Sat.Jan 09, 2016 - Fri.Jan 15, 2016

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Audi unveils h-tron quattro fuel cell SUV concept at Detroit; MLB evo platform

Green Car Congress

In a demonstration of its ongoing development of advanced alternative powertrains, Audi unveiled the new h-tron quattro fuel cell concept vehicle at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). Like its production-bound sibling the e-tron quattro battery-electric vehicle, the h-tron concept is based on Audi’s second-generation modular longitudinal platform (MLB evo, earlier post ).

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GM Won't Fund CCS Fast-Charging Sites For 2017 Chevy Bolt EV

Green Car Reports

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has received largely positive reviews for the production version unveiled last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And as the first affordable 200-mile electric car, expected to go on sale before the end of this year, it will likely reset consumer expectations of what an electric car can be. But having a.

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CARB, EPA, reject Volkswagen's Dieselgate fix, says recall plan not enough

National Green Transportation

On Tuesday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) rejected the 2 Liter diesel car recall plan submitted by the Volkswagen Group of America. This plan is Volkswagen's attempt to fix the Dieselgate problem, in which the VW.

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Toyota displays Mirai-based research vehicle with satellite communications function; Kymeta flat-panel antennae

Green Car Congress

At the 2016 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Toyota is displaying a research vehicle based on the Mirai fuel cell vehicle which is equipped with satellite communications technology from Kymeta , a US-based company that is the world's leader in flat-panel antenna technology. Toyota is working to enhance its connected technologies, including a plan to install a Data Communication Module into a broader range of its vehicles. ( Earlier post.

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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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Powertech’s H2 fueling station increases number of fills

Green Car Congress

British Columbia—based Powertech Labs ’ hydrogen fueling station, located onsite at the company’s headquarters, has increased the number of vehicles that it services. The station, the only 70 MPa fast-fill hydrogen fueling station in Canada, currently meets the fueling needs for Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai fuel cell electric vehicles, with a total of 9 vehicles using the station.

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IAV and Microsoft demonstrate connected highly automated driving vehicle for enhanced safety; cloud-based analytics and big data

Green Car Congress

At CES 2016 last week, IAV and Microsoft demonstrated a connected highly automated driving (CHAD) vehicle capable of connecting with the Microsoft Azure cloud and Windows 10 to enable communication that helps prevent vehicle and pedestrian accidents and increases driving comfort and convenience. This vehicle-2-x communication (V2X) connectivity approach uses data from the vehicle’s surroundings to improve smart service for convenience and enhance safety by anticipating and mitigating potential h

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More Trending

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Fraunhofer characterizes Alphabet Energy thermoelectric PowerCard; up to 5% fuel economy improvement in automotive

Green Car Congress

Alphabet Energy is commercializing low-cost, efficient thermoelectric materials for power generation leveraging technology initially developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. ( Earlier post.). The company has now announced characterization from the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM of heat flow and thermal resistance (in air) of the Alphabet Energy PowerCard , the company’s core thermoelectric device for power generation.

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Virginia Tech report finds national crash rate for conventional vehicles higher than crash rate of self-driving cars

Green Car Congress

A new report, “ Automated Vehicle Crash Rate Comparison Using Naturalistic Data ,” performed by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and commissioned by Google, shows that the crash rates for self-driving cars are lower than the national crash rate of conventional cars. Results show that when data is adjusted for unreported crashes and take into account accident severity, the national crash rate for conventional vehicles is higher than the crash rate of self-driving cars.

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Lexus brings all-wheel drive hydrogen fuel cell LF-FC flagship concept to Detroit

Green Car Congress

Lexus brought the all-wheel drive hydrogen fuel cell LF-FC flagship concept, unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2015 ( earlier post ), to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit for its North American premiere. In his speech about the newly revealed Lexus LC 500 production model, Toyota Motor Corporation President and Lexus Chief Branding Officer Akio Toyoda said that the company is committed to having a fuel cell car in the Lexus lineup around 2020.

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IBM study finds consumers very interested in alternative ownership models for cars, self-enabling vehicles

Green Car Congress

Consumers expect to use cars differently—showing particular interest in self-enabling vehicles—though they don’t necessarily want to own one in the traditional sense, according to the results of IBM’s automotive consumer study, presented at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. This presents opportunities for automakers to apply analytics and cognitive capabilities to develop new vehicle options. “ A New Relationship – People and Cars ,” developed by the IBM

Vehicles 174
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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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Ford launches ambitious FordPass product as element in its strategic transformation to mobility company

Green Car Congress

At the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Ford announced FordPass—an ambitious new customer service product that incorporates software services and apps, human agents and storefronts—intended to support the company’s strategic transformation into an auto and a mobility company. With FordPass, Ford says it aims to do for car owners what iTunes did for music fans, especially in terms of reimaging the relationship between automaker and consumer.

