Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the final volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program today for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, and final volume requirements for biomass-based diesel for 2014 to 2017. This rule finalizes higher volumes of renewable fuel than the levels EPA proposed in June ( earlier post ), but still represents a reduction compared to the original statutory requirements.

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Green Car Reports

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

From carmakers and politicians to enthusiastic owners, there are many groups pushing for greater electric-car adoption. But more often that not, the dealers that actually sell the majority of electric cars aren't so interested. Over the past few years, buyers have grumbled about the experience at traditional dealers that sell electric cars.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

As the UN climate conference COP21 opened in Paris, Bill Gates announced the formation of the “ Breakthrough energy coalition ”, an investment grouping of global billionaires focused on developing the technologies that will create a new zero-carbon energy mix. While governments play the key role in large-scale funding commitments for basic and applied research, the coalition says in the “Principles” section of its website, current governmental funding levels for clean energy are insufficient to

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Lear Corporation, a leading global supplier of automotive seating and electrical distribution systems, has acqui red Arada Systems, a Troy, Michigan-based automotive technology company that specializes in Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2X) communications. Lear is a leader in managing power and distributing signals within a vehicle.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

UK-based Emissions Analytics, a specialist in real-world, on-road vehicle emissions measurement and analysis, plans to launch a new initiative in 2016 to help consumers, policy makers and vehicle manufacturers better understand the real-world emissions of NO x from new cars. The accreditation scheme will assess cars using objective performance criteria, recognizing the best performers in emission levels through the ratings awarded.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden) has entered a strategic cooperation with Renesas Electronics for new energy vehicles in China. Based on NEVS’ EV-optimized automotive architecture and Renesas Electronics’ mature technology system, the two parties will develop system solutions tailor-made for new energy vehicles. NEVS has a long-term commitment to the Chinese market and we are dedicated to work with partners who share our vision of shaping mobility for a more sustainable future.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have introduced a new method for making transparent, dirt-repellant coatings that can be applied very quickly and easily. The coatings repel both water and oily liquids and are stable at higher pressures and temperatures. A paper on their work is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Research into surfaces that repel liquids has been ongoing for decades.

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Massachusetts 2015 Water Oil 150

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Researchers at Stanford, with colleagues at University College Cork in Ireland, have shown how to increase the power of corrosion-resistant solar cells, setting a record for solar energy output under water. Instead of pumping electricity into the grid, the power these cells produce would be used in the production of solar fuels. This new work, published in Nature Materials , was led by Stanford materials scientist Paul McIntyre, whose lab has been a pioneer in the field of artificial photosynthe

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

SEAT has developed the Parkfinder app, which indicates where there is available street parking thanks to data gathered via Barcelona's iCity platform. Drivers simply enter where they are headed, or once at their location, ask the app where there is available parking. As any other iCity Project App, it can be used in every European Country as long as it has opened its Information System to the iCity Project. iCity Project started in January 2012 when the cities of Barcelona, Genoa and Bologna sta

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 29, 2015

The new Audi R18 made its world premiere on the occasion of the Audi Sport Finale at the Audi Training Center Munich on Saturday. Audi Sport has fundamentally re-designed the Audi R18 for the 2016 season. The LMP1 race car that will compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2016 features innovative aerodynamics; represents the next stage in lightweight design; and has a modified hybrid system with lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, plus an effici

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

Dearman has begun on-vehicle testing of the Generation 2 zero-emission transport refrigeration system. The system is powered by an innovative, liquid nitrogen Dearman engine, which replaces the standard diesel engine. ( Earlier post.) As a result, the Dearman system is zero-emission, producing no harmful NO x or particulates, and it helps to significantly reduce CO 2 emissions.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

A team at Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) ( earlier post ) has developed a nanostructured sulfur cathode with a truffle-like architecture which comprises a sulfur particle embedded with hollow carbon nanospheres and encapsulated with an ion-selective, flexible layer-by-layer (LBL) nanomembrane decorated with conductive carbon. In a paper in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science , the researchers report that such cathodes with a final loading of 65% sulfur can operate

