Nov 22, 2009 (7 hours ago)
Based on preliminary reports from the State Highway Agencies, total vehicle miles traveled on all roads and streets in the US increased by 2.5% (5.8 billion vehicle miles) for September 2009 as compared with September 2008, according to the latest Traffic Volume Trends report from the US Federal Highway Administration.
US VMT moving 12-month total through Sep 09. Click to enlarge.
Total VMT for the month is estimated to be 240.7 billion vehicle miles. This total includes 83.9 billion vehicle-miles on rural roads and 156.8 billion vehicle-miles on urban roads
and streets.
Cumulative Travel for 2009 changed by +0.3% (6.7 billion vehicle miles). The cumulative estimate for the year is 2,208.5 billion vehicle miles of travel.
Traffic Volume Trends is a monthly report based on hourly traffic count data. These data, collected at approximately 4,000 continuous traffic counting locations nationwide, are used to determine the percent
change in traffic for the current month compared to the same month in the previous year. This percent change is applied to the travel for the same month of the previo..
Nov 22, 2009 (7 hours ago)
Carbon nanotubes with controllably induced extrinsic defects could serve as supercapacitor electrodes with enhanced charge and energy storage capacity (inset: a magnified view of a single carbon nanotube). Source: UCSD. Click to enlarge. University of California San Diego researchers have developed a method to enhance the capacitance of carbon nanotube (CNT) electrode-based electrochemical capacitors by controllably incorporating extrinsic defects into the CNTs. The result is an increase in the magnitude of both the pseudocapacitance and double-layer capacitance by as much as 50% and 200%, respectively, compared to untreated electrodes.
The work, published 5 November in the journal Applied Physics Letters , could result in improved charge storage capacity and energy density for electrochemical capacitors.
While batteries have large storage capacity, they take a long time to charge; while electrostatic capacitors can charge quickly but typically have limited capacity. However, supercapacitors/electrochemical capacitors incorporate the advantages of both. —Dr. Prabhakar Bandaru
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are cylindrical struct..
Nov 22, 2009 (10 hours ago)
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has published a report evaluating the potential electromagnetic interference on certain portable devices such as cell phones, global positioning systems (GPS) and ankle monitoring bracelets due to automotive reflective glazing as required under the “Cool Car” regulation . ( Earlier post .)
The results indicate that there are no effects from reflective glazing, and thus the Cool Cars regulation, on monitoring ankle bracelets or cell phone usage in an urban environment. Effects on GPS navigation units were observed, but these were completely eliminated by placing the device or an external antenna within a “deletion window”—a relatively small section of the windshield manufactured without the reflective material.
Background . The Cool Cars regulation, which aims to reduce the need for air conditioning by reducing the heat gain of vehicles parked in the sun, was an early action item under AB 32 and adopted by the Air Resources Board (ARB) in June 2009. When fully implemented the regulation will require a 60% reduction in heat absorption through vehicle windows.
Cool Cars specifies that vehicle win..
Nov 22, 2009 (11 hours ago)
Air pollution may pose an important but largely overlooked health concern for people living near smaller regional airports, according to a new study published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. In the new study, Suzanne Paulson and colleagues note that scientists have known for years that aircraft emissions from fuel burned during takeoffs and landings can have a serious impact on air quality near major airports. Aircraft exhaust includes pollutants linked to a variety of health problems. However, researchers know little about the impact of such emissions at general aviation or regional airports—which are becoming a more important component of the global air transport system, and which tend to be located closer to residential neighborhoods than major airports, the article notes. The scientists measured a range of air pollutants near a general aviation airport for private planes and corporate jets in Southern California (Santa Monica Airport) in the spring and summer of 2008. They found that emissions of ultrafine particles (UFP) were significantly elevated when compared to background pollution levels. Levels of these pollutants were up to 10 times higher ..
