Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

In a preview of three detailed papers to be presented at the SAE World Congress in April, Tim Grewe, GM’s General Director of electrification, and Pete Savagian, GM General Director of electric drives and systems engineering, provided a technical overview of the new rear-wheel drive PHEV propulsion system for the Cadillac CT6 ( earlier post ) at the recent SAE 2016 Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium in Anaheim.

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Green Car Reports

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

While the lithium-ion battery "Gigafactory" under construction in Nevada continues to get most of the attention, Tesla's existing assembly plant in Fremont, California, continues to steadily churn out electric cars. The company has built the Model S sedan in Fremont since 2012, and is now building the Model X crossover there as well. And as it.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Riversimple Movement Ltd. unveiled the Rasa, a road-legal engineering prototype of its first two-seater hydrogen fuel cell road car, built for full European type approval. ( Earlier post.) Supported by a £2-million (US$2.9-million) grant from the Welsh government in 2015, the Rasa was designed for lightness, strength, affordability and safety. Riversimple plans to offer the car to motorists through a “sale-of-service” model.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

China-based technology company LeEco and Aston Martin have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) towards the creation of a partnership that will develop a production version of the Aston Martin RapidE electric vehicle concept—a fully electric version of the Rapide S four-door sports sedan. ( Earlier post.). The new partners anticipate working together in developing and manufacturing RapidE, with potential for adding a range of next-generation connected electric vehicles on behalf of A

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Norway

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have developed a new class of contenders for high-voltage and high-capacity Li-ion cathode materials with the composition Na x Li 0.7-x Ni 1-y Mn y O 2 (0.03. One of the compositions—Na 0.093 Li 0.57 Ni 0.33 Mn 0.67 O 2 —exhibited a maximum discharge capacity of 261 mAh g -1 at an average voltage of 3.36 V at 25 ˚C (between 2.0 and 4.8 V), which translates to an energy density of 943 Wh kg

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Volvo Trucks North America introduced a battery-powered parking cooler as a factory-installed option for its VNM 630, VNL 630, VNL 670, VNL 730 and VNL 780 sleeper models. The battery-powered parking cooler allows drivers to keep the cab and sleeper comfortable without idling the engine. Power comes from the combined energy of the truck starting batteries paired with four AGM deep cycle batteries located in the in-frame battery box.

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Battery Powered Volvo Batteries Battery 163

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

A consortium of Singaporean institutions and private sector companies including HES Energy Systems , ST Aerospace, DSO National Laboratories, and the Future Systems and Technology Directorate of Singapore’s Ministry of Defense, have worked jointly to achieve a record 6-hour endurance, 300km flight on the Skyblade 360 UAV built in Singapore by ST Aerospace.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

A team from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart and the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, has developed a high-power, high-capacity sodium battery with 96% capacity retention after 2,000 cycles. A paper on their work is published in the journal Advanced Materials. The researchers combined sodium vanadium triphosphate (Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 ) with a mixture of reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes to improve the sodium compound’s conductivity.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

A team at the Korea Institute of Energy Research has developed a catalytic process for the production of jet-range oxygen-free hydrocarbons from crude Jatropha oil, using hydrogen produced in-situ from formic acid. In a fixed bed reaction using a mixture of crude Jatropha oil and formic acid, normal hydrocarbon in the range of C 10 –C 18 (mostly C 15 and C 17 ) was the main product—about 97% in the liquid product—and the degree of deoxygenation was about 99.5%.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) via FNR (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.), BMEL’s central project-coordinating agency in the area of renewable resources, is funding a 3-year study of oxymethylene ethers (OME) as clean diesel fuels with €800,000 (US$894,000). Oxymethylene ethers (OME) are synthetic compounds of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen (CH 3 O(CH 2 O)nCH 3 ).