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

France-based Heuliez Bus, a brand of CNH Industrial N.V., has entered the electric bus market with its new battery-electric GX 337 ELEC, which will be tested by the French public transport operator RATP. The 12-meter bus is propelled by a 175 kW electric motor suited for low operating speeds and frequent stops. The bus is equipped for all-day use with night-time recharging and pre-heating in the winter months at bus depots.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

Coccolithophores —unicellular, eukaryotic phytoplankton (algae)—have been increasing in relative abundance in the North Atlantic over the last 45 years, as carbon input into ocean waters has increased. Their relative abundance increased by an order of magnitude during this sampling period. This finding was diametrically opposed to what scientists had expected since coccolithophores make their plates out of calcium carbonate, which is becoming more difficult as the ocean becomes more

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

A team at Kyoto University in Japan has investigated the production of renewable diesel hydrocarbons from rapeseed oil using hydrothermal hydrogenation and subsequent decarboxylation in a batch-type reaction vessel. By blending the obtained hydrocarbons from rapeseed oil with an adequate amount of fossil diesel, the blended fuel could satisfy the specification standard of fossil diesel in Japan.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

Researchers within the RS2E network on electrochemical energy storage (Réseau sur le stockage électrochimique de l’énergie) in France have developed the first sodium-ion battery in an 18650 format. The main advantage of the prototype is that it relies on sodium, an element far more abundant and less costly than lithium. The energy density of the new Na-ion cell is 90 Wh/kg, a figure comparable with the first lithium-ion batteries; its lifespan exceeds 2,000 care/discharge cycles.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

The Norwegian postal service Posten, which already has a fleet of 900 electric vehicles (cars, bikes, quadricycles, trailers), is ordering 240 units of Renault’s battery electric Kangoo Maxi Z.E. With a range of 170 km (106 miles) NEDC (80 to 125 km under usual driving conditions), Kangoo Maxi Z.E. is well-suited to the everyday tasks of administrations and companies.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

Additive manufacturing developer and supplier. EOS has entered a technical partnership with Williams Grand Prix Engineering and Williams Advanced Engineering. The partnership aims at providing Williams with direct and high level insights into the latest additive manufacturing (AM) technologies offered by EOS to complement their existing manufacturing processes, and to support their own AM development project.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

Innovations in autonomous vehicles, connectivity, and mobility-on-demand will have a profound impact on consumers, particularly among younger and older people, according to a new study by KPMG. With these age groups set to embrace these technological and transformational changes, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the US will soar by approximately one trillion additional miles per year by 2050.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

Navitas Systems LLC recently was awarded a four-year $7.2 million contract to develop second generation (Gen 2) lithium-ion batteries for military vehicles. The US military and most NATO countries to-date have used lead-acid batteries in the 6T form factor to provide starting and energy storage for its ground vehicles. While this system is reliable and fairly inexpensive, it suffers from a number of significant drawbacks including low cycle life, low energy density/specific energy, poor recharge

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

by Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com. Crude oil just capped off a third straight week of declines, as WTI nears the $40 per barrel threshold. Goldman Sachs is once again raising the possibility of oil dipping into the $20s per barrel. That spells more pain for the energy sector. Many companies have already slashed spending and culled their payrolls, but the total number of job losses continues to climb.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

LG Chem is providing 140 MWh worth of batteries for use in ESS systems for STEAG power plants in Germany. ( Earlier post.) As part of the world’s largest ESS (energy storage systems) project, STEAG GBS (Großbatterie-Systeme) plants belonging to the German power supplier in North-Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland Palatinate will be modernized. With 140 MWh, the storage systems will deliver enough energy to supply 10,000 households per day with electricity.

