Green Car Congress

JANUARY 7, 2012

Chevrolet led all automakers in US passenger car sales in 2011 and posted its largest year-over-year retail sales increase in 35 years, due in large part to strong sales of the Cruze compact sedan. Chevrolet compact car sales almost doubled compared with 2010. Chevrolet sold more than 763,000 passenger cars in 2011. Products included the Sonic subcompact, Cruze compact sedan, Volt electric car, Malibu and Impala sedans, and Camaro and Corvette sporty cars.

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Creative Greenius

JANUARY 13, 2012

Man, I can’t believe it’s been over a month now since I wrote in this space about the villainous and vile vandals who destroyed the trees and native plants at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park over Thanksgiving. But time has afterburners when the holidays roll around especially when your friendly neighborhood Greenius is in such demand locally.

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Los Angeles Karma Neighborhood Escape 249

Electric Cars are for Girls

JANUARY 7, 2012

Interview with Mike Willmon, president of NEDRA - the National Electric Drag Racing Association. Not surprisingly, we're talking about driving really, really fast in electric cars.

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Green Car Reports

JANUARY 8, 2012

It wouldn't be an auto show without concept cars, and the Detroit Auto Show this year has its share. From Volkswagen comes a new take on a familiar shape: the Volkswagen E-Bugster, an all-electric two-seat coupe version of its iconic Beetle. Volkswagen isn't unveiling the car until the show opens, but with sites violating the maker's embargo, we.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 12, 2012

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. has been awarded an engineering development contract from India automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. to develop hydrogen systems for a mini-bus platform. Under this contract, Quantum will engineer and modify Mahindra’s 2.5L engine to run on hydrogen, while improving vehicle performance characteristics through enhanced electronic control software strategies and engine calibration.

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Creative Greenius

JANUARY 13, 2012

The Greenius with his friend and fellow volunteer, Charles, getting ready to dig and plant. Man, I can’t believe it’s been over a month now since I wrote in this space about the vandals who destroyed the trees and native plants at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park over Thanksgiving. But time has afterburners when the holidays roll around especially when your friendly neighborhood Greenius is in such demand locally.

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Los Angeles Karma Neighborhood Escape 150

Green Car Reports

JANUARY 12, 2012

We'd be the first to point out that many of the electric car owners currently out on the roads have had absolutely no trouble with the 100 or so miles they get from a full charge. However, it'd be foolish to assume that some people really don't need more than that, and as a result there's always room for an EV with greater range. Improvements to.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2012

The eMO study. The front seats are mounted atop the 18.4 kWh air-cooled battery pack. Click to enlarge. Tata Technologies, a global provider of engineering services and product development IT, was selected by Michelin to display its electric MObility (eMO) engineering study EV as part of the Michelin Challenge Design display at the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.

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Green Cars News

JANUARY 10, 2012

Tuesday 10 January 2012. The Green Piece Column. The North American International Auto Show 2011 (or the Detroit Motor Show as we like to call it) starts its second day of press previews today, before opening to the public for two weeks of motoring delights (January 9-22, 2012). Taking place in the city home of [.].

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2012

National benefits of the CH 4 plus BC measures versus the reference scenario. Circle areas are proportional to values for (A and B) climate change, (C and D) human health (values for population over age 30), and (E and F) agriculture. Source: Shindell et al. Click to enlarge. A study by an international team of researchers, led by Drew Shindell of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, has identified 14 measures targeting methane and black carbon (BC) emissions that

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 12, 2012

According to a new report from Pike Research, the worldwide market for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric medium- (MD) and heavy-duty (HD) trucks will grow at 92% in 2012, with total sales surpassing 19,000. Going forward, Pike expects the market to experience a compound annual growth rate of 47.2% between 2011 and 2017, reaching 100,746 truck sales by the end of that period.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2012

The California Energy Commission approved a first-in-the-nation energy efficiency standard that will reduce wasted energy by battery chargers commonly used to power cell phones, laptop computers, power tools, and other devices. The rules explicitly exclude devices used to charge a motor vehicle that is powered by an electric motor drawing current from rechargeable storage batteries, fuel cells, or other portable sources of electrical current, and which may include a nonelectrical source of power

