Green Car Advisor
Hydrogen
November 24, 2009
Early studies of one of the most promising hydrogen-creating technologies - electrolysis - indicate it would require dramatic increases in U.S. water withdrawals, according to an article published by Reuters today.
Large, concentrated supplies of fresh water - such as the Great Lakes system, which contains almost one-fifth of the world's available surface fresh water - could be attractive or necessary to creating the power needed to create hydrogen using electrolysis. Hydrogen is the fuel needed to power fuel-cell electric vehicles.
NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is developing a prototype of a commercial hydrogen fueling station that uses wind and solar power to produce hydrogen from Lake Erie water.
A 2007 study estimated "that up to 143 billion gallons of water would be directly consumed as a [hydrogen generating] feedstock, with a total consumption including evaporation of cooling water at power plants of 0.5-1.7 trillion gallons annually," the article said.
But the Hydrogen Association says that conversion of the current U.S. light-duty fleet (some 230 million vehicles) to fuel-cell vehicles would require about 110 billion gallons of water per year and that the U.S. uses about 300 billion gallons of water per year for the production of gasoline.
Michigan, the traditional automaking capital of North America, is one of many jurisdictions scrambling to capture leadership in hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative-fuel vehicles.
Definitive studies on the sources and volumes of water needed to power hydrogen vehicles and a hydrogen economy are urgently needed.
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- Scott Doggett November 24, 2009, 2:52 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Electrolysis
, FCEVs, Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles, Great Lakes, Hydrogen, Hydrogen Cars
November 20, 2009
The California agency that sets the American standard for automotive emissions today unveiled a much-improved Website that helps consumers choose the least polluting cars on the market.
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Click on art to enlarge.
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The California Air Resources Board Website, using information collected for vehicle certification in the golden state, offers a practical and easy to use system that ranks vehicles according to their emission characteristics and provides tools to compare models.
The site allows visitors to view models by technology/fuel type, smog score, global-warming score and engine family. And there's a very smart tool that, with a click of your mouse, allows you to view all the tax incentives available for a particular model.
Last year, the agency adopted a state regulation requiring automakers to affix the Environmental Performance Label to California showroom models that convey the vehicle's smog and greenhouse-gas emissions. The simply illustrated graphic has two rankings, from one to 10, that depict vehicle emissions. The higher the score, the less polluting it is.
Driveclean.ca.gov puts these same rankings in an online format, making them practical for web research. The Website also provides information about clean-car technology and guides users to consider the emissions of the models they are evaluating.
We salute CARB, once again, for taking another significant step to make the world we live in a healthier place.
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- Scott Doggett November 20, 2009, 8:15 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Butanol, Coal, Compressed Air, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, LPG, Legislation, Manufacturers, Methanol, Motorcycles, Natural Gas, Oil, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar, Tax Incentives
- Technorati Tags:
- Alternative Fuels and Vehicles
, California Air Resources Board, CARB, Electric Vehicles, Fuel Economy
November 18, 2009
Aiming to help promising students pursue higher education in science and technology - and to pump more life into research into hydrogen energy systems - the founder of hydrogen systems developer and manufacturer Proton Energy Systems has funded a $1-million national scholarship fund.
The Proton Energy Scholarships will provide four-year undergraduate scholarships valued at up to $100,000 each, and will award $500 cash prizes to applicants who meet certain criteria but don't win a scholarship grant.
The annual program will be administered by the Hydrogen Education Foundation, which also oversees an annual Hydrogen Student Design Contest and the recently announced $1-million H-Prize challenge for university students and inventors to develop an improved storage medium for hydrogen fuel.
The scholarship program is aimed at "inspiring young people with an interest in science and technology," said Proton Energy owner Tom Sullivan. The rules don't require that the field of study be related to hydrogen energy or hydrogen fuel research.
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- John O'Dell November 18, 2009, 3:00 AM
- Categories:
- Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Hydrogen Scholarship
, PEM, Proton Energy Scholarships, Proton Energy Systems, Proton Exchange Membrane Systems
November 16, 2009
Perhaps fretting that the public had forgotten about their hydrogen ambitions, Japan's Big 3 automakers last week took to the streets with their most advanced hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
Over two days, driving teams steered a Toyota Highlander FCHV-adv, a Nissan X-Trail FCV, and a Honda FCX Clarity 707 miles from Tokyo to Fukuoka, with an overnight stop in Osaka.
Combined, the vehicles consumed 28.8 kilograms of hydrogen during their demonstration run. That equates to roughly 70 miles per gallon for those of you wondering how efficient these vehicles stack up when compared to gasoline-powered vehicles.
But given that none of the advanced-fuel vehicles seen here are available for purchase, mileage/fuel comparisons right now are strictly academic.
That said, although all three automakers are working on electric vehicles, Honda and Toyota continue to say that hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles offer the best long-term solution to today's climate-changing oil-burning street machines.
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- Scott Doggett November 16, 2009, 4:18 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Honda, Hydrogen, Nissan, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- Honda FCX Clarity
, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Nissan X-Trail FCV, Toyota Highlander FCHV-adv
Daimler today debuted its third-generation Mercedes-Benz Citaro fuel-cell-hybrid bus at the site in Hamburg, Germany, where 10 of the buses enter service next year.
In addition, the Hamburger Hochbahn public-transport company will take delivery of 20 Mercedes-Benz B-class fuel-cell cars starting next year.
The buses will take part in large-scale fleet trials scheduled to take place in Hamburg and other European cities as part of a follow-up to real-world hydrogen-vehicle testing in the the European Union from 2003 to the present.
Vehicles participation in the testing "performed outstandingly," Daimler said in a press release distributed Monday, adding that their total operating time exceeded 140,000 hours and the buses covered a total of more than 1.35 million miles.
Daimler said that due to improved fuel-cell components and hybridization with lithium-ion batteries, the latest version of the Citaro fuel-cell-hybrid bus consumes almost 50 percent less hydrogen than the preceding generation.
The operating range of the fuel-cell bus is 155 miles and the fuel-cell drive system is also practically maintenance-free and has a long operating life.
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- Scott Doggett November 16, 2009, 11:23 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Daimler, Emissions, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz
- Technorati Tags:
- Alternate Fuel
, B-Class, Daimler, Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell F-Cell, Mercedes-Benz Fuel-Cell-Hybrid bus
A team of Tennessee researchers is trying to use algae to produce hydrogen that could be used as automotive fuel.
Despite its energy potential, hydrogen has not taken off as an alternative fuel source because of the expensive, high-energy and sometimes climate-changing processes required to produce it.
The Tennessee team - led by professor Barry Bruce of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville -- wants to use photosynthesis as a clean, efficient and sustainable source of hydrogen.
"We're looking for solutions that already exist in nature," Bruce said. "We're trying to peel back some of the barriers and make them work in the near future."
The team's research, published in last week's issue of Nature Nanotechnology, involves separating a tiny particle used by algae during photosynthesis and coupling it with a platinum catalyst to produce hydrogen when exposed to light.
"Compared to things like converting pharmaceuticals to drugs, this is pretty straightforward," Bruce said.
Bruce's team is not the first to use photosynthetic microorganisms as a hydrogen fuel source, but other researchers have not found a way to efficiently use the reaction at the high temperatures that would exist in a system designed to harness sunlight.
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- Scott Doggett November 16, 2009, 10:24 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Algae
, Alternate Fuel, Biofuel, Climate Change, Emissions, Hydrogen, University of Tennessee
November 13, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
It's not only Chrysler's battery-electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicle programs that have been pared back - way back - under the post-bankruptcy plan devised for the company by its new management.
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Fiat Doblo small van is now being considered as platform for "new" Chrysler's fit electric vehicle...
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The once-vigorous Chrysler hydrogen fuel cell program - aimed at bringing fuel-cell electric vehicles, commercial and private, to market some day - is pretty much a memory as well. It was absorbed into Daimler's program when the German automaker acquired Chrysler back in 1999 and though it survived the 2007 divorce, it was phased out two months ago.
We're told by knowledgeable people who for various reasons didn't want to be identified that there are no plans right now to actively pursue further development of fuel cells but, of course, that "options are being kept open."
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It would be replacing a Dodge-based electric sports car such as this Zeo concept first shown in January 2008.
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We don't think - as some do - that Chrysler's entire alternative fuels and powertrains effort has been killed by Italy's Fiat, which took control of the country's smallest and weakest automaker as it came out of bankruptcy earlier this year.
Although Chrysler's two-year-old environmental vehicle group, ENVI, has been disbanded under Fiat, we believe the company will keep doing some development work and will follow though on its previous promises to put the hybrid Ram truck into the market next year followed by a pair of experimental plug-in hybrids - for test fleet use only - in 2011.
Not only did those few vehicles remain in the just-announced five-year plan, but the members of the ENVI team, as far as we know, all are still working at Chrysler - they've just been mainstreamed into the regular product development program. And Fiat appointed former ENVI boss Lou Rhodes to be head of vehicle electrification programs for both Fiat and Chrysler - a post that probably wouldn't exist if there wasn't at least some work going on.
There are changes, though, and not for the good.
The Dodge EV once thought to be a sure thing for 2010 is no more, and except for a battery-electric commercial van based on the Fiat Doblo minivan that is under "strongest consideration" for production by late 2011 or early 2012, the chances for other Chrysler hybrids, plug-in hybrids or EVs to make it into the retail market before the next 5-year plan is unveiled in 2015 are pretty slim.
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- John O'Dell November 13, 2009, 2:33 AM
- Categories:
- Chrysler, Fiat, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Chrysler electric vehicle Plans
, Chrysler Electric Vehicle Program, Chrysler EV Program, Chrysler Fuel Cell
November 11, 2009
Although talk of fuel cell electric vehicles from the water cooler to, say, the biggest office at the U.S. Department of Energy generally revolves around how far off the technology really is, the head of General Motors' fuel-cell program has just come out and said the Chevy Equinox FCEV is well on its way to production.
Writing in GM's Fast Lane blog Tuesday, Charles Freese said the "fuel cell program left R&D about a year ago and became part of Powertrain, where it is treated like any pre-production program when it comes to seeking efficiency, cost reduction, design for manufacturability, and other elements of a production program."
He hastened to add that the cost of Equinox "is still expensive, but the costs are coming down dramatically. Our next-generation fuel cell architecture is 220 pounds lighter, uses about half the parts and roughly a third of the precious metals, compared to the still-impressive Equinox demonstration vehicles."
Freese pointed out that the technology that went into the Equinox is only four years ago, and during that time GM deployed Project Driveway -- a fleet of more than 100 Equinox FCEVs that today has more than 1 million miles of accumulated driving by real consumers.
"In some ways, we are a victim our own success," he wrote. "The Chevy Equinox fuel cell is a great car, but it is a demonstration vehicle with aging technology and high cost. The next-generation fuel cell system is much less expensive but is not yet to the point where we have vehicles on the road."
The graphic below shows the significant physical differences and the tale of the tape between the Project Driveway propulsion system and the next-generation system.
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- Scott Doggett November 11, 2009, 4:26 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Chevrolet Equniox
, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, General Motors, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
Panelists Say Earth-Friendly Future Won't Come Easy For Private Transportation
Although predominately a business-oriented exploration of environmental practices and processes the Opportunity Green 2009 conference at UCLA this weekend promised transportation geeks a look at ideas of personal mobility in a green future.
We're not sure it followed through, as the program became in part a promotion of the Mini E electric vehicle program - thanks to the event's sponsorship by Mini USA - and in part an examination of the obstacles still in the way of truly green mobility.
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Passer-by eyes Mini E parked on UCLA campus during Opportunity Green conference.
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Thus the opening of the panel entitled "The Next Generation of Transportation," consisted of a somber warning from moderator Dan Neil, the L.A. Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning auto critic.
"I'm sorry," he opined, "but I fear that society cannot magically make the wide, sweeping changes needed in transportation without suffering" the same far-reaching government and corporate grab for control "that we see coming in health care."
Event sponsor Mini, of course, disagreed - the company was there to persuade eco-friendly professionals that parent BMW, a fossil fuel-burning company of global proportions, is finding its inner green machine and that the right answers to our transportation needs are on the way.
Spotlighting the Mini E and offering test drives to the participants of the event, Mini collected input from drivers about their experiences to add to the data its in-house green team will use as it plans the BMW's eco-friendly future.
Neil pointed out in the transportation session that the Mini E is a not-ready-for-prime-time electric car - not with that "beautifully upholstered lithium battery pack in the back seat," taking up room most drivers would want for passengers and cargo.
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- John O'Dell November 11, 2009, 5:00 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Biofuels, Diesel, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, MINI, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Opportuity Green 2009 Future Transportation Panel
October 30, 2009
In the biggest federal boost for green car development in decades, the 2010 energy budget bill just signed into law by President Obama includes $814 million in funding for various alternative fuel and vehicle programs.
One provision, $283 million for fuel cells and hydrogen fuel, restored more than $100 million that in funds for automotive-specific programs that Energy Secretary Steven Chu initially proposed cutting from the budget.
Chu said at the time he didn't see fuel-cell electric cars as commercially viable in the next 15-20 years.
Automakers and fuel cell developers quickly rallied to persuade Congress that Chu hadn't see the whole picture and promised to have commercial quality fuel cell cars - which use hydrogen for energy production - in the market by 2015.
Other green aspects of the bill include $311 million to help fund various vehicle electrification and advanced internal combustion engine projects and $220 million for advanced biofuel development.
As expected, the bill was cheered by trade groups representing the fuel cell, biofuels and electric drive industries.
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- John O'Dell October 30, 2009, 11:08 AM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- 2010 Energy Budget
, Biofuels, Electric Cars, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen
October 27, 2009
Honda Motor Co. pulled the plug on Formula 1 racing to divert the money being spent there to green technologies and the company that's been playing second fiddle to Toyota in the green cars sweepstakes says it wants to hybridize larger vehicles again.
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Honda's top executive prefers hydrogen fuel cell FCX Clarity but says battery-electric cars will come first.
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That's the word from Honda President and CEO Takanobu Ito, speaking with a select group of automotive writers - including Edmunds'
Inside Line News Editor Kelly Toepke - at the 2009 Tokyo auto show last week.
Toepke tells us that Ito is committed to the further greening of Honda, even to the extent of developing an environmentally friendly sports car that - his words - is truly green, "not like the car Lexus announced" at the show. He was referring to the limited production, V10-powered, $375,000 Lexus LFA supercar, which he apparently doesn't believe is green enough.
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- John O'Dell October 27, 2009, 3:00 AM
- Categories:
- Auto Shows, Fuel Cell, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Electric Cars
, EVs, FCX Clarity, Fuel Cell Cars, Honda, Hybrids, Hydrogen
October 20, 2009
Honda Motor Co. is still high on hydrogen, but now thinks battery-electrics might be the way to go until there's a hydrogen fueling infrastructure to support the fuel-cell electric cars the company prefers.
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Honda EV-N electric city car concept being displayed at Tokyo Auto Show.
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Honda CEO Takanobu Ito told an industry seminar in Tokyo Monday that he would now consider launching electric cars in the United States, Europe and Japan while waiting for hydrogen cars to become marketable. Reuters news service
reported Itos' remarks today.
The automaker, which made a big splash last year with its ready-for-production FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric car, had been counting on that technology to enable it to catch up with hybrid champion Toyota in the fuel-efficiency sweepstakes to mature.
But ongoing road tests of the Clarity and General Motors' fuel-cell Equinox SUV haven't generated enough interest to spur fuel companies to build hydrogen stations, limiting the potential market for fuel-cell cars to urban areas of California and the New York metropolitan region.
That's not enough to generate the high volume production that would be needed to increase the number of component suppliers and reduce the cost of the highly specialized fuel cell systems.
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- John O'Dell October 20, 2009, 12:49 PM
- Categories:
- Fuel Cell, Honda, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- EVs
, FCX Clarity, Fuel Cell Electric Cars, Hydrogen Cars, ZEV Mandate
October 16, 2009
In a victory for supporters of continued R&D on hydrogen for automotive use, the U.S. Senate has approved an $187 million appropriation for hydrogen vehicle program funding in the 2010-2011 Energy Department Budget.
Thursday's vote effectively thumbs a Congressional nose at Energy Secretary Stephen Chu's decision earlier this year to cut hydrogen vehicle funding from his budget proposal on the grounds that fuel-cell electric vehicles wouldn't be commercially viable for a few decades yet.
Fuel cells use hydrogen to generate electricity, blending it with oxygen and passing the molecules through a platinum-coated membrane to release the electrons. In a vehicle equipped with a fuel cell, the power generated is used to "fuel" an electric motor that moves the wheels.
The House had previously approved the appropriations bill with the restored hydrogen vehicle research funding, and Chu - who favors battery-electric vehicle development - has said he'd work with Congress on the hydrogen issue.
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- John O'Dell October 16, 2009, 12:23 PM
- Categories:
- Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Energy Department Budget
, Fuel Cell Cars, Hydrogen Research Funding
October 12, 2009
U.S. Trails Asia, Europe in Providing Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure, Automakers Warn
Automakers aiming to meet California's revised Zero Emission Vehicles mandate requirements have pushed the fuel-cell electric car much closer to reality than many realize, according to a report by Bloomberg news service.
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Rendering of advanced fuel station near Los Angeles International Airport touts hydrogen as the fuel of tomorrow.
Automakers say that without more such stations, that vision won't be realized.
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Not only is the technology almost ready for prime time, reporter Alan Ohnsman found that automakers such as Toyota, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Nissan and General Motors now believe they can bring fuel cell vehicles to market by 2015 with price premium of just $3,600 over the average price of a comparable midsized gasoline model.
But the technology and price breakthroughs won't mean much if the U.S. government's infrastructure priorities aren't altered to include encouragement of a hydrogen fueling system
If the U.S. doesn't get moving, it will fall behind Europe and Asia - where governments are actively promoting hydrogen fueling - in the race to replace oil as a motor vehicle fuel, GM and others warn.
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- John O'Dell October 12, 2009, 10:23 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Daimler, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Renault, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
, Hydrogen Fueling Stations, Hydrogen Fueling Systems
October 5, 2009
Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche says he's still is betting on a hydrogen future for the automobile.
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Mercedes B-Class fuel cell cars are being used in long-term road tests in Europe and U.S.
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But in a round-table interview with reporters form a variety of media including (subscription only) Automotive News during the recent Frankfurt Auto Show, Zetsche said that hybrids and battery-electric cars will be long-term interim technologies until hydrogen fuel cell cars and hydrogen fueling technology are ready for market.
Daimler is investing heavily in both electric and fuel cell technologies, he said, and has banded together with other German automakers to boost hydrogen fueling technology.
Asked if Daimler would consider four-cylinder engines for its Mercedes-Benz cars as U.S. fuel economy regulations tighten, Zetsche said that he wouldn't rule out the option .
He also said, according to an interview transcript posted today by Automotive News, that he sees a continued weak U.S. market for luxury cars for several years and that the Chinese market is likely to step in to gill the void.
