The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) has recognized six state and local initiatives for leading the nation in deploying cleaner bus fleets. Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (Oakland, CA) is recognized for its leadership in investing in and developing advanced technologies. AC Transit’s $20 million hydrogen fuel cell demonstration program... Read more →

Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes outlines Ford’s coalescing strategy “to become a legitimate contender in the race with Toyota and Honda for global leadership in alternative technology.” Ford is pushing to boost the production of its escape Hybrid SUV. This year’s current production of 4,000 vehicles is already sold out,... Read more →

GM and Shanghai Automotive are jointly to develop and to commercialize hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles—and the infrastructure required to support them—in China. The broad-based agreement, presaged by the announcement two weeks ago of joint development of diesel hybrid buses (earlier post), is the first of its kind between a global... Read more →

AFP. China is making many large-scale investments with energy producers around the world. One of the most recent is a $70 Billion oilfield and LNG (liquefied natural gas) agreement with Iran. Under a memorandum of understanding signed Thursday, China’s second-largest oil firm, Sinopec Group, will buy 250 million tons of... Read more →

Audi brought three models to the Challenge Bibendum and won 10 awards for driving dynamics, driving safety, emission behaviour and fuel consumption. The winning models were: An A2 1.2 TDI, the only five-door car that delivers 100 kilometers (combined drive cycle) on less than three litres of fuel—that’s 78 mpg.... Read more →

As another indication of the global growth of the diesel market, Delphi, the world’s second largest supplier of diesel injection systems and common rail technology, is expanding its Asian presence to better serve the growing demands of its engine customers. Delphi recently has won repeat or new diesel common rail... Read more →

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has developed a two-step steam reforming-shift fuel processor that can efficiently convert ethanol into hydrogen. For the past six months, GTI engineers have been performing internal research to demonstrate the potential of its fuel processor technology to generate hydrogen from a variety of renewable fuels. We... Read more →

Reuters. Brazil has seen a stunning ramp up in the sales of flex-fuel cars—vehicles that burn either ethanol, gasoline or a combination of the two. Although Brazil is the world’s top ethanol producer, sales of mono-fuel ethanol had cars plummeted from 94% of total sales in 1984 to less than... Read more →

Just last month, Isuzu and Westport entered into a new joint venture agreement through which Isuzu will provide to Westport approximately CDN$1.5 million for the design and construction of two next-generation CNG-DI ELF trucks to be delivered in 2005 (earlier post). A technical analysis presented by Isuzu this week at... Read more →

There’s been a great deal of interest and more than a few questions on the green tax breaks embedded within the massive “JOBS” tax breaks bill (earlier post), so I’ll provide more specifics by sector as I get them. Dave wrote in first with a pointer to the website of... Read more →

Fayette County Review. Construction is nearing completion on West Tennessee’s first biodiesel facility. Current projections estimate a production of between 10,000 and 25,000 gallons of biodiesel per day. The owner of the plant, AMPM Environmental Services, reclaims used cooking oil from restaurants and food manufacturing plants across the Southeast United... Read more →

Enova Systems (earlier post) has introduced a new set of series hybrid drive systems for heavy-duty, urban transit and delivery vehicles. Series hybrid vehicle powertrains typically consist of an electric motor, energy storage (currently usually a battery) and management, and a small internal combustion engine (ICE) to generate electricity. (See... Read more →

Shell has concluded a year-long Gas to Liquids (GTL) fuel trial involving six diesel delivery trucks provided by a California-based bottled water distributor, Yosemite Waters. The results show that using GTL Fuel in a conventional diesel engine reduced all regulated emissions compared to the California Air Resources Board baseline requirements.... Read more →

Automobilwoche reports that Porsche is considering a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV. Should the automaker decide on that course, then Toyota is the likely technology partner with its powertrain from the Lexus Hybrid. There is a mild irony here. At the turn of the 20th century, Ferdinand Porsche devised... Read more →

Quantum Technologies (earlier post) has designed, developed and now shipped a high-performance, parallel-hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell off-road vehicle for the US Army. The Quantum AMVTM (Alternative Mobility Vehicle), nicknamed the “Aggressor,” couples a 10 kW (13.5 hp) fuel cell with a 60 kW (80.5 hp) battery in a parallel hybrid configuration,... Read more →

Hino Motors Manufacturing, Japan’s leading domestic manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses, and a subsidiary of Toyota (which owns 50.1% of Hino) has begun its first truck manufacturing in North America. Although Hino trucks are currently sold here, they have until now been imported from Japan. The trucks... Read more →

D1 Oils, the UK biodiesel developer (earlier post) has raised £13 million from a private placement sale of shares prior to its IPO at the end of the month. The company sold 8.1 million new shares at 160 pence apiece. Its shares are expected to list on London’s junior AIM... Read more →