Nov 22, 2009 (16 hours ago)
Sometimes slight modifications in existing machines do wonders for fuel saving. A simple attachment of a tapering protrusion at the back of a truck can save up to 7.5% in fuel consumption. This is a significant amount of fuel saving with a simple alteration. This fuel saving is possible due to dramatically-improved aerodynamics. It [...] Posted in: Industry , Inventions , Transportation
Nov 21, 2009 (1 day ago)
Filed under: Emerging Technologies , EV/Plug-in , Japan 2010 Nissan Leaf EV - Click above for high-res image gallery One thing David Cole said when we talked to him at the Business of Plugging In expo was that parts suppliers need to change in order to keep up with the demand for new parts in electric vehicles. In Japan, the Nissan Leaf has become a sort of wake up call for Japanese parts companies, who can see firsthand that, when you scrap the ICE, thousands of parts that suppliers have been providing OEMs for decades are all of a sudden not needed. Bloomberg says that up to 40 percent of the parts in a typical car are engine components. In Japan, the domestic suppliers are in a \"crisis-like situation\" as they try to adapt to the new reality. Japanese suppliers Tsubakimoto Chain Co. and NTN two suppliers profiled in the Bloomberg piece, but it\'s clear that this is going to be a tough road for almost everyone involved. Tsubakimoto\'s Toru Fujiwara told Bloomberg that, \"With electric cars, there\'s no way we can apply our current technology. We have to come up with completely new technology.\" The company is spending 3.5 billion yen on battery-powered vehicle research this fiscal yea..
Nov 21, 2009 (1 day ago)
Filed under: Emerging Technologies Compressed air-powered cars like the AirPod pictured above are conceptually cool. But the real-world efficiency of using compressed air to move a vehicle just isn\'t worth is, says a new study published in the latest issue of Environmental Research Letters. The main problem, one of the study\'s authors told AutoblogGreen, is that compressed air holds less than one percent of the energy of gasoline and, given the amount of electricity it takes to compress the air, \"the air car\'s carbon footprint is more than twice as large as that of a gasoline car.\" Battery-powered cars are also more efficient than compressed air cars, the researchers found. Two possible ways to use compressed air technology in vehicles would be to combine it with a gasoline engine in a either a pneumatic-combustion hybrid or an air engine hybrid set-up, the authors say. You can read the entire article , called \"Economic and Environmental Evaluation of Compressed-Air Cars,\" in the October-December 2009 issue of Environmental Research Letters. Thanks to Andrew P. for the tip! Potentially related: the company behind the AirPod has missed several deadlines to bring the car to market, ..
Nov 21, 2009 (1 day ago)
With the Canadian energy industry seeking diversification from the US and potential greenhouse gsa regulations, the Globe and Mail reports that commercial backing is growing for Enbridge Inc.’s stalled Northern Gateway pipelines project. The Northern Gateway Project. Click to enlarge. The Northern Gateway is a proposed 1,170-kilometer twin pipeline capable of carrying 525,000 barrels per day of oil sands crude from Edmonton, Alberta to Kitimat on the British Columbia coast and more than 190,000 barrels per day of condensate back from Kitimat to Edmonton. In 2005, when Enbridge Inc. sought shippers for its Northern Gateway project...support was too low and the proposed project lost traction. By early next year, however, Enbridge expects to announce for the first time that it has secured “solid” commercial backing for Gateway, marking a major step forward in the country’s plans to diversify its oil exports. That comes amid a shifting of the landscape, as industry executives, politicians and economists increasingly promote the idea that it is risky to rely solely on the United States to buy Canadian crude, especially as the oil sands grow in importance and demand for oil ..
Nov 21, 2009 (1 day ago)
Sample UDRI solid-state, rechargeable lithium-air batteries, and Dr. Binod Kumar. Click to enlarge. Engineers at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) have developed a solid-state, rechargeable lithium-air battery. When fully developed, the battery could exceed specific energies of 1,000 Wh/kg in practical applications, the researchers wrote in a paper published online 13 November in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society .
The cell comprises a Li metal anode, a highly Li-ion conductive solid electrolyte membrane laminate fabricated from glass–ceramic (GC) and polymer–ceramic materials, and a solid-state composite air cathode prepared from high surface area carbon and ionically conducting GC powder.
The cell exhibited excellent thermal stability and rechargeability in the 30–105 °C temperature range. It was subjected to 40 charge–discharge cycles at current densities ranging from 0.05 to 0.25 mA/cm 2 .
Lithium-air batteries dispense with the intercalation cathode used in a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, instead using a catalytic air cathode in combination with an electrolyte and a lithium anode. Oxygen..