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Rightware, a provider of user interface software for the automotive industry, is collaborating with Renesas Electronics Corporation on a demonstration showcasing the capabilities of Renesas’ R-Car H3 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) and Rightware Kanzi. The demo presents a high-fidelity configurable digital cluster with infotainment and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) features and showcases the graphics capabilities of the R-Car H3 system-on-chip (SoC) and Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR GX665

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Comet Biorefining, Inc. will build its first commercial-scale biomass derived sugar facility in the Trans Alta Energy Park in Sarnia, Ontario. The 60 million pounds per year plant will come online in 2018 producing dextrose sugar from locally sourced corn stover and wheat straw. Comet converts non-food agricultural and forest residues into high-purity dextrose sugars that will be transformed into bio-based products including organic acids, amino acids and bioplastics.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), a $25-million Funding Opportunity Announcement ( DE-FOA-0001467 ) entitled “Next Generation of Electric Machines: Enabling Technologies.” EERE plans to issue the FOA around March 2016. Through this FOA, AMO seeks to create future high impact manufacturing opportunities through the Next Generation of Electric Machines (NGEM) vision, wh

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

A team of researchers led by Dr. Michelle O’Malley at UC Santa Barbara has identified several promising new enzyme candidates for breaking down lignocellulsoic biomass for biofuel production from relatively unexplored gut fungi in herbivores. To do so, they developed a systems-level approach that integrates transcriptomic sequencing (RNA-Seq); proteomics; phenotype; and biochemical studies.

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Oil

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that an agreement has been reached to support possible siting of an innovative small modular reactor (SMR) project within DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site. This Site Use Permit has been granted to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems ( UAMPS ) to support possible siting of an innovative small modular reactor (SMR) project within the boundary of DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

In Europe, three weeks after implementation of its technical corrections for EA189 engines affected by the NO x cheating ( earlier post ), the Volkswagen Group reports successful completion of more than 50% of the first wave in Germany. By Thursday, new engine control software had been installed in some 4,300 Volkswagen Amarok units. The vehicle now meets the limits required to comply with the EU5 emissions standard.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Hirschmann Car Communication GmbH, a subsidiary of. VOXX International Corporation, announced the availability of a smart antenna that combines a transceiver, tuner and antenna in a single unit. The smart antenna fulfills the requirements of new system architectures, linking a range of services including radio, GPS, mobile communication, eCall, TV and Car-to-X in one central point, outside of the head unit.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Automakers are test-driving a new torque-vectoring electric drive system by GKN Automotive. The “eTwinster” technology is part of a range of new hybrid electric technologies GKN is showcasing to customers at its Wintertest proving ground in Arjeplog, Northern Sweden. The eTwinster is a plug-in hybrid module that makes it simpler for vehicle platforms to offer electric all-wheel drive and torque vectoring.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Following the world premiere of the V8-powered LC 500, Lexus is introducing the new LC 500h, featuring the first Multi Stage Hybrid System, the next-generation of hybrid powertrains specifically designed for performance vehicles. The LC 500h delivers total system output of 264 kW (354 hp), with a targeted 0-100 km/h time of below 5 seconds. below 5.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Elio Motors, the startup vehicle manufacturer launching a three-wheeled vehicle that will get up to 84 MPG with a targeted base price of $6,800 ( earlier post ), has released to its suppliers the body framing and engine cradle design for its E-Series engineering prototypes. The E-Series prototypes will be used for safety, wind tunnel and manufacturability validation, prior to the start of commercial production.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

A team from the University of Illinois, Urbana and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) has identified regions in the United States where bioenergy crops would grow best while minimizing effects on water quantity and quality. Their paper is published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. The researchers applied a land surface model to evaluate the interplay between potential bioenergy grass (Miscanthus, Cave-in-Rock, and Alamo) production, water quantity, and nitro