Fuel efficiency for luxury cars is becoming a necessity rather than an afterthought, Zetsche said, adding that he is convinced that many customers continue to want a comfortable and spacious car but "would not like to be called callous by their neighbor because the fuel consumption is astronomic."
Daimler - indeed, the entire auto industry,- is at the "tipping point now" for electric cars, he said, pointing out that hydrogen fuel cell cars use all-electric drivetrains.
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- John O'Dell October 5, 2009, 2:55 PM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Daimler, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Daimler
, Electric Vehicles, EVs, Hybrids, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
September 30, 2009
Researchers at Brigham Young University claim to have developed a fuel cell that harvests electricity from glucose and other sugars known as carbohydrates using a common weed killer as a catalyst.
Lead researcher and BYU chemistry professor Gerald Watt (pictured) said in an article published in the August issue of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society that carbohydrates are very energy rich and that he and his colleagues sought a catalyst that would extract the electrons from the carbs and transfer them to an electrode.
Watt said he and his colleagues discovered a solution in the form of a cheap and abundant weed killer. He described the effectiveness of the herbicide as a boon to carbohydrate-based fuel cells.
By contrast, hydrogen-based fuel cells such as those developed by General Motors require costly platinum as a catalyst.
The study conducted experiments that yielded a 29 percent conversion rate, or the transfer of 7 of the 24 available electrons per glucose molecule, Watt reported.
"We showed you can get a lot more out of glucose than other people have done before," said Dean Wheeler, who was part of the research team. "Now we're trying to get the power density higher so the technology will be more commercially attractive."
This isn't the first time that a glucose-based fuel cell has been reported. In 2007, Japanese scientists announced they had invented a device that used sunlight to convert glucose into hydrogen to power a fuel cell.
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- Scott Doggett September 30, 2009, 1:02 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Brigham Young University
, BYU, Fuel Cell Electric Cars, Fuel Cell Technology, Gerald Watt
September 24, 2009
The second-generation hydrogen fuel cell system (pictured) in development by General Motors Co. is half the size, 220 pounds lighter and uses less than half the precious metal of the current generation in the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicle.
And, the production-intent fuel cell powertrain can be packaged under the hood in about the same space as a four-cylinder engine, GM announced in a statement today. It contains GM's fifth-generation fuel cell stack, which the company said could be commercialized in 2015.
Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are a few years away from widespread commercial use because of the need for additional investment and partnership, along with expanded availability of hydrogen fueling stations.
In a statement, Charles Freese, executive director of GM's fuel-cell program, said GM has invested more than $1.5 billion in fuel-cell technology and is committed to continuing to invest, but "we no longer can go it alone... We will require government and industry partnerships to install a hydrogen infrastructure."
Through Project Driveway, a demonstration fleet of more than 100 hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric Chevrolet Equinox crossovers has amassed more than 1 million miles of every-day driving by ordinary citizens, celebrities and others since late 2007.
In recent weeks, a consortium of the German government and leading industrial companies has announced plans to build up to 1,000 hydrogen fueling stations by 2015, about the time several automakers expect to have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for sale. Earlier, a group of 13 oil and gas companies in Japan announced similar plans.
"Failure to act will insure the U.S. cannot meet its long-term fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction objectives," Freese said. "We know what needs to be done. Now is the time to get started."
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- Scott Doggett September 24, 2009, 4:38 PM
- Categories:
- Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hydrogen, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- Charles Freese
, Chevrolet Equinox, Fuel Cell Electric Cars, General Motors, Hydrogen Fuel Cells
California took the pulse of the zero-emissions vehicle industry this week and found plug-in electric vehicle manufacturers worried about charging infrastructure and public expectations.
The California Air Resources Board is hearing from fuel cell and EV manufacturers in preparation for releasing regulations for its Zero-Emissions Vehicle Program. Targets for 2015 and thereafter are due out by Nov. 10, with final targets due by early next year.
In its fifth major revision of the program since 1990, it voted last year to reduce the 2014 sales target from 25,000 to 7,500 vehicles.
A philosophical difference emerged between conventional car manufacturers and electric-only car companies.
Nissan, which is shooting for a 100-mile range for its Leaf EV, is playing down its perks. When asked to compare gasoline-powered and EV batteries, a company executive said not to expect comparable performance.
"Since the battery's not part of the emissions, it's not required to last 10 years and 150,000 miles," said Brian Verprauskus, senior manager of corporate planning for Nissan North America. "The issue's going to be the degradation. If the customer is OK with reduced range after 10 years, it'll definitely last that long, but after 10 years, we think there'll be more advanced batteries and the customer's going to want to swap it out with a next-generation battery."
Tesla Motors, on the other hand, is emphasizing the ways EVs differ from conventional cars. "We're trying to market cars based on the new attributes of EVs themselves," said J.B. Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer. "It's an offensive technology shift. We can offer some new competitive advantages to customers."
EV manufacturers said the installation of charging infrastructure remained the biggest bottleneck to widespread implementation. BMW, which ran into charging issues with its MINI E pilot program, said the industry needed to agree on a standard for in-home charging infrastructure.
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- Scott Doggett September 24, 2009, 10:39 AM
- Categories:
- BMW, Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, MINI, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
- Technorati Tags:
- BMW
, MINI E, Nissan LEAF EV, Plug-in EV, plug-in hybrid EV, Tesla Motors, Tesla Roadser
September 22, 2009
Automakers addressing California air-quality regulators in Sacramento this week said work on hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is progressing faster than most people predicted.
Craig Louie, of Canada's Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation Corp., said cost was still an issue but that vehicles should hit showrooms in "2015ish, not 2020," as a majority of people in the automotive industry have been predicting.
Performance benchmarks are hovering around U.S. Energy Department targets for most metrics, including energy efficiency, power density and start-up and shut-down energy, Louie said. High costs still persist, though.
"If the goal is $30 per kilowatt-hour and everyone's in the $70, $80, $90 range, the goal is really to get the cost down and become competitive with incumbent technologies like advanced diesel powertrain," he said.
Louie made the remarks before the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as it prepares to release proposed regulations for its zero-emissions vehicle program for 2015 and beyond, with final regulations due by early next year.
Hydrogen FCEVs use an on-board fuel cell stack to convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity that powers an electric drive system. The only emissions FCEVs give off is a small amount of water and heat.
In its fifth major revision of the program since 1990, CARB voted last year to reduce the 2014 sales target from 25,000 to 7,500 vehicles.
Monday in Sacramento, CARB officials heard from fuel cell manufacturers, trade groups and car companies on the state of technology and barriers to commercialization.
Several manufacturers cited the bipolar plates that conduct electricity away from the cells as a kink in the process. Another component ripe for improvement is the hydrogen storage tank, which is currently made of stainless steel and impregnated with fibers for durability, a time-consuming process.
But just because fuel-cell systems are still too expensive doesn't mean federal and private investors should pull the plug, said Jack Gatzuras, business development manager at UTC Power. Indeed, as a zero-emissions fuel source, it must be pursued, he said.
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- Scott Doggett September 22, 2009, 12:58 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- California Air Resources Board
, CARB, FCEV, Fuel Cell Electric Cars, Fuel Cell Vehicles, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Legislation, Zero Emissions, Zero-Emissions
The federal government has awarded $100 million in grants to 43 metropolitan transit agencies that had submitted plans to cut emissions and create so-called "green" jobs.
The grants mark the Obama Administration's continued investment in reducing the environmental impact of transportation vehicles by using technologies that boost fuel efficiency and cut pollution.
Many of the green grants are for agencies to replace diesel transit buses with diesel-electric hybrid and battery-electric buses, but a number also involve increased use of solar energy.
California-based transportation agencies such as the Bay Area's AC Transit and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be given more than $17 million for projects such as boosting solar energy capacity to make hydrogen with clean electricity, installing photovoltaic panels to offset electricity use at maintenance yards, and installing a flywheel energy storage system, the U.S. Transportation Department said in a statement announcing the grants.
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- John O'Dell September 22, 2009, 12:12 AM
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- Diesel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mass Transit, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
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- Federal Transit Authority
, Green Mass Transit Grants, Hybrid Buses, Mass Transit
September 21, 2009
Silicon Valley's venture capitalists believe the Detroit 3 automakers cannot become competitive again unless they scrap their traditional business model and embrace new, innovative ways of doing business.
That's the theme of a feature article Reuters distributed today, a copy of which can be read free of charge and registration at the new service's Website.
Speaking of the Detroit 3, Ray Lane, a managing partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Buyers, said that "for years they have been led by accountants and lawyers, not engineers and entrepreneurs. That's OK if the industry isn't changing."
So what do Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group need to do to regain marketplace dominance?
"Start over," said Marc van den Berg, managing director of VantagePoint Venture Partners, which backs upstart electric carmaker Tesla Motors and electric-vehicle infrastructure firm Better Place.
The only way the Detroit 3 can succeed is by completely overhauling the business model, moving beyond just designing attractive cars, Silicon Valley venture capitalists say.
"There is room for business model innovation and technology innovation," said Vinod Khosla, managing general partner of Khosla Ventures.
Khosla said U.S. automakers need to embrace innovation at all levels. He pointed to Better Place, which is building charging infrastructure and battery-swapping stations for electric vehicles.
"Better Place is saying,'Don't let the consumer buy the batteries,' " Khosla said. "That's a business model innovation."
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- Scott Doggett September 21, 2009, 4:32 PM
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- Batteries, Chrysler, Emissions, Fisker, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hydrogen, India, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
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, Fisker Automotive, Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Green Car, Kleiner Perkins, Tesla Motors
September 17, 2009
Targeting more federal money to support the auto industry, the House on Wednesday approved an expansion of government-led research into making cars and trucks more fuel-efficient.
The House plan would allow the Energy Department to spend up to $200 million more each year on research and development for advanced-technology vehicles and auto parts.
Lawmakers' aides said the additional $200 million would boost government-supported research in this area to around $550 million if Congress, as expected, funds the request later this year.
The measure passed on a 312-114 vote, attracting dozens of Republican votes, even though some GOP lawmakers questioned its cost.
Wednesday's House action represented the latest move by Congress and the Obama administration to aid the auto industry. The White House stepped in with billions of dollars to rescue General Motors and Chrysler and led the companies through bankruptcy, and Congress approved $25 billion last year to help the industry retool assembly plants to meet tougher fuel economy standards.
Congress also created a $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program of incentives that successfully spurred new car sales over the summer.
Fuel-efficient technology is in great demand because of higher gasoline prices and the expectation of tightening auto regulations. Administration officials on Tuesday released plans to raise the gas mileage standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 and link greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel-economy requirements.
Democratic Representative Gary Peters of Michigan, who sponsored the green vehicle technology bill, said "there is no doubt that in the years ahead more Americans will be driving hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, and cars and trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells."
"The only question is whether these new technologies will be researched, developed and manufactured here in the United States, creating American jobs, or whether this technology will be built overseas," Peters said.
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- Scott Doggett September 17, 2009, 1:37 PM
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, Chrysler, General Motors, Greenhouse Gases, Legislation, Tesla Motors
Mercedes-Benz officially unveiled a new B-class hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle at the Frankfurt Motor Show this week, but it is by no means the German automaker's first.
More than 4 years ago, at the March 2005 Geneva Motor Show, DaimlerChrysler debuted a B-Class F-Cell that looks almost identical to the one pictured here.
Back then, the zero-emissions model featured an electric motor powered by a fuel cell that put out more than 100 kilowatts -- or 35 kilowatts more than its predecessor.
The last-generation B-Class F-Cell had a range of nearly 250 miles, due to reduced fuel consumption and greater hydrogen storage capacity. Earlier versions had a range of around 150 miles.
If you're thinking Mercedes is spending years improving this technology, you'd be right.
As we reported last month, Mercedes is now sufficiently satisfied with the current version that the automaker will be launching a small fleet of them for real-world testing in the U.S. and Europe.
The cars use an on-board fuel cell stack to convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity that powers an electric drive system. The cars in the small fleet will deliver a range of up to 250 miles with a top speed of 105 mph.
Fuel consumption is the equivalent of 3.3 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers on the European drive cycle.
In U.S. terms, that would be around 71 miles per gallon of diesel or about 64 miles per kilogram of hydrogen.
As we previously reported, the F-Cell's electric system delivers the equivalent of 136 horsepower and 214 pound-feet of torque. Mercedes says it has performance characteristics equal to and "in some cases far better than" those of a B-Class with a 2.0-liter gas engine.
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- Scott Doggett September 17, 2009, 12:58 PM
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September 14, 2009
Hyundai Motors' ix-Metro Hybrid city car is one of several dozen 'green' cars and concepts debuting at Frankfurt show.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
This week's Frankfurt Auto Show promises to be the greenest major auto show to date - a showcase for fuel efficiency improvements and alternative powertrains that are coming to the forefront as the mainstream auto industry finally begins coming to grips with the need to begin weaning itself - and us - from petroleum.
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- John O'Dell September 14, 2009, 1:49 AM
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September 11, 2009
We strongly suspect the mark had already been passed when GM first started talking about its fuel-cell electric Chevrolet Equinox fleet 'approaching' the cumulative million-mile mark.
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Jeanine Behr-Getz, holding daughter Millicent, logged the millionth mile.
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But we think fuel cell vehicles are important,so we gave 'em some ink earlier in the week, an now we'll do it again as the automaker says it is now official: the Equinox FCEVs have tallied more than one million collective miles since GM's Project Driveway began at the beginning of last year.
GM says more than 5,000 people have been given short-term loans of the crossover SUVs that are powered by electricity generated on board in a fuel cell that converts hydrogen and oxygen to electrons.
The officially recognized millionth mile was driven by Jeanine Behr-Getz, a Greenwich, Conn. children's books author who told General Motors screeners that the hydrogen vehicle "fit my family, groceries, golf clubs and work supplies with no problem and it drove the same as my fossil fuel crossover vehicle."
As a bonus, she said, the Equinox fuel-cell vehicle's zero emissions status meant she was the only parent "allowed to idle my car in the [student] pickup line at school.
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- John O'Dell September 11, 2009, 10:30 AM
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, Fuel Cell Vehicles, GM, Hydrogen FuelCells
September 9, 2009
General Motors began deploying Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell electric vehicles two years ago as part of its Project Driveway program to test FCEVs in everyday driving conditions, and yesterday the General reported that the vehicles have passed the million-mile mark.
As Mark Vann, Chevy's FCEV deployment manager noted in GM's Fastlane blog, no other automaker comes close to the number of miles they've logged using hydrogen in real-world conditions "with real people driving these Equinox fuel cell EVs."
In case we didn't know what real people were, he goes on to describe them: "These people are teachers, homemakers, accountants, video game designers and people from many other walks of life just like you, and they were selected based on their passion for the environment and new media prowess."
All good. But it's the lessons he and others associated with the project have learned from all those real people that we wanted to know about, and Vann didn't disappoint:
"We've used these experiences to extend fuel cell stack life and improve the regenerative braking system, which benefited our 2-mode hybrid vehicles since it's the same brake system used on the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon 2-mode hybrids. Plus, we've applied what we've learned about fuel cell thermal design to the Volt battery design.
He went on to say that he and his team could have tested the vehicles at GM's proving grounds, but the opportunity to have real people drive these vehicles "gave us a much higher degree of relevant feedback on the vehicle's performance -- and even more important, it gave us a great opportunity to listen to our customers."
Then today, during a Web chat with the public, Vann provided additional information we believe may be of interest to you.
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- Scott Doggett September 9, 2009, 3:41 PM
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, FCEV, Fuel Cell, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, General Motors, GM Fastlane, Hydrogen, Project Driveway
Perhaps motivated by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu's proposal last May to slash more than $100 million in federal funding for hydrogen-vehicle research, nine major automakers today issued a joint statement announcing that they had signed a letter of understanding to develop and launch fuel-cell electric vehicles.
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A trio of Ford FCEVs get pumped up.
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FCEVs use an on-board fuel cell stack to convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity that powers an electric drive system.
Today's announcement came one day after Chu said in an interview that he will no longer seek to eliminate federal funding for the R&D of hydrogen cars, but instead will work with lawmakers to ensure the money is "invested wisely."
The automakers' announcement states that they "strongly anticipate that from 2015 onwards a quite significant number of electric vehicles with fuel cell could be commercialized. This number is aimed at a few hundred thousand units over life cycle on a worldwide basis."
It continued: "As every vehicle manufacturer will implement its own specific production and commercial strategies as well as timelines, commercialization of electric vehicles with fuel cells may occur earlier than in the above-mentioned expected year."
Beyond those statements, the announcement -- signed by Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Nissan and Toyota -- offered little more information regarding the automakers' plans.
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- Scott Doggett September 9, 2009, 12:04 PM
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, California Fuel Cell Partnership, California's Zero Emissions Vehicle Program, Daimler, Ford, Fuel Cell Electric Cars, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Zero Emissions
September 8, 2009
Energy Secretary Steven Chu will no longer seek to kill Energy Department research and development of hydrogen-powered cars, a bid Congress has rebuffed, and instead will work with lawmakers to ensure the money is "invested wisely," he said today.
The fiscal 2010 spending bills approved in the House and Senate would continue funding for the programs. "Given the reality of that, I think it would be foolish if I next year said, 'No, I'm still going to insist.' They are going to stick it back again," Chu told the subscription service E&E News.
He spoke after addressing students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. "We will do the best we can to make sure the funds are invested wisely," Chu said.
DOE's fiscal 2010 budget request chopped $100 million of funding from hydrogen research and steered it away from vehicles. Chu, in rolling out the proposal, said vehicles face a number of barriers around storage, infrastructure and other issues. The plan would continue support for stationary fuel-cell applications.
"We asked ourselves, 'Is it likely in the next 10 or 15, 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen car economy?' The answer, we felt, was 'no,'" Chu said in May, and instead emphasized other technologies to curb oil use like biofuels and electric vehicles.
But Chu today said there is also common ground with the lawmakers. "I still think -- in fact, many of the people who restored the funding agree with me -- that the first applications will be in stationary fuel cells," he said, according to E&E News.
"So we will do that, but then, if you want to have it [hydrogen] in automobiles, there is a hydrogen storage problem, there is a hydrogen production problem, as well as a fuel cell problem," he added.
"Fuel cells is actually the more mature, and so we will try to do our best to say, 'OK, if the goal is to try and get them into vehicles, let's design a program to actually try and do that as best we can,' rather than saying, 'I disagree with them.'"
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- Scott Doggett September 8, 2009, 3:28 PM
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, Electic Cars, Electric Vehicles, Energy Department, EV, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Fuel, Legislation
September 5, 2009
Extreme cab-forward design of Honda FXC Clarity is possible because there's no engine to stuff under the hood.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
It felt like I was driving the future, but it seems that I was only driving toward it.
That elusive future was wrapped in a deep burgundy paint job and hummed along on electric power supplied by a suitcase-sized hydrogen fuel cell mounted in what would have been the transmission hump on a standard gasoline or diesel car.
Honda Motor Co. calls the color "star garnet metallic" and the car the FCX Clarity.