Nov 21, 2009 (1 day ago)
India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will implement rainwater harvesting in all the existing ONGC residential complexes across India. ONGC has made it mandatory to implement the system in all future projects also. The objective of the scheme is to replenish the ground water table which is slowly receding due to urban development and excessive and continued exploitation of ground water. In a statement, ONGC said that with the concept of triple bottomline getting more relevant and focused, it has been realized that the companies operating in both global and domestic markets are increasingly required to incorporate the social, economic and environmental concerns into their business while building shareholders’ value and taking care of stakeholders’ interest. In its endeavor to provide sustainable solution to water scarcity, ONGC has focused on rainwater harvesting.
Nov 21, 2009 (1 day ago)
At the recent Annual Winter Conference of the American Nuclear Society in Washington, and simultaneously at the “Powering Toward 2020” conference in London, England, Hyperion Power Generation Inc. revealed the design for the first version of its Hyperion Power Module (HPM), a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) that it intends to have licensed and manufactured at facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The HPM is a compact (approx. 1.5m wide x 2.5m tall), sealed and self-contained, simple-to-operate nuclear power reactor, euphemistically referred to by the company as a “fission battery”. Over its 7-10 year operational life, the HPM will deliver 70 MW of thermal energy, or approximately 25 MWe. Each module will cost $50 million; initial deliveries, slated to begin in the second half of 2013, are being scheduled, the company says.
The reason for the low electrical efficiency (36% of 70 MWt) is that the steam loop does not run through the inside of the reactor, for simplicity and safety, the company says.
The HPM is small enough to be manufactured en masse and transported in its entirety via ship, truck, or rail, and is inten..
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
The tire for hybrids The GoodYear Assurance Fuel Max tire will become the standard tire of the 2010 Toyota Prius . Additionally, reports indicate the Assurance will also be the tire of the Chevy Volt .
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Adjusted CO 2 emissions and adjusted fuel economy by model year. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. For the fifth consecutive year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reporting an increase in new vehicle fuel efficiency with a corresponding decrease in average carbon dioxide emissions for new US cars and light duty trucks. This marks the first time that data for CO 2 emissions are included in the annual report, Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 through 2009 . For 2008, the last year for which EPA has final data from automakers, the average fuel economy value was 21.0 mpg US (11.2 L/100km). EPA projects a small improvement in 2009, based on pre-model year sales estimates provided to EPA by automakers, to 21.1 mpg (11.1 L/100km). The projected fleetwide average real world MY2009 light-duty vehicle CO 2 emissions level is 422 grams per mile (g/mi); the fleetwide average MY2008 value is 424 g/mi. Characteristics of light-duty vehicles for four select model years. Source: EPA The report confirms that average CO 2 emissions have decreased and fuel economy has increased each year beginning in 2005. Average CO 2 emissions ha..
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Editor’s Note: This is part four of an exclusive sit down I had with Hideaki Watanabe, Nissan’s Division Manager of their Global Zero Emission Business Unit, at last week’s U.S. debut of the LEAF in Los Angeles. Part one is devoted to battery swapping, part two to battery leasing, and part three to the quietness and safety of EVs . During the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, Renault invited Gas 2.0\'s own UK-based Chris Milton to an exclusive event detailing the company\'s electric car strategy. The event introduced some rather quirky (and quirkily named) electric cars , including the Twizy , the Kangoo , and the Zoe . These aren\'t just concept cars, they are cars that Renault intends to build and sell—some by next year. Based on those releases—and the fact that Nissan hasn\'t invested anything in battery swapping while Renault has jumped in head first —it started to seem that the Renault-Nissan Alliance was taking two completely different paths on the road to EV world domination. On the one hand you have Nissan with the rather mainstream-looking LEAF and plans for a luxury Infiniti electric car. And on the other you have… the Twizy. In my recent sit down with Hideaki Watanab..
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Researchers from Delft University of Technology have engineered the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to increase ethanol yield from biomass waste by eliminating production of glycerol (glycerol production is essential to reoxidize NADH produced in biosynthetic processes), reoxidizing NADH instead by the reduction of acetic acid to ethanol. A paper on their work was published online 13 November in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology . Significant amounts of acetic acid are released upon hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass—a pre-treatment for fermentation—and, in fact, acetic acid is studied as an inhibitor of yeast metabolism in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, the authors note. This new metabolic engineering strategy is thus a triple win, says principal researcher Jack Pronk: “ no glycerol formation, higher ethanol yields and consumption of toxic acetate ”. Researchers have estimated that up to 4% of the sugar feedstock in typical industrial ethanol processes is converted into glycerol. Several other metabolic engineering strategies have been explored to reduce or eliminate glycerol production in anaerobic cultures of S. cerevisiae with lower or..
