Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'A study by a team from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) shows that state electric vehicle incentives are playing a significant early role in reducing the effective cost of ownership and driving electric vehicle sales. As described in their white paper, “Evaluation of state-level US electric vehicle incentives”, the researchers found that some of the states with the largest electric vehicle incentives—i.e., California, Georgia, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington—h

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Sale PHEV District of Columbia North Dakota 374

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'We already know that in the next few years, we''ll see a slew of mid-size SUVs offered with plug-in hybrid powertrains--most from luxury brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Range Rover. But the German luxury marques are making plans to compete more directly with Tesla Motors and its Model S all-electric long-range luxury sedan. All have.

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Audi Mercedes BMW Porsche 167

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 30, 2014

'In recent years, LPG has been a bit of a side-show in the field of alternative fuel vehicles, and unjustifiably so, when you actually consider its eco-credentials. So we were delighted to get the chance to drive our first LPG-converted vehicle; after all it has to be one of the most affordable ways[.].

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Alternative Fuels Affordable Convert Fuel 74

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'Cutaway of the new power electronics unit, which is much smaller than in gen 1, and which is now integrated into the drive unit housing. The power electronics and the motors use separate cooling: water for the PE and ol for the motor unit. Click to enlarge. The second-generation Volt, which makes its world debut in about 10 weeks at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, features a clean-sheet, all-new Voltec propulsion system—new battery, new electric drive unit, new powe

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Volt GM Motor Motors 341

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Norway

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'A new study on the combustion properties of biodiesel for use in urban transit buses found that using biodiesel can effectively reduce the mass of particulate matter released in both hot and cold idle modes. The study, published by the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium (MNTRC), observed a reduction in amount of particulate matter, number of elements, and elemental carbon; the reduction is considered beneficial to promoting the clean air and human health.

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Exhaust Oil Emissions Sodium 312

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) and the Hydrogen Education Foundation (HEF) launched the $1-million H2 Refuel H-Prize. The two-year competition challenges America’s engineers and entrepreneurs to develop affordable systems for small-scale hydrogen fueling. This H-Prize competition is intended to assist in expanding the hydrogen infrastructure across the country to support more transportation energy options for US consumers, including fuel cell electric v

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Hydrogen 2005 Congress 2007 300

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'The City of Indianapolis will upgrade 425 non-police-pursuit sedans in its muncipal fleet to plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles by early 2016, cut the size of the fleet by 100 vehicles, and save $8.7 million over ten years. The Indy fleet would be the largest municipal fleet of electrified vehicles in the US. The new Indy fleet vehicles will include 100% electric models, such as the Nissan LEAF, as well as plug-in hybrid models like the Chevrolet Volt and the Ford Fusion Energi, which

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2014

'Among four new California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications is a used cooking oil (gutter oil) to renewable diesel (NExBTL) pathway from Neste Oil at its Singapore plant. (Boeing and COMAC are opening a demonstration facility in China to convert gutter oil to renewable aviation fuel. Earlier post.). Neste Oil Singapore Pte Ltd. produces approximately 250 million gallons annually of drop-in renewable diesel (RD)—i.e., not biodiesel—using a hydrogenation proces

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Oil Renewable Diesel California 285

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'The UK government and Innovate UK—theTechnology Strategy Board are providing £15 million ($24 million) for the latest competition to encourage technologies for road-vehicles that will deliver significant reductions in CO 2 emissions. The UK’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has committed £11 million (US$18 million) while Innovate UK is providing £4 million (US$6 million).

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Transportation Energy Storage Emissions International 273

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 30, 2014

'The Dewar Trophy was presented to Andy Cowell, Managing Director of HPP, along with members of his project team from Brixworth. Click to enlarge. The UK’s Royal Automobile Club (RAC) has awarded the prestigious Dewar Trophy , presented for outstanding technical achievement in the automotive industry, to. Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) for the design of the PU106A Hybrid Formula One Power Unit. ( Earlier post.).

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Mercedes Hybrid Power Powered 270

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 25, 2014

'Mercedes-Benz received two MATERIALICA Design and Technology Awards at the MATERIALICA 2014 trade fair for materials applications, surface technology and product engineering in Munich. The first was for the new steel pistons for diesel engines ( earlier post ), the second for high-strength carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) struts. The MATERIALICA Award 2014 comprised five categories: Material; Surface & Technology; Product; CO 2 Efficiency; and Student.

