Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2015

A team from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa is developing a new one-pot process to produce gasoline-grade (C 6 –C 18 ) hydrocarbon oil from polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)—an energy storage material formed from renewable feedstock in many bacterial species. In contrast to conventional biofuels derived from plant biomass, the resultant PHB oil has a high content of alkenes or aromatics, depending on the catalyst.

Gasoline 250

Gasoline Hawaii Oil Polymer 250

Green Car Reports

AUGUST 14, 2015

Electric car sales may be flat this year. Heading into 2016, only a handful of new vehicles are likely to move the needle much. The long-awaited, multiply-delayed Tesla Model X all-electric SUV should finally go into volume production next year, presumably giving Tesla Motors a major sales boost. DON'T MISS: GM Shows Chevy Bolt EV Electric-Car.

Electric Cars 131

Electric Cars 2018 Price Tesla Motors 131

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2015

According to the 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report released today by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, total installed wind power capacity in the United States grew at a rate of 8% in 2014 and now stands at nearly 66 gigawatts (GW)—ranking second in the world (to China) and meeting 4.9% of end-use electricity demand in an average year.

Wind 247

Wind 2014 Puerto Rico Price 247

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 14, 2015

In an analysis of hourly air pollution data (PM 2.5 ,PM 10 , SO 2 , NO 2 , O 3 and CO) from more than 1500 sites in China, Berkeley Earth has calculated that the observed air pollution contributes to ~1.6 million deaths/year in China [0.7–2.2 million deaths/year at 95% confidence]—roughly 17% of all deaths in China. The calculated mortality is somewhat higher than the 1.2 million deaths/year previously estimated from a Huai River study using Chinese air pollution measurements and mortality

Pollution 244

Pollution China Coal South Korea 244

Advertisement

emissions global warming Norway climate change carbon dioxide youtube lighting

Norway

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2015

Diversified energy technology company Holtec is partnering with the US subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation—Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc. (MEPPI)—to develop the instrumentation and control solution for Holtec’s small modular reactor SMR-160. MEPPI will perform the design engineering work effort for the SMR-160 digital instrumentation and control system (DCS) and Human System Interface (HSI), needed for SMR-160 operation.

Mitsubishi 243

Mitsubishi Water Electric Electrical 243

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 12, 2015

The Jeep Cherokee in Europe is adding a new 2.2-liter MultiJet II diesel engine, available with 185 hp (138 kW) and 200 hp (149 kW) outputs, and offering a significantly wider spread of torque from low rpm, greater power, improved performance and better fuel economy than the out-going two-liter 170 hp automatic engine. The new 2.2-liter Euro 6 compliant engine, appearing on an FCA model for the first time, joins the current 2.0L diesel 140 hp manual version in the Cherokee line-up.

Jeep 232

Jeep Diesel Europe MPG 232

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

The California Energy Commission approved a grant of $2.4 million to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) under the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program to build and to test seven hybrid fuel-cell, Class 8 trucks to transport cargo at the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports. The Commission also approved $1.2 million to expand the data collection effort for the plug-in vehicle project at Los Angeles Air Force Base ( earlier post ) to assess fully the econ

Los Angeles 214

Los Angeles Grant Long Beach Energy 214

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 14, 2015

Dearman, the UK-based clean cold technology company, is to receive a £2-million (US$3.1-million) investment from Coast to Capital, via its Growing Places Fund. Coast to Capital (C2C) is the Local Enterprise Partnership for the South East and includes the Croydon area, the location of the new Dearman Clean Cold Technology Centre. C2C has committed this financial support in recognition of Dearman’s potential to deliver growth and employment opportunities for the local area by rapidly bringing its

Commercial 214

Commercial Clean Cleaning Emissions 214

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

Audi announced that it will develop the battery for a purely electrically powered sport utility vehicle on the basis of battery cell modules from the South Korean suppliers LG Chem and Samsung SDI. The two Audi partners plan to invest in the cell technology in Europe and will supply the Ingolstadt-based car producer from their European plants. The new technology will give drivers of the Audi sport utility vehicle a range of more than 500 kilometers (311 miles).

Audi 214

Audi SUV Miles Range 214

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2015

As part of its continuous optimization of production processes at its plants, the BMW Group is leveraging the opportunities arising from digitalization (i.e., “Industry 4.0”, earlier post ). For the automotive manufacturer, digitalization opens up new perspectives with regard to the advancement of innovative and people-oriented production systems. In turn, the freed potential in the production systems allows the company to respond even more individually to customers’ wishes and to step up the fl

BMW 214

BMW Industrial Industry Production 214

Advertisement

Brief

Connect

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2015

A team at Caltech led by Dr. Nathan Lewis has integrated electrocatalysts with silicon microwire arrays to achieve simultaneously high fill factors (a performance indicator) and light-limited photocurrent densities from photocathodes that produce H 2 (g) directly from sunlight and water. A paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Solar 214

Solar Hydrogen Production Light 214

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 12, 2015

Among the features of the upcoming IAA in Frankfurt will be the “New Mobility World” exhibition area, designed to showcase the emerging digital mobile world that will span all sectors. The area will also include telecommunications companies. The exhibition area will incorporate five areas: Connected car. Automated driving. E-mobility. Urban mobility.