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
For the time being, Elk Horn, Iowa, population 650, is a national leader in electric car charging stations. Mike Howard, an enterprising local businessman in Elk Horn, Iowa, has put his hometown on the electric car map. Howard financed the installation of four plug-in car charging stations, capable of providing 110-volt or 220-volt charges. Despite the fact that Elk Horn has exactly one electric car—a Chevrolet S-10 pickup that Howard himself converted to run on batteries—Howard sees his investment of about $30,000 as a good move, and plans to install four more in the small farming town of 650 people. When all eight stations are installed, Elk Horn will have a greater density of charging stations than just about any location in the United States, except for a few spots in California. In fact, he plans to spend another $50,000 next year to expand his efforts in Iowa and into Nebraska. Howard’s larger vision is to install a network of charging stations along the Interstate 80 corridor through Iowa from Denver to Chicago. The entire state of Iowa has more than 4 million registered vehicles but just 96 electric-powered ones, mostly low-speed neighborhood electric vehicles. \"He's ..
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
[Editor\'s Note: Karen Pease has developed many personal relationships with people inside and out of Aptera over the years. She\'s been able to get the best picture we\'ve seen so far of the quirky EV manufacturer\'s troubles from her inside sources. In most cases names and identifying specifics have been withheld at the source\'s request to protect their livelihood.] How did a woman who the Securities and Exchange Commission says planned one of the largest accounting frauds in US history end up as Chief Financial Officer of Aptera Motors? It\'s just one of many questions swirling around what appears to be a meltdown in progress at the beleaguered manufacturer of safe, hyper-efficient electric vehicles (see the posts here , and here if you don\'t know what\'s going on). When a business is running smoothly, there are strong incentives for everyone to be a team player and hide any signs of internal strife. However, as the rate of layoffs and “vacations” has increased over at Aptera, so has the potential for leaks. And sometimes a simple name can take you places you never thought you\'d go. Read more of this story »
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
A Prius being converted into a plug-in hybrid The Department of Energy has now logged more than 1 million testing miles with their fleet of plug-in hybrids , and they\'ve collected some interesting data . First, driver behavior, charging frequency and environmental conditions have significant impact on plug-in hybrid efficiency. Second, driving patterns suggest per day driving range is much less than expected. Third, forgetting to plug-in is common and should be expected. And finally, non-charging energy use could be significant. In Best plug-in vehicles: EVs, Range Extended EVs, or Plug-in Hybrids? I suggested that no one plug-in vehicle is a game changer, and this data doesn\'t change my mind. Nonetheless, this data does seem to show that consumers might not be ready to to fully utilize plug-in vehicles, especially plug-in hybrid or range extended electric vehicles. For instance, if consumers do not piously plug-in, the cost-effectiveness of plug-ins can decrease significantly, especially as the battery size increases. Considering that plug-ins aren\'t very cost-effective to start, this could be a serious issue.
