Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

New 1.6L SIDI engine. Click to enlarge. Opel revealed more details about its new mid-size gasoline engine family at the Aachen Colloquium in Germany. ( Earlier post.) The all-new 1.6-liter, four-cylinder, SIDI (spark ignition direct injection) ECOTEC Turbo engines, which begin Opel’s renewal of its powertrain portfolio, deliver improved fuel consumption, performance and refinement.

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Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 15, 2012

For centuries, the role of Judge has carried with it a solemn duty to uphold justice, the law, and to ascertain which facts are true, and which are not. So when a journalist in Carmi, Illinois spotted a Second Circuit Judge charging his electric car at Wayne County Courthouse, they ran a story claiming Second Circuit Associate Judge Mark Stanley.

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National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Have a long road trip to take but you don't want to spend much on gasoline and you can't afford a Tesla Model S? Ford announced on Tuesday that the Ford C-MAX Energi has.

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Green Cars News

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Former footballer and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Robbie Savage has taken on the former Stig, Ben Collins, in the Volkswagen Fan in a Van Football Ground Challenge. The challenge, which can be viewed on the Daily Mirror’s website. included visiting as many football grounds as possible in a day on one tank of fuel and [.].

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Fuel 74

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Toyota Motor Sales USA (TMS) activated a new 1.1-megawatt hydrogen fuel cell generator on the Torrance headquarters campus. The fuel cell will supply approximately half of the electricity for six headquarters buildings during peak demand. Designed and built by Ballard Power Systems, the proprietary Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) stationary fuel cell is the largest PEM fuel cell of its kind.

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Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 15, 2012

They pop up like weeds, these "Electric cars are failures" articles--and you just have to keep killing them. The latest is an opinion piece titled, "Why the Electric Car Failed," published last week in U.S. News & World Report. Author Michael Lynch identifies himself as a researcher for the petroleum industry. To judge by his confrontational.

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Electric Cars Cars Electric Electrical 156

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 19, 2012

A British company has produced petrol ‘from the air’ by using unique technology to that captures water vapour and carbon dioxide present in air to produce a synthetic version of the fossil fuel. According to The Independent this morning, Teeside-based Air Fuel Synthesis has so far managed to produce five litres of fuel since its [.].

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Petrol Water Carbon Fuel 67

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

2013 Pathfinder. Click to enlarge. Nissan’s new 2013 Pathfinder SUV—the 4 th generation of the vehicle introduced more than 25 years ago— utilizes a new drivetrain featuring a 3.5-liter DOHC V6 engine mated to a next-generation Xtronic CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) to help provide up to a 30% increase in combined city/highway fuel economy over the previous V6-equipped model while maintaining comparable power.

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Fuel Economy 2013 Economy SUV 321

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 19, 2012

Eighteen months after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan, electric cars are viewed there in a whole new light—as portable sources of emergency energy. Now Nissan has taken that usage to a new level, with the Leaf-To-Home energy station that it announced in May and put on sale in August. The owner of a Nissan Leaf can.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

A123 Systems, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate lithium iron phosphate batteries and systems, has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Johnson Controls, Inc. in a transaction valued at $125 million. Under the agreement, Johnson Controls plans to acquire A123’s automotive business assets, including all of its automotive technology, products and customer contracts; its facilities in Livonia and Romulus, Michigan; its cathode powder manufacturing facilities in Ch

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Li-ion Grid Delaware Purchase 304

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2012

SAE International’s anticipated new revised technical standard for the combo coupler for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicles (EV) has been approved and published. ( Earlier post.). Developed in a consensus environment by more than 190 global experts representing automotive, charging equipment, utilities industries and national labs, “J1772: SAE Electric Vehicle and Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Conductive Charge Couple” enables charging time to be reduced from as long

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Volkswagen Group of America Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) and Plug and Play Tech Center have launched the Volkswagen ERL Technology Accelerator Powered by Plug and Play. The new Silicon Valley-based program is designed to accelerate 10 select startups from various industries to help develop next-generation technologies that can be applied in the automotive domain.