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2012

The KSPG-FEV two-cylinder range extender. Click to enlarge. Automotive supplier KSPG Automotive (formerly Kolbenschmidt Pierburg), a subsidiary of Rheinmetall AG, and FEV have jointly developed a concept for a compact, 30 kW range extender for battery-electric vehicles. KSPG is showcasing the unit, along with other of its engine efficiency technologies such as the UniValve variable valve system, at the Detroit Auto Show.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2012

ILX concept. Click to enlarge. Acura unveiled three new vehicles at the North American International Auto Show, including a concept version of the ILX hybrid luxury compact sedan (which will offer Acura’s first production hybrid as a model version); the NSX Concept, which presages the direction for Acura’s next-generation supercar; and a prototype of the 2013 RDX crossover sport utility vehicle.

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Acura Hybrid Detroit Vehicles 246

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2012

The XC60 Plug-in Hybrid Concept was introduced at the Detroit Auto Show. Click to enlarge. Volvo Car Corporation will rely on a powertrain strategy based on its new downsized 4-cylinder VEA (Volvo Environmental Architecture) engine platform ( earlier post ) and hybrids for the US market, said John Maloney, recently appointed President of Volvo Cars, US, in an interview at the Detroit Auto Show.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2012

Network diagram showing the number of articles in common between all pairs of topics in the analysis except geographic regions. Topics are grouped by thematic areas. Line thickness indicates the categorical strength of the connection between topics. Credit: ACS, Ridley et al. Click to enlarge. A new study by researchers from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds substantial gaps in the amount of research on the numerous critical topics relevant to the global biofuels industry.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2012

2013 Cadillac ATS. Click to enlarge. On the eve of the Detroit Auto Show, Cadillac introduced the 2013 ATS, a new rear-drive compact luxury sports sedan developed on an all-new, lightweight vehicle architecture. ( Earlier post.) GM says the ATS will be able to deliver peak highway fuel economy of more than 30 mpg. GM is offering a choice of three power-dense engines, including two new four-cylinder units—a standard 2.5L four-cylinder and a 270 hp (201 kW) 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder&md

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2012

As it had earlier indicated it would, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) late last week filed a notice of appeal on all three of Federal District Court Judge Lawrence O’Neill’s 29 December decisions that resulted in a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). ( Earlier post.). Among their various charges against ARB, the plaintiffs—essentially from the corn ethanol and petroleum refining industries—asserted that the LC

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Congress California Oil Charging 239

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2012

2013 Ford Fusion. Click to enlarge. Ford unveiled the new 2013 Ford Fusion midsize sedan, with conventional gasoline engine; hybrid featuring a next-generation of Ford’s hybrid system; and plug-in hybrid versions at the Detroit Auto Show—the first production sedan to offer that trio of options. The new Fusion also points to the next Ford Mondeo for world markets.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2012

A team from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) report on their new methodology for performing regionalized life cycle assessment (LCA) and systematically choosing the spatial scale of regionalized impact assessment methods in a paper published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Regional patterns of impact for the US electricity grid mix for five impact assessment categories.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2012

In the latest advance in the collaboration of Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance ( earlier post ), Nissan’s Decherd, Tenn., powertrain assembly plant will build Mercedes-Benz 4-cylinder gasoline engines for Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz models. Production will begin in 2014, with installed capacity of 250,000 units per year once full ramp–up is achieved.

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North America Mercedes Nissan Gasoline 236

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2012

Kia Motors Corporation announced today that its global sales for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for 2011 reached an all-time high of 2,478,959 unit, representing an annual year-on-year increase of 18.6%. This marks the first time it has eclipsed the 2.4 million unit sales mark.

