Green Car Congress

MARCH 25, 2014

'The Honda Smart Home US integrates a number of technologies, and is managed by Honda’s Home Energy Management System (HEMS). Click to enlarge. Honda marked the opening of Honda Smart Home US, showcasing technologies that enable zero net energy living and transportation, including Honda’s home energy management system (HEMS), a proprietary hardware and software system that monitors, controls and optimizes electrical generation and consumption throughout the home’s microgrid.

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DC Honda Energy California 393

Creative Greenius

MARCH 22, 2014

'Some cities just turn out the lights for an hour to celebrate Earth Hour. But not Manhattan Beach which is launching its MB2025 vision of a 100% renewably energy powered city by 2025 at a special forum in the late afternoon and then filling the world famous Manhattan Beach pier with hundreds of people for Earth Hour to demonstrate their support for clean energy and their ability to Light Up Your Future.

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Light Future Climate Change Climate 170

Green Car Reports

MARCH 25, 2014

'Is it possible to make a gasoline engine so efficient that it would emit less carbon dioxide per mile than is created by generating electricity to run an electric car over that same mile? Small Japanese carmaker Mazda says yes. In an interview published last week with the British magazine Autocar, Mazda claimed that its next generation of SkyActiv.

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Mazda Electric Cars Engine CO2 167

Green Cars News

MARCH 24, 2014

'Flying to Berlin on a clear day was revealing of the British versus mainland Europe’s energy policy over the last 20 years. As we skirted the Thames estuary I could just make out the impressive and recently installed Thames Array of offshore wind turbines. Yes, it’s the biggest offshore array…. in[.].

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Electric Cars Wind Cars Electric 63

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Norway

Green Car Congress

MARCH 22, 2014

'The EA288 2.0-liter diesel, prominently showing the closely attached exhaust aftertreatment system. Click to enlarge. The Volkswagen Group’s new 2.0-liter TDI diesel (EA288) will eventually replace all the 2.0-liter TDI Clean Diesel engines fitted in Audi and Volkswagen TDI Clean Diesel models, and as such, is a strategically important engine. ( Earlier post.

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Diesel Engine Exhaust Water 384

Green Car Congress

MARCH 22, 2014

'Crazy Diamond Performance (CDP) has expanded its development on Class 6 heavy duty engines to include a 7.4L supercharged CNG engine; the new engine will join the naturally aspirated 6.9L in the CDP Torquemaster family. Both engines have been designed from the ground up for heavy-duty applications up to class 6. Under initial chassis testing, the Torquemaster 6.9L produced more than 375 hp (280 kW) and 500 lb-ft (678 N·m) of torque, with maximum torque generated by 2400 rpm.

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Engine Vehicles 2014 Design 326

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'Rear-axle KERS unit. Click to enlarge. Volvo Car Group and engineering company Flybrid Automotive, part of the Torotrak Group, have been conducting UK tests of lightweight Flybrid flywheel KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) technology. ( Earlier post.) The test car applies flywheel technology to the rear axle, while the combustion engine drives the front wheels.

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Volvo Carbon Fiber Fuel Vehicles 299

Green Car Congress

MARCH 28, 2014

'In an effort to reduce further the already low risk of a Model S battery fire resulting from impact with road debris, Tesla Motors is outfitting new Model S cars (as of 6 March) with an underbody triple shield system consisting first of an aluminum bar; then a titanium shield; and finally a shallow angle solid aluminum extrusion. Tesla will also retrofit the system, free of charge, to existing Model S cars upon request or as part of a normally scheduled service, wrote Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk

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Batteries Battery Tesla Tesla Motors 285

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. will build and operate a new, 213-mile (343 km), 16-inch diameter pipeline to transport carbon dioxide from the company’s St. Johns source field in Apache County, Arizona, to the Kinder Morgan-operated Cortez Pipeline in Torrance County, NM. The new Lobos Pipeline will have an initial capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet per day and will support current and future enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects owned by Kinder Morgan and other operators in the Pe

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CO2 New Mexico Arizona Energy Storage 278

Green Car Congress

MARCH 27, 2014

'WTW energy expended and GHG emissions for conventional fuels ICE and hybrid vehicles shows the potential for improvement of conventional fuels and ICE based vehicles. Source: EUR 26236 EN - 2014 Click to enlarge. Europe’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and its partners in the JEC Consortium—JRC, EUCAR (the European Council for Automotive R&D) and CONCAWE (the oil companies European association for environment, health and safety in refining and distribution)—have published a new version

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Gas Fuel Gas-Electric Gasoline-Electric 277

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Green Car Congress

MARCH 27, 2014

'Alcoa introduced the Ultra ONE, the lightest heavy-duty truck wheel. Unveiled at the Mid-America Trucking show, Alcoa’s new 40-pound (18 kg) wheel is 47% lighter than steel wheels of the same size. The Ultra ONE can help save up to 1,400 pounds (635 kg) per rig, enabling fleets to carry more goods while meeting stringent federal emissions regulations.