Detroit Free Press. Driven by the glut of inventory (on which they have to pay interest), some auto dealers are trying a new come-on: Buy a truck, get a car for free. Astoundingly, the numbers work. It didn’t take long before a few crafty auto dealers started putting two and... Read more →

Brehon Energy plc, an affiliate of Australia’s Tasman Resources, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with four leading Chinese groups to convert 10,000 diesel buses in Beijing to run on Hythane.® Hythane ® (also called HCNG—hydrogen CNG) is essentially CNG plus a small percentage of hydrogen (usually about... Read more →

New Flyer Industries delivered 10 diesel hybrid buses powered by the GM-Allison hybrid drive to Oahu Transit Services. The buses will enter service in November. Earlier posts on the sales of GM-powered diesel hybrids are here, here, here, and here. In addition, GM recently announced that it would build diesel-hybrid... Read more →

LA Metro has gone for CNG buses in a big way. North American Bus Industries (NABI) and Los Angeles Metro officials showcased the first of 200 high-capacity NABI Model 60-BRT buses which will operate on many of LA’s busiest bus corridors and on the Metro Orange Line. The CNG-fueled and... Read more →

Detroit News. Ford is looking for governments or private companies to test a fleet of its new H2ICE shuttle buses (earlier post). Bill Ford told attendees of Convergence 2004, an automotive electronics exhibition, that his company plans to build 100 hydrogen-powered shuttles by 2006, some of which will be deployed... Read more →

California Gov. Schwarzenegger opened a hydrogen fueling station at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) on Friday, rolling into the station in a prototype H2ICE Hummer prototype—the H2H—loaned by GM. The H2H is an internal combustion engine (ICE) HUMMER H2 SUT (Sport Utility Truck) converted to burn gaseous hydrogen fuel. The... Read more →

The French post office (La Poste) will test the Cleanova II—a series hybrid light delivery van manufactured by SVE (Société de Voitures Électriques, electric car company), a joint venture between specialist car body supplier Heuliez and the Dassault group. Assuming the testing with La Poste—and presumably some others—goes well, SVE... Read more →

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has released Living Planet Report 2004—the current edition of an annual index that tracks global species abundance and human use of natural resources. This edition concludes that people are consuming the earth’s natural resources 20% faster than nature can renew them. We are spending nature’s... Read more →

Colorado-based Blue Sun Biodiesel is opening a high-volume commercial biodiesel blending terminal integrated with a biodiesel processing plant. This integrated plant, which BSB claims is the first such in the US, will begin partial operation in November with the blending terminal. The $4 million production plant is scheduled for completion... Read more →

The Ottawa Express reports that the Ottawa, Canada, city council has approved the testing of new technology this winter in hopes of getting a greener solution on Ottawa streets by 2007. The National Research Council will analyze different types of alternative bus technology and decide what works best in Ottawa... Read more →

Brazilian aircraft company Embraer has received type certification for its ethanol-fueled Ipanema cropdusting aircraft from Brazilian aviation regulating agency Centro Técnico Aeroespacial (CTA). The Ipanema is the first series production aircraft in the world coming out of the factory certified for flying with ethanol. Embraer chose ethanol primarily for cost.... Read more →

Austin Chronicle. The Austin, TX, City Council has passed a resolution in support of a city bulk purchase project for plug-in hybrid Sprinter vans (earlier post). “The city has done a great job positioning ourselves at the forefront of clean energy on the electric production side. But the real area... Read more →

Peterbilt and Eaton Corporation are jointly developing refuse trucks using Eaton’s parallel hydraulic hybrid system—Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA). Peterbilt plans to build and evaluate a production version of the vehicle during the next year. The hydraulic launch assist system uses regenerative braking to capture the energy otherwise lost in braking.... Read more →

FedEx has put 10 of its OptiFleet E700 diesel hybrids (prior post) into service in NYC. The first two E700 hybrids have been in operation in Sacramento, CA, since March, with a 99% uptime. NYSERDA—New York State Energy Research and Development Authority—awarded FedEx federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds... Read more →

FedEx—which Monday said it plans to build the country’s second largest private solar power system (904 kilowatts) atop its hub in Oakland, California—also reaffirmed that it intended to increase the number of hybrids in the delivery fleet. (Reuters). FedEx unveiled its first two of 20 OptiFleet E700 hybrid electric vehicles... Read more →

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is one of the utility companies participating in the diesel-hybrid pilot described in an earlier post. The utility plans to purchase two of the new hybrid vehicles being built by International and Eaton. The Business Journal provides more detail on the finances. WestStart-CalStart’s Hybrid Truck... Read more →

Volvo brought a Bi-Fuel S80 to the Challenge Bibendum. The Volvo S80 Bi-Fuel shown in Shanghai has a five cylinder, 2.4-liter bi-fuel engine powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) or biogas with gasoline as a back-up. The engine uses separate fuel systems. The engine automatically switches to the back-up gasoline... Read more →

