FEV, Inc., is showing the 1.0L I3 Ford EcoBoost at the SAE 2012 World Congress. (Earlier post.) FEV provided early development stage support for the engine in the area of design and CAE, combustion development, and engine build for 36 engines. We have been very fortunate to have supported Ford... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a Request for Proposals (EPA-OAR-OTAQ-12-05) with up to $20 million in FY 2012 grant funding to establish clean diesel projects aimed at reducing pollution from the existing fleet of diesel engines. In addition to these grants, approximately $9 million will be available... Read more →

Navistar, Inc. plans to expand its collaboration with Chinese truck maker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd. (JAC). Navistar and JAC signed non-binding letters of intent (LOI) to partner on new commercial vehicle opportunities: Design, development, manufacturing and distribution of school buses for the Chinese market; and Light-duty truck export opportunities... Read more →

CODA Holdings, a developer of battery-electric vehicles (CODA Sedan) and advanced battery systems signed a contract with Great Wall Motors Company to co-develop a lower-cost, entry-level battery-electric vehicle for worldwide distribution. The two had signed a Letter of Intent in August 2011. (Earlier post.) Designed for the North American, Chinese,... Read more →

In-wheel electric drive startup Protean Electric (earlier post) has formed relationships with several leading companies in the global auto industry to accelerate its in-wheel electric drive systems to market in high-volume production. Protean Electric Chairman and CEO Bob Purcell made the announcement at a press conference at the SAE 2012... Read more →

Chemrec signed a cooperation agreement with China Tianchen Engineering Corporation, TCC, to provide an integrated offering of Chemrec plants on a global lump-sum turn-key basis and co-market the Chemrec black liquor gasification technology—a route to second-generation biofuels or green power. Under the agreement, Chemrec and TCC will develop an offering... Read more →

Volvo Car Corporation and China Development Bank Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership. Under the intent of the MoU, the parties will evaluate a possible cooperation related to China Development Bank’s financing of certain Volvo Car Corporation research and development programs in the area... Read more →

Comparison of ISFC (@42.9 MJ/kg) (4000 RPM) between 250cc Pinnacle and 200cc poppet valve engine. Source: Pinnacle. Click to enlarge. Pinnacle Engines, the developer of a high compression ratio, four-stroke, spark-ignited (SI), opposed-piston, sleeve-valve architecture engine (earlier post) reports that the most basic configuration of its engine has shown improvements... Read more →

Freescale Semiconductor announced sampling of the multicore Qorivva MPC5746M microcontroller (MCU), designed to address the growing global demand for improved performance in automotive powertrain systems while meeting the latest safety and application security requirements. The MPC5746M is the first device in Freescale’s Qorivva MPC57XX family for advanced automotive control applications.... Read more →

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) has released interim results from its Hybrid & Electric Bus Test Program, developed in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative, and supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The results come from test segments run in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo; additional... Read more →

Scientists from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have proposed a possible solution to a barrier to harnessing fusion. If confirmed by experiment, the finding could help scientists eliminate a major impediment to the development of fusion as a clean and abundant source of energy... Read more →

General Motors showed the company’s vision of the Chevrolet EN-V 2.0 concept at Auto China 2012 today. It is an evolved design of the company’s mobility concept revealed at World Expo 2010 Shanghai. (Earlier post.) The EN-V 2.0 concept would use technologies such as the mobility Internet, electrification and telematics... Read more →

The Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals has issued a stay overturning an injunction blocking enforcement of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. (Earlier post.) The decision allows the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to continue implementation and resume enforcement of the LCFS. The court also consolidated the two cases that... Read more →

Among the 38 production and concept vehicles, including three world premieres, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is exhibiting at the 12th Beijing International Automotive Exhibition is the “Yundong Shuangqing” China-only concept hybrid, which is equipped with a hybrid system developed primarily at the Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) Co., Ltd.... Read more →

The Harvard Faculty Advisory Council (FAC) has sent a memorandum to all faculty concluding that major periodical subscriptions, especially to electronic journals published by historically key providers, cannot be sustained and that faculty needs to consider other options, including increased use of open-access journals. In its memo, the FAC noted... Read more →

Domains and topical areas for the standardization roadmap for electric vehicles. Source: ANSI. Click to enlarge. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) released the Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles – Version 1.0, developed by the Institute’s Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP). (Earlier post.) The Standardization Roadmap assesses the standards, codes,... Read more →

DENZA EV concept. Click to enlarge. Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. (BDNT), the joint venture between Daimler and BYD (earlier post) unveiled a DENZA battery-electric vehicle show car at Auto China 2012 in Beijing. Auto China 2012 marks the first appearance of the DENZA brand at a motor... Read more →