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2011 Kia Sale Global 231

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 12, 2012

A new coalition of executives from major companies in the transportation and utility industries plans to design a large?scale electric vehicle (EV) demonstration project that will help create a comprehensive national model for EV deployment. The Electrification Leadership Council (ELC) is a coalition of key stakeholders throughout the EV supply chain who have the expertise and resources required to engage federal, state, regional and local agencies and coalitions, utility companies, vehicle manu

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2012

At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Daimler and Google announced a deepening of their strategic partnership to provide Daimler with access to the Google Maps API (application programming interface) for Business for the use of cloud-based, map-related applications in Daimler vehicles and early access to other new APIs as they are developed.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2012

CODA Automotive will offer two mileage range and price options in 2012 for the CODA sedan. In addition to the original model, equipped with a 36 kWh battery pack offering up to a 150-mile (241 km) range with a MSRP of $39,900, a new 31 kWh battery option will provide a driving range of up to 125 miles (201 km) and will be available at a lower base MSRP of $37,250.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 8, 2012

A team at McGill University led by Professor Audrey Moores reports for the first time the use of iron-iron oxide core-shell nanoparticles for the hydrogenation of olefins and alkynes under mild conditions in ethanol and in an aqueous medium. A paper on their work appears in the RSC journal Chemical Communications. '. This catalyst proves robust towards the presence of oxidants, such as oxygen and water, is magnetically recoverable and shows selectivity towards the less activated double bonds.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2012

Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has signed a contract to deliver engines and propulsion systems for the world’s first Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) powered tugs. The two vessels have been ordered by Norwegian company Buksér og Berging AS and will enter service in late 2013 for Statoil, the international energy company, and Gassco, the operator of the gas transportation network off the Norwegian coast.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 10, 2012

OnStar will give selected developers access to a proprietary application program interface (API) to create innovative mobile applications designed to interact with OnStar’s suite of services. OnStar services are enabled by its Advanced Telematics Operating Management System. The ATOMS cloud platform connects to more than 6 million OnStar customers. Apps created using the API will deliver services and functionality in the same manner.

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GM Google Cars Connect 218

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 10, 2012

JBEI researchers determined the structure of the AgBIS enzyme and found it to consist of three helical domains, the first three-domain structure ever found in a synthase of sesquiterpenes. This discovery holds importance for advanced biofuels and other applications. Click to enlarge. A team from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) last year reported the identification of a novel biosynthetic alternative to #2 diesel (D2)—bisabolane, a member of the terpene cl

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2012

The LF-LC concept. Click to enlarge. Lexus unveiled a new design concept for a hybrid 2+2 sport coupe at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Showcasing the future design direction for Lexus with an emphasis on a driver-focused vehicle, the front-engine, rear-wheel drive LF-LC features Advanced Lexus Hybrid Drive. The concept car’s glass roof features a lightweight, cantilevered pillar with a glass-to-glass roof pillar—a first.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 7, 2012

Geographical distributions of global BC emissions from motor vehicles in 1976 (A) and 2006 (B). Country-based mean values are shown for 1976 and 1° × 1° resolution was used for 2006. Credit: ACS, Wang et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Peking University have developed a new methodology to model black carbon (BC) emissions from diesel and gasoline motor vehicles.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 13, 2012

Location of the Ichthys project. Source: INPEX. Click to enlarge. Japan-based INPEX Corporation and its joint venture partner Total have made the final investment decision (FID) for the Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia, representing an investment of US$34 billion dollars. INPEX is the operator—its first time in that role for a world-class project; Total holds a 24% interest.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 12, 2012

Neste Oil’s NExBTL renewable aviation fuel will be used for the first time to power an intercontinental flight when Lufthansa flies a regular scheduled service from Frankfurt to Washington DC using the fuel on 12 January. The flight will mark the end of a six-month trial by Neste Oil and Lufthansa during which the airline flew a total of 1,187 flights between Frankfurt and Hamburg using Neste Oil’s NExBTL renewable aviation fuel.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 11, 2012

Renewable fuels company Mascoma Corporation has implemented key components of the commercialization strategy for its Mascoma Grain Technology, or MGT, yeast product—the first commercial application of Mascoma’s proprietary consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) technology platform. The MGT product is a genetically-modified yeast designed as a drop-in substitute for conventional fermenting yeast that lowers costs for corn ethanol producers by alleviating the need to purchase most of the expensive

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