The Secretary of Energy, a Nobel laureate with a background in alternative fuels, calls it too much, too soon.
Foes and Pros
Some of the most vociferous proponents of battery-electric cars call fuel cell vehicles like the Clarity a pipe-dream, less efficient and more costly than "pure" electric vehicles and a technology that is simply not worth pursuing when all that research money could be going to perfecting plug-in hybrids and the electric vehicle battery.
Hydrogen proponents say the battery folks forget that you've got to measure energy efficiency over its entire life cycle - from well to the wheels - and not just compare snapshots of how efficiently it is transformed into motive power in the vehicle.
From their perspective, hydrogen is a more efficient fuel than electricity from the grid because the process of turning natural gas (the basic feedstock for hydrogen as well as for nearly a quarter of the electricity generated in the U.S.) to hydrogen is far more efficient than using it to generate electricity; an efficiency that more than makes up, they say, for battery-electric cars' more-efficient use of energy from battery to wheels.
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- John O'Dell September 5, 2009, 9:53 AM
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September 1, 2009
The federal-private Clean Cities progam is responsible for promoting a lot of alternatively fueled vehicles over the years and this month added to the tally by handing out $300 million in federal grants that will help various government agencies and commercial fleet operators deploy and fuel 9,000 more - mainly commercial trucks and taxis using compressed andliquid natural gas, propane and E85.
The list is long -agencies in 22 states and muillti-state regions received funding, and a little disheartening - it provides for 542 new alt-fuel stations, but that includes only 1 hydrogen fueling station and 210 electric vehicle chargers -most of them in three locales, Chicago and North and South Carolina.
Only about100 of the 9,000-plus alt-fuel vehicles to be subsidized with the grants will be all-elelctric, including at east 56 neighborhood electrics, or NEVs. But more than 1,000 will be trucks and buses (and a few cars) using propane.
Gas-electric hybrids will account for at leat 738 of the vehicles (the totals aren't exact because the grant descriptions don't always specify how many of which type of vehicle will be purchased with the funds.
Still, the main purpose of the program is to clear up the diesel emissions and other exhaust fumes choking many cities, and that's a goal we applaud, long and loudly.
A rundown of grants, provided by the federal Energy Department, shows that more than 1,400 diesel trucks and buses and several hundred gasoline-burning taxis will be replaced by alt-fuel vehicles. Almost half - 651 - will be LNG trucks replacing diesel trucks in several Southern California locations.
Most will use natural gas, but150 gas and diesel trucks in Maryland and 190 diesel school buses in Kentucky will be replaced with hybrid-electric models.
Teh feds say the programs will help displace 38 million gallons of petrolleum annually.
The entire list of grants, and their descriptions,is available here.
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- John O'Dell September 1, 2009, 5:25 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Hybrid, Hydrogen, LPG, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Clean CIties Initiative
, CNG, E85, Electric Vehicles, Hybrids, LNG, Propane
August 28, 2009
Mercedes' new B-Class fuel cell car at Stuttgart airport hydrogen filling station.
Mercedes-Benz, as promised earlier this year, is launching a small fleet of its new B-Class F-Cell, or fuel cell, cars for real-world testing in the U.S. and Europe.
The cars use an on-board fuel cell stack to convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity that powers an electric drive system.
Mercedes didn't say how much hydrogen is stored in the cars' 10,000 psi (70 bar) tanks, but did say the new F-Cell will deliver a range of up to 250 miles with a top speed of 105 mph and the fuel consumption equivalent of 3.3 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers on the European drive cycle.
In U.S. terms, that would be around 71 miles per gallon of diesel or about 64 miles per kilogram of hydrogen.
The company said that the first of 200 B-Class F-Cell cars would be shipped to customers early in 2010.
The fuel-cell electric system delivers the equivalent of 136 horsepower and 214 lb-ft of torque and Mercedes says it has performance characteristics equal to and "in some cases far better than" those of a B-Class with a 2.0-liter gas engine.
The car uses a 35 kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack to store and deliver electricity from the fuel cell and from the regenerative braking system.
With a commercial hydrogen dispensing pump, the F-Cell car takes about three minutes to refuel, the company said, adding that "a comprehensive network of hydrogen filling stations still has to be set up before locally zero-emission driving can become a widespread reality."
To which we say, amen.
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- John O'Dell August 28, 2009, 10:02 AM
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August 25, 2009
(Article updated 8/28 to report H-Prize site has gone live; 8/26/09 to include Federal Register link and change future tenses to present)
DOE chief Stephen Chu might not think there's an immediate payback in providing $50 million or so in federal funding of hydrogen research for personal transportation, but someone in his agency has come up with a relatively cheap alternative that might continue pushing entrepreneurial R&D into fuel cells.
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Present hydrogen storage on vehicles relies on bulky pressurized tanks.
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The Department of Energy is launching a $1 million cash award program aimed at fostering development of breakthrough hydrogen storage materials that will enable fuel cell vehicles to operate more efficiently.
The so-called "H-Prize" borrows from the private "X-Prize" program that has fostered new developments in space flight and genetics research and is presently promoting development of a production-ready passenger vehicle capable of attaining a fuel economy average of at least 100 miles per gasoline-gallon, or the equivalent.
In a notice scheduled to be published Wedesday in the Federal Register, the Energy Department will outlines requirements for the prize, to be awarded in 2011 if anyone can come up with an improved hydrogen storage material that satisfies the department.
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- John O'Dell August 25, 2009, 3:02 PM
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August 6, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Let the rest of the world talk about batteries, Toyota Motor Co. wants us to know its got fuel-cell electric vehicles and that it believes they're a viable technology.
The automaker said this morning that in a real-world driving test of a pair of its second-generation Toyota Highlander fuel cell vehicles, they averaged 431 miles on Southern California roads on their approximately 6-kilogram tanks of compressed hydrogen gas .
Average fuel economy was 68.3 miles per kilogram - the hydrogen equivalent of a gallon of gasoline. That's more than 2.5 times the fuel economy of the 2010 Toyota Highlander gas-electric hybrid.
Toyota previously had estimated the second-generation Highlander fuel cell SUV's range at 516 miles. But that was based on an estimate derived from a Japanese fuel economy test cycle that has much lower top speeds and acceleration rates than used in the U.S. test, said Toyota spokeswoman Jana Hartline.
The automaker didn't comment on the timing of the annoiuncemen but the numbers apparently have been released to respond to Energy Secretary Stephen Chu's recent comment that hydrogen fuel cell cars won't be a viable transportation alternative in the next 20 years - and to help keep us thinking about Toyota's previously announced intent to launch a retail fuel cell vehicle in the U.S. by 2015.
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- John O'Dell August 6, 2009, 8:00 AM
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, Fuel Economy, Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle, Toyota Highlander FCHEV
July 29, 2009
General Motors, a leader in development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, may have to curtail its cutting-edge work unless it gets another $50 million to $70 million from the government, GM's outgoing research chief warns.
GM just emerged from a painful bankruptcy restructuring in which it cut 1,100 dealers; shed Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn; and lost thousands more jobs. Yet, through it all, GM maintained its hydrogen research program pretty much intact, even though fuel-cell vehicles are still years away from going on sale.
"The program has not slowed down at all," Larry Burns (pictured), GM's retiring vice president of research, said in an interview with USA Today. "The issue is, going forward, do we have sufficient money to operate at that rate?"
You may recall that Burns is one of the auto industry's most outspoken backers of hydrogen technology. He shepherded the Chevrolet Equinox fuel-cell electric vehicle into existence and has helped lead the charge for development of a national hydrogen fueling system to support widespread use of the zero-emissions vehicles.
Trying to seek federal research dollars, directly or indirectly, comes at a sensitive time for GM. As of last month, the automaker had either accepted or been approved for $49.4 billion in government bailout funds. It has not had direct grants from the government for its hydrogen program.
Now, General Motors is in talks with "government and private entities" about grants or partnerships in hydrogen vehicle research, confirms GM spokesman Alan Adler.
Under Burns, GM has become known for its fuel-cell work. "They have done so much original, groundbreaking work in this area," Catherine Dunwoody, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, told USA Today.
Burns, 58, says he decided to retire to give the new GM fresh research leadership under Alan Taub, 54, who, he says, will continue with the same direction.
Hydrogen is a zero-emission fuel that emits only water vapor through the tailpipe. But fuel cells are costly, few fueling stations exist, and mass acceptance is considered years away.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu cut $100 million from the $168 million hydrogen research budget to focus instead on battery electric cars, which show more short-term promise. There are moves in Congress to restore hydrogen funding.
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- Scott Doggett July 29, 2009, 6:00 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hydrogen
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- Chevrolet Equniox
, General Motors, GM, HFEV, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Larry Burns
July 14, 2009
Larry Burns, one of the auto industry's most outspoken backers of hydrogen technology, is retiring in the wake of the company's bankruptcy and announced intent to thin top executive ranks.
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Larry Burns introduces the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle.
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Burns, who joined GM in 1969, said in a brief statement that he believes much of the technology he's worked on as head of R&D "is ready for commercialization."This is a good time for me to pass the baton to others who are very qualified to drive technology leadership."
No word yet on his plans for life after GM, but with his credentials, Burns ought to be able to write his own ticket in a number of arenas.
We here at Green Car Advisor hope that he'll wind up in the hydrogen fuel -cell industry, where he could serve as a most eloquent advocate for a technology that ought to be getting as much support from the government as battery-electric, or plug-in, transportation.
Burns (right)
shepherded the Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell electric vehicle into existence - that's the FCEV that GM has been leasing to hundreds of people around the country in a 30-month program slated to end in mid-2010 - and has helped lead the charge for development of a national hydrogen fueling system to support widespread use of zero-emissions vehicles .
Although a proponent of hydrogen, Burns was not a foe of batter-electric technology, and often said -in public and in private -that the two should exist side-by-side as part of the effort to free the country of its dependence on oil.
His department was heavily involved in development of the Chevrolet Volt, GM's plug-in, extended-range electric hybrid.
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- John O'Dell July 14, 2009, 1:33 PM
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July 13, 2009
The North American arm of one of the world's largest producers of hydrogen and developers of hydrogen fueling stations has joined the California Fuel Cell Partnership
, a private-public consortium dedicated to the development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
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A Linde tank truck delivers hydrogen to a station in Berlin, where it is stored as a liquid. It can then, on demand, be compressed and turned into a gaseous fuel or left alone for hydrogen vehicles that use it as a liquid.
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Linde North American
brings to the fuel cell partnership what the company calls a "ground-breaking technology" for fast, efficient and safe ways to fuel hydrogen vehicles.
While not the Holy Grail of the hydrogen set - that would be a cheap and energy-free way to make hydrogen gas - Linde N.A.'s technology still could help solve another of the fuel's biggest problems.
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- John O'Dell July 13, 2009, 3:01 AM
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, Hydrogen Fuel Pump, Linde
July 10, 2009
There wasn't a lot of detail in General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson's press conference this morning, but he did vow that fuel economy and energy independence will be among the automaker's prime goals as it emerges from bankruptcy.
The company will make advanced battery technology - for hybrids and all-electric vehicles - a core competency, with several announcements about its battery work expected for later this summer, GM said in a statement issued after the press conference.
In his opening remarks in a conference devoted largely to structural changes, Henderson (right) reiterated the the Chevrolet Volt is still on schedule to launch late next year - it will be the first mass-produced "extended range electric vehicle," capable of up to 40 miles of all electric travel. A small gas engine will generate power for the electric drive system once the batteries, charged from the commercial power grid, are depleted.
GM also has promised to build a new small car in the U.S. - we're still speculating in the absence of an announcement by the company - that it will be based on the Spark subcompact initially designed for Latin America and Europe.
Henderson said green initiatives already underway, including the company's work on hydrogen fuel cells, hybrids, biofuels and cleaner and more effcient internal combustion engines, will continue.
And he put to rest,fr now a least, speculation tat the General, hankering for a new image, was planning to change the background color of ts corporate logo from blue to green.
The logo he said, "is not on my desk to change, and I don't have any plans to change it."
We hope though that the company, with the same old logo and much of the same management (although many managemet change annnouncemenmnts are exected in coming week), still will be a "new" GM with a new emphasis on greening its cars and trucks.
For more news and opinion about GM's management and product outlook, check the continuing coverage at our sister blogs, Auto Observer, Inslde Line news and Straightline.
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- John O'Dell July 10, 2009, 8:14 AM
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July 8, 2009
In an unusual turn of events, Congress (or at least congressional appropriations committees) is showing more common sense than the White House.
In reviewing the administration's funding requests for the Department of Energy's budget, the House Appropriations Committee has restored $40 million in R&D funding for automotive hydrogen fuel cell technology that Energy Secretary Steven Chu's budget proposal had eliminated.
And the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee has said it wants to see the hydrogen and fuel cell research portion of the DOE's budget increased to $190 billion from the $68 million in Chu's budget proposal.
The Senate subcommittee hasn't provided a breakdown of what it wants the additional funding used for, but it is likely that much of it would go for automotive programs.
Chu, you'll recall, eliminated $100 million in funding for automotive-related hydrogen and fuel cell research from his 2010 budget request, remarking that he and his advisors didn't see fuel cell vehicles as a viable transportation alternative in the next decade or so.
By so doing, he essentially picked battery-electric transportation as the "winner" in the effort to find replacements for petroleum-burning engines for the cars and trucks of the future.
But Chu, who said that the lack of a hydrogen fueling infrastructure was a big stumbling block for electrics, forgot (or ignored) battery-electric vehicles' need for a national network of fast-charging stations if they are ever to become more than commuter and city cars relegated to the second slot in the garage.
His recommendation that the budget eliminate automotive-related fuel cell and hydrogen research funding would have left the U.S. trailing well behind the Japanese (and doesn't that sound like a familiar tune) a decade down the road when their ongoing fuel cell R&D -- firmly supported by the government -- results in a generation of Japanese cars that can travel great distances with no emissions and no need to stop and plug in.
We're not anti-battery, mind you.
We think both technologies, when coupled with a plentiful supply of clean energy to fuel generating plants and hydrogen refineries, will be necessary parts of a transportation future that is no longer dependant on oil.
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- John O'Dell July 8, 2009, 12:26 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Energy Department Budget
, Federal Fuel Cell Funding, Federal Hydrogen Funding, Hydrogen Fuel Cells
July 7, 2009
Continuing its drive to make fuel cells, not batteries, the heart of an electric propulsion system for the world's cars and trucks, Volvo Group says it is leading a public-private partnership that will invest 200 million Swedish Krona ($25.7 million) in the development of hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
Volvo Group
, the world's second-largest truck manufacturer (it sold its automobile unit to Ford Motor Co. in 1999), said the investment in Powercell Sweden AB
will help the company continue development of its unique on-board hydrogen reformer that produces hydrogen for the fuel cell directly from diesel, gasoline or a variety of biofuels including ethanol and biodiesel.
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Volvo Group already has a handful of diesel-electric hybrid trucks on the road and wants fuel-cell electric trucks to be next.
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By using the ubiquitous petroleum fuels as feedstocks for producing hydrogen, Powercell says it has effectively eliminated the need to wait for development of a hydrogen infrastructure to make fuel cell vehicles viable.
The global network of conventional gas and diesel stations would become the infrastructure until a system for the sustainable making and delivering of hydrogen is developed.
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- John O'Dell July 7, 2009, 5:00 PM
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- Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Fuel Cell
, Hydogen
June 26, 2009
Effort Comes as U.S. Plans to Drop Federal Funding For Fuel Cell Car Research
Japan's Internal Affairs Ministry, dismayed that its goal of having 50,000 hydrogen fuel cell cars on the roads by the spring of 2011 isn't going to be achieved, has called for new measures to promote use of the vehicles.
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A Toyota Highlander fuel-cell vehicle.
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The government, which set the present goal back in 2001, also is expected to release a new target, given that here were only 42 fuel-cell electric vehicles in operation in Japan at the end of the 2008 fiscal year last March.
Already in place, as of April, is an exemption for fuel cell vehicles and other "new-generation" cars and trucks, from Japan's expensive vehicle weight and new-vehicle purchase taxes.
The Japanese government has invested the equivalent of $205 million in fuel cell development in the past five years, and Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda are among the industry leaders in the technology.
Honda's FCX Clarity (left)
is the world's only purpose-built hydrogen fuel cell car.
It is a terribly expensive vehicle now (estimates of Honda's investment to build 200 of the cars range from $500,000 to $2 million per vehicle) because its body panels are all unique, requiring costly new tooling, and its power system is pretty much hand-built.
But Honda insiders say the car could be made affordable if there were sufficient demand to foster growth of a supplier industry to make fuel cells, batteries and other specialized components in volume.
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- John O'Dell June 26, 2009, 12:27 PM
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- Fuel Cell, Honda, Hydrogen, Japan, Toyota
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- Fuel Cell Vehicles
, Hydrgen Fuel Cells
June 25, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
It's pretty clear by now that one of the main obstacles to commercializing fuel-cell electric vehicles is the lack of a hydrogen fueling infrastructure.
A little more range from a tank of the hydrogen gas that fuel cells require to produce electricity also would be nice.
How to store the gas, which has an extremely low density, is one of the stumbling blocks, but researchers at the University of Delaware think they're on the way to developing a solution.
The secret is chicken feathers. Carbonized chicken feathers to be exact.
Seems the fluffy stuff is made of keratin, a protein that forms microscopic tubes riddled with pores when heated just right - tubes that are the optimum size for storing hydrogen gas.
A 20 gallon tank filled with hydrogen gas pumped in at the ambient temperature and pressure would hold enough of the stuff to propel a car about one mile, said Richard Wool, a chemical engineering professor at the university.
It's that low-density problem: at room temperature the volume of hydrogen containing the same amount of energy as a gallon of gasoline is 40 times that of the gas.
Most fuel-cell electric cars being tested today are getting the equivalent of 50 to 80 miles a gallon (a kilogram of hydrogen gas has the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline) but carry their fuel in pressured tanks to avoid having to tow around box-car sized external tanks of unpressurized fuel.
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- John O'Dell June 25, 2009, 1:45 AM
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- Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Fuel Cell Electric Cars
, Hydrogen Fuel, Hydrogen Storage
June 23, 2009
We expect a lot of blogger activity today on this morning's "announcement" from Toyota that it hopes to roll out an updated fuel cell car by 2015, even though it isn't news.
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Toyota has several Highlander SUVs outfitted with fuel-cell electric drivetrains in testing now.
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Toyota first made that promise five months ago at the Detroit auto show.
The real import of today's announcement at the company's annual shareholder meeting is that it comes just two days before Congress begins considering an Energy Department budget that would eliminate federal funding for automotive fuel cell research and development in the U.S.
So while Toyota - and Honda and South Korea's Hyundai and Germany's Daimler and Volkswagen - all continue pursing development of their fuel cell vehicles, doubtlessly with support from their governments, the Obama Administration wants to give up on the technology. That would leave Ford, GM and Chrysler to go it alone or drop their hydrogen fuel cell development programs after sending billions on them over the past decade.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says he eliminated $100 million in previous budgets' funding for automotive-related hydrogen research because he and his advisers don't see an immediate return - that it will be a decade or more before there's sufficient hydrogen fueling infrastructure to make the vehicles viable.
