Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Saying that “ investment-grade climate change and clean energy policy is required to shift private sector investment from high-carbon to low-carbon assets ”, a group of 285 investors has urged governments and international policy makers to take new and meaningful steps in the fight against climate change. In a joint statement, the group, representing more than $20 trillion in assets under management, stressed the urgent need for policy action which stimulates private sector investmen

Climate Change 360

Climate Change Climate Global Energy 360

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 27, 2011

If you read only certain subsections of the "news," you might be forgiven for thinking that plug-in electric cars have been a sales disaster. They haven't. The Tesla Roadster, Nissan Leaf, and Chevrolet Volt are all built in quite small numbers, and their sales have been commensurately low, totaling slightly more than 15,000 by the end of this.

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Electric Cars Miles Volt Chevrolet 144

Electric Cars are for Girls

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Electric car conversion books are the place to start if you want to build an EV, or convert a gas car to electric.

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Conversion Electric Cars Cars Gas-Electric 164

National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 26, 2011

Electric motorcycle designer and manufacturer Brammo announced today completion of a $28 million round of series B financing, that also sees powersports manufacturer Polaris come on-board with a minority ownership stake. The move is described as.

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Electric Motorcycles Parts Motorcycles Financing 97

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Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

A team of MIT researchers lead by Prof. Yang Shao-Horn, in collaboration with Prof. John Goodenough from the University of Texas as Austin, has found one of the most effective catalysts yet discovered for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for use in water-splitting to produce hydrogen or in rechargeable metal-air batteries. The new compound, composed of cobalt, iron and oxygen with other metals (Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3–?

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MIT Recharge Hydrogen Batteries 326

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 28, 2011

When cable TV’s “MythBusters” program recently investigated the idea that emissions from motorcycles are gentler on the environment than emissions from cars, they burst the bubbles of eco-enthusiast motorcycle riders—and put a small New York company’s innovative emissions testing technology into the spotlight. Since.

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Motorcycles Pollution New York IDEA 135

National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Late last week ABC news published a slanted story about the Dept of Energy loan assistance to Fisker Automotive for production of their Karma and Nina hybrid electric vehicles. The story has been mungled together with the faux.

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Fisker Obama Karma Hybrid 92

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

A new Siemens gas turbine operated in a combined cycle with a steam turbine in Irsching, Bavaria, has set a world record for efficiency, achieving net efficiency of 60.75% during the test run. The target was 60%; the previous generation of the turbine had an efficiency of 58.5%. The new turbine is designed to generate 400 megawatts (MW) alone and 600 MW when combined with a steam turbine.

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Power Powered Gas-Electric Gas 294

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 28, 2011

With good reason, it's often said that the toughest auto endurance testing in the world is in taxi duty on the streets of New York City (and Jakarta, and Beijing, and Rio). While the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission has pushed aggressively for high-mileage hybrids--mostly Ford Escape crossovers--to replace the low-mileage Ford Crown.

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Taxi New York City New York Plug-in 128

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Two giants in the field of electric car batteries have signed an agreement to work together to help advance the UK’s uptake of electric cars. European firm Axeon is to work with its US counterpart, A123 Systems with both companies set to benefit from the collaboration and supply agreement. Customers will benefit from the combination [.].

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Supplies Electric Cars Batteries Battery 59

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National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 26, 2011

On monday, Justin Horner in a post on the Natural Resources Defence Council Switchboard blog called attention to Congressional inaction on a commuter tax benefit which will expire if a bill remains stuck in committee. The employer sponsored tax.

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Tax Credit Tax 48

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2011

AC Propulsion’s sister company e.motor Advance Corp. of Beijing (China) has entered into a supplier contract with Beiqi Foton Motor Co. of Beijing. The contract between the two companies provides that e.motor Advance will deliver 100 sets of its drivetrain and battery pack systems to Foton for their Midi-E electric car. The 100 Midi-E vehicles will be in service as taxis in the Yanqing area of Beijing in 2012.

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Supplies Motor Motors Motoring 279

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Tesla’s first electric car, the 2007-2011 Roadster, may have ceased production after its planned 2,500 (ish) car production run, but the Tesla Roadster will live on in an all-new car for 2014, Tesla has confirmed. In an interview with Autocar, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed what we already suspected: that an all-new 2015 Tesla Roadster would.

