Green Car Congress

JANUARY 31, 2020

In order to advance its fleet electrification and emissions reduction goals, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) has deployed six new XL plug-in hybrid electric Ford F-150 pickup trucks to its fleet. The trucks were unveiled during a ceremony at the SWBNO Central Yard on 28 January 28, which featured New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, as well as representatives from SWBNO and project partners including New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (RPC), Southeast Louisiana Clean Fuel

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Green Car Reports

JANUARY 27, 2020

Quick! List all the car factories in the U.S. that produce only electric vehicles. It’s a trick question, really, because today, there’s only one. That’s the Tesla assembly plant in Fremont, California, where the company’s three EV models are all built. On Monday, GM announced the U.S. will get another all-EV plant. The.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 31, 2020

Wright Electric announced the start of its electric propulsion development program for its flagship 186-seat electric aircraft, named Wright 1. In order to achieve the commercial flight capability of the Wright 1, Wright is engineering electrical systems at the megawatt scale by building a 1.5 MW electric motor and inverter at 3 kilovolts. Wright intends to conduct ground tests of its motor in 2021 and flight tests in 2023.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 29, 2020

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University have used a gallium, indium, tin and bismuth alloy to generate hydrogen, when placed in contact with an aluminum plate immersed in water. The hydrogen is then used in a PEM fuel cell. An open-access paper on their work appears in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy , from AIP Publishing.

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Hydrogen Chinese Fuel Production 476

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 28, 2020

Ballard Power Systems announced that its proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel-cell technology and products have now successfully powered Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles in commercial Heavy- and Medium-Duty Motive applications for an industry-leading cumulative total of more than 30 million kilometers (18.5 million miles) on roads around the globe. Ballard’s FCmove 8 th -generation fuel-cell module.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 28, 2020

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office, in collaboration with the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office, has established technical targets for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in long-haul tractor-trailer Class 8 truck applications. These targets will help guide early stage R&D and serve as benchmarks for tracking technology. Technical targets for advanced truck technologies are developed with input from the 21 st Century Truck Partnership (21CTP) and will be included in ne

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 26, 2020

In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, Amazon will deploy 10,000 electric delivery rickshaws in India by 2025. This commitment comes after successful pilots across different cities in 2019; learnings from these pilots have helped the company create scalable and long term EV variants to build this large fleet. These EVs are in addition to the global commitment of 100,000 electric vehicles in the delivery fleet by 2030 announced in the Climate Pledge signed by Amazon. ( Earlier post.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 10, 2020

In a first, University of Sydney researchers have found evidence of how hydrogen causes embrittlement of steels. When hydrogen moves into steel, it makes the metal become brittle, leading to catastrophic failures. This has been one of the major challenges in moving towards a greener, hydrogen-fueled future, where steel tanks and pipelines are essential components that must be able to survive in pure hydrogen environments.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 28, 2020

Of the 11.1 billion tons of freight shipped by trucks in the United States in 2018, 7.3 billion tons (two-thirds) were shipped less than 100 miles. Another 1.8 billion tons were shipped between 100 and 249 miles and 1.2 billion tons between 250 and 499 miles. Source: US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Federal Highway Administration, Freight Analysis Framework, version 4.5.1, 2019.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2020

Norway-based energy company Equinor has contracted with Eidesvik Offshore for the Viking Energy supply vessel, which is being retrofitted to make it capable of covering long distances fueled by carbon-free ammonia. The vessel will transport supplies to installations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The Viking Energy. (Photo: Eidesvik Offshore).