The DOE instead will pursue funding development of plug-in electric cars.
We're all for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars and trucks, but we think the decision this early in the game to bet the farm on them while ruling out hydrogen fuel cells is short-sighted.
Toyota's reiteration of its commitment to the technology, and Honda's repeated comments that the future will be one in which a number of alternative fuels and powertrains are in play, ought to be seen as a warning sign.
It will be interesting, if Congress acquiesces now and allows the tap for hydrogen fuel cell research funding to be shut off, to listen to the criticism that will be heaped on U.S. automakers a decade or so from now when it becomes apparent that Japan has corned the market on the technology and we're once again left to play catch-up.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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- John O'Dell June 23, 2009, 10:25 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
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- Fuel Cell Cars
, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Toyota
June 17, 2009
In what seems like a continuing shift of automotive investment away from Michigan and into California, Austrian powertrain engineering firm AVL has opened an alternative-fuels powertrain engineering center in the Orange County city of Lake Forest.
The center will be used for prototype and proof-of-concept work, said Bruce Falls, the center's director of engineering. Anything closer to production will be sent to AVL's larger engineering centers in Plymouth, Michigan or Graz, Austria.
Falls said AVL is looking at bridging the systems-engineering gap between automakers and suppliers, both sides of an equation chasing next-generation propulsion systems.
"We're technology neutral. We're a facilitator. Systems engineering has always been the bottleneck," he said. "We're seeing how refined a concept car can go with mechanical integration, so that it's more than just a show car."
Among the center's features is an all-in-one test bed (pictured) that integrates a chassis tester and wheels-off dynamometer with drive-by-wire wheelslip simulators. The rig can handle any vehicle from a small car to a bus to a Class 8 tractor trailer, Falls said.
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- Scott Doggett June 17, 2009, 11:51 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Chrysler, Diesel, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Alternative Fuel
, AVL, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Powertrain
June 12, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Like every other alternative fuel, hydrogen has its fans and foes, its pluses and minuses, its ups and, recently, its downs.
After being the favored ground transportation fuel of the future for most of the last eight years as the Bush administration pushed development of hydrogen fuel cells for automotive use, nature's most abundant - albeit hard to isolate - element has been cast aside by the Obama administration.
The new president's Nobel-winning energy secretary, Steven Chu, has proposed in his 2010 departmental budget to eliminate funding for automotive hydrogen programs - that's $100 million - and instead to focus hydrogen research on fuel cells to generate power for homes, businesses and other stationary power users.
For transportation, his choice of fuel research programs to back is no surprise, he's long been a supporter of biofuels and electric cars.
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Honda says its FCX Clarity (below, right) is production-ready, lacking only a fueling infrastructure and lower-priced components that can only come with increased production of such cars.
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That's got the hydrogen car crowd - and we confess to a great fondness for fuel cell vehicles ourselves - up in arms and questioning the validity of Chu's apparent decision to "pick winners" by concentrating DOE research finding on biofuels and battery-electric, or plug-in, cars while announcing that his team doesn't see any short-term chance for hydrogen to emerge as a widely available and used fuel.
But Chu, powerful as he is sitting atop the nation's official energy policy agency and operating with the endorsement and backing of the president, isn't all-powerful. He has to answer to Congress, and Congress is subject to lobbying.
So the pressure politics have begun.
Short-Sighted?
With DOE budget hearings about to start, the chairman of the Senate's energy and Water Appropriations Committee - the committee that sits in judgment over the energy Department budget - has come out swinging.
A fan of hydrogen, Sen. Byron Dorgan recently called the DOE's budget recommendation to eliminate automotive hydrogen research funding "a very short-sighted recommendation." Hydrogen and fuel cells "are part of this country's future," said the North Dakota Democrat.
Backing Dorgan in support of restoring at lest some hydrogen programs funding for automotive research are automakers with huge investments in the technology.
They include Toyota and Honda, no slouches when it comes to making informed choices about technologies, as well as Daimler and our own General Motors Corp.
(We say "our own" because as part of the taxpaying public, we now share ownership of the faltering car company with the rest of America.)
Unlikely Allies
GM, in case you've been living in a cave or up in space for the past few weeks, is in bankruptcy now and the government, as its majority owner, has a rather big stake in the company's survival and future success.
Granted, GM hasn't been all that great at picking the proper trends and technologies as it looked to the future.
But this time the General is on the same team as Toyota and Honda rather than turning up its nose and sniffing that the Japanese car companies don't know what they are talking about.
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- John O'Dell June 12, 2009, 5:15 AM
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- Biofuels, Daimler, Ford, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Opinion, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
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- DOE Budget
, Fuel Cells, Hyrdogen Research Cuts
June 11, 2009
Mazda Motor Corp., already in a partnership with part-owner Ford Motor Co. to develop a hybrid vehicle, says it is looking at more alliances, with Ford and others, to develop electric cars and other "electric devices" that will help boost fuel economy.
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Mazda, seeking to boost its overall fuel efficiency, recently began commercial leases of this hydrogen-powered Premacy vant in Japan.
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Those devices could run the gamut from electric power steering, brake and climate systems to hybrid, hydrogen and fully battery-electric drive systems for cars and SUVs.
Ford, which once controlled Mazda, now holds a 13.8 percent stake in the company. The two already share some vehicle platforms (such as the Mazda 3 and Ford's European Focus) and Mazda's president said Wednesday that they intend to continue to develop shared vehicle platforms.
The company announced in April that it would develop a new Mazda hybrid as it seeks to increase its overall fleet fuel economy by 30 percent in the next six years.
To accelerate development of fuel efficiency technologies, the company now is considering multiple alliances, Mazda Senior Managing Director Seita Kanai said at a Wednesday press conference in Japan.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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- John O'Dell June 11, 2009, 11:57 AM
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- Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mazda, Plug-ins and Electric
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June 4, 2009
Work on Hydrogen Fuel Cells Also Will Continue Despite Company's Bankruptcy
They've said that they don't expect their financial woes to adversely impact their company's various fuel efficiency and clean emissions initiatives, and now that General Motors Corp. is officially bankrupt they're saying it again.
Specifically, in an interview on National Public Radio (which we missed but was picked up by AutoblogGreen) GM's chief financial officer, Ray Young, said that the automaker believes gas prices will rise, that consumers will "demand" more fuel efficient and greener vehicles and that GM is "going to make that commitment [and] make that investment..."
But wait! That's not all!
GM's chief executive, Fritz Henderson, told NPR that the company will continue its research and development work on hydrogen fuel cells, even though it now believes that commercialization of fuel-cell electric cars is "far away."
Having driven GM's fuel cell Equinox (above) and Honda's FCX Clarity, we don't doubt Henderson's contention that hydrogen fuel cells can work in the family auto.
We just hope he's wrong about commercialization being a thing of the distant future (although we must admit that it is a dimming hope as the federal government seems to have turned away from hydrogen to concentrate its R&D funds on plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars).
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- John O'Dell June 4, 2009, 5:47 PM
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June 1, 2009
Downsizing Won't Kill Automaker's Initiatives, but Demand for Quick Profits Could
As General Motors Corp. begins reshaping itself in a complex, government-assisted bankruptcy process that leaves taxpayers as its major investor, one thing remains clear -- the automaker's future depends on its ability to develop cars that are both fuel-efficient and desirable.
To do so in an era of economic uncertainty marked by sluggish car sales, wildly fluctuating fuel prices and consumer confusion about the best car-buying strategies as we wait for the new generation of advanced technology vehicles to appear is going to require a degree of discipline that so far has been woefully lacking at GM and other domestic auto companies.
So it was heartening to see this morning that GM accompanied its filing for a pre-planned Chapter 11 reorganization
with the promise that even as it pares expenses to the bone it would "continue and increase its investment and leadership in fuel economy and advanced propulsion technologies."
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Chevy Volt "extended range EV' is one of the cars on which GM is betting its future.
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The "leadership" claim is a bit much -- marketing never stops.
But the rest of that vow, contained as it was in a statement undoubtedly edited and approved by the Obama administration, shows that GM so far is on the right path, and is pursuing it with government backing.
The Chevrolet Volt, GM's gamble on a potentially game-changing fuel-efficiency technology, will continue on schedule for launch in late 2010, according to this morning's statement.
Additionally, GM said it will continue development of conventional gas-electric hybrid technology, with 14 models due in the market by 2012, and will continue outfitting cars and trucks with flex-fuel systems so that by 2014 a full 65 percent of its vehicles will be capable of using ethanol or other alternative fuels, such as biodiesel.
We know GM also has been working on battery-electric and fuel-cell electric drivetrains and expect that R&D effort to continue as well.
Go Long
There will be many stumbling blocks to be overcome in the GM bankruptcy, but with the purse-string controlling government so far signing off on the automaker's intent to make fuel-efficiency and the development of petroleum-free powertrains a centerpiece of its recovery effort, things are getting off to a good start.
If the Feds succumb, though, to the cult of immediacy that has hamstrung so much of American industry for so long -- the demand by investors and market analysts for ever-increasing growth and profitability at the expense of solid long-term planning -- then all bets are off.
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- John O'Dell June 1, 2009, 8:00 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Chevrolet, Diesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Opinion, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Chevrolet Volt
, GM Bankruptcy
May 27, 2009
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the 2009 Hydrogen Road Tour today at Stop 6 of a 9-day, 28-stop, 1,700-mile road trip, telling a group of reporters at the site of the state's first integrated (H2 and gasoline) station that California remains committed to a future where hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles replace gassy rides regardless of what Washington does.
Speaking at a Shell station in West Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger reminded reporters that the California Air Resources Board, which sets vehicle-emissions standards for the state, recently passed a low-carbon fuel standard - the world's first such standard.
It will, he said, ensure that the cleanest fuels, including hydrogen, will always have a strong market in California.
"And the reason why this is so important is that on the federal level, they [politicians] make decisions based on where the oil price is. That means that sometimes the federal government, when the oil price goes up, they go in the direction of renewable energy and alternate fuels. And when the oil price goes down, they abandon those policies," the "Governator" said, his back to a row of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles made by Daimler, Honda, Toyota, KIA, Volkswagen and Nissan.
"Well we don't do that here in California. We only march in one direction and that is forward. And we're not going to slow down. In 2010, we will have seven new hydrogen refueling stations in California and we will invest another $40 million over the next two years in hydrogen stations."
The governor reminded the automotive press that 20 percent of the new vehicles sold in the United States are sold in California, which is home to 25 million cars and trucks. (Those vehicles, not incidentally, consume 50 million gallons of gasoline and diesel a day and produce 40 percent of the state's greenhouse gases.)
As a result of California's vehicle market share, and that fact that Washington often follows the state's lead regarding tailpipe-emissions regulations, automakers can count on there being a large market for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and companies considering investments in an H2-refueling infrastructure can rest assured there will be vehicles requiring the fuel, he said.
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- Scott Doggett May 27, 2009, 2:13 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Daimler, Diesel, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Kia, Legislation, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen
- Technorati Tags:
- Biofuels
, California Air Resource Board, Daimler, General Motors Corp., Honda, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, KIA, Nissan Motor Co., Plug In Electric Vehicles, Stephen Chu, Toyota Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Volkswagen Fuel Cell Vehicles
May 26, 2009
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
There's nothing like $2.4 billion in federal grants to attract lots of applicants.
In one of the U.S. government's biggest efforts at shaping industrial policy, the Energy Department has been soliciting applications since mid-March for $2.4 billion in funding aimed at turning America into a battery-manufacturing powerhouse.
At the deadline last week, the department had received 165 applications. Companies vying for the money include General Motors Corp., Dow Chemical Co. and Johnson Controls Inc. Michigan, Kentucky and Massachusetts are among the states weighing in with applications.
When the winners are decided - as soon as the end of July - the Energy Department may anoint Livonia, Mich., or Indianapolis or Glendale, Kentucky, as the future U.S. hub of car batteries.
Given the availability of these funds, and Energy Secretary Stephen Chu's May 7 proposal that more than $100 million be cut from his department's hydrogen program in the 2010 budget the administration is submitting to Congress, you might think the National Hydrogen Association would wonder if funds needed for fuel-cell development are being diverted to electric vehicles.
"That's not the case," Debbi Smith, the trade group's executive vice president told us today. "The recent actions by Secretary Chu are actions that he had to make in a tough fiscal climate, but it is not the opinion of the automakers at all and it's not the opinion of our members here at the National Hydrogen Association or of the U.S. Fuel Cell Council."
Smith noted that there have been statements by various automotive executives that it is "not as though one technology is ready more than the other right now. Batteries are also not ready for prime time."
It's going to take biofuels, batteries and fuel cells - "all three of them, if we're serious about reducing our nation's dependence on oil and if we're serious about reducing greenhouse gases," she said. "It's going to take just about everything we can throw at these huge problems."
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- Scott Doggett May 26, 2009, 1:36 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Biofuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
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- Electric Car Batteries
, Energy Department, Energy Efficient, Hybrid Vehicles, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Plug In Electric Vehicle, Plug In Hybrids, Tax Incentive
May 22, 2009
It's proving to be a long and winding road to the hydrogen economy.
But the California Air Resources Board, the California Fuel Cell Partnership, the National Hydrogen Association and the U.S. Fuel Cell Council are betting that the 2009 Hydrogen Road Tour, which will stop in 28 cities in the U.S. and Canada, will give motorists an opportunity to see how hydrogen fits into the transportation future.
The 1,700-mile road trip will begin on May 26 in Chula Vista, Calif. and end on June 3 in Vancouver, B.C. The tour will showcase a number of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles from General Motors Corp., Volkswagen Group of America, Daimler and other manufacturers. Though some of the planned events are by invitation, most are open to the public, and some lucky folks will be invited to test drive hydrogen-powered vehicles.
"Fuel cell technology is on the verge of becoming a practical alternative to burning gasoline," said CARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "This year's road tour demonstrates how far the industry has come and how near we are to putting these cars in the public's hands."
Given recent budget cuts proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the hydrogen sector could use an upbeat road trip to clear its collective head.
On May 7, DoE Secretary Steven Chu proposed that more than $100 million be cut from his department's hydrogen program. The proposed cut in the 2010 federal budget would slash hydrogen fuel cell spending by 59 percent to just $68 million and shift research to stationary power generation from transportation.
Why? "We asked ourselves, 'Is it likely in the next 10 or 15, 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen car economy?' The answer, we felt, was 'no,'" Chu said in a briefing.
Chu's action marked a dramatic reversal from 2002 when former DoE Secretary Spencer Abraham boasted that "At the Department of Energy, we're not just talking about the hydrogen economy. We're working to make it a reality."
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- Greg Johnson May 22, 2009, 9:03 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, General Motors, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Legislation, Mass Transit, Mercedes-Benz, Transportation Alternatives
- Technorati Tags:
- Battery Electric Vehicles
, Electric Vehicle Batteries, General Motors Corp., Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Stephen Chu, Volkswagon Group Of America
May 20, 2009
VW has brought 16 Chinese-market Passat Lingyu fuel cell sedans to U.S. for intensive testing.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
While the rest of the world was listening to President Obama outline his industry-supported plan to require that passenger cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. achieve average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon and a 30 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2016, I was putting around an industrial section of California's capital in a car that gets the equivalent of about twice that, with no CO2 from the tailpipe.
It was one of Volkswagen's previous-generation Chinese-market Passat Lingyu sedans, outfitted with a fuel-cell electric drive that gets its juice by converting hydrogen and oxygen to electricity in an on-board electro-chemical power plant called a fuel cell stack.
The German automaker, mostly noted in green car circles for its clean diesel (turbo direct injection, or TDI) technology, has brought 16 of the hydrogen-electric cars to the California Fuel Cell Partnership facility in West Sacramento for a bout of prolonged testing.
Down, Not Dead
That VW is doing the testing is heartening. The company is one of a handful of major automakers insisting that fuel cell development must continue even though the Obama administration's energy budget proposal has let the air out of the hydrogen balloon by slashing program funding 60% and diverting most of the $100 million thus saved to battery electric vehicle programs.
(Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, you might recall, justified the hydrogen program cuts by pronouncing that fuel cells aren't going to be viable mass market automotive technology within the next 15 to 20 years and that government funding needs to go to programs that could come on line more rapidly.)
I asked several VW representatives why, other than to keep flying the fuel- cell electric vehicle (FCEV) flag, they'd scheduled Tuesday's event as there seemed to be no newsworthy reason for it - the cars aren't new, their fuel cell systems are a generation behind those being tested by the company in Germany and there were no other VW announcements during the day.
"Because," I was told, "the cars are here" and VW wanted to make sure the handful of U.S. journalists who cover green car technology knew about them and about the fuel cell partnership - which is celebrating its 10th anniversary next week - and its continuing commitment to hydrogen technology.
Obstacles Abound
That's all well and good - we're fans even though we know that in order for FCEVs to be viable, fuel cell stack durability has to be improved; costs must be halved and then halved again; the hydrogen to make them work will have to be made with clean electricity, which we don't have much of yet; and a tremendously expensive national effort will be required to install a fueling infrastructure to keep the vehicles rolling.
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- John O'Dell May 20, 2009, 3:01 AM
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- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Volkswagen
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- California Fuel Cell Partnership
, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Volkswagen Fuel Cell Vehicles, Volkswagen Passat Lingyu
May 18, 2009
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
One week has nearly passed since Energy Secretary Stephen Chu proposed slashing more than $100 million from Uncle Sam's hydrogen research and development program, and all of us should still be mystified and bothered by his proposal.
Chu's rationale for cutting hydrogen funding by 59 percent to just $68 million: It's unlikely that the technology will become significant player during the next two decades.
In other words, Chu's litmus test for funding a technology that might avoid or at least delay the catastrophic effects of global warming is that the technology must be developed within, say, the lifetime of an old house cat.
If Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius applied the same rationale to drug research, she'd propose slashing federal funding for cancer, AIDS and influenza research, because cures for them are probably 20-plus years out. But tossing in the towel on those problems would be nutty, wouldn't it.
And just think where we'd be today if the Wright brothers, Ladislo Biro, Stephen Poplawski, Willis Carrier, Percy Spencer, and the banjo-playing, 3M engineer Richard Drew decided not to invent anything because it'll take too much time. We might never know airplanes, ball-point pens, kitchen blenders, air-conditioning, microwave ovens and, God forbid, Scotch tape.
Other things that took years to invent include: the telephone, the light bulb, the cotton gin, the sewing machine, the personal computer, television, the camera and, lest we forget, the automobile.
Shucks, a whole lot of things that shape the lives we lead today took a long time to develop.
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- Scott Doggett May 18, 2009, 12:01 AM
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, Electric Vehicle Batteries, Emissions, General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co., Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Steven Chu, Toyota Motor Co., Volkswagon Group Of America
May 11, 2009
Talk about a disconnect.
