Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

In California, Big Blue Bus (BBB) will receive $870,000 from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee’s (MSRC) Near Zero Engine Incentive Program. Big Blue Bus will use the grant approved by the MSRC partially to fund the purchase of 58 new Cummins-Westport 8.9L ISL G Near-Zero (NZ) 0.02 NO x engines. The NZ engine is the first mid-range engine in North America to receive emission certifications from both the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources

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Green Car Reports

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid's tenure as the most energy-efficient car on sale in the U.S. turned out to be short. The Toyota recently took the title of most energy-efficiency vehicle available in the U.S. away from the BMW i3, which had held it since 2014. But now there's a new kid on the block. DON'T MISS: Hyundai Ioniq electric.

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Green Fleet Magazine

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

This analysis shows that ownership costs for vans with similar powertrains, GVWR, and capacities can vary by manufacturer as much as $9,000.

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Green Cars News

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Peugeot has announced order books for its eagerly anticipated 3008 crossover will open in December. Set to take on the class-leading Nissan Qashqai an.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

Loop Energy ( earlier post ) has introduced a new range-extender (REX) power module for heavy-duty electric transport vehicles. At the core of the module is Loop’s unique fuel cell design which improves performance, durability and cost. Following a three-year development period, the Loop power module is now being integrated by an original equipment manufacturer and will begin in-service operation in 2017.

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Green Car Reports

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

In the six years since modern electric cars first went on sale in large numbers, the field has matured significantly. There are now several models that offer at least 100 miles of range, and many are widely available to consumers. That includes the Tesla Model S and Model X, starting at about $70,000, as well as several models that are more.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

New findings from Juniper Research project that the annual production of self-driving cars will reach 14.5 million in 2025, up significantly from only a few thousands in 2020, resulting in a global installed base of more than 22 million consumer vehicles by 2025. The new research, Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS: Adoption, Regulation & Business Models 2016-2025 , found that the market adoption of AV (Autonomous Vehicle) technology is set to accelerate over the next few years, driven by increasingly s

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Recycling, rather than reuse, is likely to be the more attractive option for up to 65 GWh of second-life batteries poised to enter the market in 2035 with the retirement of the first generation of plug-in vehicles, according to a new report from Lux Research, “ Reuse or Recycle: The Billion-Dollar Battery Question.”. Reuse of batteries from electric vehicles will deliver questionable returns due to reduced performance, limiting them to application with less frequent and shallower depth of discha

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

A 2025 CO 2 target of an average 70 g/km for new cars in the EU could be met with very little electrification and with an average payback period of less than 4 years, according to a new study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). However, transitioning soon to electric drive could lower manufacturers’ compliance costs by as much as €500 (US$532) per vehicle in 2025.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 19, 2016

A national survey of consumer attitudes towards plug-in electric vehicles suggests that people would prefer control to convenience in many charging scenarios, and also that renewable energy sources are an important component. The survey, released by researchers Brandon Schoettle and Dr. Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), includes responses from 542 people.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Mobileye N.V. has selected Synopsys’ Z01X functional safety verification solution to meet ISO 26262 automotive safety compliance for Mobileye’s next generation of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) SoCs. Z01X’s high-performance fault simulation enables Mobileye quickly to perform practical fault injection flows. ISO 26262 is an international standard for functional safety of electrical and/or electronic systems in production automobiles.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

The average age of light vehicles in operation (VIO) in the US has once again climbed slightly this year, to 11.6 years, according to IHS Markit, a provider of business information and analysis for the global automotive industry. Registrations for light VIO, including cars and light trucks (SUVs/CUVs as well) in the US also reached a record level of more than 264 million—an increase of more than 6.2 million (2.4%) since last year.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 19, 2016

US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Hopper released the final plan to guide future energy development for the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for 2017-2022. The Proposed Final Program offers 11 potential lease sales in four planning areas—10 sales in the portions of three Gulf of Mexico Program Areas that are not under moratorium and one sale off the coast of Alaska in the Cook Inlet Program Area.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

A team led by Professor Jae Sung Lee at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), with colleagues at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), have developed a new pathway for the direct conversion of CO 2 to liquid transportation fuels by reaction with renewable hydrogen produced by solar water splitting. The new carbon capture and utilization (CCU) system is enabled by their discovery of a new catalyst that produces liquid hydrocarbon (C 5+ ) selectivity of ∼65%

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Conversion Fuel CO2 Hydrogen 223

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

The Volkswagen and BASF international “Science Award Electrochemistry 2016” goes to Dr. William Chueh from Stanford University. The jury of representatives from BASF, Volkswagen and from academia selected him for his outstanding research results in the area of energy storage and conversion. Dr. William C. Chueh is assistant professor at the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Center Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 24, 2016

Several ambulances for The City of Seattle’s fire department are now equipped with XL HYbrids’ XL3 Hybrid Electric Drive System. XL Hybrids retrofitted Ford E-450 ambulances with a goal of increasing miles driven per gallon for the fire department and reducing carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. In just nine months with the hybrid-electric ambulances, the Seattle Fire Department has achieved a 23% increase in miles driven per gallon and a 19% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 20, 2016

A team at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) led by Dr. Jeremy Michalek has investigated the implications of regional and drive cycle variations on the degradation of a plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) battery. Modeling a PHEV with an air-cooled battery pack comprising cylindrical LiFePO 4 /graphite cells, they simulated the effect of thermal management, driving conditions, regional climate, and vehicle system design on battery life.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 20, 2016

