Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2013

Elements of the “Hybrid Air” hydraulic hybrid powertrain under development for B, C, and D vehicles. Click to enlarge. Following the introduction of the Bosch electric axle-split hybrid in PSA Peugeot Citroën diesel vehicles ( earlier post ), the two companies are now planning to develop a hydraulic hybrid powertrain for passenger cars. The hydraulic system, which uses compressed air for energy storage, basically comprises two hydraulic units and their pressure accumulators.

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Green Car Reports

JANUARY 23, 2013

There's no doubt about it: Electric car sales are going up. 2012 saw sales triple compared to 2011, and while the overall number of electric cars will increase in modest amounts, improved education and more choice should ensure a general upward trend. According to Pike Research, there could be as many as 1.8 million plug-in electric vehicles on.

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Green Cars News

JANUARY 21, 2013

While biofuels may right now make up much of our answer to the demand for renewable transport fuel, both here in Europe and in the US, that could soon change. According to new research from the University of California-Santa Barbara, photovoltaic panels are a much more efficient method of producing clean, renewable fuel compared to [.].

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2013

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a third update on its investigation into the fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 at Logan International Airport in Boston on 7 January. ( Earlier post.) NTSB said that examination of the flight recorder data from the JAL B-787 airplane indicated that the APU battery did not exceed its designed voltage of 32 volts.

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Boston Batteries Battery Japan 326

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2013

Well-to-wheels results for greenhouse gas emissions in CO 2 e for six pathways. Source: Wang et al. Click to enlarge. A new lifecycle analysis of five bioethanol production pathways by a team from Argonne National Laboratory led by Dr. Michael Wang found that, relative to petroleum gasoline, ethanol from corn; sugarcane; corn stover; switchgrass; and miscanthus can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [P10-P90 (P50)] by 19–48% (34%); 40–62% (51%); 90–103% (96%); 77–97% (88%); and 101–

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

Damaged electrode with sign of internal short circuit from the 787 Li-ion battery. Source: NTSB. Click to enlarge. At a briefing on the progress in the investigation of the Li-ion battery fire on-board a JAL Boeing 787 at Logan Airpot in Boston ( earlier post ), NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman reported that the investigating team had found signs of electrical short circuiting and thermal runaway in the cells.

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Li-ion Boston Batteries Battery 319

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 25, 2013

Fuji Electric Corporation of America will introduce a new generation of UL-Certified 25kW DC Quick Charging Stations for electric vehicles, offering a slimmer, sleeker version to suit a wider variety of applications and site locations. The release will be the fourth generation DC Quick Charger for the power electronics manufacturer, having launched the first model overseas in 2008 before entering North America’s EV market in March 2012.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. will conduct test drives of the ATLAS F24 Refrigerator Truck by Li-ion Battery for a one-year period starting this month, in cooperation with Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. This vehicle is the first truck to sustain continued operation of its refrigerator and chiller compartments through a dedicated lithium-ion battery system during small cargo delivery runs.

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Nissan Li-ion Transportation Battery Powered 294

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2013

In a new report, Pike Research forecasts that the smart city technology market will grow from $6.1 billion annually in 2012 to $20.2 billion in 2020—a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2%. Globally, Pike anticipates cumulative investment of more than $117 billion in smart city technologies between 2012 and 2020. Pike Research analyzes the market in terms of the five “industries” that are core to the development of smart cities: smart energy; smart water; smart transportation; smart

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

The 9.5 MW solar park at Chattanooga is owned and operated by Silicon Ranch; VW has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen inaugurated its largest solar facility in the world—also the largest solar facility operated by an automaker in the US—at its plant in Chattanooga, TN, which produces the Passat model for North America.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 21, 2013

Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. and Panasonic Corporation have jointly developed a new smaller, lower-cost version of the Ene-Farm home fuel cell co-generation system. Panasonic manufactures the fuel cell unit and supplies it to Tokyo Gas in combination with a hot water unit and backup heat source produced by Gastar Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Tokyo Gas. (Ene-Farm is a Japanese marketing brand used by several major gas companies and fuel cell manufacturers for home co-generation units.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 23, 2013

Cycling performance of the Si-C composite and porous Si at 400 mA/g. Source: Yi et al. Click to enlarge. A team at Penn State University has synthesized a micro-sized silicon-carbon (Si-C) composite consisting of interconnected Si and carbon nanoscale building blocks as anode materials for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). The Si-C composite, produced by a low-cost and large-scale approach, exhibits a reversible capacity of 1459 mAh/g after 200 cycles at 1 A/g with a capacity retention of 97.8%, with hig

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Li-ion Low Cost Carbon Lithium Ion 262

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 21, 2013

Dr. John Goodenough at the University of Texas at Austin and colleague Kyu-Sung Park have written a perspective paper on Li-ion batteries (LIBs), published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Goodenough invented lithium cobalt oxide cathode materials while at Oxford University; his technology was used in the first commercial Li-ion battery, launched by Sony in 1991.