When the Obama Administration unveiled its proposed 2010 budget last week, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu had penciled in a proposal to cut more than $100 million from Uncle Sam's hydrogen research and development program.
Chu's rationale for cutting hydrogen funding by 59 percent to just $68 million? It's unlikely that the technology will become significant player during the next two decades.
In contrast, the California Fuel Cell Partnership in February predicted that 4,300 fuel-cell electric vehicles could be traveling California roads by 2014, and that the the hydrogen-powered fleet could grow to about 50,000 vehicles by 2017 as more manufacturers introduce their zero emission vehicles.
What's more, the partnership believes that, by 2017, Californians will be able to fuel their Honda FCX Clarity and other fuel cell vehicles at between 50 and 100 hydrogen refueling stations around the state.
'"Fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations are at the cusp of transition into the early commercial market," according to the organization's report that is titled "Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle and Station Deployment Plan: A Strategy for Meeting the Challenge Ahead."
So it's not surprising that the CaFCP, which counts auto manufacturers (including Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.), energy companies (Shell and Chevron), fuel cell technology companies (Proton Energy Systems) and government agencies (including the DoE, which is a dues-paying member!) on Friday called for Chu to reconsider the proposed budget cut.
"Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have progressed to the point where some automakers are ready to begin early commercialization," said CaFCP Executive Director Catherine Dunwoody. "Stopping federal investment at this point is like a coach pulling back an Olympic athlete who has trained for years, just as the trials begin. We can't wait for the next round. We're ready to go."
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- Greg Johnson May 11, 2009, 3:13 PM
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- Fuel Cell
, General Motors Corp, Honda FCX Clarity, Hydrogen, Plug In Hybrid, Toyota Motor Co.
May 8, 2009
Toyota reported its first financial loss in decades and is forecasting another hefty loss for this year, but the still world's largest automaker is protecting product development and R&D that pertains to small cars and advanced technologies, particularly those related to the environment and energy.
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Toyota says it won't abandon advanced vehicles such as this electric car concept.
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"We will maintain a high level of R&D in areas we consider indispensable to our future -- advanced, cutting-edge technologies in environment, energy and safety," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota Motor Corp. senior managing director, said in a conference call Friday morning with analysts and media.
Ijichi said Toyota will continue work to cut costs in its development and production of compact vehicles and hybrids. The next-generation Toyota Corolla will be a model for such cost-cutting, he said. And lessons learned on the Corolla, which initially launches in Japan followed by the U.S. and Europe, will be transferred to all other Toyota and Lexus models.
He said Toyota is continuing cost reduction of its hybrid systems. He noted that size and weight reductions of the new third-generation Toyota Prius reduced costs by 30 percent compared with the second-generation model. Toyota has said it plans to introduce as many as 10 new hybrid models by 2010 and a battery-electric city car by 2012.
Not only will Toyota keep spending on green initiatives, it intends to accelerate development next-generation technologies in environment, energy and safety, with environmental goals topping its priorities list, Ijichi said.
Its goals include the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, mass-production of small battery-electric electric vehicles and the development of next-generation alternative fuel vehicles including fuel-cell electric cars and vehicles use biofuels.
Michelle Krebs, Editor, AutoObserver.com
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- John O'Dell May 8, 2009, 8:12 AM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Toyota
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, Hybrids, Toyota's Green Technologies; Toyota Motor Co.
May 7, 2009
(Note: Updated 5 p.m. 5/7/09 to include link to Hydrogen and Fuel Cell groups' joint statement.)
By
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
In a huge blow to backers of fuel-cell electric vehicles, the nation's top energy official said today he sees little promise of the technology becoming a significant player in the nation's transportation system within the next two decades.
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Honda's FCX Clarity, now being tested in Southern California, uses a hydrogen fuel cell to provide electric power.
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As a result, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu is proposing that more than $100 million be cut from the Energy Department hydrogen program in the 2010 budget the administration is submitting to Congress.
The proposed budget slashes hydrogen fuel cell spending by 59 percent to just $68 million and focuses on programs for stationary power generation rather than for transportation.
"We asked ourselves, 'Is it likely in the next 10 or 15, 20 years that we will covert to a hydrogen car economy?' The answer, we felt, was 'no,'" Chu said in a briefing today.
The National Hydrogen Association and the U.S. Fuel Cell Coalition quickly issued a joint statement criticizing the program cuts.
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- John O'Dell May 7, 2009, 3:49 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen
- Technorati Tags:
- 2010 Energy Department Budget
, Energy Department Budget, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Program Spending
April 30, 2009
Company Can't Afford To Drop EV and Plug-in Development If It Hopes for a Future
Chrysler green prototypes include plug-in hybrid Jeeps and Town & Country van and Dodge Circuit EV.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Some quick thoughts on what Chrysler's bankruptcy and reorganization may mean for the company's green initiatives.
Chrysler is going to continue to be run largely by government dictate as it wends its way though bankruptcy -- the Obama administration will be selecting new board members and the Feds will be providing much of the company's working capital -- and the government has made it clear time and again that it wants carmakers to concentrate on fuel-efficiency.
So if Chrysler is to have a post-bankruptcy future, then building cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles that help us kick our oil dependency has got to be part of it, as it must for all automakers.
A large part of that effort, now that Chrysler will be teamed with and ultimately controlled by Italy's Fiat, will be in development of fuel-efficient gasoline and, possibly, diesel engines for Chrysler's U.S. cars and trucks using Fiat technology.
So we can look for smaller, lighter vehicles to be added to the lineup of the company that made its bones with hulking pickups, gas-guzzling Hemi V8 muscle cars and hefty family hauling minivans. And we can surely expect some of Chrysler's more egregiously fuel-inefficient vehicles to disappear.
A Chrysler version of Fiat's popular and tiny 500 subcompact might not make a big hit in a U.S. still worried about the safety aspects of small cars sharing the road with all those Hummers and Expeditions and Rams, but Fiat has other, larger cars, especially in its Alfa Romeo brand, that might transition well in the U.S.
In his press conference today, President Obama skipped over the impact the restructuring will have on Chrysler's green initiatives except to say that Fiat already has agreed to transfer "billions" of dollars worth of "cutting-edge technology" to Chrysler so it can build "new fuel-efficient cars and engines in America."
But Chrysler also may have some technology of its own to bring to the table.
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Chrysler recently showed this 200C EV electric car concept.
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Skeptics believe Chrysler's green programs, particularly the electric and plug-in hybrid-electric prototype vehicles it has shown off in the past year, are vaporware.
But Green Car Advisor spoke with a few Chrysler insiders this morning and they said that there have been no signs that work on those technologies is being dropped or even diminished.
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- John O'Dell April 30, 2009, 10:33 AM
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- Chrysler, Fiat, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
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, Chrysler EV, Chrysler Green Vehicles, Plug In Hybrids
April 29, 2009
German Car Maker Also Rolling Out Battery-Electric Smart Cars This Year
Mercedes-Benz has been at the forefront of fuel-cell vehicle development and now says that it plans to begin producing a small number of its B-Class cars (left)
outfitted with the hydrogen-to-electricity systems.
The B-Class fuel-cell electric vehicles would begin rolling out in Europe by the end of the year, apparently for testing in the real world, the automaker told reporters during a program held in Germany this week to show off a student-built experimental fuel cell car, the F-Cell Roadster (more about that at InsideLine).
During the program, Mercedes executives also reiterated that the first of the company's previously announced battery-electric Smart cars would be in production by the end of the year.
The Smarts (right)
are to be used in an EV test program in Berlin next year.
While Mercedes doesn't sell the B-Class in the U.S., the company has said it is considering bringing the small hatchback over here. At the recent Washington D.C. auto show it showed a B-Class flex-fuel vehicle that could use either gasoline or compressed natural gas.
We'll probably be hearing more about fuel cells, battery-electric cars and natural gas vehicles in coming months as all three are alternative fuels being pushed for use in California - a sizeable player in the U.S. new car market - under a just-approved low carbon fuels standard that aims to help cut the state's greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon content of fuels used for transportation.
Student-built F-Cell Roadster on the road in Germany.
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- John O'Dell April 29, 2009, 3:38 PM
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, Fuel Cell Cars, Mercedes Benz
April 28, 2009
Algae cultures that could lead to green oil products are being grown in a UC San Diego laboratory.
They call it "green gold," and its proponents are betting that the light, sweet crude oil that can be extracted from farm-cultivated algae will help the world to cut its dependence upon dirty and increasingly expensive gasoline and diesel fuels that are extracted from fossil fuels.
And, on Tuesday, San Diego -- which envisions itself as the green equivalent of the traditional oil industry's Houston -- unveiled a "broad-scale research effort" to turn that dream into a reality.
Though no dollar figures for financial support were discussed during Tuesday's press event on the UC San Diego campus, the research effort will build upon the creation earlier this year of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology. The center was created to facilitate green fuels research being conducted by 272 scientists at UC San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute and other San Diego universities, research organizations and for-profit companies.
SD-CAB estimates that algal research in San Diego County already generates $16.5 million in payroll and $33 million in overall economic activity. Tuesday's announcement of an even broader research and development effort was made by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
"By sharing and facilitating the interactions of these multiple researchers through this center, we hope to make sustainable algae-based fuel production and carbon-dioxide abatement a reality within the next five to 10 years," Fox said. "This consortium will strengthen our ability to obtain grants and attract resources to the area. Algal biofuels will allow us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and other economies, and will provide opportunities for a new economy and workforce."
It is a tall order, but San Diego claims to have the R&D nucleus needed to move toward that goal.
The Xconomy blog counts at least nine algal research efforts under way -- including work being done by defense contractors SAIC Corp. and General Atomics (which is better known as the creator of the unmanned Predator aircraft in service in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan).
We wrote about one of those companies (Sapphire Energy) last May, as well as a California Energy Commission grant to another company (albeit, not in San Diego) that is pursuing algal research.
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- Greg Johnson April 28, 2009, 2:08 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Energy Companies, Hydrogen, Methanol, Oil, Tax Incentives
- Technorati Tags:
- Algae Refining
, Alternative Fuels, Green Gold, Green Living, Legislation, Oil Prices, Sapphire Energy
April 27, 2009
As the once-favored hydrogen highway becomes a mere side road on the route to oil independence with the Obama administration's push for rechargeable hybrid powertrains as the new favored alternative to the conventional gasoline engine, hydrogen pioneer Honda Motor Co. says it, too, will begin to pursue the way of the plug.
In an interview with Bloomberg news last week, Honda Motor Co. President Takeo Fukui said his company still sees hydrogen as the best long-term replacement for gasoline in the effort to slash automotive emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases tied to global arming.
Fukui, who is stepping down in June as part of Honda's regular executive shuffle, has in the past has been outspoken in his disdain for plug-in technology, calling it an unnecessary intermediate step form gasoline to pure electric power.
Honda has developed a hydrogen fuel-cell sedan, the FCX Clarity, that it leases to select customers in a Los Angeles-area test program, and isn't planning to abandon the effort.
But, Fukui said in a Bloomberg news wire article published this morning, the automaker also will accommodate the perceived preference of the U.S. government for plug-in hybrid-electric cars and trucks.
Unlike a conventional gas-electric hybrid that charges its batteries from on-board power sources such as regenerative braking, a plug-in hybrid gets its initial charge from the commercial grid, by "plugging in" to a wall socket or a special rapid-charging station
Plug-ins use larger battery pack than a conventional hybrids. They store enough power to permit the vehicle to be driven for an extended amount of time on all-electric drive before the grid charge is depleted and the gas engine kicks in.
Although others, including General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Volkswagen are developing fuel-cell vehicles, Honda has been the only major automaker championing hydrogen above other technologies and so far has stayed out of the rapidly developing race to bring plug-ins to market.
While federal support of hydrogen development has all-but evaporated in the U.S., the government is providing billions of dollars for battery development programs and for federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for purchasers of plug-ins.
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- John O'Dell April 27, 2009, 2:01 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Emissions, Fisker, Ford, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volvo
- Technorati Tags:
- FCX Clarity
, Honda Fuel Cell, Honda Motor Co., Honda Plug In Hybrid
April 23, 2009
AutomotiveWorld.com reports that General Motors Corp. and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group (SAIC) have extended their partnership to include the launch of SAIC's Shanghai Brand Fuel Cell Vehicle, which is powered by GM's latest fourth-generation fuel cell propulsion technology.
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SAIC will use the same fuel cell system that powers GM's fuel-cell electric Equinox.
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The report says that the SAIC vehicle will use the same GM-developed 700 bar (10,000 psi) high-pressure hydrogen fuel cell system used in the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell. The ten fuel cell vehicles to be built will be used by GM and SAIC to shuttle guests to and from the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
AutomotiveWorld quotes GM Group Vice President and Asia Pacific President Nick Reilly as saying that the vehicles "will be featured in the most extensive fuel cell demonstration program ever conducted in China.This follows the government's call for the creation of a sustainable transportation system."
Reilly also is quoted as saying that the partnership is "in line with our overall strategy of in China, with China, for China."
Fuel-cell cars and SUVs convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity through an onboard electro-chemical reaction. The electricity is then used to power the vehicles' drive motors.
Early in 2008, Chevrolet launched a test fleet of about 100 hydrogen-powered Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles that are on the road in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Southern California.The fleet is part of "Project Driveway," which GM bills as "the first large-scale market test of fuel cell vehicles with real drivers in the real world."
Greg Johnson, Contributor
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- Greg Johnson April 23, 2009, 2:45 AM
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- China, China, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Chevrolet Equinox
, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, General Motors Corp, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Shanghai Automotive
April 21, 2009
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday took to Twitter
to drum up support for a cohesive national automotive industry policy that would lead to the design, manufacturing and sale of fuel-efficient vehicles.
When he wasn't sending Tweets, Schwarzenegger was addressing the Society of Automotive Engineers' 2009 World Congress in Detroit.
"With billions of people around the globe entering the car market for the first time and seeking energy-efficient but high-performance and stylish cars and trucks, America has an opportunity that exceeds even what the auto industry saw at its initial expansion in the 20th century," Schwarzenegger told SAE members. "This is an opportunity we must not waste, and as the world leader in innovation, design, marketing and technology, California is here to be the auto industry's partner for this new beginning."
Associated Press reported that the governor "has had conversations with federal officials and wants California to lead the country when it comes to setting low emission standards."
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- Greg Johnson April 21, 2009, 4:00 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric
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- air pollution
, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emission, EPA Greehnouse Gas Ruling, Hummer, Hydrogen, Obama, Waiver
April 20, 2009
To hear Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. tell it, developing the green vehicles that will be needed to break this country's dependence upon foreign oil will be the easy part.
The really tough stuff will involve gaining consensus on such touchy subjects as instituting a new federal gasoline tax and determining which technologies will get the nod as new electric-generating plants are designed, permitted and brought online.
"I actually think that the least disruptive piece will be the car piece," Ford said during a half-hour Q&A during a Fortune magazine green ideas conference on Monday at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif. "We can get there relatively easy, but a lot of these other pieces are going to be big issues that we're going to have to solve as a nation."
"One thing that I'm encouraged about is that the [Obama] administration really wants to lead that discussion on a national basis," Ford said. "I am optimistic ... we can't go on with fossil fuel burning the way we are ... it's just not a path that this country wants to go down."
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- Greg Johnson April 20, 2009, 9:23 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Biofuels, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Green Vehicles, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
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- Ford Motor Company
, Green Cars, Hybrid Vehicles, Hybrids, William Ford Jr.
April 9, 2009
Add Nissan to the list of automakers (including Chongqing Changan Auto, BYD, Brilliance, Chery, Dongfeng and SAIC) that are intent upon plugging into the rough-and-tumble Chinese market for hybrid-electric and battery-electric cars.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Nissan is negotiating with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to create a pilot electric-vehicle program in Wuhan, a city in central China with nine million residents.
The deal is unusual, the Journal reports, because Beijing typically doesn't forge such partnerships with foreign companies. The newspaper reported that the deal, which calls for Nissan to contribute cars and help create a recharging network, could be completed as soon as Friday.
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- Greg Johnson April 9, 2009, 11:49 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BYD, Chery, China, China, Dongfeng, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Chinese Hybrids
, Electric Vehicles, Legislation, Nissan
And the winner is: Honda FCX Clarity, the 2009 World Green Car.
The announcement was made this morning at the New York Auto Show. The FCX Clarity beat out the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the Toyota iQ. The top three finishers were culled from a list of 22 contenders that were nominated by 59 judges in 25 countries.
Here is some of what the judges had to say about the car:
"The FCX Clarity is an utterly real, hydrogen-fueled luxury sedan that provides the amenities people expect in a premium car with 430 km (267 miles) range, fuel consumption of about 3.3 litres/100 km (72 mpg U.S.) equivalent and zero tailpipe emissions. While there is only so much the automotive industry can do when it comes to this technology - governments need to come onboard to help create a true refuelling infrastructure - Honda must be credited for taking a bold step in leasing FCX Clarity to customers in California for $600 (U.S.) per month.There's still a long way to go before fuel-cell cars will become a commercial success, but hats off to Honda for continuing to advance this expensive technology during a time when every cent counts."
To be eligible, vehicles had to be available in at least one major market during 2008. The field included production models and experimental prototypes with near-future applications. Judging criteria included fuel economy, emissions and overall environmental impact.
Here are some links to the Honda FCX Clarity, the Mitsubishi iMiEV and the Toyota iQ.
The previous three green category winners were the BMW 118d (2008), the Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec (2007) and the Honda Civic Hybrid (2006).
Greg Johnson, Contributor
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- Greg Johnson April 9, 2009, 10:37 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Auto Shows, Fuel Cell, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Transportation Alternatives
- Technorati Tags:
- Fuel Efficient Cars
, Honda FCX Clarity., Mitsubishi IMIEV, Mitsubishi Motors, Prototypes, Toyota iQ
April 8, 2009
The California Air Resources Board has awarded $1.7 million each to Mebtahi Station Services, the San Francisco Airport, Shell Hydrogen and UCLA to help cover their respective costs of building hydrogen refueling stations.
The competitive bidding process for the awards began in December 2008 when the board asked for proposals to help build out the state's "Hydrogen Highway Network."
The grants provided by the California legislature and distributed by CARB are part of the state's ongoing bid to encourage the use of alternative fuels. The new stations are clustered in Los Angeles and San Francisco and will "double the amount of hydrogen available to the public," according to CARB.
Mebtahi Station Services will add hydrogen fuel to an existing Chevron Station near the corner of Western Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway in Harbor City.
The San Francisco Airport will build a hydrogen refueling facility at the Millbrae Avenue exit on Highway 101. The station will service passenger cars and vehicles operated by local transit agencies.
Shell Hydrogen will add hydrogen refueling equipment at an existing gasoline station on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach.
UCLA will build a hydrogen fueling station at a transit facility at the corner of Veteran and Kinross Avenues in Westwood.
