Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'The Hugoton cellulosic ethanol plant covers 400 acres, more than 380 of which will be used to store biomass from local farmers. Click to enlarge. Abengoa held the grand opening of its cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kansas, located about 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Dodge City. Abengoa’s new biorefinery finished construction in mid-August and began producing cellulosic ethanol at the end of September with the capacity to produce up to 25 million gallons (94.6 million liters) per year.

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Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'Some home owners use home solar-power systems to charge their cars, cutting their transportation-related emissions to negligible levels. However, home solar charging really hasn''t entered the mainstream yet, with photovoltaic solar installations costing as much as $25,000 and local incentives inconsistent to nonexistent. DON''T MISS: In 10 Years.

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Solar Charging Future Electric Cars 167

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'For a long time hydrogen has been mooted as the fuel of the future for our cars. And yet a number of issues with it have so far prevented that future from becoming a reality. One of the major issues with hydrogen is that it is difficult to store; because of its low boiling point of -252.8°C, i[.].

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Hydrogen Cars Store Fuel 61

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 11, 2014

'The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual report “Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends” ( earlier post ) has, in its past editions since its inception in 1975, treated alternative fuel vehicles—electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles—separately from gasoline and diesel vehicles, with the vast majority of its analysis limited to gasoline and diesel vehicles only.

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Fuel Economy EPA PHEV Economy 312

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Norway

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'Lockheed Martin revealed yesterday that its Skunk Works team is working on a new compact fusion reactor (CFR)—the size of a Class 8 trailer rather than a building—that could be developed and deployed in as little as 10 years. There are several patents pending that cover their approach, the company said, although the team has yet to publish scientific papers on its approach.

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Fusion Concept Design Building 300

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the 5 winners of the 2014 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, including biotechnology companies Amyris and Solazyme, Inc. Solazyme received the award for Greener Synthetic Pathways for its tailored oils produced from microalgal fermentation. Amyris received the Small Business award for its renewable hydrocarbon farnesane for use as diesel and jet fuel.

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Green Oil EPA Diesel 290

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 12, 2014

'XXXXX Click to enlarge. A study by researchers at the Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis finds that buyers of plug-in vehicles (PEVs) are substantially less satisfied with the dealer purchase experience than buyers of conventional vehicles—with the notable exception of Tesla buyers. A fundamental problem appears to be divergent expectations regarding the level of support buyers receive from dealerships.

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Davis Plug-in Plug Sale 290

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'Prototype inverter. Click to enlarge. Using 3-D printing and novel silicon carbide (SiC) wide band gap (WBG) semiconductors, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have created a prototype power inverter for electric vehicles that achieves a much higher power density than currently available along with a significant reduction in weight and volume—almost meeting, and in terms of efficiency, beating, DOE’s 2020 targets.

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Power Powered 2014 2020 273

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 13, 2014

'ExxonMobil Corporation is establishing an advanced biofuels research program at Iowa State University. The $1-million ExxonMobil Biofuels Program will initially focus on two research projects related to the fast pyrolysis of biomass to produce liquid bio-oil, which can then be upgraded into transportation fuels. Iowa State researchers have been studying fast pyrolysis for more than 15 years and have recently upgraded a fast pyrolysis pilot plant at the university’s BioCentury Research Farm.

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Iowa Oil Universal Engine 271

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'The lightweight torque vectoring transmission is applied in a Visio.M test vehicle. Click to enlarge. As part of the Visio.M project in Germany, researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM), along with their colleagues in the consortium, have developed a lightweight torque vectoring transmission with characteristics that are optimally adapted to electric vehicles.

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Germany Convert Energy Engine 268

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2014

'New Flyer Industries Inc. is developing the first North American designed and built 60-foot battery-electric/fuel cell hybrid bus that will operate in daily service. CALSTART, which will administer the project for the FTA, received the green light from the FTA for work to proceed. The electric propulsion system being integrated into New Flyer’s Buy America-compliant Xcelsior X60 heavy-duty transit bus platform includes a combination of batteries, a fuel cell, and hydrogen storage.

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North America America Hybrid Fuel 268

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 12, 2014

'In 2015, Berlin transport operator BVG (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe) will begin testing of a complete downtown line with Solaris electric buses equipped with on-board power supply equipment from Vossloh Kiepe and the PRIMOVE inductive charging system from Bombardier. A similar bus went into service in the city of Braunschweig in April of this year. ( Earlier post.).