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America Plug Plug-in North America 291

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Households with plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) and smart meters actively managed how, when and where they charged their cars based on electricity rates but rarely took advantage of online feedback, according to a two-year study by a team at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute ( RASEI ). The study, sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales USA with the integral partnership of Xcel Energy, is one of the only of its kind, combining both household and vehicle data

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rated the overall range for Ford’s plug-in hybrid C-MAX Energi at 620 miles (998 km). The Toyota Prius plug-in trails the C-MAX Energi by 80 miles at 540 miles of overall range, and the Chevrolet Volt comes in third at 380 miles. — C-MAX Energi achieves up to 21 miles in all-electric mode, meaning at least one leg of the average work commute of 20 miles each way could be completed each day on electric battery charge only, allowing customers

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EPA Miles Range Energy 286

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

GM will build the Cadillac ELR, a luxury coupe featuring extended-range electric technology, at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, General Motors North America President Mark Reuss said Tuesday. The ELR is the production version of Cadillac’s Converj, a concept vehicle revealed at the North American International Auto Show in 2009. ( Earlier post.). Production is scheduled to begin in late 2013.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 19, 2012

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will participate in the 19 th World ITS Congress from 22–26 October 2012 with a demonstration of automobile and motorcycle V2X communication—how its vehicles can communicate both with each other and with road-side infrastructure to benefit road safety, the environment, driver comfort and convenience. Congress participants can also experience for themselves Honda’s ITS equipped Insight hybrid and an ITS Honda motorcycle (NC700X) by participating in the joint Car2Car an

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Motorcycles Congress Honda 2012 277

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 19, 2012

2D vs. 3D scanning. Click to enlarge. Fujitsu Ten Ltd. has developed a compact 77 GHz three-dimensional electronic scan millimeter-wave radar for automotive applications that is capable of detecting an object in three dimensions, including the elevation range in addition to distance and azimuth range. While making further improvements, the company intends to deliver this product to automobile manufacturers from 2014.

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2014 Automobile 2003 Automobile Manufacturer 273

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

In a Form 8K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 15 October, Li-ion battery maker A123 Systems said it will be in default under several of its debt agreements as of today (16 October). First, the company does not expect to pay its October interest payment of $2,695,312.50 to Wanxiang America Corporation on the 3.75% convertible subordinated notes due 2016 in the aggregate principal amounts of $143,750,000. ( Earlier post.).

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Petronas and Lanzatech are partnering to extend LanzaTech’s CO fermentation technology to consume CO 2 for the production of acetic acid. Source: LanzaTech. Click to enlarge. LanzaTech, a producer of low-carbon fuels and chemicals from waste gases, and Petronas, the national oil company of Malaysia, will work together to accelerate the development and commercialization of technologies to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals using CO 2 as the carbon source.

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Malaysia CO2 Carbon Oil 268

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 19, 2012

Austria-based oil and gas company OMV opened the first public hydrogen filling station in Vienna, Austria. OMV has been researching the alternative drive concept for vehicles with hydrogen and fuel cells for several years. The focus of the OMV filling station on Shuttleworthstraße was on a massive reduction in electricity consumption and the complete replacement of conventional heating systems.

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Austria Hydrogen Light Solar 262

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 19, 2012

Xinhua. China is planning a 120 km test drive from Beijing to Tianjin for autonomous vehicles in 2013, according to the National Natural Science Foundation. The vehicles are designed to perceive their environment, process it and respond accordingly with the help of GPS, ultrasonic radar and a variety of sensors. In addition to the 2013 test, the vehicles are scheduled to undergo a longer test drive from Beijing to the city of Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province, located some 2,400 km aw

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2013 China Vehicles Automobile 261

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2012

2013 Scion iQ EV. Click to enlarge. Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) USA announced the arrival of the 2013 Scion iQ EV in the United States. ( Earlier post.) The iQ EV is a battery-electric four-seater city commuter car designed for car-sharing programs, in urban and campus environments; Toyota is targeting around 90 units for these applications. The iQ EV features a power consumption rate of 104 Wh/km.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 19, 2012

Westport Innovations Inc. is lowering the price of its Westport WiNG Power System. ( Earlier post.) Starting with the 2013 Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty pickup truck models, the Westport WiNG System will be priced at $9,500 (down from $9,750). To achieve the reduction, Westport worked with its suppliers to lower the cost of components, while maintaining quality and performance standards.

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Price 2013 Miles 2011 257

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2012

The F12 electric sports car research vehicle looks like an R8 but features a new electric powertrain. Click to enlarge. Audi’s e performance research project has wrapped up. ( Earlier post.) In addition to the development of a technology platform for electromobility and a drivable F12 e Sport research car, the three-year, €36-million (US$47-million) project spawned 20 degree theses and 50 doctoral theses.

