higher volumetric energy density (6.7 kWh/L) than hydrogen (1.3 kWh/L) and can be used safely in fuel cells for power generation.

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Study estimates fuel economy improvements to US light-duty vehicles from 1975–2018 saved 2T gallons of fuel, 17B tons of CO2

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A team from the University of Tennessee and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has the fuel savings due to fuel economy improvements over the past 43 years amount to approximately two trillion gallons of gasoline. They further estimated that roughly one-fifth of the savings can be attributed to gasoline price increases over the period and four-fifths to fuel economy and greenhouse gas (GHG) standards.

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Groupe Renault working on ~20 blockchain projects

Green Car Congress

Groupe Renault has identified some 20 projects to deploy blockchain technology. These projects concern, in particular, the traceability of financial transactions and communication with equipment manufacturers and the sales network. Some of these will be deployed soon. For Groupe Renault, blockchain has to be used as a collaborative, multi-company digital tool within the automotive sector, thereby becoming a source of increased productivity and collective intelligence.

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Every Volvo model now comes with a 180 km/h speed limit and Care Key

Green Car Congress

Every new Volvo car now comes with a limited top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph), as Volvo Cars delivers on its promise made last year to introduce such a limitation and goes beyond regulation and legislation to help close the remaining gap to zero serious injuries and fatalities in traffic. Apart from the speed cap, every Volvo car will now also come with a Care Key, which allows Volvo drivers to set additional limitations on the car’s top speed, for example before lending their car to other family

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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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Wärtsilä gas engines to burn 100% hydrogen

Green Car Congress

The technology group Wärtsilä is developing the combustion process in its gas engines to enable them to burn 100% hydrogen fuel. Wärtsilä has researched hydrogen as a fuel for 20 years, and has tested its engines with blends of up to 60% hydrogen and 40% natural gas. This development is part of the company’s strategy to future-proof its engine technology in line with the global trend towards decarbonization of the energy and marine markets.

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Craiova, Romania orders 16 Solaris articulated electric buses

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Solaris and the Romanian city of Craiova (Romania’s sixth-largest city) have signed a contract for the delivery of 16 18-meter articulated Urbino 18 electric buses. The articulated vehicles will make it to Craiova in the first half of 2021. The purchase marks the first use of electric buses in the city; therefore under the contract Solaris will also deliver charging devices, both for overnight and fast pantograph charging.

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Frankfurt orders 13 Ebusco electric buses

Green Car Congress

Ebusco will deliver 13 electrical buses to Frankfurt with the Transdev Group in Germany in the end of 2020. The new low floor Ebusco 2.2 buses will be in operation in Frankfurt by Transdev Rhein-Main GmbH under the Alpina brand, which will replace the current diesel buses. The Transdev Group is Germany’s largest private mobility provider. These 13 buses will be the 12-meter Ebusco 2.2 buses, low-floor version.

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50 MWh of energy delivered wirelessly to Link Transit, Wenatchee WA bus fleet by Momentum Dynamics system

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Link Transit of Wenatchee, Washington has achieved 50 megawatt-hours of energy delivered wirelessly to its electric bus fleet. Link Transit is the first electric bus operator in the Americas to reach this technology milestone, and the first in the world to do so in under two years. The wireless charging system was developed by Pennsylvania-based Momentum Dynamics, the provider of efficient, automated high-power wireless charging for electric vehicles.

Fleet 435
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Osaka researchers find formate dehydrogenase reduces CO2 directly to formic acid

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Professor Yutaka Amao of the Osaka City University Artificial Photosynthesis Research Center and Ryohei Sato, a 1 st year Ph.D. student of the Graduate School of Science, have shown that the catalyst formate dehydrogenase reduces carbon dioxide directly to formic acid. Their work, published in a paper in the RSC’s New Journal of Chemistry , points to a catalyst in developing and designing an artificial photosynthesis system that efficiently converts carbon dioxide into organic molecules.

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PSI team develops web tool for consumers to compare environmental impact of passenger cars in detail

Green Car Congress

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute have developed a web tool called the Carculator that can be used to compare the environmental performance of passenger cars in detail. The program determines the environmental balance of vehicles with different size classes and powertrains, and presents the results in comparative graphics. The entire life cycle of the passenger cars is taken into account, including the manufacture of the vehicles and the environmentally relevant emissions from driving.

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First Lexus EV to offer 10-year battery warranty

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Lexus’ first full electric vehicle, the UX 300E, unveiled in China in November 2019, will offer a 10-year (or 1 million kilometer / 621,000 mile) battery warranty. ( Earlier post.) The UX 300e will be introduced to selected markets in Europe by the end of the year. The UX 300e is powered by a newly developed 54.3 kWh battery pack which supports 400 km (249 miles) of range in the NEDC cycle, corresponding to more than 300 km (186 miles) target range in the WLTP cycle.

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Hyundai Motor showcases miniature model of its smart mobility ecosystem

Green Car Congress

Hyundai Motor will display a 1:8-scale model of its ‘UAM-PBV-Hub’ smart mobility ecosystem ( earlier post ) in its headquarters lobby until June 12 and at global events afterward. The 1:8-scale model on display is a miniature of the exhibit shown at CES 2020 and includes integration of its Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Purpose Built Vehicles (PBV) and Hub (Mobility Transit Base) smart mobility solutions as part of a dynamic human-centered future cityscape.