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Germany Energy Storage Batteries Battery 150

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

Jaguar Land Rover will double the size of its Engine Manufacturing Center (EMC) in the UK as part of a £450-million (US$679-million) expansion program. Total investment in the site, which opened a year ago, now stands at £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) making it the most significant new automotive manufacturing facility to be built in the UK in the last decade.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

The California Air Resources Board sent an In Use Compliance letter notifying Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche to start the process necessary to recall and repair illegal emissions software in all 3-liter diesel vehicles, model years 2009 – 2015, sold in California. The companies will now have 45 business days to assemble their plan and deliver it to the Air Resources Board.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Consumers in Fort Collins and Loveland, Colo. will have a special group-buy Black Friday opportunity to purchase a 2015 Nissan LEAF for just more than $10,000, saving up to $21,000 off the sticker price. The program, offered in partnership with Tynan’s Nissan and Drive Electric Northern Colorado (DENC), starts Friday, 27 November and runs through 31 December 2015.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Federal-Mogul Powertrain, a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation, has developed a new piston ring for two-stroke diesel engines that reduces oil consumption and marine pollution by allowing the quantity of lubricant used to be greatly reduced. The patented surface topography of the new eWAVE rings has been designed to distribute oil more evenly around the cylinder bores, enabling less oil to provide greater protection. eWAVE is the first ring that disperses oil around the bore in a hom

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

In its latest Leaderboard report on what it sees as the top 8 automotive Li-ion battery companies, Navigant research has put LG Chem in first place, followed closely by Panasonic and Samsung SDI in the “Leaders” segment. To qualify for the Leaders category, a company must perform exceedingly well in strategy and execution. Navigant’s second category consists of the “Contenders”, which are companies that have exhibited staying power in the market despite relatively slow growth while boasting sign

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

The Open Charge Alliance ( OCA ) consortium has decided to standardize the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) at OASIS , an international open standards development organization (SDO). OCA said that the move to OASIS will provide an expeditious standardization process and potential pathway to integrate OCPP with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) framework.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

The Volkswagen Group has proposed the specific technical fixes for the non-compliant 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter diesel EA 189 engines equipped with the software defeat device resulting in excessive NO x emissions to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrtbundesamt, KBA). Following an examination, these measures have been ratified by the KBA.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Marine BioEnergy, Inc. was awarded $2.1 million in funding from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) under the agency’s OPEN 2015 solicitation ( earlier post ). The funding will be used to research and develop open ocean farming of kelp as a biomass feedstock. The kelp will be processed into biocrude and further to hydrocarbons ready for commercial refineries.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Ensyn ( earlier post ) has been granted a key regulatory approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its renewable gasoline product, RFGasoline. This approval, pursuant to Title 40 CFR Part 79 promulgated under the Clean Air Act, is required for the sale of RFGasoline into US commerce. This approval follows the recently announced Part 79 approval of Ensyn’s renewable diesel product, RFDiesel. ( Earlier post.).

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

NXP Semiconductors N.V. and Tongji University announced the continuation of their successful collaboration through the new Shanghai Intelligent and Connected Vehicle Demonstration Program. Launched in October, the Shanghai Intelligent and Connected Vehicle Demonstration Program is one of 46 pilot programs under the Made in China 2025 plan, created with the goal of building up to 20,000 smart, connected vehicles by 2019.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

The 1.6-liter Renault Espace diesel is the latest vehicle to come in the emissions crosshairs of German environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH). DUH published results of emissions testing by the University of Bern showing that NO x emissions from New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) driven tests with a warm engine exceed the applicable limit for Euro 6 vehicles 13- to 25-fold.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent Nº 9,193,979 for ethanol-tolerant microorganisms that convert cellulosic biomass to ethanol. Inventors Richard A. Kohn and Seon-Woo Kim are faculty members at the University of Maryland where the organisms were first discovered. ( Earlier post.) The patent describes using the microorganisms to produce ethanol from crop or waste biomass like food waste, crop residues (e.g. corn stalks), algae, or leaves.

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