Engineering students at the University of California, Davis unveiled “Trinity,” a plug-in hybrid vehicle that is the team’s entry in the national Challenge X competition, sponsored by GM and the US Department of Energy. (Earlier post.) Trinity is a 2006 model Chevy Equinox SUV powered by electric motors and a... Read more →
The winner. An ethanol-powered car has achieved the best fuel efficiency at the just-concluded Shell Eco-marathon 2006. The car, engineered by students from the Lycee La Joliverie (France) also took the “Climate Friendly” prize for producing the least greenhouse gas emissions in the process. The winning car completed seven laps... Read more →
by Joe Adiletta The recent 2006 MIT Energy Conference brought together a broad mix of students, Venture Capitalists, Industry gurus, and scientists to hash out the direction of the future global energy crisis, and to explore the possibilities for a more sustainable course. Although the conference topics ran the gamut... Read more →
by Jack Rosebro John Deere Gator utility vehicle, powered by a 20kW hydrogen fuel cell and currently in service as part of Toronto’s Hydrogen Village project. Yesterday the City of Toronto hosted the inaugural Green Fleet Expo, a conference, expo, and ride-and-drive at Toronto’s Exhibition Place that brought together fleet... Read more →
The 2006 Tour de Sol—the 18th of the annual green car event organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)—featured three separate competitions with entrants using energy-efficiency techniques and less carbon-intensive fuels to demonstrate an average of 66 mpg, 140% above the current CAFE standard. Top honors went to Wayne... Read more →
For the third year in succession, the 1.5-liter gasoline engine of the Prius Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain has won both the International Engine of the Year Award in the 1.4– 1.8-liter category and the “Best Fuel Economy” category. The awards were made at the Engine Expo in Stuttgart, Germany. The... Read more →
Science Research Subcommittee Chairman Bob Inglis (R-SC) introduced legislation called the H-Prize Act of 2006 (H.R. 5143) last Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The monetary H-Prize is intended to attract the best and brightest minds to attack technological and commercial market obstacles in moving to a hydrogen economy.... Read more →
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), organizer of the Tour de Sol, is inviting invites anyone who drives a hybrid or flex-fuel ethanol vehicle, or uses biodiesel in their diesel car or truck, to join the Monte Carlo-style Rally and the new Fuel Efficiency Competition in the upcoming 18th annual... Read more →
The 231st national meeting of the American Chemical Society featured a one-day symposium on Biofuels for Transportation during which fuel chemists and other scientists from across the United States and Europe presented research toward developing viable, cost-effective and high-performing biofuels. Much of the focus on the one-day event was on... Read more →
Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles represent the second-largest consumer of energy in the US transportation sector, behind light-duty vehicles but ahead of every other transportation mode, according to the Energy Information Administration. By 2030, the transportation sector’s total annual energy consumption will increase 46.5% to an estimated 39,729.9 trillion BTU (40... Read more →
The upcoming IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC 2006) is, for the first time, being co-sponsored by the UK’s IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers) and will be held in Windsor, England in September. The three-day conference is also co-sponsored by the IEEE Power... Read more →
At the unveiling of a concept version of a Camaro (400 hp V8 with Active Fuel Management—displacement on demand—and fuel economy of 30+ mpg) at the Detroit auto show, Bob Lutz, GM’s vice chairman of global product development, cracked: It’s two markets. The whole country is schizophrenic. At one end... Read more →
Design of LTC lithium-ion polymer cell. Lithium Technology Corporation (LTC) announced that it will supply two of the vehicles in Challenge X —one of which is a plug-in hybrid—with its GAIA high-power lithium-ion polymer batteries. Challenge X, sponsored by GM, is a three-year competition to re-engineer a GM Equinox crossover... Read more →
The World Economic Forum today announced the 36 companies it selected as its Technology Pioneers 2006 from a group of 97 nominees. The three category areas are Biotechnology and Health; Energy; and Information Technology. Seven of the finalists are energy companies, including Intelligent Energy, the makers of the ENV fuel-cell... Read more →
A new public/private state organization is dedicated to making California a model state for transportation energy consumption by 2020. Announced at the CALSTART 2020 conference today in Los Angeles, the California Secure Transportation Energy Partnership (CalSTEP) pledged to develop a plan to lead to a sustainable reduction in the state’s... Read more →
CALSTART, the California operating division of WestStart-CALSTART, an advanced transportation technologies consortium, announced the winners of the 2005 Blue Sky Awards: FedEx Express/Environmental Defense and Seattle, Washington, Mayor Greg Nickels. The Blue Sky awards recognize the groundbreaking work of large and small companies for their outstanding marketplace contributions to clean... Read more →
Motor Trend has named the all-new Honda Civic the 2006 Car of the Year. The award extends to the entire Civic Sedan and Civic Coupe lineup including the Civic Hybrid and high-performance Civic Si models. The Motor Trend editorial staff selected the Honda Civic from a field of 28 new... Read more →
Fiat’s Grande Punto The Fiat Grande Punto has won Germany’s 2005 Golden Steering Wheel award in the Compact Car class in the 30th annual running of the competition organized by the weekly magazine Bild am Sonntag. The Grande Punto beat the Volkswagen Fox, Renault Clio, Toyota Yaris and Peugeot 1007... Read more →
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is hosting an Ethanol Energy Open Forum next week in which Bruce Dale, a Michigan State University professor, and John Sheehan, a senior engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will debate David Pimentel, a Cornell University professor, and Tad Patzek, a professor from... Read more →