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Global Bioenergies and Lanzatech strengthen cooperation to broaden feedstock flexibility of renewable isobutene process

Green Car Congress

Global Bioenergies and LanzaTech have signed a new collaboration agreement to broaden the feedstock flexibility of Global Bioenergies’ renewable isobutene process and the product-portfolio of LanzaTech’s carbon capture technology. ( Earlier post.). Global Bioenergies has developed a process in which a microorganism can produce isobutene from renewable feedstock via the fermentation of sugars.

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PSA Peugeot Citroën: tests confirm environmental performance of BlueHDi SCR technology for diesel NOx control

Green Car Congress

PSA Peugeot Citroën announced that the initial results obtained by the Peugeot 208 and Peugeot 508 in tests organized by the technical committee led by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy comply with regulations and are aligned with homologated data. The company said that the results confirm the effectiveness of its BlueHDi after-treatment system, in which selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology is positioned upstream of the particulate filter to eliminate u

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DOE to award $12M to two companies to further next-generation nuclear reactor designs

Green Car Congress

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected two companies—X-energy and Southern Company—for a combined $12 million in awards ($6 million each) to develop further advanced nuclear reactor designs. These awards, with a multi-year cost share of up to $80 million for both companies, will support work to address key technical challenges to the design, construction, and operation of next-generation nuclear reactors.

Design 150
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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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Renault-Nissan: China to become top EV market by 2020

Green Car Congress

The Renault-Nissan Alliance posted a brief noting that China is poised to become the top electric vehicle market in the world by 2020. In 2014, China registered 75,000 EV sales, giving it a global market share of 25%. In the first quarter of 2015, it registered nearly double that number.

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ICCT analysis shows growing divergence between official and real-world fuel economy values for new cars in Europe

Green Car Congress

Researchers at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) have used data from Spiritmonitor.de —a free web service that allows users to track their fuel consumption by entering odometer readings and the amount of fuel added during fill-ups—to calculate the divergence between official fuel consumption values in Europe and real-world performance.

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2017 Hyundai Elantra launches with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Green Car Congress

The 2017 Hyundai Elantra—Hyundai’s best-selling model in the US— launches this month with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Both smartphone integrations will be available on the 2017 Elantra’s seven-inch Display Audio touchscreen system with rearview camera and Hyundai’s eight-inch touchscreen navigation system with voice texting, access to music stored on the phone and third-party audio apps.

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New high-activity, low-cost nickel-based catalyst for fuel cells exhibits performance similar to Pt; hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells

Green Car Congress

Researchers at the University of Delaware, with a colleague at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, have developed a composite catalyst—nickel nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes—that exhibits hydrogen oxidation activity in alkaline electrolyte similar to platinum-group metals. An open access paper on their work is published in the journal Nature Communications.

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Mammoet switches Dutch operations to Shell GTL fuel

Green Car Congress

Mammoet, the world’s largest service provider specializing in engineered heavy lifting and transport will use cleaner-burning Shell gas-to-liquids (GTL) fuel to power all its cranes and trucks in the Netherlands. The switch is expected to reduce emissions and help improve local air quality as well as lowering noise levels compared with conventional diesel.

Fuel 150
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VW e-Golf to be enhanced with improved infotainment, connectivity and range

Green Car Congress

Over the next few years (exact timing is unannounced) Volkswagen’s e-Golf battery-electric vehicle will receive a boost in range due to planned and anticipated improvements to its batteries ( earlier post ) as well as some of the advanced HMI (human-machine interface), device and connectivity technologies showcased at CES 2016 in the e-Golf Touch concept.

Connect 150
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Toyota hybrid sales in Europe up 17% in 2015, representing 24% of total TME sales

Green Car Congress

Despite the lowest gasoline prices in Europe in 5 years, Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) sales of hybrid vehicles continued their 5-year increase to reach 209,000 units for the full year 2015, up 17% year-on-year. Sales of Toyota and Lexus-branded hybrid vehicles now represent 24% of the group’s sales on the continent, up from 20% a year ago. In Western Europe only, sales of hybrid represent a third of total sales.

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Automotive sales in Russia in 2015 down 35.7%

Green Car Congress

Sales of new passenger cars and LCVs in Russia decreased by 457% in December 2015, with a 35.7% drop for the entire year, according to figures released by The Automobile Manufacturers Committee of the Association of European Businesses (AEB) in Russia. The Association of European Businesses is an independent non-commercial organization representing and promoting the interests of European companies conducting business in and with the Russian Federation.

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BESC study finds unconventional bacteria could boost efficiency of cellulosic biofuel production

Green Car Congress

A new comparative study by researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center (BESC), based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, finds the natural abilities of unconventional bacteria could help boost the efficiency of cellulosic biofuel production. A team of researchers from five institutions analyzed the ability of six microorganisms to solubilize potential bioenergy feedstocks such as switchgrass that have evolved strong defenses against biological and chemical attack.

