Later this year, the Alliance and Daimler will start selling the next-generation smart and Twingo city cars, developed on a shared platform, the Twingo and the four-seater smart being produced at the Renault plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, the two-seater smart in Hambach, France. The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG are significantly expanding their cooperation with joint development of premium compact vehicles and joint production in Mexico. MORE

Two-seater smart vehicles will be produced at Daimler’s plant in Hambach, France, and four-seater smart and Renault production are slated for Renault’s plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. In the latest advance in the collaboration of Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance ( earlier post ), Nissan’s Decherd, Tenn., powertrain assembly plant will build Mercedes-Benz 4-cylinder gasoline engines for Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz models. MORE

The first unit will be installed near the border of Italy and Slovenia, with the potential for an additional 25 units for expansion into Europe and the CIS countries. GE Oil & Gas introduced the LNG In A Box system, a small-scale, plug-and-play, re-deployable liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling solution based on proven technology that can help accelerate the use of natural gas as a cost-effective, cleaner transportation fuel. MORE

Slovenia. sales of hybrid SUVs and other fuel efficient vehicles will prove interesting to watch this year, especially if fuel prices remain relatively low. Expert predictions about where oil and gas prices are headed vary widely. MORE

A thin coating of graphene nanoribbons in epoxy developed by the Rice University lab of chemist James Tour has proven effective at melting ice on a helicopter blade. MORE

Registrations increased in all EU Member States except in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovenia. The fuel efficiency of new cars sold in the European Union (EU) continued to improve last year but at a slower rate, according to provisional data from the European Environment Agency. MORE

The smart fortwo is being built at smart’s Hambach plant in France, while the Twingo and the smart forfour are being produced at Renault’s plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. The collaboration between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG is not only stable and on-track, but expanding, the companies’ CEOs said in their annual media update at the Paris Motor Show. Renault-Nissan and Daimler launched their partnership in 2010. MORE

Launched in 2014, the smart two-seater is built at Daimler’s Hambach plant, France, whereas both four-seater vehicles are produced at Renault’s plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. At the Paris Motor Show, Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche said that the strategic partnership between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG is maturing as it enters its seventh year in 2016. MORE

The smart plant in Hambach, France will be the production location for the two-seater versions, while the Renault plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia will be the production location for the four-seater versions. The result of the equity exchanges. Click to enlarge. The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG today announced a broad strategic cooperation that also involves equity exchanges that result in giving the Renault-Nissan Alliance a 3.1% MORE

The MefCO2 consortium consists of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe; the Laboratory of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering of the National Institute of Chemistry Slovenia; the Cardiff Catalysis Institute; Carbon Recycling International; the University of Genoa; the University of Duisburg Essen; i-Deals; and Hydrogenics. MORE

The EU-27 comprises Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The European Community’s air pollutant emission inventory report released by the European Environment Agency finds that in 2007, sulphur oxides (SO x ) emissions were down by 72 % from 1990 levels. MORE

The 24 countries which are covered in the route, in alphabetical order, are as follows: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Honda aims to win a new Guinness World Records title for fuel efficiency in an 8,500-mile (13,679 km) drive across all 24 contiguous EU countries in a 1.6 MORE

Then, with around 45litres of fuel at his disposal, he embarked on his tour of the 12 European states and drove through the cities of Mosty in the Czech Republic, Bratislava in Slovakia, Hegyeshalom in Hungary, Graz in Austria, Varazdin in Croatia, Maribor in Slovenia, Toblach in Italy, Innsbruck in Austria, Schaan in Liechtenstein, Zurich in Switzerland and Saint-Louis in France before finishing in Frankfurt, Germany. MORE

In addition to the first 15 countries the car is to be sold in, there have been requests to introduce the i-MiEV from Finland, Serbia, Turkey, and Slovenia. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced that sale of the European-spec i-MiEVelectric vehicle is to commence in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. MORE

NEMO will focus on novel enzymes for hydrolysis and novel microorganisms for cellulosic ethanol production to identify the most eco-efficient and economic process options for cellulosic ethanol. Source: Universita Degli Studi di Milano. Click to enlarge. MORE

Slovenia / 156 / 156 / 11. Carmakers are being forced to make significant cuts in their vehicles’ CO2 emissions, but some countries appear reluctant to buy the greenest models – British motorists languish at sixteenth place in a league table of who buys the most polluting models in Europe, according to a study carried out on behalf of the Environmental Transport Association (ETA). MORE

Volkswagen was the best-selling brand in March and across 2016 so far, leading the rankings in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland during the first quarter. MORE

Indexed European transport sector greenhouse gas emissions, 1990-2006. Source: EEA. Click to enlarge. MORE

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In an open access paper in the journal ACS Nano , Tour and his colleagues at Rice and in Hungary, Slovenia and India reported that nitrogen gas effective diffusivity of the TPU was decreased by three orders of magnitude with only 0.5 MORE

Countries included in the study were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. MORE

Some Member States, such as the Netherlands and Slovenia, expect to exceed their respective NO x ceilings by only small margins (less than 5%). Comparison of aggregated EU-27 emission projections and ceilings reported in 2010. Source: EEA. Click to enlarge. MORE

Production will begin soon on the new two-seater smart at the smart plant in Hambach (France) and of the four-seater smart and the Renault Twingo successor model at the Renault plant in Novo Mesto (Slovenia). MORE

EEA member countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom. None of the EEA scenarios considered delivered the targeted reduction in transport GHG emissions. MORE