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

UQM Technologies Inc. will collaborate with New Eagle, a vehicle integrator and supplier of hybrid and electric drive control system technologies and hardware for a variety of vehicle classes and applications as well as electric marine propulsion solutions. Joint projects will utilize UQM’s PowerPhase Pro electric propulsion systems and New Eagle’s vehicle supervisory control software template and full system integration experience.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Request for Information (RFI) on critical materials in the energy sector, including fuel cell platinum group metal catalysts. The RFI is soliciting feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to the demand, supply, opportunities for developing substitutes, and potential for using materials more efficiently in the energy sector.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Korea-based SK Innovation announced that it has been selected as a Lithium-ion battery cell supplier for electric vehicle projects for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. Battery cells supplied by SK Innovation will be formed into battery packs for use in future Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles. The SKI battery cells will be deployed in multiple electric vehicle models in diverse segments.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (Nevs) has signed a framework agreement on taking a 50% stake in Chinese transport vehicle manufacturing company New Long Ma ( NLM ). NLM is part of the Fujian Motors Group, owned by the Fujian provincial government. The company has during the last three years invested three billion RMB (US$459 million) in a new plant that today has a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

General Motors will rename GM Powertrain to GM Global Propulsion Systems. GM’s Global Propulsion Systems is collectively the group of more than 8,600 people that design, develop and engineer all propulsion related products and controls for GM worldwide. Nearly 50% of the Global Propulsion Systems engineering workforce is involved with alternative or electrified propulsion systems.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed advanced driver-assistance algorithms for lane departure and passing based on perimeter sensing, and collision avoidance based on emergency steering. Its comprehensive autonomous-driving system will meet Level 3 criteria for performing all acceleration, steering and braking operations expect when the system senses that the driver should take control.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced the availability of the R-Car D1 Series, as the first member of system-on-chips (SoCs) in the R-Car Family specialized for 3D instrument cluster systems. Renesas is introducing the new series to provide a smooth transition path for automotive system manufacturers as more automotive systems are expected to shift to 3D graphics instrument cluster systems in the near future.

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

In nature, the resilient lignin polymer helps provide the scaffolding for plants, reinforcing slender cellulosic fibers—the primary raw ingredient of cellulosic ethanol—and serving as a protective barrier against disease and predators. Lignin’s protective characteristics persist during biofuel processing, where it becomes a major hindrance, surviving expensive pretreatments designed to remove it and blocking enzymes from breaking down cellulose into simple sugars for fermentation int

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Maxwell Technologies, Inc. has introduced the newest addition to its K2 family—a 3-volt (3V), 3,000-farad ultracapacitor cell, now available in sample quantities. With 31% higher power than Maxwell’s leading 2.7-volt, 3,000-farad cell in the industry-standard 60 mm cylindrical form factor, customers now have the flexibility to either increase available power and energy in the same volume or significantly cost-optimize their system designs with fewer cells or modules while maintaining the s

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

UK-based Controlled Power Technologies , a developer of vehicle driveline electrification technology, has invested £1 million (US$1.4 million) to further industrialize its CO 2 and NO x reduction capabilities for the global automotive and transport industries. CPT specializes in the safe low-voltage application of switched-reluctance machines (SRMs) to a vehicle powertrain and driveline, providing intelligent electrification of the propulsion system with near full hybrid vehicle capability. ( Ea

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Veeco Instruments Inc., the leading supplier of metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems, has signed a joint development project (JDP) agreement with imec, the Belgium-based nano-electronics research center. The collaboration is expected to accelerate the development of highly-efficient, Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based power electronic devices using GaN Epi wafers created using Veeco’s Propel Power GaN MOCVD system. imec has already demonstrated significant gains in GaN layer uniformi

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Lithium X Energy Corp. is acquiring a 100% interest in the CVL Lithium Property in Nevada’s Clayton Valley. The acquisition makes Lithium X the largest claims holder with more than 15,020 acres (6,078 hectares) in Clayton Valley and land positions both north and south of Albemarle’s Silver Peak mine, North America’s only lithium producer. The Clayton Valley South Expansion consists of 471 federal placer mining claims, totaling approximately 9,540 acres (3,861 hectares) and is located approximate

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Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

A team of researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Korea University, and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed a new type of multilayered (Au NPs/TiO 2 /Au) photoelectrode that could boost the ability of solar water-splitting to produce hydrogen. This multilayered photoelectrode is a two-dimensional hybrid metal-dielectric structure, comprising three layers of gold (Au) film; an ultrathin TiO 2 layer (20 nm), and gold nanop

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