GM Unveils GMC Canyon Midsize Truck
General Motors Co.has unveiled the second part of the one-two punch it plans to throw at Toyota Motor Corp. >Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com
Ford to Show Solar-Powered Hybrid at CES
Ford Motor plans to roll out a solar-powered version of its C-Max hybrid compact car during next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The car uses technology that might remind some people of childhood experiments with a magnifying glass on sunny days. The C-Max concept car uses solar cells on its roof to charge a range-extending battery instead of plugging into the electrical grid. It also uses specially designed lenses that concentrate the sun’s energy on the solar cells like a magnifying glass. As a result, the roof panel gathers much more power than solar panels mounted on some previous cars. Ford said the concept has the potential to deliver the performance of a plug-in hybrid even when no traditional electrical outlets are available. Because the show car is based on the C-Max that is already on the market, it seems more likely Ford will eventually offer […]
China's Tianjin to start car plate auction, lottery in 2014
China’s northern municipality of Tianjin will start a bidding and lottery system for car license plates on Jan. 1, 2014, a move targeted at restricting the increase of cars, said government authorities on Tuesday. Sixty percent of the quota of 100,000 new car license plates will be issued via lottery, including 10,000 and 50,000 for fuel-efficient cars and conventional cars respectively, said a management plan approved by the Tianjin municipal government. The remaining 40,000 plates for conventional cars will be auctioned. The opening bid will be 10,000 yuan (about 1,652 U.S. dollars). A total of 88 percent of the plates will go to individual car owners, while non-individual applicants, such as companies, will compete for the other 12 percent. Government organizations and institutions in Tianjin will not be permitted to apply for new official cars, and all auction incomes from car plates will be […]
China’s Tianjin to start car plate auction, lottery in 2014
China’s northern municipality of Tianjin will start a bidding and lottery system for car license plates on Jan. 1, 2014, a move targeted at restricting the increase of cars, said government authorities on Tuesday. Sixty percent of the quota of 100,000 new car license plates will be issued via lottery, including 10,000 and 50,000 for fuel-efficient cars and conventional cars respectively, said a management plan approved by the Tianjin municipal government. The remaining 40,000 plates for conventional cars will be auctioned. The opening bid will be 10,000 yuan (about 1,652 U.S. dollars). A total of 88 percent of the plates will go to individual car owners, while non-individual applicants, such as companies, will compete for the other 12 percent. Government organizations and institutions in Tianjin will not be permitted to apply for new official cars, and all auction incomes from car plates will be […]
NASA Glenn develops automated flywheel pulse-and-glide system; improving fuel economy up to 40-100%
26 December 2013 Schematic drawing showing the experimental setup of the existing open-cell approach using (a) ionic liquid as electrolyte and (b) using Li metal as lithium source and Li 2 O as solid electrolyte; (c) schematic drawing showing the setup of the new liquid cell battery. Credit: ACS, Gu et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have led a multi-institutional effort to develop a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique that can provide insights into the structural and chemical evolution of electrode materials of real batteries in real time. In a paper published in the ACS journal Nano Letters , the authors note that TEM studies of lithium-ion batteries over the past few years have used an open-cell configuration in which the electrolyte is either solid lithium oxide or an ionic liquid, which is point-contacted with the electrode. This cell design is inherently different […]
Airbus signs MoU with EGTS for electric taxiing solution for A320 family; projected fuel saving up to 4% per trip
AAirbus_signs_MoU_with_Honeywell_and_Safran_to_develop_electric_taxiing_solution_for_the_A320_Family_2 Using the aircraft’s Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to power electric motors on its main landing gear, the “eTaxi” solution is projected to save fuel and reduce CO 2 emissions during an A320 Family jetliner’s ground operations by up to 4% per trip. Click to enlarge. As part of on-going research and development into future technology options, Airbus has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with EGTS International (Electric Green Taxiing System), a joint venture company between Safran and Honeywell Aerospace formed in 2011, further to develop and to evaluate an autonomous electric pushback and taxiing solution for the A320 Family. ( Earlier post .) The agreement marks the selection of EGTS International’s Electric Green Taxiing System to be evaluated as a new option on the A320 Family—referred to […]
Two case studies outline how Houston and Loveland are saving money with EVs in their fleets
Two case studies outline how Houston and Loveland are saving money with EVs in their fleets The Electrification Coalition released two case studies outlining how two cities— Houston, Texas and Loveland, Colorado —are saving money by using electric vehicles (EVs) in their vehicle fleets. The Electrification Coalition, launched in November 2009, is committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security threats posed by US dependence on petroleum. ( Earlier post .) City officials in Houston estimate that the city’s 27 Nissan LEAF electric vehicles will save the city $110,000 annually compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. A similar study examining Loveland, Colo. found that the city’s LEAFs will cost 41% less to own and operate than gasoline-powered vehicles. Houston first began using electric vehicles for the environmental benefits they offer, […]
Energy Efficiency Is Long Overdue
On a global scale, we humans are becoming more energy efficient with each passing year. Even so, we’re exploiting only a fraction of the technological opportunities to use energy more cost-effectively. There’s a lot governments can do to put this right. Worldwide, the amount of energy employed to produce a unit of gross domestic product fell by 0.4 percent a year from 2000 to 2010, according to the International Energy Agency . Last year and the year before, the annual decline accelerated to 1.5 percent. Looking ahead 20 years, though, the IEA (in effect, a club of energy ministers) estimates that two-thirds of the potential for energy efficiency will remain unexploited. Capturing a good part of this potential wouldn’t be technically difficult. Proven cost-effective technologies, and others in the pipeline (if you’ll forgive the expression), could reduce the expected growth in energy demand by as much as 50 percent […]
EIA: light duty vehicle energy consumption to drop 25% by 2040; increased oil production, vehicle efficiency reduce US oil and liquid imports
EIA: light duty vehicle energy consumption to drop 25% by 2040; increased oil production, vehicle efficiency reduce US oil and liquid imports Energy consumption by light-duty vehicles in the United States, AEO2013 and AEO2014, 1995-2040 (quadrillion Btu). LDV energy consumption declines in AEO2014 Reference case from 16.0 quadrillion Btu in 2012 to 12.1 quadrillion Btu in 2040, compared with 13.0 quadrillion Btu in 2040 in the AEO2013 Reference case. Source: EIA. Click to enlarge. Reflecting slow growth in travel and accelerated vehicle efficiency improvements, US light-duty vehicle (LDV, cars and light trucks) energy use will decline sharply between 2012 and 2040, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) Annual Energy […]
EU passenger car registrations up 1.2 percent
PARIS (AP) — The European car market is slowly mounting a rebound, with new car registrations up for the third month in a row. The European carmakers’ association reported Tuesday that EU passenger car sales were up 1.2 percent in November. But car sales for the year to the end of November are still below the same period last year. Amid Europe’s recession, car registrations fell nearly uninterrupted for about two years until September, when they began to rise again. Growth is now slowly coming back, so the car industry may have hit bottom. But some significant markets are still losing ground. Registrations in France fell 4 percent in November, while they dropped 2 percent in Germany. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . ©2013 The […]