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Motor Motors Motoring Batteries 257

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Corsa 1.3 CDTI ecoFLEX. Click to enlarge. GM’s Opel has introduced a diesel Corsa 1.3 CDTI ecoFlex model with stop-start technology which consumes 3.3 l/100 km (71.3 mpg US)—equivalent to 88 g CO 2 /km in its three-door version, and 3.4 l/100 km (69 mpg US) and 89 g/km CO 2) in its five-door version. Over the last five years from the first Corsa ecoFLEX ( earlier post ) to this latest model, says Mike Ableson, Opel Vice President Engineering, Opel engineers have been able to reduce consump

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MPG Diesel CO2 Oil 255

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2012

The Nikkei reports that Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) Ltd. hopes to have a prototype of a superconducting motor ( earlier post ) for electric buses ready by next spring to present to OEMs. Sumitomo has been working on motor application for its superconducting wire for a number of years. In 2008, SEI unveiled an electric vehicle equipped with a prototype superconducting motor cooled by liquid nitrogen and built using SEI’s high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Colorado State University has obtained a 5-year, $5-million grant from BP to study mechanisms involved with technology for oil recovery from “watered-out” wells. The term watered-out refers to a well that has begun producing large amounts of water—often occurring with waterflooding for enhanced oil recovery—thereby making oil production unprofitable.

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Colorado Water Oil Universal 252

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2012

This diagram illustrates the effect of phase on the chemical reactivity of adipic acid, a common atmospheric particle. (Image courtesy of Kuwata Mikinori.) Click to enlarge. Atmospheric chemists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have found that the phase of secondary organic materials (SOM) in the atmosphere—solid, semisolid, or liquid—can effect their chemical reactivity (chemical aging) in the atmosphere.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Caterpillar Inc. unveiled the first model in its new line of hybrid excavators, the Cat 336E H. The 336E H delivers up to 50% greater fuel efficiency— measured in tons per liter—over the 336D. Customers can expect the 336E H to use up to 25% less fuel compared to a standard 336E, and up to 33% less fuel than the 330/336D. The Cat 336E H uses a new hydraulic hybrid technology developed by Caterpillar, on which the company has filed more than 300 patents.

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Hybrid 2013 Standards Fuel 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 19, 2012

Ricardo has won a bid for funding under round three of the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund to support a new £10-million (US$16-million) low carbon vehicle research and training facility to be built at the Ricardo Shoreham Technical Centre. The new Ricardo Vehicle Emissions Research Centre (VERC) will be capable of researching and developing emission reduction technologies and incorporating these technologies into hybridized, 4-wheel drive, and advanced technology vehicles.

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Carbon Vehicles London Economy 246

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 18, 2012

The Phoenix Drives PD550-dual inverter is the main power electronics module used in the MAN Metropolis, a plug-in hybrid concept truck that will be on display at the eCarTec International Fair for Electric- and Hybrid-Mobility held 23-25 October 2012 in Munich. ( Earlier post.). The PD550-dual, manufactured by Phoenix International, a John Deere company, is suited for diesel electric series architectures.

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Phoenix Concept Hybrid Lithium Ion 246

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2012

LanzaTech’s proposed gas-to-liquids platform. The products in red would be produced by synthetic biocatalysts, while those in black—ethanol, acetic acid, and 2,3 BDO—can be produced by the LanzaTech native microorganisms. Source: LanzaTech. Click to enlarge. Earlier this week, LanzaTech announced a partnership with Malaysia’s Petronas to extend the core LanzaTech proprietary CO gas fermentation process to include CO 2 -containing gases from a variety of sources—including refine

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Parts CO2 Renewable Conversion 244

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that its cumulative worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles surpassed 1 million units as of the end of September 2012. This milestone was reached 12 years and 11 months after the start of sales of the first generation Insight in Japan November 1999, which realized fuel economy of 35 km/liter (82.3 mpg US, 2.86 L/100k m) on the 10?

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Pike Pulse Grid for clean diesels. Click to enlarge. The new Pike Pulse Report: Clean Diesel Vehicles from Pike Research ranks the Volkswagen Group as the leader in this market, due to the efforts of the Volkswagen and Audi brands. The company has long. been a leader in selling diesel vehicles and is making a strong push for emerging clean diesel markets, Pike notes.

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