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Mercedes Carbon Fiber Diesel Cars 262

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Plug-in electric vehicle (EV) drivers can now sign up and pay for ChargePoint charging with PayPal. PayPal has long supported EVs and has installed 34 ChargePoint ports at its San Jose, California, campus for employees and visitors. ChargePoint stations are independently owned so businesses and individuals are free to set pricing however they prefer.

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San Jose Charging Price Plug-in 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has adjusted its estimates of the energy content of retail motor gasoline in its Monthly Energy Review (MER) to reflect its changing composition. Ethanol and other oxygenates, which have lower energy content than petroleum-based gasoline components, have seen their share of total gasoline volumes increase from 2% in 1993 to nearly 10% in 2013.

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2013 Energy 2006 Gasoline 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) launched a new $2.3-million pilot program to accelerate the transfer of innovative clean energy technologies from the DOE’s National Laboratories into the commercial marketplace. Lab-Corps aims to better train and empower national lab researchers to successfully transition their discoveries into high-impact, real world technologies in the private sector.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'Toyota Motor Corporation will be testing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Aichi Prefecture from 1 November until 15 March 2015. The tests will involve standard chargers for use with vehicles such as plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) and electric vehicles (EVs). The tests will be conducted jointly with four municipalities (Kariya City, Toyota City, Toyohashi City, and Nagakute City) and two companies (Toyota Industries Corporation and UNY Co., Ltd.), all of which are located in Aichi Pre

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Toyota Japan Charging Installation 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 30, 2014

'BASF and Toda Kogyo have agreed to form a joint venture for Li-ion cathode active materials (CAM) in Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, BASF will acquire a 66% ownership stake in the new venture, with Toda Kogyo Corp. holding a 34% ownership stake. BASF and Toda Kogyo Corp. will combine their respective CAM businesses, intellectual property and production assets in Japan in the joint venture, which will operate under the trade name BASF TODA Battery Materials, LLC. ( Earlier post.).

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Renewable Energy Group, Inc. announced that commercial-scale quantities of renewable hydrocarbon diesel (RHD) produced at the company’s Geismar, Louisiana biorefinery are now available for sale. The first truckloads of REG-9000/RHD produced at the 75-million gallon nameplate biorefinery since REG acquired full ownership in June ( earlier post ) left the plant on 23 October.

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Renewable Diesel Sale Louisiana 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'New analysis by Lux Research shows that carbon fiber demand will grow at an overall 13% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 36,000 tons in 2013 to 86,000 tons in 2020. In parallel, CFRP demand will also grow at 13% CAGR, from $15.4 billion in 2013 to $35 billion in 2020 as the volumes of CFRP grow to 183,000 tons. CFRP market growth by tonnage (top) and by US$ billions (bottom).

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2020 Carbon Fiber 2012 Wind 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 30, 2014

'Ford projects utility vehicles will account for 29% of its global sales by the end of the decade. Ford utility vehicles—ranging from the compact EcoSport to the eight-seat Expedition—accounted for 23% of brand sales globally in 2013, up from 17% a year earlier. Utility vehicle sales are expanding rapidly in many of the world’s fastest-growing markets according to a Ford analysis of data from IHS Automotive, which forecasts market information and competitive data on the automotive in

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Ford Sale Global North America 230

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 30, 2014

'The Volkswagen Group was the top global R&D spender in 2014, according to The 2014 Global Innovation 1000 report from consultancy Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company). This marks Volkswagen’s third year in a row in the top spot. Volkswagen, which spent US$13.5 billion on R&D in 2014 according to the report, was followed closely by Samsung ($13.4 billion), then by Intel ($10.6 billion); Microsoft ($10.4 billion); and Roche ($10 billion).

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2014 Global 2005 Google 230

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Ferus Natural Gas Fuels Inc. ( Ferus NGF) held the grand opening of the first merchant liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Canada. The facility, which became commercially operational in May 2014, is located in Elmworth, Alberta, about 65 kilometers southwest of Grand Prairie. The LNG plant is located in the heart of oil and gas activity in northwest Alberta and northeast British Columbia, and produces high-quality LNG fuel for engines used in drilling rigs, pressure pumping services, water

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Canada Gas Fuel Oil 230

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Researchers at the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified microbial genes that can improve both the tolerance and the production of isopentanol in engineered strains of Escherichia coli. Isopentenol is a five-carbon (C 5 ) alcohol that is a highly promising candidate for biogasoline, but, like other short-chained alcohols, is toxic to E.coli at commercial levels of fuel production.