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Monash team proposes roadmap to renewable ammonia economy; 3 generations of technology

Green Car Congress

While there is global potential to generate renewable energy at costs already competitive with fossil fuels, a means of storing and transporting this energy at a very large scale is a roadblock to large-scale investment, development and deployment. Ammonia produced from renewables can be a viable liquid fuel replacement for many current-day uses of fossil fuels, including as a shipping bunker fuel; as a diesel substitute in transportation; as a replacement fuel in power turbines; and even as a p

Renewable 419
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California Energy Commission awards $7.8M to two lithium recovery projects; “Lithium Valley”

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The California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded $7.8 to two lithium recovery projects. Uniquely high concentrations of the dissolved soft metal are found in the brine produced by the state’s geothermal hotspots. The Salton Sea Known Geothermal Area contains an estimated six million tons of recoverable lithium within presently available geothermal resources.

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Battery500 project has achieved 350 Wh/kg and more than 350 cycles

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EV battery costs have declined significantly over the past ten years, from more than $1,000 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to less than $200/kWh. Increasing cell energy is one way to decrease cost even further, as a higher specific energy value will result in fewer materials needed for the same total battery energy. However, it is difficult to increase the energy density beyond that of today’s cells, which are approximately 220 Wh/kg using graphite anodes.

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Ozinga Energy and Ingevity to field adsorbed natural gas bi-fuel pickup

Green Car Congress

Ingevity and Ozinga Energy are partnering to begin a field demonstration of adsorbed natural gas (ANG) bi-fuel pickup trucks. Developed by Adsorbed Natural Gas Products, Inc. (ANGP) and Ingevity, the ANG system is made possible by the performance of Ingevity’s Nuchar activated carbon that significantly lowers the natural gas storage pressure, reduces the system’s complexity and captures the environmental benefits and cost savings of natural gas when used as a transportation fuel.

Gas 415
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EU GRAMOFON project ends after 42 months with promising results on CO2 capture

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The European GRAMOFON Project, coordinated by AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Center has developed an innovative CO 2 capture process based on novel nanomaterials and microwave energy. The project results therefore contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action of the UN Global Compact through decarbonization with the major advantage of doing so at a lower cost than the technologies currently in use.

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PNNL team develops onboard fuel separation technology to enable octane-on-demand for improved fuel economy

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Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed an onboard separation system that could support increased fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions as part of an octane-on-demand fuel-delivery system. A paper on the team’s exploratory research, which was supported under the DOE’s Co-Optima initiative, was published in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels.

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ORNL team develops 3D interconnected polymer/ceramic composite as a thin film solid electrolyte

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a thin-film, highly conductive solid-state electrolyte made of a polymer and ceramic-based composite for lithium metal batteries. Solid electrolytes are promising in enabling lithium metal to replace the conventional graphite anode to significantly increase the capacity and energy density of lithium-ion batteries.

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Spreadable interlayer increases solid-state battery current density 10-fold, increases stability

Green Car Congress

Inorganic NASCION?type Li conductors have great potential to bring high capacity solid?state lithium batteries (SSLBs) to realization, due to properties such as high ionic conductivity, stability under ambient conditions, wide electrochemical stability window, and inexpensive production. However, despite the merits, the integration of NASCION-type electrolytes in SSLBs is still hampered by the formation of a chemically unstable interface when it is coupled with a Li metal anode.

Batteries 397
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Kumi launches CAHRA Map to support companies’ due diligence in minerals and metals supply chains

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London-based sustainability consultancy Kumi, a market leader in responsible sourcing practices for global supply chains, has launched a due diligence tool called CAHRA Map to enable companies in the minerals and metals sector to identify “conflict-affected and high-risk areas” (CAHRAs). The identification of CAHRAs is a critical step in the responsible sourcing requirements set out by, for example, the London Metals Exchange (LME) and the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI).

Supplies 397
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Arcola Energy and Optare launch Metrodecker H2 hydrogen fuel cell double-deck bus

Green Car Congress

Arcola Energy Ltd and Optare Group Ltd launched a hydrogen fuel cell double-deck bus product for UK and international markets. With both bus and power system built in the UK, the team believes the new bus will make an important contribution to city air quality and a low carbon economic recovery. The Metrodecker H2 hydrogen bus product is built on the proven Optare Metrodecker EV platform.

Hydrogen 397
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Global Clean Energy buys Bakersfield refinery for $40M, converting to produce renewable diesel

Green Car Congress

Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc., through a subsidiary, has purchased Alon Bakersfield Properties, Inc., a subsidiary of Delek US Holdings, Inc. and the owner of the Alon Bakersfield Refinery. The total cash consideration paid to Delek US Holdings for the purchase was $40 million. Alon Bakersfield Refinery is an existing oil refinery located in Bakersfield, California.

Renewable 389
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Hyundai Motor to establish hydrogen refueling station for fuel cell electric buses at Incheon Airport with partners, provide buses

Green Car Congress

Hyundai Motor Company is partnering with Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), Air Liquide Korea and Hydrogen Energy Network (HyNet) to establish a hydrogen refueling station for fuel cell electric buses at Incheon Airport’s Terminal 2 by March 2021. Hyundai will support the construction cost of the hydrogen refueling station while providing up to 12 fuel cell electric buses as well as their maintenance and service.

Hyundai 377