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
California has just updated its Air Resources Board website to give consumers a wide range of information about all the alternative power cars coming out next year, from electric cars to diesel hybrids. The new site— driveclean.ca.gov —offers well-organized data that ranks vehicles according to various emission and cost characteristics and provides tools to compare models on a variety of qualities, including the new incentives that low carbon emission vehicles qualify for: up to $5,000 for cars, and up to $15,000 for electric trucks or vans. One aspect of the site is revolutionary: For the first time Americans will be able to compare models based on how many grams of CO2 each spews per mile. Read more of this story »
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
It’s been known for a long time that the emissions from coal are harmful, both to the environment and human health. Yet, because it’s so plentiful, the U.S. still gets the majority of its electricity from coal-fired power . With the world focused on increasing the use of plug-in cars, where we get our future electricity becomes a key question. Yesterday, a medical report was released, “ Coal’s Assault on Human Health ,” highlighting the dangers of coal, by the Physicians for Social Responsibility. Other study participants included the American Lung Association and the American Nurses Association. Read more of this story »
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Plug-in adoption to be slow and gradual In the past week Nissan/Renault head, Carlos Ghosn has been on an EV publicity tour. Yesterday, however, Ghosn seemed to take a more tempered approach towards electric vehicles. \"We\'re not going to take the market by storm,\" said Ghosn at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York . \"Electricity is going to complement oil.\" Still, Ghosn believes that EVs could reach 10 percent worldwide marketshare by 2020, one of the higher estimates in the industry. At the same meeting Steve Rattner, one time leader of the Obama Auto Task Force, was asked about a gas tax. \"It\'s obviously what we should do,\" Rattner said. \"There\'s no political will. There\'s no political interest.\"
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Valero Energy Corporation intends to permanently shut down its Delaware City, Delaware refinery due to financial losses caused by very poor economic conditions, significant capital spending requirements and high operating costs. Valero Delaware City Refinery. Click to enlarge. The Valero Delaware City Refinery , acquired in the purchase of Premcor in 2005, was commissioned in 1956 with a throughput capacity of 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). The refinery has undergone several revamps and expansion projects to increase the total capacity to its current rate of 210,000 bpd, and is designed to process heavy, high-sulfur crude oil. The plant has a 1,800-tons-per-day petroleum-coke gasification unit and 180-megawatt co-generation power plant. The refinery’s petroleum coke production was sold to third parties or is gasified to fuel the co-generation facility, which is designed to supply electricity and steam to the refinery. It processed 180,000 bpd of low-cost heavy-sour and high-acid crude oil, producing conventional and reformulated gasoline, low-sulfur diesel, home-heating oil and ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Valero notified refinery employees today of the impending shutdown, and will im..
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Inbicon and Novozymes have signed an agreement to further develop and optimize the process and the enzymes for converting wheat straw to ethanol and byproducts (biopellets and molasses). Novozymes already provides enzymes to Inbicon’s new bio-refinery that opened its doors earlier this week. ( Earlier post .) Under the agreement, the two companies will further develop and optimize the process and the enzymes to reduce the enzyme consumption and the total costs to further advance the technology for a global commercialization. According to Niels Henriksen, CEO of Inbicon, the challenge is to bring biofuel to the market at a low enough cost. Biofuel based on plant residue offers a reduction in CO 2 emissions of up to 90% compared to oil-based fuel, according to Novozymes.
Nov 20, 2009 (2 days ago)
Particles released by car brake pads have been shown to harm lung cells in vitro . Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that heavy braking, as in an emergency stop, caused the most damage, but normal breaking and even close proximity to a disengaged brake resulted in potentially dangerous cellular stress.
Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser and Peter Gehr from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and Michael Riediker from the Institute for Work and Health, Lausanne, Switzerland, worked with a team of researchers to study the effects of brake particles on cultured lung cells placed in a chamber close to the axle of a car.
They said, “ Brake wear contributes up to 20% of total traffic emissions, but the health effects of brake particles remain largely unstudied. We’ve found that the metals in brake wear particles can damage junctions between cells by a mechanism involving oxidative stress ”.
The team’s analysis revealed that brake wear particles contain considerable amounts of iron, copper and organic carbon. Exposure to these pollutants caused increased signs of oxidative st..
Nov 20, 2009 (3 days ago)
Total has signed a research agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop new stationary batteries that are designed to enable the storage of solar power. This agreement valued at $4 million over five years is part of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), which Total joined as a member in November 2008. The batteries are envisioned to be smaller-scale versions of the utility-scale batteries being developed by Donald Sadoway, John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT, which recently received a $6.9-million award from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E. ( Earlier post .) The ARPA-E award is supported the development of the liquid metal grid-scale battery for low-cost, large scale storage of electrical energy. This new class of batteries could enable continuous power supply from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar and a more stable, reliable grid. The Total-MIT research project is primarily focused on development of a low-cost, long-life battery suited to store the power generated by solar panels. The ability to store power is a major challenge and an essential ingredient for the scale up and widespread deployment of affordable..
Nov 20, 2009 (3 days ago)
A new study released today by the Northeast States Center for a Clean Air Future (NESCCAF) and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found that fuel consumption of Class 8 trucks and the resultant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced up to 50% with the adoption of current and developing technologies and new operational measures by 2017. However, the study also concluded that given the current short payback period for investment demanded by the trucking industry, a number of the technologies that could enable such savings would not be adopted, absent regulation or a longer payback period. Transportation sources accounted for approximately 40% of all GHG emissions in the US in 2006; medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (above 8,500 gross vehicle weight rating) represent about 22% of the transportation emissions, up from 15 percent in 1990, according to the EPA. Trucks therefore are an important place to look for energy savings and climate change mitigation in the transportation sector. Among medium- and heavy-trucks, Class 8 trucks are the largest CO 2 emitters and fuel users, consuming two-thirds of all truck fuel, or 1.57 million barrels per day. Current fue..