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Gasoline Transportation Engine Production 230

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'by Andrew Topf of Oilprice.com. Recent trade deals and high-level cooperation between Russia and China have set off alarm bells in the West as policymakers and oil and gas executives watch the balance of power in global energy markets shift to the East. The reasons for the cozier relationship between the two giant powers are, of course, rooted in the Ukraine crisis and subsequent Western sanctions against Russia, combined with China’s need to secure long-term energy supplies.

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Russia Oil Saudi Arabia China 225

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'A multinational team including researchers from the BMW Group have optimized an ionic liquid electrolyte for Li-air batteries, which resulted in a stable electrode-electrolyte interface and a highly reversible charge-discharge cycling behavior in a test Li-air coin cell. The charge process (oxygen oxidation reaction) is characterized by a very low overvoltage, enhancing the energy efficiency to 82% (i.e, delivering 82% of the energy used to charge it compared with 60 to 70% for most existing Li

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Li-ion BMW Batteries Battery 225

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'Daimler subsidiary moovel GmbH is using cloud infrastructure from SoftLayer, an IBM Company, for its car-sharing mobile application car2go to allow the company to better serve its customers around the world by helping them find the least expensive or fastest way to travel. The moovel GmbH portfolio includes the car2go and car2go black car sharing services, the Park2gether platform and the moovel smartphone app. car2go is available in 26 cities in Europe and North America and has more than 800,0

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North America 2014 Taxi Insight 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., the core company of the Teijin Group’s carbon fibers and composites business, has developed a new technology—Tenax Part via Preform (PvP)—for highly efficient production of thermoset carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). Toho Tenax is now working with automakers worldwide to develop commercial applications for Tenax PvP.

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Carbon Fiber Production Carbon Waste 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 29, 2014

'The US Department of Energy''s Fuel Cell Technologies Office has issued two requests for information (RFIs) seeking feedback from the research community and relevant stakeholders about electrolytic hydrogen production ( DE-FOA-0001188 ) and hydrogen delivery research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities ( DE-FOA-0001187 ) aimed at developing technologies that can ultimately produce and deliver low-cost hydrogen.

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Hydrogen Production Low Cost 2014 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated an additive manufacturing (3D printing) method to control the structure and properties of metal components with precision unmatched by conventional manufacturing processes. Ryan Dehoff, staff scientist and metal additive manufacturing lead at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, recently presented the research in an invited presentation at the Materials Science & Technol

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Tennessee 2014 Universal Manufacturer 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Canada-based waste-to-biofuels company Enerkem has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shanghai Environmental Group Co. Ltd., a municipal solid waste management company and a subsidiary of Shanghai Chengtou Holding Co. Ltd., to develop a project partnership to jointly build municipal solid waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facilities in China.

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Waste Building China Mariner 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2014

'Williams, Williams Partners L.P., and Access Midstream Partners, L.P. announced that Williams Partners and Access Midstream Partners have reached and entered into a merger agreement; total transaction value is approximately $50 billion. Williams owns controlling interests in the two master limited partnerships (MLP). The merged MLP will feature large-scale positions across three key components of the midstream sector, including natural gas pipelines, gathering and processing and natural gas liq

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North America Tulsa Wyoming Gas 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'Hyundai’s Elantra (Avante in other parts of the world) recently sold its 10 millionth unit globally. Elantra is Hyundai’s first model, and one of only 10 cars in the history of the auto industry to reach 10 million sales. Elantra was launched 24 years ago in 1990 and was able to reach this mark by selling an average of 420,000 per year—approximately 1,100 per day.

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Hyundai Alabama 2013 2012 210

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'Mercedes-Benz is now making its Crosswind Assist driver assistance function available as a retrofit solution for numerous variants of the Sprinter. The most important prerequisite is that the vehicle must be fitted with the current version of Adaptive ESP, available since January 2012. Almost all owners of vehicles built between 2012 and mid-2013 are therefore now able to retrofit this highly effective safety feature to their vehicle.

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Mercedes Available 2013 Wind 210

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'Royal DSM says a combination of two of its most innovative thermoplastics technologies has resulted in high performance pressure vessels that are ideally suited for use as lightweight fuel tanks for automobiles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) or hydrogen. With a solution for both the inner liner and the outer tape reinforcement, DSM is able to reduce the weight of the tank by up to 70%.

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Carbon Fiber Polymer Carbon Fuel 210

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 31, 2014

'LG Chem held a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of an electric-car battery plant in Nanjing, China. The Nanjing battery plant, with an annual production capacity of more than 100,000 electric vehicles when completed by the end of 2015, will supply batteries to Chinese automakers such as SAIC Motor Corp, Qoros and many other global carmakers in China.

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Batteries Battery Chinese China 210