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New one-pot high-yield “high-gravity” process for cellulosic ethanol; potential for drop-in fuels

Green Car Congress

Researchers with the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a “high-gravity” one-pot process for producing ethanol from cellulosic biomass that gives unprecedented yields while minimizing water use and waste disposal. “High gravity” means high biomass loading—the higher the biomass loading, the lower the costs for converting it to fuels.

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Cal Energy awards nearly $700K to Andromeda Power for smart fast-charging system for EVs

Green Car Congress

The California Energy Commission has awarded a $681,693 grant (Agreement EPC- 15-015) to Andromeda Power, LLC to develop a smart, fast-charging system for electric vehicles. The system will enhance the integration of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) into the electricity grid using real time monitors and controls efficiently to enable automated demand response.

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Ricardo white paper outlines needed developments to realize autonomous driving

Green Car Congress

Engineering firm Ricardo has published a white paper— Key Enablers for the Fully Autonomous Vehicle —highlighting the technologies and development processes that are needed to develop commercially feasible self-driving cars that meet consumer expectations while also achieving compliance with likely future transport regulations. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the projected size of the global autonomous vehicle market in 2025 will be $36 billion for partially autonomous vehi

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Stanford team develops thermoresponsive film allowing fast and reversible shutdown of Li-ion batteries to prevent thermal runaway

Green Car Congress

Stanford researchers have developed a fast and reversible thermoresponsive polymer switching (TRPS) material that can be incorporated inside batteries to prevent thermal runaway. Batteries with the material can shut down under abnormal conditions such as overheating and shorting, and then can resume their normal function without performance compromise.

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PwC: electrified vehicle sales on the rise in Europe, continued growth expected

Green Car Congress

PwC’s Autofacts group estimates sales of pure electric, plug-in mild and full hybrids will grow 433% to 2.2 million units by 2021, driven by a number of factors, including regulatory pressure. While alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs)—including hybrids and pure electric—are gaining consumer acceptance in the European Union (EU), even in the face of decreased fuel prices, these reduced emission offerings are still a comparatively low%age of overall vehicle sales in this critical market.

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Cypress Semiconductor expands automotive portfolio; new Traveo automotive MCU series

Green Car Congress

Cypress Semiconductor Corp.is expanding its automotive portfolio to help enable manufacturers to bring high tech automotive systems historically available only in luxury models to mainstream vehicles. The portfolio leverages a wide range of differentiated products that includes microcontrollers (MCUs), power management ICs (PMICs), memories and touch-sensing solutions.

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California ARB rejects VW 2-liter diesel recall plan and issues Notice of Violation

Green Car Congress

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is rejecting. VW’s submitted recall plan for 2-liter diesel passenger vehicles sold in California between 2009 and 2015 which were sold with the software defeat devices. It also notified VW of violations of California air quality regulations associated with the company’s use of a defeat device in those cars. This rejection only applies to VW’s diesel 2.0L vehicles, not 3.0L vehicles.

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Electrovaya subsidiary Litarion receives US$16M contract for 40Ah Li-ion cells

Green Car Congress

Electrovaya announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Litarion GmbH, has received a purchase order for about US$16 million to supply 40 Ah Lithium Ion cells (Litacell-LC40) to a US-based company. The purchase order is for a period of 14 months, the deliveries have started and the first payment received. The period of this contract is until January 2017.

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Ford and IBM working on pilot platform for real-time streaming analytics to improve mobility

Green Car Congress

Ford and IBM are working together on a pilot platform that allows research scientists to look at tiny bits of data—10 or 15 seconds worth at a time—to spot patterns, correlations and trends, and to write code to make more efficient transportation decisions. The platform, called the Ford Smart Mobility Experimentation Platform, underpins the Dynamic Shuttle pilot program now in operation on the company’s Dearborn campus ( earlier post ).

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Ford, U Michigan collaborating on enablers for autonomous driving in the snow; high-resolution 3D mapping

Green Car Congress

Typical autonomous vehicle sensors are useless on snow-covered roads, but researchers at the University of Michigan and Ford are collaborating on a solution. In Michigan and on U-M’s 32-acre Mcity simulated urban environment, they have conducted what they believe are the industry’s first tests of autonomous vehicles in wintry conditions. Fully autonomous driving can’t rely on GPS, which is accurate only to several yards—not enough to localize or identify the position of the vehicle.

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Wind River and Ricardo partnering on autonomous driving systems

Green Car Congress

Wind River, a software provider for the Internet of Things (IoT), is teaming with Ricardo to deliver solutions for autonomous driving. Wind River will provide advanced automotive software systems, as well as architectural and engineering support. Ricardo will deliver expert integration with the physical vehicle systems. The rise of autonomous driving will continue to create new complexities that will demand not only more advanced software and physical vehicle systems but also intelligent connect

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