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- Greg Johnson April 8, 2009, 5:22 PM
- Categories:
- Energy Companies, Hydrogen, Mass Transit, Transportation Alternatives
- Technorati Tags:
- Alternative Fuels
, California Air Resources Board, Hydrogen, Shell Hydrogen
April 6, 2009
BMW has loaned a pair of 2008 Hydrogen 7 vehicles to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. One car will remain in service as an on-the-road demonstration vehicle. The other will go on display inside the museum.
The Petersen's Alternative Power Exhibit also features a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, a coal- and wood-burning truck, a steam-powered car from the 1970s, a General Motors EV-1 and a 1963 Chrysler Turbine car.
Last year, researchers at Argonnne National Laboratory put BMW's hydrogen-burning V12 engine to the test and found that it -- as BMW had been claiming -- produces little more in the way of tailpipe emissions than water vapor.
Argonne's scientists found that the Hydrogen 7's exhaust stream is one of the cleanest in the industry, surpassing even the "Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (or SULEV) that is now the cleanest rating.
BMW has placed about 100 of the 7 Series sedans with celebrities, politicians and opinion-leaders to help raise awareness about its hydrogen fuel initiative.
Greg Johnson, Contributor
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- Greg Johnson April 6, 2009, 3:42 PM
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- BMW, Hydrogen
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- Alternative Fuels
, BMW 7, hydrogen
March 26, 2009
And you thought it was tough trying to figure out which fuel-efficient car to drive off the dealer lot.
Ichiro Sakai, assistant vice president of American Honda Motor Co., said earlier this week that vehicle manufacturers face similar challenges when it comes to allocating limited R&D dollars among competing (and expensive) green technologies.
"We suffer from market preference," Sakai said during a transportation program sponsored by the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
That's a polite way of saying Honda doesn't want to get too far ahead of the green automobile pack -- only to discover that consumers aren't interested in buying what it has to sell. A case in point: the ongoing debate over whether lower gasoline prices have dulled consumer demand for smaller, fuel-efficient cars.
Honda sees the wisdom of advancing such technologies as pure-electric vehicles and increased use of biofuels. But EE Publishing's ClimateWire (a subscription-only news service) reports that Sakai also told the audience that such market realities as fuel economy regulations force it to concentrate on picking "lots of low-hanging fruit for the future of internal combustion engines."
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- Greg Johnson March 26, 2009, 12:24 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
- Technorati Tags:
- American Honda Motor Co.
, FCX Clarity, Ford Motor Co.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the federal funding for green vehicle technology research has been flowing.
The Clinton administration favored plug-in hybrid electric vehicle research. The Bush administration steered funding to hydrogen fuel-cell research. And who hasn't heard President Obama's repeated pledge to have 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on American roads by 2015?
But some in Washington, D.C. are cautioning against the anticipated swing of federal funding back to plug-in hybrids at the expense of hydrogen technology research.
"I hope that we will avoid again putting all of our eggs in one technology basket," U.S. Rep. Brian Baird (D, Wash.) said while chairing a Tuesday hearing in Washington, D.C., by the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. "While we must be targeted in our federal R&D programs, this single-minded approach ignores the importance of balancing a diverse portfolio with sustained funding for longer-term research."
Subsequent testimony by Steven Chalk suggested that the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has taken to heart Obama's 2015 pledge.
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- Greg Johnson March 26, 2009, 10:10 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Batteries, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- BMW
, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Legislation, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
March 25, 2009
A year after road testing began, Mazda has launched commercial leasing in Japan of its hydrogen-electric Premacy hybrid delivery van.
The exteded-range system uses a hydrogen-fueled Mazda rotary engine to generate power for a 110 kilowatt electric drive motor. Electrical energy is stored in a lithium-ion battery pack while the hydrogen fuel for the internal combustion engine-generator is stored in a 5,000 psi high-pressure tank.
Mazda says the hydrogen-electric series hybrid system (similar to the gasoline-electric system used in the upcoming Chevrolet Volt) gives the 5-seat van a range of 125 miles on a tank of fuel.
The automaker has been developing hydrogen-burining rotary engine technology since 1991 and last year began testing hydrogen-rotary RX8 sports cars. The hydrogen-electric Premacy van, introduced at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, is the first to use engine in a series hybrid setup.
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- John O'Dell March 25, 2009, 8:26 AM
- Categories:
- Hybrid, Hydrogen, Japan, Mazda, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Hydrogen Electric Hybrid
, Mazda, Premacy Hybrid
March 20, 2009
One more note on Obama talking green during his California visit, this from his appearance last night on The Tonight Show.
Host and noted car buff Jay Leno reminded the president that General Motors was testing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and that he (Leno) was one of the people who have been driving one.
To which the president replied that he believes vehicles like the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicle represent the future of the auto industry.
"That's where we're going to win back manufacturing," Obama said. "But right now we're behind. These batteries are being made in Japan - just like wind power is being made in Europe. We need to bring that here, and that's part of what my budget and part of what our Recovery Act is all about."
For more on the president's auto-related remarks in his exchange with Leno, check the post by Edmunds' AutoObserver Editor Michelle Krebs.
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- John O'Dell March 20, 2009, 9:12 AM
- Categories:
- Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
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, Leno, Obama, Tonight Show
February 16, 2009
(Modified 2/17/09 to reflect amendment to plug-in hybrid credit provision and to correct a typographical error in same section.)
Now that the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has passed through Congress and is awaiting the signature of the President who so adamantly has wanted it, we thought we'd revisit, as best we can, the provisions that apply directly to the green car world.
We say "as best we can" because a full and final version of the bill is still hard to find - and we couldn't. The closest we can come is the official White House website
, which has the conference committee version that was approved on Thursday, but hasn't updated it to the final version that passed both the Hue and Senate on Friday.
So here's the most accurate info we have as of this morning:
Sales Tax Deduction
There is, of course, a sales tax deduction provision aimed at stimulating new car buying in general.
It would make state sales taxes for new car purchases a federal income tax deduction and it would apply to purchases of hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles as well as to purchases of Hummers and Dodge Rams and Lincoln Navigators.
It won't put a lot of money in anyone's pockets, and many automakers say it isn't likely to turn things around dramatically this year, but it will help reduce tax bills for people who've got the wherewithal to buy a new vehicles in the first place and could at least keep a bid situation from getting worse.
Status Quo For Conventional Hybrids
The measure, far as we know, doesn't alter the diminishing tax credits system already in place for conventional hybrids: Up to $3,400 until an automaker sells 60,000 hybirds, then a 50 percent drop each six months until the credit disappears.
Toyota, by dint of its sales lead in the hybrid segment, had used up all of its credits by the end of 2007; Honda's disappeared on Jan. 1; Ford's start dropping at the end of March. GM and Nissan still have full credits available for qualifying models, according to the Department of Energy website that tracks such stuff.
Plug-Ins Win
The bill aims to promote development and sales of plug-in hybrids and some pure EVs, though, by instituting a new tier of tax credits ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for a vehicle, like the upcoming Chevrolet Volt, with a battery large enough to provide 40 miles of so of all-electric drive on a single charge (the Volt uses an on-board generator to keep things humming along once the initial grid charge is depleted).
The battery pack for an eligible vehicle has to have a capacity of at least at least four kilowatt hours, and the credit increases by $417 for each additional kilowatt hour of capacity after that, topping out at $7,500 for vehicles of 10,000 pounds or less (most cars and light trucks).
For vehicles weighing from 10,001 pounds to 14,000 pounds, the maximum credit is $10,000; it jumps to $12,500 for 14,001- to 26,000-pound vehicles; and tops out at $15,000 for vehicles in excess of 26,000 pounds.
Don't Hold Your Breath, Though
Sorry to say, though, that in most instances, the money for those credits will just be sitting there for the next 23 months.
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- John O'Dell February 16, 2009, 3:00 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Green Vehicles, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
- Technorati Tags:
- Economic Recovery Reinvestment Act
, Economic Stimulus Plan, Green Cars
February 12, 2009
Discusses Need for Government Support With Cable TV's Daily Show Host
Comedian Jon Stewart (and yes, he is a comedian, even if you do get all your news from his program) had green car advocate Daniel Sperling on his Daily Show to discuss government support of alternative fuels and plug-in hybrids.
Sperling -- a member of the California Air Resources Board and head of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis -- said he believes the day will come when "the vast majority" of the cars on the road will use batteries, fuel-cells and advanced biofuels for power and suggested that it would only take "tens of billions" of dollars to get the ball rolling.
We think it might take a bit more than that, but we just collectively threw $350 billion at Wall Street and have spent nearly $600 billion on the War in Iraq so far (according to the National Priorities Project), so it appears we've got the bucks to throw at problems if we really believe they are problems.
Stewart, of course, lightens things up in his interview, but there's still plenty of food for thought in his 6.5-minute exchange with Sperling.
You can watch it by clicking on the video screen above.
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- John O'Dell February 12, 2009, 11:55 AM
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, Daily Show, Daniel Sperling
January 15, 2009
Hot on the heels of its recent announcement that it is pushing hard to bring plug-in hybrids
and more conventional hybrids to market as quickly as possible, Toyota Motor Co. now has put a date on the launch of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
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Toyota Highlander fuel-cell vehicle completed a 350- mile trip from Osaka to Tokyo last year without refueling.
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The company's top product planner, Masatami Takimoto, a corporate executive vice president, said in interviews during the Detroit show's media days earlier this week that "limited commercialization" of a Toyota fuel-cell vehicle will begin "in 2015, and maybe sooner."
The program is seen by Toyota as "the beginning of true commercialization" of the fuel-cell vehicles, Takimoto said.
Although it is best for its gas-electric hybrids, especially the Prius, and its (mostly) reliable and fuel-efficient conventional cars, Toyota Motor Corp. has never abandoned the hydrogen fuel cell.
Indeed, the company continues testing models in Japan and in California as a charter member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and last year announced several improvements that greatly improved reliability and range.
"We think the technology has been achieved," said John Hanson, Toyota's top environmental spokesman in the U.S.
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- John O'Dell January 15, 2009, 1:30 PM
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January 9, 2009
(Note: Article updated after initial posting to include Lexus hybrid)
The upcoming North American International Auto Show in snowy Detroit - media preview days begin Sunday and the show opens to the public on Jan. 17 - is likely to be a pretty glum affair, what with the auto industry imploding and the prospect of many people really being interested in buying a new car right now ranking right up there with being interested in having wisdom teeth pulled sans anesthesia.
But carmakers are trying, and what most are trying hardest with is fuel efficiency and alternatives to the thirsty, greenhouse-gas spewing cars and trucks of the past.
Oh, there will be speedsters and factory-built hot rods on display at the show - Ford Motor Co., for example, will unveil the 540-horsepower 2010 Shelby GT500 Mustang and Audi will be showing a 525-horsepower, V10-version of its exotic R8 sports car.
But most attention will be focused on advanced technology cars such as the 2010 Prius hybrid (right)
and the battery-electric city car concept that Toyota will show, Honda's Prius-fighting 2009 Insight hybrid and concepts such as the all-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel -cell electric trio, collectively called Concept Zero, that Mercedes-Benz will unveil.
Beyond the cars, the show's media preview will spotlight industry executives who will be delivering news about their companies' green futures.
Most notably, Toyota is expected to outline its hybrid and electric-vehicle strategies for the next few years and Ford is expected to discuss its plans for a stable of future EVs, starting with a commercial truck it plans to launch in 2010.
Green Car Advsior, along with Edmunds Auto Observer, Edmunds Inside Line and Edmunds.com, will be covering the show 's media days and bringing you timely reports, but we thought we'd also offer a preview today of the major green vehicles that will be displayed and discussed.
Green Preview
So, by manufacturer, here they are:
Audi
Volkswagen's upscale stablemate is expected to announce plans for its upcoming U.S. diesel lineup. So far, the company has said it will launch a 3-liter diesel version of its Q7 SUV (right)
later this year and has broached the possibility of a diesel A4. We'll know more after Audi's Sunday afternoon press conference.
BMW
The pride of Bavaria will discuss the X5 and 3-Series diesels it plans to bring to the U.S., perhaps supplying us with some performance and fuel economy numbers as well as a marketing time-line.
Chevrolet
Nothing big here, unless the General decides to announce the upcoming Volt plug-in hybrid's pricing and/or the battery suppliers.
The Chevy vehicle that gets officially introduced at the show is the redesigned 2010 Equinox crossover (right), which will come with a new six-speed automatic and a fuel-efficient, direct-injection four-banger expected to deliver 182 horsepower (almost as much as the '08 model's base V6) and highway fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon.
Chrysler
The company has three brands that it has tied together for car show purposes with a trio of concept electric vehicles.
Those to be displayed in Detroit are further refined versions of the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep EVs originally unveiled last September and first shown publicly at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in November.
By brand, they are the Chrysler EV, an extended-range electric version of the town and Country minivan; the Jeep EV, a gas-electric Wrangler; and the Dodge EV, a Lotus-based, bumblebee-striped battery-electric sports car that would look great in the garage next to an electric Tesla Roadster.
Chrysler has said that it will bring one of the cars to market in 2010, but hasn't said which or in what kind of numbers. Maybe that's what we'll hear at the show.
Fisker
The nascent plug-in-hybrid company headed by, and named for, noted auto designer Henrik Fisker (BMW, Aston Martin, Fisker Coachbuild), will show the production version of it first proposed vehicle, the Fisker Karma sports sedan (right)
that it unveiled to great interest at last year's Detroit show. Fisker also will unveil a new version - a convertible, we suspect - caled the Karma S.
Like the Chevy Volt, the Karma uses an on-board internal combustion engine to generate power to keep its electric motors turning the wheels.
Ford
We expect a discussion of the company's electric vehicle strategy, perhaps with a teaser glimpse or two of potential future offerings and a look at the commercial truck the company has said it will launch in 2010.
Honda
The news here will be the unveiling of the production version 2009 Insight hybrid (right)
, a sub $20,000, five-seater Honda hopes will finally, finally, pump its hybrid sales up into Prius territory.
We're expected to hear a lot of technical detail and, perhaps, even a firmer price for the car, which looks in pictures a bit like the Prius it's designed to battle.
Lexus
Toyota's luxury unit will reveal its first stand-alone hybrid model, a small car that is based off the upcoming 2010 Prius.
Although it is not unusual - its pretty common, even - for photos of new models to leak out before their official unveiling, the best we've been able to come up with for the new Lexus hybrid is this rendering (left) published in a Japanese auto magazine a few months ago.
Mercedes-Benz
The covers will come off a trio of EV concepts from Daimler's luxe brand. All use the same swoopy, sport wagon-ish body (below right) - a design that also shows where Mercedes is heading with the compact B-Class replacement due in 2010 and, perhaps, headed for the U.S.
The so-called Concept Zero family consists of the E-Cell, a battery-electric with a range of about 60 miles; the E-Cell Plus, a plug-in hybrid that uses a 3-cylinder gas engine-generator to extend the range of its batteries when the initial charge is depleted (think Chevy Volt), and the F-Cell, which uses a hydrogen fuel-cell to produce electricity on-board by combining hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel-cell stack. Range is about 125 miles. Mercedes says the E-Cell Plus can go almost 400 miles on an overnight battery charge and a tank of gas.
Toyota
The company whose name has become synonymous with 'hybrid" is introducing the redesigned 2010 Prius at the show, but photos of the car leaked out weeks ago and you've got to believe that anyone who's interested has already seen it. What will be news, of course, are the specifications and performance numbers.
The other biggie on the product front from Toyota will be the unveiling of a concept electric vehicle, probably called the FT-EV if the company's previous auto show naming practices prevail (that would stand for "future technology-electric vehicle").
The car, believed to be built on a current Toyota subcompact chassis, is the company's effort to give us a look at what a Toyota-built battery-electric EV for short-range urban driving might look like if the company does, as it has said it would, put an EV into its retail fleet in 2012.
Not The End
And, of course - Detroit being Detroit - there likely will be a surprise or two. So consider this list a starter, not a definitive catalog.
China's BYD, for instance, will be there with the plug-in-hybrid (left)
it launched in its home market a few weeks ago, beating the big boys like GM and Toyota to the punch by a matter of, oh, a year or two. Who knows what the company - whose name is an acronym for Build Your Dreams and whose future is being backed by investment whiz Warren Buffett - will do next? We might find out as the Detroit show rolls along.
We'll be back when media days begin on Sunday to keep you up-to-date.
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- John O'Dell January 9, 2009, 3:00 AM
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- Audi, Auto Shows, BMW, BYD, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler, Dodge, Emissions, Fisker, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Green Vehicles, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
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December 23, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
California's support of hydrogen as a transportation fuel - sometimes derided as an expensive pipe dream - has its moments.
We'll see one in the spring as the city of Burbank, Ca., home to comic Jay Leno's Tonight Show among other show biz attractions, starts operating the world's first plug-in hybrid bus that uses a hydrogen fuel-cell to augment its rechargable batteries.
Proterra, the Colorado-based developer and builder of the revolutionary zero-emissions hydrogen plug-in bus, claims that it can travel 250 miles on its grid-charged batteries and a tank of hydrogen before needing to be recharged, delivering twice the fuel economy of a diesel bus.
The big, blue, bug-eyed bus is made of lightweight composite materials and uses automotive fuel cells rather than larger cells developed specifically for hydrogen buses. The advantage, according to Proterra, is that the smaller 50 kilowatt (67 horsepower) fuel cells are much cheaper, reducing the initial cost of the bus as well as lifetime operating costs - a critical factor in these days of rapidly diminishing local government funding.
The bus also features a fast-charging system that enables its batteries to be fully recharged in just 6 minutes - less time than most drivers need for bathroom or coffee breaks.
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- John O'Dell December 23, 2008, 3:00 AM
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December 22, 2008
Cellulosic ethanol, which people from President-elect Barack Obama to struggling farmers from his home state view a promising biofuel, is actually worse than much-criticized corn ethanol because cellulosic ethanol results in more air pollution, requires more land to produce and causes more harm to wildlife, a major study has found.
The energy alternatives "that are good are not the ones that people have been talking about the most. And some options that have been proposed are just downright awful," said Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, in a paper that reviewed and ranked major proposed energy-related solutions to global warming, air-pollution mortality and energy security.
"Ethanol-based biofuels will actually cause more harm to human health, wildlife, water supply and land use than current fossil fuels," he said, adding that ethanol may also emit more global-warming pollutants than fossil fuels, according to the latest scientific studies.
Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed major energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability.
His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options. His findings were published in this month's issue of Energy & Environmental Science.
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- Scott Doggett December 22, 2008, 1:31 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Coal, Diesel, Emissions, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen, Oil, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
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Most automakers say hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are least a decade away from mass production, but that isn't stopping California from soliciting bids to build fuel stations for a hydrogen-highway network
.
Some of you will no doubt recall that last April the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, amended its zero-emission-vehicles mandate to require automakers selling cars and trucks in the state to make available for sale in California no fewer than 7,500 fuel-cell electric vehicles between 2012 and 2015.
That despite the fact that there are only 26 hydrogen stations in the state and not many more on the drawing boards. Additionally, not all of the slightly more than two dozen stations that do exist are open to the general public.