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 27, 2020

Rolls-Royce now holds a 73.1% majority stake in Berlin-based electricity storage specialist Qinous GmbH. The Group acquired the shareholdings of all other current financial investors, including that of investment holdings company IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (Berlin). The founding shareholders will continue to hold shares in the company and will retain their current roles in the business.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 30, 2020

Energy major Total, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Saft, and Groupe PSA with Opel, intend to establish a joint venture named Automotive Cell Company (ACC) to develop EV battery manufacturing in Europe. The project will leverage cutting-edge R&D, notably provided by Saft, in order to produce EV batteries starting in 2023. The partners say that the technology used will offer the highest level of energy performance, both in terms of range and charging time, and a lower carbon footprint than th

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Europe Battery Batteries France 378

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 26, 2020

GTI, a research, development and training organization focused on natural gas and energy markets, is launching a hydrogen technology center. GTI focuses its R&D efforts on the generation of clean hydrogen using hydrocarbon fuels that incorporate carbon capture and/or carbon sequestration in a cost-effective manner. These technology efforts are directed at both large-scale hydrogen production using natural gas feedstock, and smaller distributed hydrogen production for transportation or remote pow

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2020

The Rhodium Group, an independent research provider, estimates that, after a sharp uptick in 2018, US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell by 2.1% in 2019 based on preliminary energy and economic data. This decline was due almost entirely to a drop in coal consumption. Coal-fired power generation fell by a record 18% year-on-year to its lowest level since 1975.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 7, 2020

At CES, Toyota revealed plans to build a prototype “city” of the future on a 175-acre (0.71 km 2 ) site at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. Called the Woven City , it will be a fully connected ecosystem powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Envisioned as a “living laboratory,” the Woven City will serve as a home to full-time residents and researchers who will be able to test and to develop technologies such as autonomy, robotics, personal mobility, smart homes and artificial intelligence in a real-world

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 1, 2020

Researchers at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology are developing a new method to dissociate water vapor into hydrogen gas by microwave-generated plasma (plasmolysis). A paper on their work appears in the journal Fuel. (A) An experimental setup for full microwave hydrogen production and (b) Schematic of the plasma reactor placed inside the microwave.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 27, 2020

General Motors will invest $2.2 billion at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to produce a variety of all-electric trucks and SUVs. GM’s first all-electric truck will be a pickup with production scheduled to begin in late 2021. This will be followed soon after by the Cruise Origin, a shared, electric, self-driving vehicle unveiled by Cruise in San Francisco last week.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 30, 2020

In a commentary in the journal Joule , Rob McGinnis, founder and and CEO of Prometheus , a company that is developing technology to remove carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into fuels, discusses the technology advances that could lead to the potential price-competitiveness of renewable gasoline and jet with fossil fuels. Recent breakthroughs in separations and catalysis, along with long-trend reductions in solar and wind electricity costs, have significantly increased the potential for cos

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2020

by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research. Total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by all vehicles in the United States vary greatly across the individual states. The latest annual data from the Federal Highway Administration show that in 2018 the maximum (348,796 million miles in California) was 94.5 times greater than the minimum (3,691 million miles in the District of Columbia).

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 2, 2020

Researchers in Israel have designed a separate-cell photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting system with decoupled hydrogen and oxygen cells for centralized hydrogen production. A paper describing their system is publishedin the journal Joule. Photovoltaic-powered water splitting (PV-electrolysis) systems that couple commercially-available photovoltaic and water electrolysis technologies have already been demonstrated in several pilot plants and hydrogen refueling stations.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2020

Volvo Cars has opened order books for the XC40 Recharge P8 AWD ( earlier post ), the company’s first fully electric car which is based on the best-selling SUV, in selected markets. The company says it has already received “several thousands” of firm orders even before the formal start of sales. Production and the first customer deliveries of the XC40 Recharge P8 are scheduled to begin later this year.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2020

Researchers at the University of Michigan, McGill University and McMaster University have developed a binary copper?iron catalyst for photoelectrochemical CO 2 reduction toward methane. The work, presented in a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers a unique, highly efficient, and inexpensive route for solar fuels synthesis.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 31, 2020

King County Metro (Metro)—the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle—has agreed to purchase 40 sixty-foot battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty transit buses from New Flyer, with plans to order an additional 80 battery-electric buses in the coming year. Upon execution of the purchase agreement with Metro, the order will be added to New Flyer’s backlog.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 30, 2020

General Motors is resurrecting the HUMMER as an electric truck in the GMC family. The GMC HUMMER EV truck will showcase the GMC brand’s design and engineering and will feature 1,000 horsepower; 11,500 lb-ft (15,592 N·m) of torque; and acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds. Initial availability is slated for Fall 2021. GMC will introduce the GMC HUMMER EV during this weekend’s Super Bowl, in an ad titled “Quiet Revolution.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2020