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Li-ion PHEV Transportation Batteries 262

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 25, 2013

Volvo Car has enhanced its mobile app, Volvo On Call, with a new design, extra features and added vehicle connectivity. The app also enables users to connect with the plug-in diesel V60 Hybrid. New functions specific to the V60 D6 AWD Plug-in Diesel Hybrid incude: Passenger compartment preconditioning. Allows the owner to set the timer or remotely start the heating/cooling of the passenger compartment prior to the driver’s journey.

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Volvo Plug-in Plug Hybrid 261

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 19, 2013

At the conclusion of the International Negotiating Committee on Mercury ( INC5 ) meeting in Geneva ( earlier post ), nations agreed on a global, legally-binding treaty to prevent mercury emissions and releases. The Committee, chaired by Fernando Lugris of Uruguay, will present the Convention text to the UNEP Governing Council for adoption next month.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 23, 2013

The Ontario (Canada) government announced an investment of almost $16.9 million toward hybrid vehicle production at the Toyota plant in Cambridge, Ontario. The Government of Canada is also contributing $16.9 million to the project. The investment will allow the plant to produce the Lexus RX450h hybrid and will create 400 new jobs. Ontario is providing the funding through its Strategic Jobs and Investment Fund.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

Leyden Energy, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of advanced batteries, has raised $10 million in Series C financing from existing investors, including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Lightspeed Ventures, Sigma Partners and Walden International. The company closed a $20-million Series B round in August 2011. The new round will help fund productization and commercialization of Leyden Energy’s next-generation battery chemistries, built on research and development (R&D) advancements in both silic

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 23, 2013

Elements of the PSA mild Eco Hybrid system. Click to enlarge. At its Innovation Day in Paris—at which the company described its Air Hybrid technology and rollout plans ( earlier post )—PSA Peugeot Citroën aso showcased a next-generation mild-hybrid technology that significantly reduces fuel consumption, by 10% to 15% for an equivalent engine, and CO 2 , by 15 g/km, compared with its e-HDi technology.

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2017 Hybrid Li-ion Gasoline-Electric 240

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 21, 2013

At the beginning of this year, SK Continental E-motion—the joint venture between SK Innovation, and Continental—closed the transaction and officially started operations following the approval of the relevant authorities. ( Earlier post.) SK Continental E-motion will jointly develop, produce and distribute lithium-ion based battery systems for cars and light commercial vehicles.

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Li-ion Hybrid Lithium Ion Batteries 240

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2013

France’s Ecotechnologies fund made a €5-million (US$6.7 million) investment—on a total €10-million (US$13.3 million) round—investment in McPhy Energy, an company dedicated to hydrogen production and to low pressure hydrogen storage for industrial and energy players. The equity investment aims to support the commercial development of the company following the acquisition of Piel, an electrolysis equipment production unit based in Italy.

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Hydrogen Companies France Italy 240

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 25, 2013

Honda Transmission Mfg. of America, Inc. announced an agreement with Juhl Wind , Inc. to develop, install, and operate two utility-scale wind turbines (each rated at about 2MW) to generate electricity for the plant’s operations. The plant manufactures automatic transmissions, gears and four-wheel-drive systems, including the next-generation Earth Dreams transmission technology.