California is a huge market for many automakers, but without more hydrogen fuel stations the manufacturers aren't keen to mass produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Likewise, fuel companies aren't keen to invest in the fuel stations until the vehicles are being mass produced.
But this past Friday, CARB issued a statement announcing it was soliciting "competitive bids from experienced and qualified teams to design, secure permits, build, maintain and operate hydrogen refueling stations to serve as part of California's Hydrogen Highway Network."
CARB will provide up to 70 percent of the cost for the design, construction, maintenance and operation of each hydrogen station. The contractor will be on the hook for making the stations operational by June 30, 2010, and keep them operational for at least three years.
The stations will be open to the public and serve both fuel cell electric and hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a vocal proponent of the infrastructure since he signed an executive order in 2004 creating a public and private partnership to build a hydrogen highway in California by 2010. A fan of U.S. automobiles and a big believer in American ingenuity, he is pictured here driving a Cadillac.
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- Scott Doggett December 22, 2008, 1:15 AM
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, California Air Resources Board, California's Hydrogen Highway Network, CARB, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Zero Emission Vehicles
December 17, 2008
Honda took its sweet time, but finally delivered an FCX Clarity fuel-cell sedan to Edmunds.com's garage for a multi-day field test (we did one of the first test drives
a year ago, but that was only good for about two hours of seat time).
Features Editor Joanne Helperin, who writes for our sister blog, Strategies for Smart Car Buyers, took the futuristic car out to the test track Tuesday and in a piece posted this morning talks about driving the hydrogen-fueled Clarity in real-world conditions around town and on Southern California's freeway system.
If you're a cutting-edge trendsetter, very eco-conscious, or simply love Hondas, and if you can afford a $600-a-month, two-year lease and happen to live in Santa Monica, Torrance or Irvine, California, you must read Helperin's piece. From front to rear visibility, from the corn-based fabric on the seats to the host of techno-goodies, she provides insights you'd expect from someone who takes test drives for a living.
On the other hand, if you just want to know what it's like driving a vehicle that emits nothing but water vapor from the tailpipe and gets the equivalent of 74 miles per gallon, you must read Helperin's observations, too. Can Honda dampen the high-pitched whine the FCX Clarity lets out every time the accelerator is depressed? Helperin has her doubts.
So jump on over and give it a read. Then come back for more Green Car Advisor.
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- John O'Dell December 17, 2008, 4:30 AM
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December 15, 2008
Despite financial woes that threaten the automaker's survival, General Motors is continuing research on a fuel-cell electric vehicle, announcing that sometime this week one of the 100 Chevy Equinox FCEVs being driven in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., as part of Chevrolet's Project Driveway will drive the 500,000th zero-emissions mile of the real-world test program.
"This is a huge accomplishment, because we learn something about our vehicles, the hydrogen infrastructure and consumer acceptance of fuel-cell vehicles with every mile driven," Mary Beth Stanek, director of GM Fuel Cell Commercialization, said in a statement.
Fuel-cell cars and SUVs convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity through an onboard electro-chemical reaction. The electricity is then used to power the vehicles' drive motors.
Stanek said candid feedback on "everything from the way the vehicle looks to technical input on brake 'feel' and performance to fueling experiences" has led to the resolution of several hundred customer issues.
The program has also provided Stanek and others associated with the Equinox with insight into how these vehicles are being used under real-world driving conditions, she said.
"We've been able to use these experiences to extend fuel-cell stack life and improve the regenerative braking system, which has already benefited our two-mode hybrid vehicles since it's the same brake system used on the Saturn Vue, Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon two-mode hybrids," she said.
No automaker is saying that it expects to make FCEVs available for purchase this side of 2020, but without programs such as Project Driveway they likely would never appear in a showroom.
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- Scott Doggett December 15, 2008, 2:20 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen
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, Chevrolet Project Driveway, Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, FCEV, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, GM, GMC Yukon Hybrid, Saturn Vue
December 12, 2008
Mercedes-Benz will unveil a small family of BlueZero electric-drive concept vehicles at next month's 2009 Detroit Auto Show, and the official images of one of them have already been leaked on several German Web sites.
The least complicated of the three concepts is the BlueZero E-Cell, a pure-electric plug-in model featuring a 100-kilowatt motor with 236 pound-feet of torque and a lithium-ion battery pack. The range is said to be just over 60 miles on a two-hour charge.
An extended-range companion is the BlueZero E-Cell Plus, a gas-electric hybrid that adds a turbocharged three-cylinder engine from the Smart stable as an onboard generator to boost range to nearly 375 miles.
The third model is the BlueZero F-Cell, which uses a hydrogen fuel cell to deliver 136 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque, with zero emissions.
Slightly more information can be found about these vehicles at our sister site, Edmunds' Inside Line.
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- Scott Doggett December 12, 2008, 1:27 PM
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December 11, 2008
The World Car of the Year organization has announced the initial slate of candidates for 2009 World Green Car of the Year.
Launched three years ago, the title has been awarded in the past to the BMW 118d (2008), the Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec (2007) and the Honda Civic Hybrid (2006).
The 2009 candidates must be new and on sale by December 31.
The list includes the Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (pictured), BMW 335d BluePerformance, Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon hybrids, Citroen C1, Fiat Palio Weekend Electric, Fiat Siena Tetrafuel model, Honda FCX Clarity. Go to Edmunds.com's Inside Line to view more candidates.
The organization includes working automotive journalists from around the globe, including regular Inside Line contributors Matt Davis, Hormazd Sorabjee, Peter Nunn and Peter Lyon.
The top 10 finalists will be announced in January, with the winner revealed in April at the 2009 New York Auto Show.
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- Scott Doggett December 11, 2008, 1:33 PM
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, BMW 335d BluePerformance, Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, Citroen C1, Fiat Palio Weekend Electric, Fiat Siena Tetrafuel, GMC Yukon Hybrid, Honda FCX Clarity., World Green Car of the Year
December 2, 2008
The viability plan
General Motors submitted to Congress today called for $18 billion in taxpayer aid and a dramatic shift in the company's U.S. portfolio, with 22 of 24 new vehicle launches in 2009-2012 being more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers.
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CEO Rick Wagoner. Better days ahead?
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And, yes, the plan calls for GM to cease all corporate aircraft operations, effective immediately.
After stating that over the past 15 years it "spent over $103 billion on retiree healthcare and pension expense, crowding out investment otherwise made in quality, safety, fuel efficiency and innovation," GM said it will substantially change its product mix over the next four years and "launch predominately high-mileage, energy-efficient cars and crossovers."
The plan includes introducing to the U.S. market the smallest 4-passenger vehicle, achieving higher fuel economy than the 2-passenger Smart Fortwo, which is the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid vehicle currently sold in America.
The plan for 2009 includes seven new vehicle launches in the United States, all of which will be either car or crossover models.
The plan also calls for making most of GM's vehicles flex-fuel capable by 2012--hopefully, the "flex" fuels will be greener by then, too--and it calls for GM to offer 15 hybrid models by then.
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- Scott Doggett December 2, 2008, 4:24 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Chevy Volt
, Electric Vehicle, Flex Fuel, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficient, General Motors, GM, Hybrid
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe and is often hailed as the automotive fuel of the future, due to its environmentally friendly emissions: a dribble of water and a little heat.
However, the pure hydrogen needed to power fuel-cell vehicles doesn't occur naturally. It has to be manufactured using a process that requires an extraordinary amount of electricity.
Scientists at the University of Michigan say they have invented a device that can harness enough energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents to power for the entire world.
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot (about one mile an hour), meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.
Existing technologies that use water power--relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams--are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea.
Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of Earth's currents are slower than three knots. The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.
As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.
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- Scott Doggett December 2, 2008, 8:31 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
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, EV, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Michael Bernitsas, PHEV, Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle, University of Michigan, VIVACE
November 23, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Volkswagen's first extreme-conditions test of a fuel-cell vehicle was held in the dead of winter on a high mountain pass in southern Switzerland famous for catastrophic auto accidents caused by brake failures and for small-plane crashes resulting from unscheduled contact with alps.
The chilling test was conducted seven short years ago.
Last weekend, the wagen volks of Wolfsburg allowed a gaggle of auto writers to put two fuel-cell electric vehicles through an extreme-conditions test at latitude 34(degrees)04N, longitude 118(degrees)25W. A place called Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimming pools, movie stars.
In perfect bikini weather, the writers test drove the FCHVs there during brunch--a four-hour span when moms and nannies in sport utility vehicles rule the roads. One of the vehicles was a Touran HyMotion minivan (above), the other a Passat Lingyu sedan (see jump).
A fuel cell SUV--the Tiguan HyMotion--was to undergo testing as well but was a no-show. At least for now it escaped close scrutiny while rolling on Sunset Boulevard, where fender-benders are as common as tummy tucks, but alas the Touran HyMotion and Passat Lingyu did not.
Continue reading...
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- Scott Doggett November 23, 2008, 1:29 AM
- Categories:
- Batteries, China, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Volkswagen
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, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Passat Lingyu, Touran HyMotion, Volkswagen, VW, Zero Emissions
November 20, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
We were expecting, maybe, that Honda might juice up its press conference at the LA Auto Show with an updated concept version of the hybrid sports coupe the company's been teasing us with.
But no, boring old Honda pulled the covers off the same CR-Z concept it first rolled out at the 2007 Tokyo show.
Then the company found excitement, knocking our socks off by rolling out an all-new design study -- a fuel cell sports car concept called, back in boring old Honda mode, the FC Sport.
On a more mundane plane, Honda also rolled out the Insight Hybrid concept (which, we're told, is pretty much a giveaway off what the production model will look like) that it first showed at the Paris auto show last month.
The Insight (right)
, which resurrects the name given Honda's first hybrid, will debut next year in the U.S. as a five-passenger compact that slots into the lineup beneath the Civic and Civic Hybrid and will be priced, the company suggests, a few thousand dollars less than the base Toyota Prius.
Unlike hybrid-centric Toyota, though, Honda thinks of hybrids as an interim step to a brave new world of silent, zero-emissions electric cars that produce their own juice by blending hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell stack.
That's what the FC Sport Concept is all about.
We're not naive enough to think we'll ever see a Honda that looks quite like it - with or without a fuel-cell electric powertrain - but we do think that developing the concept shows Honda still believes fuel cells have a future. (Indeed, the company in July began leasing its limited-production FCX Clarity fuel-cell sedan to select customers in the Southern California.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell November 20, 2008, 3:00 AM
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, Honda Fuel Cell Sports Car Concept, Honda Insight Hybrid, Los Angeles Auto Show
November 19, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Hyundai Motor Co., itching for the same level of respect U.S. consumers give fuel-economy leaders Toyota and Honda, is beginning to roll out a broad family of efficient new green cars aimed at making it the nation's gas mileage leader by 2015.
Borrowing a page from German's Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, Hyundai has chose to make its green cars Blue -calling its fuel-efficiency initiative the Hyundai Blue Drive.
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Cutaway shows architecture for Hyundai's Blue Drive hybrid system, with flat, rear-mounted battery pack and 4-cylinder gas engine and electric motor drivingfron wheels.
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The South Korean carmaker, which
previously had pledged
to have a U.S. retail fleet with average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon five years before that standard will be mandated, said in a press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show today that it will achieve the goal with a mix of conventional and plug-in hybrids, advanced-technology gasoline internal combustion engines and, in select states, fuel-cell electric vehicles.
As a first step, Hyundai officials said, the company will introduce fuel-efficient "Blue" editions of its gasoline-fueled Accent and Elantra compacts in 2009.
The cars will use low rolling-resistance tires, aerodynamic bodywork, higher gearing and specially tuned engines to achieve better mileage and lower tailpipe emissions that present models of the same cars.
A similar "Blue Motion" line was launched by Volkswagen in 2006. Mercedes-Benz followed with its "Blue Efficiency" effort early this year.
Hyundai Hybrid
The Blues will be followed in 2010 by a gasoline-electric hybrid model of the Sonata midsize sedan (below, left) designed expressly for the North American market.
Hyundai said its "full hybrid" Sonata - capable of a limited amount of all-electric travel - is jumping past the lithium-ion battery technology that American, Europe and Japanese automakers are racing to perfect and instead says it will go with a lithium polymer technology for its various battery-dependent models.
Plug-in versions that use larger, grid-rechargeable battery packs for longer all-electric range, will follow at an unspecified pace, company executives said.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell November 19, 2008, 1:55 PM
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, Hyundai Fuel Cell Vehicle, Hyundai hybrid, Los Angeles Auto Show
November 17, 2008
Fueling Alternatives, California's alternative fuel vehicle rebate program, has added the 2009 Honda Civic GX compressed natural gas car to its list of vehicles
that are eligible for a $3,000 rebate under the state-funded program.
The 2009 model joins the 2007 and 2008 Civic GX, as well as the BAF conversions for the 2007 Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis, as eligible for $3,000 rebates.
Eleven other models are eligible for smaller rebates and two models--the 2008 Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen-powered fuel-cell sedan and the all-electric 2008 Tesla Roadster--are eligible for $5,000 rebates.
Additionally, the 2009 Civic GX might qualify for a $4,000 federal new-energy tax credit. The 2005-2008 Civic GX models meet the Internal Revenue Service criteria for that tax credit, but the IRS has not yet extended the tax credit to the 2009 model.
The Civic GX is fueled by compressed natural gas for nearly zero emissions. It is fuel-economy rated for 24 miles per gallon equivalent in the city and 36 mpg equivalent on the highway by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The vehicle's suggested starting price is $25,090.
More information about the Civic GX can be found at Edmund's Inside Line Website, where Green Car Advisor Senior Editor John O'Dell has been reviewing a 2007 model on a regular basis for many months, and at Honda's Website for the U.S.
Fueling Alternatives is funded by the California Air Resources Board and administered by the California Center for Sustainable Energy. A total of $1.8 million was appropriated and directed toward vehicle incentive rebates to promote the use and production of alternative fuel vehicles.
Rebates of up to $5,000 are available for California residents who purchase or lease new eligible alternative-fuel vehicles between May 24, 2007, and March 31, 2009, or until funding runs out. For more information, go to Fueling Alternatives' Website.
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- Scott Doggett November 17, 2008, 7:46 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Legislation, Lincoln, Mercury, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
- Technorati Tags:
- 2008 Honda FCX Clarity
, 2008 Tesla Roadster, 2009 Honda Civic GX, Alternative Fuel, California Air Resources Board, California Center for Sustainable Energy, Compressed Natural Gas, Emissions, Environmental Protection Agency, Ford Crown Victoria, Fuel Economy, Fueling Alternatives, Internal Revenue Service, Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis
November 10, 2008
By
James Riswick, Edmunds.com
Kia Motors is making gradual progress towards a greener future, although commercialization of its technologies remains a few years off.
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Kia Sportage FCEV is carmaker's third-generation fuel-cell electric vehicle.
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At the heart of the company's environmentally friendly initiative is an R&D facility, located near Seoul, created to develop green technologies for Kia and its parent company, Hyundai Motor.
I journeyed late last month to South Korea to sample Kia's latest green prototypes at another Hyundai-Kia R&D facility, located in Namyang and home to a full proving ground.
Kia presently has two generations of its hybrid technology in prototype vehicles: the original, a Kia Rio Hybrid, and the second a Kia C'eed Hybrid based on the popular Kia five-door hatchback solid in Europe.
Both vehicles showcase a Honda-style "mild" hybrid powertrain featuring auto engine stop, regenerative braking and electric boost when accelerating. They cannot accelerate solely under electric power, as can vehicles with "full" hybrid systems such as Toyota's.
The first Kia hybrid will show up in 2009 in the next-generation Spectra for the Korean market.
It will use a battery-electric system as described above, coupled to an internal combustion engine fuelled by liquid propane, which is readily available throughout the domestic market.
The first Kia hybrid for the U.S. will arrive in 2010 as a part of the completely redesigned 2011 Kia Optima lineup. It is uncertain how much the company's hybrid technology will evolve by then, but whatever technological advancements emerge will be shared with the Hyundai Sonata.
Kia officials say the company will not be producing a dedicated hybrid model, as they view hybrid technology as only a temporary step in the evolution of alternative powerplants for the personal auto.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell November 10, 2008, 3:01 AM
- Categories:
- Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Kia, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Kia Kuel Cell electric Vehicle
, Kia Plug In Hybrid, Kia's Green Plans
November 5, 2008
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the company founded and controlled through majority stock interest by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, issued a press release today following the defeat
of a California ballot measure that would have resulted in rebates for natural-gas-powered vehicles at great taxpayers' expense
.
Here is the press release in its entirety:
California voters yesterday turned down Proposition 10. Named The California Renewable Energy and Clean Alternative Fuels Initiative, the measure was a $5-billion, first-in-the-nation public investment to provide funds for a wide variety of clean energy projects across the state, including consumer incentives for clean alternative vehicle fuels and the construction of renewable energy generation facilities, such as solar and wind power plants.
"Everyone talks about reducing the use of imported oil, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and cleaning the air through the use of alternative energy resources, and California's voters considered supporting these critical goals in a meaningful way," said Andrew J. Littlefair, President and CEO, Clean Energy. "The passage of Prop 10 would have provided an important funding mechanism to rapidly turn these goals into a reality throughout the state.
"We supported the initiative, and while Prop 10 may have served as a catalyst to accelerate our growth, its failure does not reduce our opportunities. We believe our core business is strong and pledge to continue to help California and the nation meet our critical goals of reducing imported oil while increasing the use of clean, alternative energy for the health and welfare of all our citizens," Littlefair noted.
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- Scott Doggett November 5, 2008, 10:31 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Coal, Diesel, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Natural Gas, Oil
- Technorati Tags:
- California
, Clean Energy Fuels Corp., Natural Gas, Proposition 10, Renewable Energy and Clean Alternative Fuels, T. Boone Pickens
October 24, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
In yet another example of why it is foolish to install the roof before the walls are up, a government report finds that while federal agencies are meeting a mandate to buy and lease mostly flex-fuel vehicles these days, they rarely put anything but gasoline in the tanks.
That, of course, defeats the concept of using alternative fuels to boost our energy security - something you'd think federal agencies would be concerned about.
The problem is that alt fuel availability is pretty limited except in the midwest corn belt, where most of the nation's ethanol pumps are grouped.
Nationally, there are about 117,000 conventional gas stations but only 5,731 private and public alternative fuel stations.
That stunningly small total, compiled by the Energy Department, includes stations dispensing one or more of the various alt fuels: bio-diesel, compressed natural gas, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, liquid natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, which accounts for 2,141 stations, or 37 percent of the total.
While Detroit loves to make flex-fuel vehicles - automakers get extra credits for them than help them meet federal fuel economy requirements even though the cars and trucks aren't being used to help lower petroleum consumption - fuel companies are loathe to spend the money to install alt fueling pumps.
Additionally, ethanol, the most common alternative fuel after LPG, is corrosive and must be shipped by tanker truck, so moving it from the refineries to areas with large populations of flex-fuel vehicles gets to be an uneconomical proposition.