Connect 209

Connect Connected Cars Design 209

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2015

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) company Carbon3D Inc. was named one of the World Economic Forum’s 49 Technology Pioneers for 2015. Carbon3D joins the Technology Pioneers program as the first additive manufacturing company to be selected. Carbon3D recently emerged from stealth mode to introduce an innovative approach to polymer-based 3D printing that it says will advance the industry beyond basic prototyping to 3D manufacturing.

Manufacturer 209

Manufacturer Ford Companies Transit Connect 209

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2015

Eight in ten (80%) Canadians “agree” (33% strongly/48% somewhat) that “ electric cars are the way of the future ”, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Hyundai. Just two in ten (20%) “disagree” (3% strongly/17% somewhat). Three quarters (75%) of Canadians “agree” (32% strongly/44% somewhat) that they would “ like to have a car that is not powered by traditional gasoline ”, while only one in four (25%) “disagree” (7% strongly/18% somewhat) that they would like to drive such a car.

Tucson 207

Tucson Available Buy Fuel 207

Advertisement

Oil

Guyana

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 8, 2015

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) posted eleven new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathways to the LCFS public comments website. Among them are two proposed pathways from Neste for the production of renewable diesel at its Singapore refinery, using corn oil from the US midwest as feedstock. The renewable diesel would then be shipped back to California.

Singapore 207

Singapore Renewable Los Angeles Oil 207

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

Tesla intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, about $500 million worth of common stock (2.1 million shares) in an underwritten registered public offering. (As of 12 August, Tesla stock was trading at $238.17 per share.) Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, intends to purchase $20 million of common stock in this offering at the public offering price.

Tesla 203

Tesla Purchase United States Grant 203

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 12, 2015

Researchers at Nankai University in China report their latest advance in developing a rechargeable Li-CO 2 battery with the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with high electrical conductivity and porous three-dimensional networks as air cathodes for the rechargeable metal-CO 2 batteries. A paper on the work is published in the RSC journal Chemical Communications.

Universal 203

Universal CO2 Batteries Battery 203

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 12, 2015

by Gaurav Agnihotri of Oilprice.com. Saudi Arabia has long enjoyed the status of being the top crude oil exporter in the world. With record production of 10.564 million barrels per day in June 2015, Saudi Arabia has been one of the major driving forces behind the current oil price slump. The Saudis have kept their production levels high since last year in order to drive other players (especially US shale drillers) out of business.

Oil Prices 203

Oil Prices Saudi Arabia Oil Price 203

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2015

A team at Monash University (Australia) has developed an “artificial photosynthesis” system that delivers the highest efficiency reported to date—in excess of 22%—for the solar-driven conversion of water to hydrogen. A paper on the researchers’s work is published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science. Although some solar-driven fuel generating systems have reached efficiencies as high as 18%, they are often based on precious metal catalysts, or offer only limited stabilit

Water 203

Water Hydrogen Solar Australia 203

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 9, 2015

A team at Cornell University has used ice-templating to synthesize hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) with extremely high surface areas of up to 2340 m 2 g −1 with total pore volume of up to 3.8 cm 3 g −1 as supports for sulfur for electrodes in Li–S batteries. Ice-templating (or freeze-casting) uses the controlled freezing of colloids to template designed porosity in materials.

Carbon 203

Carbon Lithium Sulfur Batteries Battery 203

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 14, 2015

Researchers in China have developed an approach for the cost-effective, energy-efficient, large scale synthesis of functional silicon electrode materials for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). A paper on their work is published in the ACS journal Nano Letters. In the case of anodes, silicon is considered to be one of the most promising materials due to its abundance, environmentally benignity, low working potential, and highest theoretical capacity of 4200 mA h g −1 (corresponding to the fully lithiated c

F-150 197

F-150 Li-ion Energy Lithium Ion 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 14, 2015

Power electronics semiconductors, which manage voltage and current, are a key technology for enabling improvements in “fuel economy” in electric vehicles. While conventional silicon-based semiconductor technology currently owns the plug-in vehicle power electronics market, emerging wide band gap (WBG) semiconductors offer significantly greater energy efficiency potential than silicon.