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2015 Tesla 2007 2014 126

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Just days ago we revealed how car2go would extend its electric car sharing programme across Europe (see article) and now it has officially announced its arrival in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As of November 24, 300 Smart Fortwo electric drive vehicles will be made available for on-demand mobility without the need for a fixed rental station. The [.].

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Electric Cars Netherlands Cars Electric 58

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National Green Transportation

OCTOBER 26, 2011

On monday, Justin Horner in a post on the Natural Resources Defence Council Switchboard blog called attention to Congressional inaction on a commuter tax benefit which will expire if a bill remains stuck in committee. The employer sponsored tax.

Tax Credit 45

Tax Credit Tax 45

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

GE Energy Financial Services and German fund KGAL are jointly investing €111.1 million in a 50-megawatt parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant using molten salt energy storage in Torre de Miguel Sesmero, Badajoz, Spain. The GE unit and KGAL agreed to invest structured equity in Extresol II, developed by Spain-based ACS, Europe’s largest developer, builder and operator of solar thermal power plants.

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Molten Salt Energy Storage Solar Spain 253

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 24, 2011

It might be celebrating a global total of 15,000 all-electric Nissan Leafs since the model was launched last year, but Nissan isn’t planning to keep its plug-in technology inside pure electric cars, it has revealed today. Talking at an event in Yokohama, Japan earlier, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn confirmed that Nissan has been working on.

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Nissan Plug-in Plug Electric Cars 123

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Renault is celebrating winning a bid for an order for 15,637 Kangoo ZE electric vans from 19 French public authorities. Out of the order, 10,000 vans are for postal service La Poste, 1,500 for electricity suppliers ERDF, 1,200 for central purchasing authority UGAP, 510 for environmental services firm Veolia Environnement, 450 for electricity firm GDF-Suez [.].

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Electric Electrical Purchase Electric Vehicles 56

Revenge of the Electric Car

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Below is an interview with Director Chris Paine and Journalist Robert Steadman with UK-based Blue and Green Tomorrow : ROB: Was it difficult to gain behind the scenes access to the auto industry after the first film? Was there a level of distrust among the execs? CHRIS: Yes. It took time and there was distrust on all sides at different times. We knew we were vulnerable to car industry PR efforts and they knew they couldn't control what we did editorially.

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Conversion Auto Industry Plug-in Climate Change 100

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Bubbles under the vessel bottom of the new bulk carrier with MALS. Click to enlarge. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has designed a new bulk carrier equipped with the proprietary Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS), which reduces frictional resistance between the vessel hull and seawater using air bubbles produced at the vessel bottom, along with high-efficiency hull form and enhanced propulsion system.

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Design Emissions Panama CO2 249

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Today, if the news cycle cooperates, ABC News will air a segment on its Nightline program that looks at Fisker Automotive--makers of the 2012 Karma plug-in luxury sport sedan--and the low-interest loans it and Tesla Motors have been granted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Full investigations into government support of any private company--from.

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Fisker Karma MPG Electric Cars 122

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 24, 2011

It has been a model credited with completely rebranding the image of the electric car, now it is all over for the Tesla Roadster as its maker prepares to end production and move onto pastures new. With its blistering performance, our reporter, Tom Stewart gets behind the wheel of Tesla’s milk-float image-busting electric car for [.].

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Electric Cars Tesla Cars Electric 55

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

A University of Maine chemical engineer and his research team have developed a new process—thermal deoxygenation (TDO)—to transform biomass, including forest residues, municipal solid waste, grasses, and construction wastes, into a hydrocarbon fuel oil. The process requires no catalysts or hydrogen, and is “ a spin on chemistry used to make acetone back in the 1800s ”, said M.

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Hydrogen Fuel Convert Oil 247

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) reported that a side-by-side evaluation of the performance, durability and emissions of ethanol and isobutanol fuel blends run by Briggs & Stratton (B&S) on its small engines found that isobutanol fuel blends (provided by Gevo) did not cause any irregular or unstable engine or performance issues. The results suggest that isobutanol could help meet the renewable fuel mandate with minimal to no impact on existing equipment and off-road vehicles.