Protean Electric, the global leader in electric in-wheel motors, will showcase its award-winning in-wheel motor Protean Drive system in a BRABUS Hybrid at the SAE 2012 World Congress 24-26 April. The event will mark the BRABUS Hybrid’s premier North American appearance. BRABUS, the independent automobile tuner, chose Protean’s electric in-wheel... Read more →

Guangqi Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. (GHAC), an automobile production and sales joint venture of Honda in China, plans to build a third production line within the property of the existing ZengCheng Plant. The construction of the third line will begin at the end of this year, and the line will... Read more →

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. unveiled a house Honda built in the city of Saitama, Japan, for the demonstration testing of the Honda Smart Home System (HSHS). (Earlier post.) HSHS controls in-house energy supply and demand, and helps manage both the generation and consumption of energy for the home such as... Read more →

Bentley is showcasing a new Sport Utility Vehicle concept, EXP 9 F, at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. The all-wheel drive luxury SUV concept makes its debut in China as potential third Bentley model-line; powertrains under consideration include a 500bhp, 4.0-litre V8 Twin turbo and a V6 plug-in hybrid... Read more →

SAE’s 2012 High Efficiency IC Engine Symposium in Detroit—the second as an immediate precursor to the SAE World Congress—opened on Sunday with a consideration of several alternative engine designs: opposed piston 2-stroke (Achates Power); variable compression ratio (MCE-5); split cycle (Scuderi); and advanced rotary (Liquid Piston). Dr. David Foster, the... Read more →

The A6 L e-tron PHEV concept. Click to enlarge. Audi is presenting the Audi A6 L e-tron concept at Auto China 2012 in Beijing. The plug-in hybrid has an all-electric driving range of 80 km (50 miles), and was specifically designed for the China market. Audi says that with its... Read more →

The Ford EcoSport offers the 1.0L 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine. Click to enlarge. Ford is introducing a family of four new global SUVs in China, which the company unveiled at 2012 Auto China in Beijing: the new Ford EcoSport (earlier post), offered with the 1.0L EcoBoost engine (earlier post); Kuga; Edge;... Read more →

The Nikkei reports that Honda Motor Co. will provide its core hybrid car technologies to a number of Chinese automakers, probably starting with it local joint venture partners, Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Japan’s third-largest carmaker by production volume aims to push its hybrid technologies in the... Read more →

Volkswagen is showing the E-Bugster electric vehicle concept, unveiled earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show (earlier post) at Auto China in Beijing for its premiere in Asia. The two-seat Beetle speedster, features an 85 kW electric motor or 38.3 kWh battery pack, and accelerates from 0 to 100... Read more →

Prototype II Tour Engine—a novel split-cycle engine—on the bench. The hot side is on the right. Click to enlarge. Tour Engine, the developer of a novel split-cycle engine (earlier post), has its Prototype II engine running and will present details on its operation at the upcoming SAE 2012 World Congress... Read more →

Land management trade-off: maximizing productivity vs. carbon stocks. NPP= net primary production. Schulze et al. Click to enlarge. Large-scale bioenergy production from forest biomass is unsustainable and will increase greenhouse gas emissions, according to a group of international researchers in an invited analysis in the journal Global Change Biology/Bioenergy. Some... Read more →

Cadillac is road-testing a semi-autonomous driving technology it calls “Super Cruise” that is capable of fully automatic steering, braking and lane-centering in highway driving under certain optimal conditions. The system could be ready for production vehicles by mid-decade. Super Cruise is designed to ease the driver’s workload on the freeway,... Read more →

Volvo Trucks is adding two XE—exceptional efficiency—drivetrain packages featuring the 16-liter Volvo D16 engine for the North American market. The first, a heavy-spec XE16 package rated for combination weights up to 143,000 pounds (64,864 kg), was designed specifically for the North American heavy long combination vehicle (LCV) market. The second... Read more →

While total petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) slipped 1.3% in March compared with March 2011, gasoline deliveries were up 3%, according to the latest report from the American Petroleum Institute (API). This marked the second month in a row gasoline demand increased while total petroleum demand declined. March distillate... Read more →

Roland Berger forecasts for LiB market size by vehicle class (left) and region (right). High and low growth scenarios are shown. Source: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Click to enlarge. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants has updated its global Li-ion automotive battery study (earlier post). In light of recently presented or announced... Read more →

Integrity Exports. Five Mazda engineers are receiving the 2011 Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Medal for developing Mazda’s 1.3-liter gasoline engine with “Skyactiv” technology that allows an exceptionally high 14.0:1 compression ratio and fuel efficiency of 30 km/L (70.6 mph US, 3.33 L/100 km) under Japan’s 10-15 test cycle. Achieving... Read more →