Manufacturer 197

Manufacturer Energy Fuel Fuel Economy 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

Swiss battery maker Leclanché ( earlier post ) is acquiring design and IP rights for modules and battery management system software from ADS-TEC GmbH in a move to strengthen its product range for stationary storage applications and insourced manufacturing capacity in Switzerland. This complements the recent acquisition of Trineuron, focused on transport applications. ( Earlier post.).

Energy Storage 197

Energy Storage Energy Lithium Ion Batteries 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

Qualcomm Incorporated announced that its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Global Trading Pte. Ltd, has completed its acquisition of CSR plc (CSR), a leading fabless provider of end-to-end semiconductor and software solutions for the Internet of Everything (IoE) and automotive segments. The acquisition, which was completed at an enterprise value of approximately $2.2 billion ($2.4 billion equity value), complements Qualcomm Technologies’s current offerings by adding a portfolio of new

2016 197

2016 Connect Connected Automobile 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2015

Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a thermally conductive separator coated with boron-nitride (BN) nanosheets to improve the stability of Li metal anodes for us in high energy density Li-ion batteries. Hexagonal boron nitride (“white graphene”) is a 2D material that offers chemical stability, electrical insulation, and very high thermal conductivity (e.g., earlier post ).

Li-ion 197

Li-ion Maryland Carbon Batteries 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2015

Under a project to deliver a new generation of green transport fuel, researchers the Islamic Azad University in Iran have produced biodiesel from flixweed seed oil. Flixweed ( Descurainia sophia ), also called tansy mustard, it is a member of the mustard family like the oilseed crop, canola. ( According to the US Forest Service, Flixweed is native to Europe and northern Africa.

Oil 197

Oil Lithuania Iran Africa 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 10, 2015

Researchers at Tsinghua University in China are studying the effects of Dual-Fuel Spark Ignition (DFSI) combustion fueled with different alcohols and gasoline. In one paper, published in the journal Fuel , they investigated the use of alcohols–gasoline DFSI Combustion for knock suppression and high fuel efficiency using a gasoline engine with high compression ratio.

Gasoline 197

Gasoline Fuel Engine Fuel Economy 197

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 14, 2015

American Power Group, Inc. (APG) has signed a license agreement with Trident Resources, LLC for the exclusive worldwide right to commercialize Trident’s proprietary Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) process technology. In addition, APG purchased substantially all of Trident’s operating assets including two existing mobile NGL operating systems currently servicing remote or stranded well-sites for one of the top five E&P companies in the Bakken region.

Gas 188

Gas Fuel North America North Dakota 188

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 14, 2015

The US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Mississippi State University (MSU) are collaborating to develop new technologies that address next-generation energy storage challenges. This collaboration will include joint research to build next-generation batteries for the electric grid that meet the challenges caused by tornadoes, hurricanes and other weather events.

Energy Storage 188

Energy Storage Mississippi Universal Energy 188

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

A Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has engineered the bacterium E. coli to produce 1,3-diaminopropane via fermentation. 1,3-Diaminopropane is a three carbon diamine, which has a wide range of industrial applications including epoxy resin and cross-linking agents, as well as precursors for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and organic chemicals

Engine 188

Engine Industrial Industry Carbon 188

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

Following the successful introduction of the BMW i3 to the DriveNow car-sharing fleets in Germany, the UK and the USA, BMW will commission 400 BMW i3s in Copenhagen on 3 September. The all-electric car sharing fleet here will also interconnect with public transport via a collaboration with Arriva. The BMW i3 is the first automobile offering integrated “intermodal routing”—the incorporation of public transport services into the navigation system’s route guidance in the car.

BMW 188

BMW Transportation USA Fleet 188

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

A new NSF-funded Industry/University Collaborative Research Center (I/UCRC) at Penn State and Rice University will study the design and development of advanced coatings based on two-dimensional (2D) layered materials to solve fundamental scientific and technological challenges that include: corrosion, oxidation and abrasion, friction and wear, energy storage and harvesting, and the large-scale synthesis and deposition of novel multifunctional coatings.

Conversion 188

Conversion Energy Energy Storage Universal 188

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 13, 2015

Propel Fuels has expanded its sales of Diesel HPR (High Performance Renewable) to locations across Southern California. Utilizing Neste’s NEXBTL renewable diesel, Propel’s Diesel HPR is a low-carbon, drop-in renewable fuel that meets petroleum diesel specifications and can be used in any diesel engine. Diesel HPR made its North American debut in March 2015 at 18 Propel stations across Northern California. ( Earlier post.

Diesel 188

Diesel Renewable San Diego California 188

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 12, 2015

New analysis by an international team led by MIT researchers shows that Asia now releases a surprisingly large amount of anthropogenic mercury. While its increased burning of coal was known to exacerbate mercury emissions and air pollution, the MIT-led team estimates that Asia produces more than double the mercury emissions previously estimated. An open access paper on the analysis is published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Mercury 188

Mercury Asia Emissions Coal 188