Metal particles from the abrasion of brake pads (brake abrasion dust, BAD) may cause inflammation and reduce the ability of immune cells to kill bacteria, similarly to particles derived from diesel exhaust particles (DEP), according to a new study led by researchers at King’s College London. The researchers say this suggests that particulate pollution from brake wear—richly metallic, non-tailpipe-derived particles—also impairs the ability of immune cells to ingest respiratory pathoge

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Exhaust Diesel London Pollution 348

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2020

E-Trucks Europe , a manufacturer of electric-hydrogen hybrid commercial vehicles, has ordered five HyRange fuel cell systems from Proton Motor. The five hydrogen fuel cell systems will be used to outfit electric refuse trucks as part of the EU project REVIVE (Refuse Vehicle Innovation and Validation in Europe). The tender, which runs from 2018 to 2021, aims to build and put into operation 15 electric vehicles for the collection of waste in Europe.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 31, 2020

Together with start-up Circulor , Mercedes-Benz is conducting a pilot project for transparency on CO 2 emissions in the cobalt supply chain as part of STARTUP AUTOBAHN. The project partners use blockchain technology to track the emissions of climate-relevant gases as well as the amount of secondary material along the complex supply chains of battery cell manufacturers.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 15, 2020

A Rutgers-led team has developed a new biomass pretreatment process that could make it much cheaper to produce biofuels such as ethanol from plant waste and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The approach, featuring an ammonia-salt-based solvent that rapidly turns plant fibers into sugars needed to make ethanol, works well at close to room temperature, unlike conventional processes, according to their open-access paper in the journal Green Chemistry.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 25, 2020

Audi is pricing its 2020 A8 TFSI e plug-in hybrid with a MSRP of $94,000 in the US. Joining the flagship sedan model line, the Audi A8 TFSI e serves as the first plug-in hybrid variant of the A8. ( Earlier post.) By comparison, the starting MSRP for a 2020 Audi A8 55 TFSI quattro with automatic transmission is $85,200. Audi anticipates that customers purchasing the 2020 Audi A8 TFSI e will be eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $6,795.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2020

OXIS Energy has successfully tested its Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery cell prototypes at 471Wh/kg and is confident of achieving 500Wh/kg in the next 12 months. Consistently shipping cells at 400Wh/kg to its clients in Europe, the US and Japan, OXIS is collaborating with major European chemical partners to develop an advanced lithium metal protection mechanism to ensure a significant improvement in the Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) life cycle.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2020

AKASOL will supply battery systems for more than 40 Coradia iLint hydrogen trains ( earlier post ), which have been ordered from Alstom by the Lower Saxony Transit Authority and the Rhine/Main Regional Transport Association. With this major order in the low double-digit million euro range, AKASOL is expanding its operations in the area of fuel cell powertrains, as well as extending its customer base.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 28, 2020

Solaris will introduce a new 15-meter electric bus—the low-entry Solaris Urbino 15 LE electric—to its portfolio this year. The tri-axle bus is built mainly with customers of the Scandinavian market in mind. The vehicle will be available both as a typical city bus (class I) and also as an intercity bus (class II). Solaris offered its first tri-axle buses of 15 meters in 1999.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2020

The Hydrogen Council has published a new report, Path to Hydrogen Competitiveness: A Cost Perspective , demonstrating that the cost of hydrogen solutions will fall sharply within the next decade, sooner than previously expected. As scale-up of production, distribution and equipment manufacturing continues, cost is projected to decrease by up to 50% by 2030 for a wide range of applications, making hydrogen financially competitive with other low-carbon alternatives and, in some cases, even convent

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2020

Domestic production of lithium, the lightest of elemental metals, is considered a priority for the US. It is essential for the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries commonly used for everything from electric vehicles to cell phones and laptops. However, lithium is sourced almost exclusively from other countries, either concentrated using a solar evaporation process from natural brine sources or recovered from ore.

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