Four different architectures of Li-air batteries, which all assume the use of lithium metal as the anode. The three liquid electrolyte architectures are aprotic, aqueous, and a mixed aprotic-aqueous system. In addition, a fully solid state architecture is also given. Credit, ACS, Girishkumar et al. Click to enlarge. Asahi Kasei... Read more →

VSE Corporation and its subsidiary Wheeler Bros. Inc. (WBI) recently delivered their prototype, fuel efficient, repowered gasoline Long Life Vehicle (LLV) for testing by the USPS. (Earlier post.) The vehicle was delivered with VSE’s prototype RFD6 Re-Power Kit which VSE claims may increase the current vehicle’s fuel efficiency by as... Read more →

The Qantas Group has selected CFM International’s advanced LEAP-1A engine (earlier post) to power 78 Airbus A320neo aircraft currently on order. The engine order is valued at US$2.0 billion at list price, including spare engines. LEAP engines are a product of CFM International (CFM), a 50/50 joint company between Snecma... Read more →

Azure Dynamics, a developer and producer of hybrid-electric and electric components and powertrain systems for commercial vehicles, has provided an update on the status of its restructuring. On 26 March, the company filed for and obtained protection from its creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (CCAA). (Earlier post.)... Read more →

Researchers have developed a new monitoring technique to distinguish emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels in the atmosphere from other gases, a technique that likely could be used to monitor the effectiveness of measures regulating greenhouse gases. Model representations of (left) Δ14C and (right) the fossil fuel component of... Read more →

Westinghouse Electric Company and utility Ameren Missouri have entered into an agreement to respond collaboratively to the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for developing and licensing the Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Under the terms of the agreement, Ameren Missouri will become part of and... Read more →

Butamax Advanced Biofuels, LLC, a joint venture between BP and DuPont, has entered into collaboration with Fagen, Inc. for the introduction of commercial biobutanol production using Butamax technology. Fagen is an experienced biofuels engineering, procurement and construction contractor, having built more ethanol capacity than any other company. It has built... Read more →

Annual average PM2.5 concentration due to combustion emissions from (a) power generation; (b) commercial, institutional, residential, and agricultural sources; (c) industry; (d) road transport; (e) other transport; and (f) all UK combustion sources. Credit: ACS, Yim and Barrett. Click to enlarge. UK combustion emissions of PM2.5 cause ~13,000 premature deaths... Read more →

Bayer MaterialScience, which has already developed a wide range of energy-efficient polyurethane materials for the automotive sector, is introducing the Bayflex RIM Light Weight polyurethane system that can be used to further reduce the weight of finished automotive components by up to 30%. The material has a density of 0.9... Read more →

China’s State Council will take steps to accelerate the promotion of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, and popularize non-plug-in hybrid vehicles and more efficient internal combustion engine vehicles. The State Council is the highest executive organ of State power in China, as well as the highest organ of State... Read more →

Fifty-seven percent of drivers in the UK believe they will switch to a telematics or “black box” insurance policy in the next five years, according to a new study commissioned by Gocompare.com. The study into the relationship between driving habits and insurance found that a wide cross-section of motorists are... Read more →

Ford will invest US$760 million to build a new assembly plant in Hangzhou, China with its joint venture Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA), adding initial capacity of 250,000 units. When Hangzhou opens in 2015, Ford’s total passenger car capacity in China will increase to 1.2 million units annually, doubling current... Read more →

Diesel to natural gas conversion system. Click to enlarge. Omnitek has developed a kit that can be used to convert the globally popular Mercedes diesel engines OM904 and OM906 into natural gas engines. Omnitek’s proprietary diesel-to-natural gas engine conversion kit is used for bus and truck applications, as well as... Read more →

American Honda Motor Co, Inc. has established a “Green Dealer” program for its independently-owned Honda and Acura automobile dealers in the United States. The Honda Environmental Leadership Award and Acura Environmental Leadership Award will be given to dealers who quantifiably reduce their environmental impact, beginning with a minimum 10% reduction... Read more →

AUDI AG Board of Management and Supervisory Board of AUDI AG approved plans to build a North American plant in Mexico. The exact location for the new plant, which will manufacture an SUV model starting in 2016, will be chosen by AUDI AG later this year. The group parent Volkswagen... Read more →

In response to a court deadline, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized standards to reduce air pollution associated with oil and natural gas production. The updated standards, required by the Clean Air Act, reduce implementation costs while also ensuring they are achievable and can be met by relying... Read more →

Excluding the United States, the world holds an estimated 565 billion barrels (bbo) of undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil; 5,606 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional natural gas; and 167 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids (NGL), according to a new assessment by the... Read more →