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Brazil Fuel Economy Fleet Convert 262

Green Car Congress

MARCH 25, 2014

'Sample vehicle wiring harness. Click to enlarge. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has developed a world-first technology for recycling the copper contained in wiring harnesses, in collaboration with Yazaki Corporation (Yazaki), Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Toyota Tsusho), and eight other companies. The newly-developed technology produces copper with a purity of 99.96%.

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Toyota Vehicles Corporation Japan 262

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'In September 2013, China’s net imports of petroleum and other liquids exceeded those of the United States on a monthly basis, making it the largest net importer of crude oil and other liquids in the world, according to figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The rise in China’s net imports of petroleum and other liquids is driven by steady economic growth, with rapidly rising Chinese petroleum demand outpacing production growth.

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United Arab Emirates Sudan Saudi Arabia China 261

Green Car Congress

MARCH 23, 2014

'Industry data supplied by Ford Motor Company and Del Webb, part of the multi-brand homebuilder PulteGroup, show that the baby boomer segment (ages 55 to 64), which comprised the growing market for large homes and made minivans and big SUVs vogue are now shifting to still lavish, but smaller homes and utility vehicles. Small utility vehicles are most popular with buyers in this age group; more than 46% of premium Ford Escape Titanium buyers are 56 or older, indicating trendsetting boomers are op

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Ford Escape Vehicles Charlotte 261

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Guyana

Green Car Congress

MARCH 24, 2014

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) has conditionally authorized Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P. (Jordan Cove) to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, from the Jordan Cove LNG Terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon. This is the seventh non-FTA application approved by DOE; the Jordan Cove application was next in the order of precedence after the Energy Department conditionally authorized the proposed Came

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Jordan United States Oregon Gas 259

Green Car Congress

MARCH 22, 2014

'Chrysler’s new 2015 Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan features a segment-first nine-speed automatic transmission and the choice of two engines: the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 which produces 295 horsepower (218 kW) and 262 lb-ft (355 N·m) of torque; and the new Tigershark 2.4-liter MultiAir2 four-cylinder engine which produces 184 horsepower (137 kW), 173 lb-ft (235 N·m) of torque, with estimated fuel economy of 35 mpg highway. 2015 Chrysler 200.

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Chrysler Fuel Economy 2015 Economy 259

Green Car Congress

MARCH 25, 2014

'Magna Exteriors, an operating unit of Magna International, has been awarded new business to supply painted automotive body panels made from carbon fiber composite material for two 2016 model-year vehicles. Magna Exteriors has successfully advanced its capabilities to now produce class-A carbon fiber composite body panels at the production rates needed for the automotive industry.

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Carbon Fiber Carbon Fuel Economy 2016 252

Green Car Congress

MARCH 27, 2014

'Peterbilt is showcasing Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide’s new Back-of-Cab (BOC) compressed natural gas (CNG) storage module installed on a Peterbilt 579 truck at the Mid-America Trucking Show. New Back-of-Cab CNG storage system. Click to enlarge. Quantum recently designed, engineered, and introduced this high capacity, light-weight, CNG storage system for the fast growing natural gas truck retro-fit, dealer up-fit and OEM market segments.

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Peterbilt Dealers Installation Store 247

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'To support the impending roll-out of hydrogen fueling infrastructure and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV), SAE International’s Fuel Cell Standards Taskforce has completed two technical standards: SAE J2601, “Fueling Protocols for Light Duty Gaseous Hydrogen Surface Vehicles”; and SAE J2799, “Hydrogen Surface Vehicle to Station Hardware and Software”.

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Standards Hydrogen Global 2014 247

Green Car Congress

MARCH 28, 2014

'The Obama Administration has outlined its Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions. The strategy summarizes the sources of methane emissions, commits to new steps to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas, and outlines the Administration’s efforts to improve the measurement of these emissions. The strategy builds on progress to date and takes steps to further cut methane emissions from landfills, coal mining, and agriculture, and oil and gas systems.

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Obama Emissions EPA 2014 246

Green Car Congress

MARCH 28, 2014

'More than 57% of Ford Motor Company’s F-150 retail sales so far this year are powered by V6 engines—the highest six-cylinder engine mix in the industry since 1967. Ford expects that trend to continue for the rest of the year. V8 engines led truck sales for decades until recently. Over the last three years, retail registrations of light duty pickups powered by V6 engines grew more than 600%; F-150 was directly responsible for 91% of that growth, based on Ford analysis of Polk retail regist

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F-150 Sale Ford 2015 246

Green Car Congress

MARCH 27, 2014

'Volvo Trucks’ 2014 heavy-duty engines are providing greater fuel efficiency than anticipated, delivering up to a 3% fuel efficiency improvement compared with their 2013 counterparts, according to the company. A combination of in-lab and on-road testing showed that the initially announced fuel efficiency figures of up to 2% understated actual fuel savings.

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Volvo 2014 2013 Engine 246

Green Car Congress

MARCH 27, 2014

'Two leading corporate responsibility business associations, AIAG and CSR Europe, facilitator of the European Automotive Working Group on Supply Chain Sustainability, announced that 14 global automakers have reached agreement on a set of standards outlining expectations for suppliers on key responsibility issues including human rights, environment, working conditions and business ethics.