At the 2016 Guangzhou Auto Show, Qoros Auto introduced the first drivable engineering development car—a modified Qoros 3 hatchback—equipped with the QamFree engine featuring FreeValve’s Pneumatic-Hydraulic-Electric-Actuator (PHEA) technology. ( Earlier post.) FreeValve AB is a sister company to Koenigsegg Automotive. Qoros debuted the Qamfree engine with FreeValve technology in a concept car at the Beijing Motor Show in April 2016.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

One of its molecular mysteries of photosynthesis involves how the photosystem II protein complex harvests energy from sunlight and uses it to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Now, an international team of researchers has used femtosecond pulses from an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to capture the highest resolution room-temperature (RT) images of this protein complex, allowing scientists to watch closely how water is spli

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 20, 2016

by Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. One of the oil world’s longest and best kept secrets may finally be revealed. Saudi Arabia is preparing to unveil how much oil it holds, a closely guarded state secret that has been kept quiet for decades. The decision to bring such important data to light comes as Saudi Aramco is preparing to partially privatize its assets, an IPO that could bring in some $100 billion.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

The increasing stringency of global emissions standards, both current and projected, is driving up the cost for internal combustion engines to meet those standards, although numerous technology pathways exist. ( Earlier post.). In a conversation with Green Car Congress at AutoMobility LA last week, Dr. Matthias Erb, Executive Vice President of the NA Engineering and Planning Center, Volkswagen Group of America, said that, as a result of those pressures, some strategists in the Volkswagen Group p

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché SA ( earlier post ) and China-based Zhejiang Narada Power Source Co Ltd, a global battery manufacturer, announced a strategic partnership for the manufacturing and development of lithium-ion battery technology for the Chinese and global markets. Leclanché will support Narada with technology transfer to achieve low-cost, scale manufacturing of Leclanché’s proprietary high-cycling and fast-charging lithium titanate (LTO) and high energy density graphite nickel

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Volvo Cars is updating its 90 series cars with new powertrain, safety and connectivity updates. The new Drive-E powertrain variants include a D3 4-cylinder diesel engine coupled to a new manual 6-speed transmission; estimated fuel economy is 4.3 l/100 km (54.7 mpg US) NEDC in the S90 with emissions down to 114 g/km CO 2. A new automatic 6-speed transmission coupled to the D3 will deliver 114 g/km CO2 and 4.3 l/100 km.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Inspired by the ultra hard shells and flexible legs of ironclad beetles (the subfamily Zopherinae ), BAE Systems engineers have developed a bendable titanium alloy memory metal suspension system that could protect future military vehicles from explosive impacts. The alloy is made from the same type of material used in flexible spectacles and allows the suspension to ‘bounce back’ into shape after impact, so that the vehicle can continue its mission.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

At a launch event in London, electric car company NextEV unveiled its brand, NIO and its electric supercar, the NIO EP9, which has achieved a new lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschliefe. On 12 October 2016, the EP9 lapped the 20.8 km (12.92-mile) ‘Green Hell’ in 7m 05.12s, beating the previous EV lap record held, marking it out as the fastest electric car in the world.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 24, 2016

The American Center for Mobility this week broke ground on its new center for testing, education and product development for connected and automated vehicles at Willow Run in Ypsilanti Township. Located on the 335-acre site where B-24 bombers were made during World War II, the Center will be a purpose-built facility designed for research, education, testing, standards-convening, product development, validation and self-certification for connected and automated technologies as well as future mobi

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized increases in renewable fuel volume requirements across all categories of biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. In a required annual rulemaking, the action finalizes the volume requirements and associated percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel for 2017, and for biomass-based diesel for 2018.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Stratasys Ltd. and Siemens are partnering to integrate Siemens’ Digital Factory solutions with Stratasys’ additive manufacturing solutions. The partnership is intended to lay the foundation for the two companies to fulfill their shared vision of incorporating additive manufacturing into the traditional manufacturing workflow, helping it to become a universally recognized production practice which can benefit multiple industries, including aerospace, automotive, transportation, energy and industr

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

A team at Stanford University has developed a method for using battery electrode materials directly and continuously to control the lattice strain of a platinum (Pt) catalyst, thereby boosting catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells by up to nearly 90%. A paper on their work is published in Science. Modifying the electronic structure of catalysts can improve their performance; lattice strain (either compressive or tensile) modifies the distances between surface a

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed guidelines to help address driver distraction caused by mobile and other electronic devices in vehicles. The release marks the second phase of voluntary guidelines to address driver distraction on US roads; the first phase, released in 2013, focused on devices or systems built into the vehicle at the time of manufacture. ( Earlier post.).

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

In Europe, Nissan has introduced a new larger-capacity diesel engine for its flagship X-Trail crossover. The 2.0-liter unit is available to order now, and first deliveries are due to arrive with customers early in the new year. The new Euro 6 engine has an output of 177PS—a significant step up in power from the existing 1.6-liter 130PS diesel—with 380 N·m (280 lb-ft) of torque providing excellent pulling power throughout the rev range.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 24, 2016

Toyota Motor’s Central R&D Labs, along with Nippon Soken and four universities (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kyoto, and Ritsumeikan) has developed the first method for observing the real-time behavior of lithium ions (Li-ions) in an electrolyte as a Li-ion battery charges and discharges. The researchers will present a paper on this method, results and the implications for battery design at the 57 th Battery Symposium in Japan next week.

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Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

The US Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office has awarded Donghai Wang, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, a $1.1-million grant to develop a new lithium-ion conductor for the protection of lithium metal used in next-generation battery technologies for electric vehicles. ( Earlier post.). With the new funding, Wang, who leads the Energy Nanostructure Laboratory at Penn State, and his team will use very thin layers of nanostructured hybrid (organic-inorganic&mda

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