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2015 Charging 2016 Electric 265

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2014

'Green Car Reports adds some additional detail to the shadowy picture of the upcoming GM battery electric vehicle presumed to be based on the Sonic. ( Earlier post.). Mark Reuss, GM’s executive vice president of global product development, has confirmed that GM will add a new electric vehicle to the lineup; speculation over the past months has locked in on a new EV that would be based on the Sonic with a range of about 200 miles, and a launch date in 2017.

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Chevrolet Green Cars GM 2017 255

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'Under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Clean Diesel Rebate program, public and private school bus fleet owners are eligible to apply for funding to replace school buses that have older, dirtier Diesel engines. Many of the nation’s school buses use diesel engines, which are durable and long-lasting. EPA has implemented standards that require diesel engines to be more than 90% cleaner, but many older diesel school buses remain in operation and predate these standards.

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EPA Diesel Emissions 2006 252

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Guyana

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2014

'Badlands NGL, LLC, announced the development of a North Dakota manufacturing plant that will convert ethane (C 2 H 6 ), a byproduct of natural gas processing, into polyethylene, which is used to make a wide variety of end-use consumer and industrial plastics. Badlands NGL, LLC, and its partners expect to invest $4 billion to build the polyethylene manufacturing facility in North Dakota.

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North Dakota Convert Polymer South America 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2014

'TMC cumulative hybrid sales by year. The blue bar represents the running cumulative total, the green bar the hybrid sales for each year. Click to enlarge. Cumulative global sales of Toyota Motor Corporation’s (TMC) hybrid vehicles has exceeded the 7 million unit mark as of 30 September, reaching 7.053 million units. This latest million-unit milestone was achieved in the fastest time yet for Toyota, taking just nine months.

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Prius Toyota Sale Hybrid 246

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'The Nikkei reports that Toyota will begin sales of its new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV), reportedly named Mirai, in Japan in December. The company had earlier said the fuel cell sedan would be on sale in Japan before April 2015, and in the US and Europe by summer 2015. ( Earlier post.). The Nikkei said that Toyota had planned to make 700 of the fuel cell cars annually, but that initial demand is already reaching close to 1,000.

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Japan Toyota Fuel Sale 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 13, 2014

'Korea-based Integrated Energy, and Detroit Electric, which plans to bring a new electric sportscar—the SP:01 ( earlier post )—to market in 2015, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Integrated Energy to conduct retail sales of Detroit Electric pure electric vehicles, and to implement a joint V2X project which will include a pilot program in South Korea.

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Detroit South Korea Energy Sale 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 13, 2014

'Hydrogenics Corporation has introduced a new fuel cell system purposely developed for medium- and heavy-duty buses and trucks. The Celerity system is intended to reducing the time and cost needed to integrate fuel cells into a vehicle’s drivetrain. The company is profiling the new system at the 2014 American Public Transit Association Expo in Houston, Texas.

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Hydrogen Fuel Houston Vehicles 240

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'In May, researchers at MIT and Stanford University reported the development of new battery technology for the conversion of low-temperature waste heat into electricity in cases where temperature differences are less than 100 ?Celsius. The thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) uses the dependence of electrode potential on temperature to construct a thermodynamic cycle for direct heat-to-electricity conversion.

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Waste MIT Batteries Battery 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'Clean Energy Fuels Corp. reported it delivered for the first time more than 50 million compressed natural gas (CNG) gallons in one quarter. The company also announced plans to grow its CNG sales “beyond the pipeline” by acquiring a controlling interest in NG Advantage LLC, a pioneer in the natural gas “virtual pipeline” delivery system. Founded in 2011, NG Advantage transports CNG in high-capacity trailers to large industrial and institutional energy users such as hospitals, food processors, ma

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Clean Cleaning Energy CO2 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 11, 2014

'NEI Corporation (NEI), a nanotech materials company ( earlier post ), and PneumatiCoat Technologies (PCT) recently initiated a collaboration to develop, produce, and market coated Li-ion battery materials: cathodes, anodes, and solid electrolytes. The partnership will help serve the needs of customers interested in enhancing the performance of batteries through the use of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) coatings of active material particles.

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Lithium Ion Li-ion Market Batteries 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'Eleven more General Motors facilities have achieved landfill-free status. The running total is 122 manufacturing and non-manufacturing operations spanning Asia, Europe, and South and North America that recycle, reuse or convert to energy all waste from daily operations. GM’s new landfill-free facilities include: CAMI Assembly (Canada). Colmotores Assembly (Colombia).