Nov 20, 2009 (3 days ago)
Silicon Valley Power (SVP), the Santa Clara, CA, municipal electric utility, has selected the light-weight 3M Aluminum Conductor Composite Reinforced ( 3M ACCR ) to boost transmission capacity on an existing line without having to enlarge the towers or the right of way. This is SVP’s second installation of ACCR. 3M ACCR. Click to enlarge. SVP completed installation of the conductor on a 60 kV line along a three-mile city corridor, nearly doubling the power line’s power flow capacity from 850 amperes to more than 1,550 amperes without new construction in a residential and commercial area of the city. Introduced commercially in 2004 following four years of field testing in a variety of environments, 3M ACCR is in commercial use by utilities throughout the US and in Brazil, Canada, India and China. It also recently launched in the UK. Its primary application is for transmission upgrades in either densely developed or environmentally sensitive areas, where new tower construction would be costly, disruptive and time-consuming. The high-capacity aluminum matrix conductor can carry twice the current of conventional steel-core conductors of the same diameter without larger towers, even ac..
Nov 20, 2009 (3 days ago)
Denmark’s Prince Joachim inaugurated the Inbicon biomass biorefinery in Kalundborg, Denmark, where ethanol will be produced from straw. In addition to bioethanol, the plant will also produce lignin biopellets and C 5 molasses. The biopellets can be used as fuel at CPH plants, and the C 5 molasses can be used for animal feed. Inbicon is a subsidiary of DONG Energy.
The Kalundborg facility will work on scaling up the process to commercial volumes. Annual production is targeting 5.4 million liters (1.4 million gallons US) of ethanol, 8,250 tonnes of fuel pellets, and 11,100 tonnes of animal feed.
The Inbicon plant uses enzymes from Novozymes and from Genencor (Danisco) in its pre-treatment.
In June, Statoil in Denmark signed a contract for the first 5 million liters of cellulosic ethanol from Inbicon.
Assisted by the Partnership for Biofuels, Inbicon, Novozymes, Danisco and Statoil have joined forces to deliver ethanol produced at the Kalundborg plant to power half the official fleet at the COP15 climate conference this December. The cars will be supplied by Volvo from their existing FlexiFuel Vehicle range.
Nov 20, 2009 (3 days ago)
Volvo Trucks North America’s D11 and D13 engines have been certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board as meeting upcoming 2010 diesel emissions standards, the most stringent in the world.
Volvo is the first truck manufacturer to have its heavy-duty diesel engines certified for 2010 by both EPA and CARB. These engines have been fully certified to meet EPA’s stringent standards without the use of emissions credits.
Volvo Trucks’ emissions technology for EPA2010 does more than cut emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and particulate matter (PM) to near-zero levels. Using selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to reduce NO x , Volvo improved fuel economy and reduced emissions of CO 2 . SCR also helps eliminate active regenerations of the diesel particulate filter (DPF), which saves additional fuel.
All heavy-duty diesel truck engines produced after 1 January 2010 must meet the new standards.
Nov 20, 2009 (3 days ago)
The international automotive supplier Continental AG has opened its new Asia Headquarters and R&D Center in Shanghai’s Yangpu district, China. The Center aims to provide increased localization and advanced technical support to customers in the Chinese market. Continental Automotive Tech Center Jiading, the other technical center in Shanghai, focuses on vehicle application development and systems testing, covering electronic brake systems, hydraulic brake systems, and engine management and system control. The total capital investment in both sites amounts to approximately €60 million (US$90 million). Continental’s new Asia Headquarters and R&D Center, which was completed this September, will be a great contributor to the expansion of our local R&D talent pool, a surge in our local R&D competence and the optimization of our competitiveness. We estimate that a minimum of 25% of our global sales will be achieved in Asia by 2013. Moreover, our approach also reflects the automotive industry’s concentration on so-called ‘affordable cars’. We are intensifying our localization strategy to develop specific products and solutions for the Asian and Chinese markets with focus on ‘affordable ca..