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Engine Fuel Vehicles Alternative Fuels 239

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Part of the Amsterdam car2go EV fleet. Click to enlarge. Daimler subsidiary car2go launched one of the first large-scale all-electric vehicle car-sharing fleets in Amsterdam. Beginning 24 November, 300 smart fortwo electric drive vehicles will be available for on-demand mobility, without the necessity of returning them to a fixed rental station. Recharging of the electric vehicles is not mandatory after each rental, because the range of the smart fortwo electric drive is eight to ten times highe

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All-Electric Fleet Electric Vehicles Vehicles 236

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2011

One year after the two partners signed a memorandum of understanding, the joint venture formed by the BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citroën to develop and manufacture hybrid and drive technology—BMW Peugeot Citroën Electrification ( earlier post )—is now up and running. Production of hybrid components for the electrification of both companies' models is scheduled to begin in 2015.

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BMW 2002 Gasoline-Electric Vehicles 231

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Number of cars (world and US), amount of gasoline consumed, amount of ethanol equivalent required for a neat ethanol fleet, ethanol and electricity to power hybrid fleet, and sugar cane area for hybrid fleet. Credit: ACS, Pacca and Moreira. Click to enlarge. If sugar cane is used as the feedstock to produce ethanol and electricity for the same final use—fueling vehicles for personal mobility—only 4% of the world’s available cropland area would be sufficient to produce fuels that woul

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Fleet Available Hybrid Power 230

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Twenty units of the Audi A1 e-tron extended range electric vehicle ( earlier post ) are on the roads of the Munich pilot region in a fleet trial by partners Audi, E.ON, the public utility Stadtwerke München (SwM), and Technische Universität München (TUM). E.ON and SWM are in charge of expanding and maintaining the charging infrastructure in the Munich metropolitan area.

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Extended Range Audi Range Electric Vehicles 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Renault has won the first lot of a call for bids for electric vehicles in France initiated by French public authorities and organized by the public procurement organization UGAP (l’Union des groupements d’achats publics). A total of 15,637 Kangoo Z.E. ( earlier post ) electric light commercial vans will be ordered over a 4-year period by 19 of France’s largest companies taking part in the call for bids, including 10,000 for La Poste, 1,500 for ERDF, 1,200 for UGAP, 510 for Veolia Environne

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France Electric Vehicles Companies Vehicles 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Alpheon eAssist Click to enlarge. GM Korea introduced the Alpheon eAssist, the first hybrid vehicle from the company and the first hybrid vehicle in its segment in Korea. The new Alpheon eAssist, which will go on sale in November, offers improved fuel economy of 25% and reduced CO 2 emissions of 22% compared with the standard Alpheon model. Like the light electrification powertrain of the Buick LaCrosse upon which it is based, the Alpheon eAssist features a 2.4-liter spark ignition direct inject

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Fuel Economy GM Economy Buick 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

The open architecture common core system (CCS) that houses third-party modules. Source: GE Aviation. On Wednesday, ANA made the first commercial flight with one of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliners ( earlier post )—a 4-hour hop from Tokyo to Hong Kong. The Dreamliner marks a number of visible—and many more not so visible—innovations in design, materials, flight systems, propulsion and environmental performance.

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Commercial Wind North America Environment 218

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Bright Automotive, Inc. has entered into an agreement for AM General LLC to be Bright’s exclusive North American assembler for the Bright IDEA vehicle platform. AM General will build the Bright IDEA in its Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, Ind., under a contract assembly agreement. The Bright IDEA is an all-new, plug-in hybrid electric light-duty work-truck due on the market in 2014.

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IDEA Bright Automotive Plug-in Plug 210

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

UQM Technologies, Inc. has begun volume production of its PowerPhase Pro electric motor and controller packages. The company’s production line has a capacity of 40,000 units on two shifts. The brushless, permanent-magnet electric motor delivers greater range and improved braking. The entire system is lightweight and completely sealed. The controller offers precise regulation of torque based on user inputs from a Controller Area Network.

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Production Electric Electrical Motor 210

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) signed an agreement with Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan concerning joint implementation of a project the city runs to promote the use of next-generation electric vehicles, including fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs). The project, called the E-Kizuna Project, is run in partnership with private enterprise with the aim of creating a sustainable, low-carbon society.

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Electric Vehicles Vehicles Electric Electrical 210