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Wind Ohio Honda North America 239

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 25, 2013

In a new working paper, Prof. John DeCicco at the University of Michigan argues that to reduce transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions, the proper policy focus should be upstream in sectors that provide the fuel, rather than downstream on the choice of fuels in the automobile. More specifically, he suggests that other than supporting fundamental R&D, programs to promote alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) “ are not currently warranted for climate protection.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2013

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approved the revised route of the Keystone XL pipeline through his state. The governor sent a letter to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, notifying them of the accepted Nebraska route. The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s evaluation of the 194.5-mile proposed pipeline reroute determined that: The proposed reroute avoids the Sand Hills but would cross the High Plains Aquifer, including the Ogallala Group.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 22, 2013

A South Korean research team led by Sang Yup Lee at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed a new metabolic engineering tool to construct efficiently microbial cell factories producing desired chemicals, fuels and materials. The new tool allows fine control of gene expression level by employing synthetic small regulatory RNAs; a paper on the work is published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

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Engine Fuel Climate Change Production 236

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) released two reports assessing the readiness of two different areas of California—the San Diego and the Central Valley regions—for the widespread use of electric vehicles. The reports show a wide difference in preparedness between the two. During 2012, CCSE conducted research to evaluate the current readiness for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in the Central Valley and San Diego regions and identified areas for improvement.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 23, 2013

University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and Air Force researchers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base have ramped up production of a new research fuel formula and a fuel derived from seed oils, and now have enough fuel to move from lab testing to testing in engines and auxiliary power systems. The ACS journal Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research published an article about the work on the fuel formula—a research jet fuel composition comprising methyl-branched tetradecane isom

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Renewable Fuel Alternative Fuels Production 231

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 25, 2013

Forest BtL’s process. Click to enlarge. Finland-based Forest BtL Oy has licensed Carbo-V biomass gasification technology from Linde Engineering Dresden GmbH. The Carbo-V technology will be implemented in a new Biomass–to-Liquid (BtL) plant in Kemi, Northern Finland. The commercial operation for the production of biodiesel and naphtha via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is expected to start at the end of 2016.

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Finland Carbon Gas Grant 225

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a high-performance, nanostructured solid electrolyte for more energy-dense lithium ion batteries. Lithium-ion-conducting solid electrolytes could enable high-energy battery chemistries, circumventing safety issues of conventional lithium batteries, which use liquid electrolytes. However, achieving the required combination of high ionic conductivity and a broad electrochemical window in solid electrolytes is a grand challenge for

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Li-ion Lithium Ion Energy Batteries 225

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

BMW Group and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) signed binding agreements aimed at long-term collaboration between the two companies for the joint development of a hydrogen fuel cell system; joint development of architecture and components for a sports vehicle; and joint research and development of lightweight technologies. These agreements follow a memorandum of understanding signed in June 2012. ( Earlier post.).

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BMW Toyota Lithium Ion Fuel 225

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 24, 2013

GM and PSA Peugeot Citroën provided an update on their global strategic alliance, announced in February 2012. ( Earlier post.). Steve Girsky, GM Vice Chairman, and Philippe Varin, Chairman of the PSA Peugeot Citroën Managing Board said that the final agreements concerning purchasing, logistics and the development of common vehicle projects were signed in line with the initially announced schedule. ( Earlier post.

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GM Global Engine Purchase 225

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 23, 2013

The Nikkei reported that Toyota Motor Corp. is close to an agreement with BMW AG to provide that company with drivetrain and storage technology for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In June 2012, the two companies had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at long-term strategic collaboration in four fields: joint development of a fuel cell system; joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle; collaboration on powertrain electrification; and joint research an

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 21, 2013

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) announced a planned 2013 capital commitment program of approximately $4.1 billion, approximately a $450-million increase over its 2012 capital spend of $3.6 billion. The largest component of the capital plan is spending $2.3 billion on BNSF’s core network and related assets. BNSF also plans to spend approximately $1 billion on locomotive, freight car and other equipment acquisitions.

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2013 Kansas City Production Kansas 225

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2013

A new Chicago-based research center using advanced computational methods to understand the rapid growth of cities will receive a $500,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The funds help launch the Urban Center for Computation and Data ( UrbanCCD ), an initiative of the Computation Institute (CI) dedicated to data-driven urban research, planning and design.

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Green Car Congress

JANUARY 20, 2013

Norbert Dentressangle and Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. – UK Branch (MEU-UK) have jointly invested in a DAF LF diesel hybrid truck ( earlier post ) for the distribution fleet. Originally appointed by MEU-UK in 2008, Norbert Dentressangle is responsible for the distribution of products, including large industrial air conditioning units, Ecodan heating systems, spare parts and instruction manuals, to MEU-UK’s customers throughout the UK and Ireland.

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