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GM Colombia Waste Michigan 225

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'Researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) and Sungkyunkwan University have developed a hybrid conversion process for the production of biobutanol based on the selective catalytic hydrogenation of butyric acid (C 4 H 8 O 2 ) resulting from the fermentation of glucose. A paper on their work is published in the journal ChemSusChem.

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Conversion Hydrogen 2014 Concept 225

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2014

'XL Hybrids, Inc. has received California Air Resources Board (CARB) Executive Order (EO) #D-731-1 allowing aftermarket conversions of gasoline-powered 2012-2014 model year General Motors 2500 and 3500 vans, Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans into hybrid electric vehicles. The XL Hybrids XL3 Hybrid Electric Drive System ( earlier post ) is on sale now in California for the first time.

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California Conversion Hybrid Oakland 225

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'Nissan led with California ZEV credit transfers out during the last report period. Click to enlarge. Between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2014, Nissan transferred out 663.6 ZEV (zero emission vehicle) credits from its balance account, according to the latest report by the California Air Resources Board (ARB)—just edging out Tesla with 650.195 credits.

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2014 California Nissan Land Rover 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'The addition of palladium (Pd) prevents deactivation (addition of oxygen, red spheres) of an iron catalyst in the reaction that removes oxygen from biofuel feedstock. Credit: ACS, Hensley et al. Click to enlarge. Washington State University researchers have developed a new palladium-iron hydrodeoxygenation catalyst (Pd/Fe 2 O 3 ) that could lead to making drop-in biofuels cheaply and more efficiently.

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Oil Production Hydrogen Water 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'Neste Oil and SHV Energy have agreed that SHV Energy will market and sell biopropane to be produced at Neste Oil’s Rotterdam refinery. ( Earlier post.) The agreement to supply some 160,000 tons of biopropane over a four-year period is the first of its kind. SHV Energy plans to sell the biopropane in several European markets and has initiated discussions with customers in France, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia and the UK.

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Market Energy Cleaner Fuel Alternative 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'Adding to the list of informally announced plug-in vehicles ( earlier post ), the Yonhap News Agency last week cited Yang Woong-Chul, R&D vice chairman at Hyundai Motor Group, as saying that the group will introduce plug-in hybrid versions of its popular Sonata and K5 (Optima) midsize sedans in 2015. Others in the company said the Sonata plug-in will make its debut first, followed by the K5, which is sold in some foreign markets as the Optima.

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2015 Kia Hyundai Tucson 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 15, 2014

'Chempolis Ltd, a Finland-based biorefining technology company, signed a partnership agreement with Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL, a Government of India enterprise). The two have agreed to partner to build a biorefinery using Chempolis formicobio technology in North East India (Assam) for producing bioethanol with co-production of furfural and acetic acid. ( Earlier post.).

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India Building Production Finland 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 14, 2014

'Proposed catalytic cycle for the electrochemical charging of Li-O 2 cells with TEMPO. Credit: ACS, Bergner et al. Click to enlarge. One of the major challenges with the realization of commercial Li-air batteries and their promise of ultra-high energy densities is the reduction of the high charge overpotential. The high potential gap leads to a low round-trip efficiency of the cell and causes electrochemical decomposition of other cell constituents. ( Earlier post.).

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Batteries Battery Charging Ohio 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 13, 2014

'Volkswagen of America, Inc. (VWoA) and Global Green USA will auction the first 2015 battery-electric Volkswagen e-Golf in the US. That announcement follows Toyota’s announcement that it is partnering with the Environmental Media Association (EMA) to raffle off the company’s first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle when it arrives in California in late 2015.

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'Shanghai General Motors will become the first automaker in China to offer embedded 4G LTE services in its vehicles. The first Shanghai GM offering to be equipped with OnStar 4G LTE will be a Cadillac model in 2015. The high-speed data service is made possible by a new OnStar 4G LTE connection in the vehicle. Deployment of OnStar 4G LTE connectivity technology will provide improved OnStar safety and security services and new features such as a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot.

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GM China Connect Connected 210

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 17, 2014

'SAE International has published the revised J2880_201406 Standard, superseding the older J2880_200810 Standard. The Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and SAE International, along with partners and representatives from the motorsports industry, developed these protocols to be used by those automotive racing series who seek recognition as a Green Racing Series.

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International Standards Green EPA 210