U Mich Solar Car Momentum (and driver) crossing the border into Canada. (Photo by Stefano Paltera/North American Solar Challenge) The University of Michigan won the 2005 North American Solar Challenge (NASC)(earlier post) today with a cumulative time of 53 hours, 59 minutes and 43 seconds, for an average speed of... Read more →
Winners of the 2003 American Solar Challenge The 11-day North American Solar Challenge (NASC) “rayce” kicks off today, with 20 qualifying cars racing 2,500 miles (4,023 km) from Austin, Texas to Calgary, Alberta. Sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Natural Resources Canada (NRC), DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory... Read more →
Mater Dei High School of Evansville, Ind., finished first at the recent SAE 2005 Supermileage competition, posting a top fuel economy of 1,836 miles per gallon (mpg). The University of British Columbia finished first in the collegiate division with a top fuel economy of 1,608 mpg. Both schools have won... Read more →
Only fuel-cell series hybrid design in the competition. Read more →
The Bibendum Forum & Rally kicked off in Kyoto. Sponsored by Michelin in association with its partners in the automotive world—carmakers, technology and energy suppliers—the event promotes and demonstrates the development of clean technologies and energies for motorized vehicles with an educational forum and road rally. Her Imperial Highness Princess... Read more →
In another example of its effective environmentally-focused marketing, Toyota is the exclusive automotive sponsor of UN World Environment Day 2005, and the Prius is the official car of the event. It’s exciting to be involved in this important event building environmental awareness and to have the Prius represent what’s already... Read more →
A Seattle-based non-profit organization, Sustainable Ballard, is organizing a two half-day forum on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) systems. The first afternoon session on 6 June is a technical symposium on V2G; the second on 7 June explores V2G possibilities in the Seattle area. As it sounds, the V2G concept is that battery,... Read more →
A modified Honda Insight driven by Brian Hardegen of Pepperell, MA, was the top placing vehicle at the National 2005 Tour de Sol Monte Carlo Rally (earlier post), achieving 94 mpg. That leaves the 100-mpg Challenge on the able for next year’s event. The plug-in Prius demonstrated by Valence and... Read more →
Hydrogen-powered cars were the most efficient on the road during a record-breaking weekend at the Shell Eco-marathon at the Nogaro Motor Circuit in Gers, France, but two gasoline-powered cars used less overall lifecycle energy for the vehicles and the fuel. The Shell Eco-marathon challenges student teams to design and build... Read more →
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association has created a new Monte Carlo-style Rally for people with advanced vehicles that reduce petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions. The event is a new feature of the 17th annual Tour de Sol competition. $10,000 in awards will be given to the most fuel efficient... Read more →
Clean@uto is providing live coverage from EVS21: The 21st Worldwide Battery, Hybrid- and Fuel Cell-Electric Vehicle Symposium & Exhibition, held this year in Monaco. They have an update on the CLEANOVA II, the electric delivery vehicle developed by SVE for La Poste in partnership with CEREVEH (Development and Innovation Centre... Read more →
Car Buyer’s Notebook attended the hydrogen conference in Washington, DC last week, and provides some hands-on enthusiastic impressions of the Honda FCX. When I first walked up to the vehicle, I didn’t realize it was running. When my ears ajusted to the light whir of the hydrogen-powered engine, I decided... Read more →
The final meeting of the California Hydrogen Highway Advisory Panel for the discussion of the blueprint plan is scheduled for 8 Dec from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, Pacific Time. It is open to the public, and will be webcast. Questions for the Panel members may be submitted in advance (by... Read more →
CALSTART is hosting a one-day forum exploring the whys and hows for reducing California’s petroleum consumption and increasing its use of non-petroleum fuels by the year 2020. WestStart-CALSTART is a consortium working to develop advanced transportation technologies and clean transportation solutions. It was founded in 1992 as CALSTART, but rapidly... 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 →
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 →
The Challenge Bibendum 2004 runs this week in Shanghai. Created in 1998 by Michelin Group to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of Bibendum, the “Michelin Man”, Challenge Bibendum has quickly become an annual forum for industry, policymakers and experts to review the latest technologies and progress made in the area of... Read more →
The DOE’s 10th Diesel Engine Emission Reduction (DEER) Conference is coming in just a couple of weeks, and it should be a terrific event. It’s much more than just about reducing emissions. The conference is going to touch on new engine research, an update on HCCI, comparisons with hybrids, the... Read more →
FISITA -- the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies -- is holding its annual conference and exhibition this week in Barcelona. As a major international technology event, it provides a good window into the thinking and direction of the auto industry, from academic research through commercial product development. Of the... Read more →
Here is a description of the contest I mentioned below in the post about the biodiesel hybrid: Challenge X. Seventeen North American universities were selected through a competitive process to participate in CHALLENGE X: Michigan Technological University; Mississippi State University; Ohio State University; Pennsylvania State University; Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology;... Read more →
Chemical & Engineering News reports on the Council for Chemical Researchs (CCR) annual meeting. The theme was Chemical Research Opportunities for the Global Energy Economy and the focus was exploring the role of chemical R&D in avoiding an impending global energy crisis. FIRST OFF, several industry analysts pointedly said U.S.... Read more →
The Western Governors’ Association North American Energy Summit opens tomorrow (14 Apr 04) in Albuquerque, NM. (ABQ). The scope of this event goes well beyond the transportation market. Some interesting aspects to it. There is a transportation breakout in the expo area with featured participation from Blue Sun biodiesel and... Read more →