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Standards Global Land Rover Chrysler 246

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'NVIDIA launched a new platform to the support the development of a new generation of applications that employ computer vision, image processing and real-time data processing in a range of industries including automotive. The NVIDIA Jetson TK1 Developer Kit offers performance of 326 gigaflops—nearly three times more than any similar embedded platform.

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Kits Environment Universal Industrial 246

Green Car Congress

MARCH 25, 2014

'Comparison of power loss and fuel consumption among BD, HVO and iso-HVO. Source: Kim et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers in South Korea from SK Innovation and Chungbuk National University compared the engine and emissions performance of 16 different blends of petro-diesel, biodiesel (BD), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO, i.e., drop-in renewable diesel); and iso-HVO (isomerized-hydrotreated vegetable oil) on an engine dynamometer and chassis dynamometer with a 1.5-liter diesel engine and passen

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Diesel Oil Engine Renewable 246

Green Car Congress

MARCH 24, 2014

'Researchers from Iowa State University report on a techno-economic analysis of drop-in hydrocarbon biofuels produced by the catalytic pyrolysis of microalgae remnant—the part of algae left over after lipids extraction—in a paper in the journal Fuel. The study, which compares partial mechanical drying and thermal drying scenarios with subsequent energy flow analyses, found that microalgae remnant biofuel could vary in price between $1.49 and $1.80 per liter ($5.64 and $6.81 per gallo

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Price Iowa Range 2014 240

Green Car Congress

MARCH 24, 2014

'a) SEM image of a VA-NCCF array grown on a piece of Si wafer. (b) TEM image of an individual VA-NCCF. (c) The sketch of Li 2 O 2 grown on a coral-like carbon fiber. Credit: ACS, Shui et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Kent State University have developed highly efficient oxygen electrodes for nonaqueous Li-O 2 batteries by using vertically aligned nitrogen-doped coral-like carbon fiber (VA-NCCF) arrays supported with a stainless steel cloth as the curren

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Carbon Fiber Carbon Li-ion Batteries 239

Green Car Congress

MARCH 24, 2014

'Velocys plc, a developer of smaller-scale microchannel gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology, has entered a joint venture (JV) with Waste Management, NRG Energy (NRG), and Ventech Engineers International (Ventech) to develop gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants in the United States and other select geographies. The JV will pursue the development of multiple plants utilizing a combination of renewable biogas (including landfill gas) and natural gas.

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Waste Gas Energy United Kingdom 239

Green Car Congress

MARCH 24, 2014

'A123 Systems LLC, a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate lithium iron phosphate batteries and systems, is selling its grid storage business and other assets related to energy storage for telecom and IT data storage applications to NEC Corporation for approximately $100 million. A123, which is retaining its all of its existing cell manufacturing and sales, research and development, and automotive operations, is increasingly focused on the transportation market with a particular e

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Li-ion Transportation Hybrid Energy 236

Green Car Congress

MARCH 27, 2014

'BYD Motors, Inc. has agreed to mutually terminate its contract with Long Beach Transportation Company (LBT) for the delivery of 10 electric buses. BYD said that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) withdrew funding of the contract as a result of an error in BYD’s pre-bid disadvantaged business program certification in February 2013. LBT announced that BYD won the competition for the contract on 24 March 2013.

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Long Beach BYD Los Angeles 2013 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'Axens, Total and IFPEN have introduced Atol, a technology for profitable production of polymer-grade bio-ethylene via the dehydration of ethanol (C 2 H 6 O). ( Earlier post.) About 99% of ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) is currently produced by steam cracking of naphtha. The bio-ethylene produced can be integrated in existing downstream polymerization installations such as polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polyethyleneteraphthalate (PET), polyvinylchloride (PVC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)

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Production Belgium 2013 Polymer 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 26, 2014

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement ( DE-FOA-0001097 ) entitled “Alternative Fuel and Advanced Vehicle Deployment Initiatives”. The estimated $4.5 million in funding will go to projects that will create and implement high impact and highly innovative approaches to increase the acceptance and deployment of alternative fuels, within specific areas of intere

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Alternative Fuels Alcohol Blend Fuel Vehicles 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 24, 2014

'GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has invested approximately $63 million in UK-based fuel-cell manufacturer Intelligent Energy Holdings plc. The investment takes the form of a new issue of 15,129,468 Ordinary Shares to GIC, representing 10% of the company’s enlarged issued ordinary share capital immediately following the placing of shares to GIC, at a subscription price of £2.50 per Ordinary Share.

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Singapore Energy Fuel Companies 231

Green Car Congress

MARCH 28, 2014

'BMW plans to invest US$ 1 billion in the company’s South Carolina plant, boosting annual production capacity by 50% up to 450,000 vehicles by the end of 2016. Today’s capacity is around 300,000 vehicles. In addition to the X3, X5, X6, and the new X4, we are today announcing another all-new, larger X model to be manufactured exclusively at this plant for our world markets: the X7.

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