Dallas Business Journal. Biodiesel Industries (Santa Barbara, CA) will begin construction on a 3,000,000 gallon biodiesel plant based at the landfill of the city of Denton, Tx. The $700,000 plant will be powered in large part by methane gas from the landfill. The city of Denton is investing $670,000 in... Read more →

Research commissioned by the Energy Savings Trust (EST) in the UK indicates that while 40% of respondents were aware of the damaging contribution that transport makes to climate change, only 12% would consider the environmental impact of a vehicle when buying a new car. Of this figure, women were 3%... Read more →

IFEU—Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg—recently concluded a comprehensive survey and analysis of the studies (Life-Cycle Analysis—LCA) that have been conducted to examine the cost, potential and environmental impact of biofuels for transportation. As we’ve seen in discussions here on GCC, studies of this sort can show considerable differences... Read more →

just-auto.com European demand for diesels continues to grow—from one-third of the market in 2000, diesels are now projected to have half of the market in 2005. As a result, automakers are scrambling to build sufficient diesel engines to meet the demand, and scratching their heads to figure out what to... Read more →

The Department of Energy made hydrogen research grants worth $15.6 million during the last week. Here’s a brief summary. The designated grantees in some projects are the lead partners of a group. DOE H2 Research GrantsDateOrganizationProjectDOE Grant 14 Oct 04 REB Research & Consulting (Ferndale, MI) Developing metallic membrane technology... Read more →

In a speech on Friday, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, gave qualified reassurance on the adequacy of future global oil supplies to meet rising demand—at least through a mid-century transition to a new primary energy source. (Full text of speech is here.) While there are concerns of seeming... Read more →

The Sun-Sentinel reports on the growing use of and demand for hybrids in south-Florida county fleets. “As a government, we want to try to set a good example and reduce fuel consumption, so we’re going to buy the hybrids when they’re available,” said Doug Weichman, Palm Beach County fleet management... Read more →

International Truck and Engine and Eaton are teaming up to manufacture diesel hybrid trucks for a national program serving the utility industry. This reportedly is the largest diesel hybrid pilot program to date, testing a minimum of 20 trucks using an integrated powertrain developed jointly by the two companies. The... Read more →

Toronto Star. Imperial Oil, Canada’s largest refiner (70% owned by ExxonMobil), is investing some $500 million to retrofit its four major refineries for the production of ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD). Imperial spent more than $600 million on those refineries on a retrofit to reduce the sulfur content of its gasoline... Read more →

Michelin has posted results from The Challenge Bibendum. Seventy four of the 150 vehicles present competed, more than 50% of which were electric vehicles. Average energy consumption was less than 5 liters per 100 km [47 mpg] for cars, with some vehicles achieving 3 liters/100 km [78 mpg]. Diesel was... Read more →

Mazda plans to start to lease bi-fuel vehicles using rotary engines powered by hydrogen or gasoline during the next two years. Mazda started working with hydrogen-powered vehicles in 1991, and has developed seven such models since then. The company highlighted its latest H2 effort, the RX-8 Hydrogen Rotary Engine (RE)... Read more →

A European Union-funded research project has successfully designed, produced and tested an improved electromagnetic valve actuation system (ELVAS) for car engines, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions. Electromagnetic valve actuation systems replace the mechanical systems used in conventional engine systems with control electronics. A conventional system involves steel valves,... Read more →

BRC, an Italian-based manufacturer of gas fuel systems, is providing Ford of Argentina with its CNG Sequent Fuel System for three Ford CNG 2005 models. The Sequent Fuel System utilizes electronic fuel injectors and a common rail scheme. Manufacturing of the new vehicles started in September. BRC is owned 50%... Read more →

VW brought two concept cars to Shanghai for the Challenge Bibendum, along with two production vehicles running biodiesel. The Golf ECO.Power appears to be a diesel mild-hybrid, combining a 1.4-liter, 76 kW (102 hp) three-cylinder diesel engine with a 15 kW (20 hp) electric engine. I say “appears” because I... Read more →

Ford unveiled its latest iteration of a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine at the Challenge Bibendum in Shanghai. The new supercharged 2.3-liter hydrogen engine with Lean NOx Trap (LNT) aftertreatment meets the stringent SULEV-Bin 2 emissions standards (0.02 grams/mile). The engine is based on Ford’s global 2.3-liter, inline-4 engine used in... Read more →

Michelin, working in partnership with the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) developed a concept hydrogen fuel-cell car, the Michelin HY-LIGHT, unveiled at the Challenge Bibendum in Shanghai. The HY-LIGHT features twin electric motors mounted in the front wheels and an active electric suspension, combined with supercapacitors for storage of the electricity... Read more →