Limited availability of non-petroleum fuels means that it is not likely that government agencies can comply with mandates to boost alt-fuels use and reduce petroleum-based fuel use over the next several years, the Government Accountability Agency said in its just-released report.
The GAO complained that while agencies made sure they met the mandate that 75 percent of their new-vehicle fleets be flex-fuel compatible by the end of fiscal 2007, many - including the Energy Department, which ought to have known better - never ensured that the vehicles used alternative fuels.
Investigators said 2006 data indicate that the agencies primarily relied on gasoline, and that while they failed to file reports for 2007, there was no reason to believe things have changed.
The watchdog agency also said it found "persistent data problems" that made it doubt the accuracy of government agency reports showing that about half have achieved the goal of using 10 percent more alternative fuel than in 2006 while two-third have achieved the goal of lowering gasoline and diesel usage by 2 percent.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell October 24, 2008, 3:01 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Alternative Fuel
, Flex Fuel Vehicles
October 15, 2008
Mazda Motor Corp. today introduced an RX-8 Hydrogen RE validation vehicle to Norway's public roads in collaboration with the Norwegian national hydrogen project, or HyNor.
This marks the first time that a Mazda hydrogen rotary vehicle has been put into regular use on public roads outside Japan.
Initially, only one hydrogen RX-8 validation vehicle will be put in use in Norway, but the number will rise to 30 under commercial lease contracts beginning in fiscal year 2009.
The sole hydrogen RX-8 RE (rotary engine) was delivered in advance so that Mazda and HyNor, a national project that aims to establish a clean energy transport system based on hydrogen fuel, can jointly assess its driving performance in Norway.
HyNor includes a hydrogen energy infrastructure -- think filling stations -- under construction along a 360-mile route from Oslo to Stavanger.
Said Akihiro Kashiwagi, Mazda's program manager in charge of hydrogen rotary engine development: "Up to now, real world use of Mazda's hydrogen rotary vehicles has been limited to Japan. Participation in the HyNor project marks our advancement to the next stage."
Kashiwagi said Mazda will use the project's data to further develop hydrogen vehicles.
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- Scott Doggett October 15, 2008, 7:12 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Mazda
- Technorati Tags:
- Akihiro Kashiwagi
, HyNor, Mazda Motor Corp., Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE, Norway
October 10, 2008
Right, pillared graphene.
Greek researchers say they have designed a new material that almost meets the U.S. Department of Energy 2010 goals for hydrogen storage and could help eliminate a key roadblock to practical hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Their study on a way of safely storing hydrogen, an explosive gas, appeared in Wednesday's issue of American Chemical Society's monthly Journal Nano Letters.
Georgios K. Dimitrakakis, Emmanuel Tylianakis and George E. Froudakis wrote that scientists hope to use carbon nanotubes -- tiny cylinders of carbon -- as miniature storage tanks for hydrogen in the next generation of fuel cell vehicles.
In the new study, the researchers used computer modeling to design a unique hydrogen-storage structure consisting of parallel graphene sheets -- layers of carbon just one atom thick -- stabilized by vertical columns of carbon cylinders. They also added lithium ions to the material's design to enhance its storage capacity.
The scientists' calculations showed that their so-called "pillared graphene" could theoretically store up to 41 grams of hydrogen per liter, almost matching the Energy Department's target of 45 grams of hydrogen per liter for transportation applications.
But, the researchers noted, "experimentalists are challenged to fabricate this material and validate its storage capacity."
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- Scott Doggett October 10, 2008, 7:32 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- American Chemical Society
, Department of Energy, Hydrogen, Nano Letters, Pillared Graphene
October 9, 2008
Right, Mazda's RX-8 Hydrogen RE.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Mazda doesn't get nearly the attention of Japan's Big 3, but it's hard to believe the automaker would remain No. 4 if its work on hydrogen-powered vehicles continues as it has.
And now the company known for extensive use of the Felix Wankel engine (think rotary) is gunning to become famous for hydrogen hybrid rotary engines.
Speaking to the British publication Autocar Wednesday, Mazda CEO for Europe James Muir said the automaker "will do the hydrogen rotary engine, but it won't be in production for at least five years."
That's significant, because while many automakers are working on hydrogen vehicles, most are focusing on running hydrogen through a fuel cell to generate electricity for an electric motor.
Very few carmakers -- Mazda among them -- are burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine. And that's something Mazda has been doing for a while with success.
Indeed, it has been four years to the month since the Japanese government granted Mazda approval to road test modified RX-8 sports cars that can run on gasoline and hydrogen with the flick of a switch.
With that approval, Mazda built a test fleet of more than 30 hydrogen-fueled rotary RX-8 Hydrogen RE (rotary engine) sports cars and drove the heck out of them.
The result of all that testing: The engine "proved ideal for burning hydrogen as the intake area of a rotary engine stays relatively cool in temperature, reducing the tendency for engine backfire -- a significant challenge in conventional engines."
Continue reading...
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- Scott Doggett October 9, 2008, 8:43 AM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mazda
- Technorati Tags:
- Mazda Hydrogen Rotary Engine
October 6, 2008
People are paying a lot of attention to battery-electric car technology these days, what with all the promotion for the Chevrolet Volt and the megawatts of info about new hybrids and EV programs being generated by the Paris Auto Show.
But though batteries seem to be in the ascendancy, still lurking as a contender to replace gasoline, diesel and other carbon-based liquids as a clean, green and zero-emissions fuel is hydrogen.
Even as they get ready to launch a variety of hybrid and battery-electric vehicles, Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM, Volkswagen, Daimler, Hyundai and several other major automakers all are deep into development of fuel-cell electric cars.
They use hydrogen to produce the electricity that powers their drive motors, carrying the compressed gas in on-board storage tanks that can be rapidly refilled, eliminating the often-lengthy recharging stops a battery-electric vehicle would have to make.
Honda, with the FCX Clarity fuel-cell sedan lease program in Los Angeles, and GM, with its Equinox fuel cell SUV lend-lease program in California, New York and Washington, D.C., have shown that the technology is nearly market-ready: The big issue with the vehicles themselves is cost of what now are custom, virtually hand-made fuel cell systems and associated electronic controls.
Volume sales could cure that problem fairly rapidly, though, as a supply chain would grow and economies of scale would bring costs down out of the stratosphere.
Still missing, though, is any meaningful national effort -- by government or private enterprise -- to step up to the plate with a way to produce hydrogen from renewable resources and to get it into easily and readily available dispensing stations.
GM, which has done more than any other company to explore the challenges facing a national hydrogen fuel infrastructure, says it would cost at least $10 billion - possibly as much as $24 billion -- for a base system of 12,000 stations that would serve the 100 largest metropolitan areas of the nation and reach 70 percent of the driving public.
Add billons more to stretch to a nationwide system that would enable the owners of one of tomorrow's fuel-cell cars to drive any-and-everywhere they could have driven in one of today's internal combustion vehicles.
Green Car Advisor r
eader Greg Blencoe - who admittedly has an agenda as chief executive of a start-up hydrogen pipeline company - has offered a suggestion for getting things moving.
We were intrigued when we read it and think that it that merits discussion.
So with his permission, we're posting Blencoe's call for a system of hydrogen fueling station cooperatives, a suggestion that would have those committed to the technology pay for it, and perhaps benefit from being early backers.
By way of disclosure, Blencoe is CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries Inc., a start-up in Oak Ridge, Tenn., that is using a technology licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where his father - the company's chief scientist - was a research scientist for 23 years.
The company claims to have developed a polymer-metal pipeline technology that is cheaper and more efficient that the carbon steel material and building processes now used for hydrogen pipelines.
Here's his idea.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell October 6, 2008, 3:03 AM
- Categories:
- Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Hydrogen Discoveries
, Hydrogen Fueling Stations Proposal
September 29, 2008
AltCar Expo 2008 closed its doors Saturday evening, ending from what by all accounts was another successful effort to showcase alternative transporation or fuels technologies to mainstream consumers.
We brought you a couple of pre-event reports and now are taking advantage of the goods nature of one of our colleagues, Edmunds New Product Manager Dori Merifield, to bring us a wrap-up report from the eyes - and pen - of one of those interested consumers.
Dori is an member of Edmund's corporate Green Team, helping to make sure the company is an environmentally responsible corporate citizen, and is an active environmental advocate in her own right.
She spent much of Saturday at AltCar, listening to the various symposia, examining displays and vehicles and talking to expo-goers and exhibitors about the event and the products.
Here's her report:
Thousands of people visited AltCar Expo over the weekend, many hoping to find an efficient but viable alternative to their present cars and trucks.
The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was filled with vehicles large and small that ran on a variety of alternative fuels - electricity, natural gas, hydrogen, biodiesel and even compressed air.
AltCar visitor examines Hybrid Technologies' Mini Cooper EV conversion.
There were also lots of conversion companies on hand hoping to persuade people of the wisdom of converting existing cars to a plug-in electric vehicles.
At one symposium, UC Davis Professor Andy Frank - father of the plug-in - explained why using electric cars to help reduce our oil consumption is so important: "Oil production is going to peak this year or next - after that supply will decrease and the cost will only increase."
Peter Ward, of the California Energy Commission staff, said the bigger problem is that 38 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in California come from transportation (a lot of that is from buses, delivery trucks and other commercial vehicles) and that the state is the third largest consumer of gasoline in the world.
Frank believes the solution is to convert existing cars to alternative energy.
Most cars on the road aren't new, he said, "so if only 10 percent of new cars are hybrid or electric, we're only replacing 1% of all the cars on the road each year. We simply don't have 50 years to make this change."
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell September 29, 2008, 1:49 PM
- Categories:
- Auto Shows, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Green Vehicles, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, MINI, Miles, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric
September 26, 2008
The parking lot of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was jammed with environmentally friendly vehicles during lunch hour Thursday, but the sounds and smells were more suited for a darkened stretch of road in the San Fernando Valley on a Friday night as the screech of spinning tires and the smell of burning rubber wafted over us.
"Short of putting grippier tires on it, there's not a lot you can do," said Owen Emry, senior firmware engineer of electric drivetrain maker AC Propulsion
, as reporters unaccustomed to the added torque of the electric vehicles to be featured at AltCar Expo 2008
regularly broke loose the tires of the cars they were sampling.
About a dozen of the 100 or so vehicles being featured at the public event from 10 a.m.to 5 p.m. today and Friday were were on display to the media Thursday as advanced-technology car-, truck- and drivetrain makers prepared to show off their products and prototypes.
AltCar, which is in its third year and is one of the nation's premier showcases for alternatives to the conventional gasoline-burning automobile
The previewed vehicles ranged from a battery-powered, three-wheeled, stand-up people mover -- think Segway with a front wheel and handlebars -- used for security and events management to a Porsche Boxster retrofitted to run on tanks filled with compressed air.
The vehicle makers will pitch their goods to the 10,000 people estimated to show up for the event, which will also include a panel on climate change and a symposium on the future of mass transit.
"Fuel costs are going up, and if we look at production resources, they're finite," said Glenn Bell, chief executive officer of AirFuelAuto
.
The Fremont, California-based company's Boxster is powered by air compressed to 2,200 pounds per square inch, or about 50 times a typical car tire's air pressure. It allows the two-seat convertible to run at 65 miles per hour for about 50 miles.
The event takes place this year under U.S. economic conditions that may either help or hinder the development and financing of such vehicles.
While rising gas prices shorten the amount of time it takes to earn back the extra cost of such vehicles through fuel savings, Wall Street's financial crisis and a possible $700 billion government bail out may shrink federal funding and tax breaks that most alternative vehicle backers insist are critical to getting their products into the mainstream.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell September 26, 2008, 6:01 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Auto Shows, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- AltCar Expo 2008
, Electric Vehicles
September 23, 2008
Unlike most of the vehicles there, it won't be running, but a production model of General Motors Corp.'s Volt series hybrid car (left)
will be on hand for viewing at AltCar Expo 2008
this weekend in Santa Monica, Calif.
The two-day event, now in its third year, is one of the nation's premier showcases for alternatives to the conventional gasoline-burning automobile.
Organizers say more than 100 vehicles - cars, trucks, scooters and 'cycles with natural gas, battery-electric, hydrogen fuel-cell electric, compressed air, biodiesel, flex-fuel and hybrid propulsion systems - will be on hand, several available for test drives.
The expo, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, drew more than 10,000 attendees last year.
In addition to the vehicle displays, the event features numerous displays by alternative energy providers and proponents; a series of seminars addressing climate change and transportation and energy trends and featuring panelists from government, industry and advocacy groups.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell September 23, 2008, 3:02 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Audi, Auto Shows, BMW, Biofuels, Diesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Motorcycles, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar, Transportation Alternatives
- Technorati Tags:
- AltCar Expo 2008
, Alternative Fuel, Santa Monica Alternative Car Expo
September 15, 2008
We opined last week that Honda was skipping at least the initial heat of the battery electric vehicle race to concentrate on its hybrid and fuel-cell electric programs.
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Honda believes fuel-cell electric cars such as its FCX Clarity will be marketable before battery-electric vehicles can make the grade.
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Now comes word, via Bloomberg News, that the automaker also is bowing out of the plug-in hybrid contest.
Batteries just aren't advanced enough to make rechargeable gasoline-electric vehicles sensible replacements for gasoline-only cars, Honda research chief Masaaki Kato said in a recent interview with the business news service.
"For battery-powered vehicles to become more widespread, more popular in the market, we feel battery technology needs to advance further,'' Kato said. "We just don't see it providing the type of driving performance you get with a gasoline-powered vehicle.''
Honda's reticence flys in the face of aggressive moves by General Motors Corp, with its promised Volt plug-in sedan, due in fleets in small numbers toward the end of next year and scheduled for mass production at the end of 2010, and Toyota Motor Corp., which is developing a plug-in Prius hybrid for fleet use and has scheduled a late 2009 introduction (no word on when or if the car will be made available in the retail market).
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell September 15, 2008, 2:40 PM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- FCX Clarity
, Honda Fuel Cell, plug-in hybrid
September 3, 2008
By
Scott Doggett, Contributor
and John O'Dell, Senior Editor
General Motors has reaped a ton of publicity from its Chevrolet Volt, a car with a grid-charged battery pack that will power an electric motor and an on-board gasoline engine that will generate electricity to keep the electric motor running and recharge the batteries when the initial plug-in charge is depleted.
Often missed in all the high-voltage buzz is that Ford Motor Co. showed a concept car with essentially the same system during the same January 2007 Detroit Auto Show at which the Volt took its bows.
Now comes word that Ford's Japanese subsidiary, Mazda, is putting its zoom into development of a Volt competitor of its own.
The British blog autocar says it has "learned that Mazda engineers are hard at work trying to develop a rival to the Chevrolet Volt -- a car which uses a petrol engine to charge a battery pack which powers the wheels via an electric motor."
High-ranking sources at Mazda, autocar reports, "say that trials are currently underway in Japan, with a prototype that uses a rotary engine to charge the battery pack. The tests are sufficiently advanced that Mazda has a working prototype in a Mazda 5 MPV bodyshell. Company bosses are said to be keen to put this system into production but no firm decisions will be made until the cost of batteries is reduced.
"In the meantime the company will concentrate on simpler green technologies. The first stop-start Mazda will go on sale in Japan next year and the system is expected to be rolled out globally on a variety of models."
Continue reading...
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- Scott Doggett September 3, 2008, 3:01 AM
- Categories:
- Auto Shows, Batteries, Chevrolet, Diesel, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mazda, Plug-ins and Electric, Volvo
- Technorati Tags:
- Chevrolet Volt
, E-Flex, Electric Vehicles, Ford, Fuel Cell, General Motors, GM, Hydrogen, HySeries Drive, Mazda, PHEV, plug-in hybrid
September 2, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Chrysler co-president Jim Press, the carmaker's self-described "demand" man charged with developing a product line people actually want to buy, says that despite its image, the company isn't stuck in the performance-car track and is well on the way to launching a full slate of "green" vehicles.
In addition to gas-electric hybrid models of the Chrysler Aspen (left)
and Dodge Durango SUVs just hitting dealer showrooms and a hybrid Dodge Ram pickup due next year, Chrysler engineers are testing a trio of hybrid and all-electric models with componments that are "near" market-ready, Press said.
Speaking to a group of automotive journalists and industry insiders in Los Angeles today, Press -- former head of Toyota's ultra-successful U.S. sales and marketing operation -- said that while a slimmed-down Chrysler will not abandon the Hemi V8s, hulking trucks and off-road vehicles it is known for, it is also looking at ways to boost fuel economy and, eventually, offer plug-in hybrid and battery-electric versions of many of its models.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell September 2, 2008, 2:35 PM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Chrysler, Daimler, Dodge, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, Hydrogen, Jeep, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Chrysler Green Vehicles
, Chrysler Plug-In Hybrids, Jim Press
August 28, 2008
We complain, a lot, that there aren't enough hydrogen stations around to make use of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, even in test programs, very practical.
So we owe it to the alternative fuel's biggest backer, the National Hydrogen Assn., to note that two new stations were opened this month during the just-completed Hydrogen Road Tour '08 program, and that a third new one is scheduled to open next week.
They will bring to 70 the total stock of operating hydrogen fuel stations in North America - 9 in Canada and 61 in the U.S., with 28 of those in just one state, California.
First to open was dedicated Aug. 11 in Billerica, Mass. (it is also the first hydrogen station in the entire state), followed by a station in Rolla, Mo., at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
The third new facility is slated to open Sept. 4 on the campus of Humboldt State University in Humboldt, Calif.
The hydrogen association lists stations - one list for those in operation, another for 41 that are planned but not yet open -- in an online hydrogen fuel station database and you can click here to see it and to see how many more milestones need to be added to the hydrogen highway that politicians like to talk about before it its truly a transcontinental road.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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- John O'Dell August 28, 2008, 3:01 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Hydrogen Highway
, National Hydrogen Association
August 25, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
If the though of driving around with tanks of hydrogen pressurized to 5,000 pounds per square inch makes you nervous, consider this: Fire fighters routinely enter burning buildings with 4,500 psi air tanks strapped to their backs.
With those words of assurance, GM hydrogen specialist Alex Karos led us out to the fuel-cell Equinox for our first refueling lesson.
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GM's Alex Karos, center, explains working of hydrogen fuel nozzle while Edmunds editors Chris Walton (left) and Brian Moody (back to camera) look on.
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Yup, I've driven and blogged about the Chevrolet Equniox fuel-cell electric vehicle several times in the past year, even wrote our first-drive review of it for Inside Line. But I'd never actually pumped any of its hydrogen fuel.
Well, General Motors finally has a few Equinoxes (Equinoxii? Equinii?) in its long-term media fleet and has loaned one to the crew at Edmunds for the next week.
So you'll be reading a lot more about it in up coming reviews from staffers for both Edmunds.com and Edmunds Inside Line. We here at Green Car Advisor will provide links to the pieces as they appear so you'll not miss 'em.
Still A Gas
But while you're waiting, we though we'd try to give you a feel for a fueling process that could someday replace topping off the tank with a gas other than gasoline.
Right now it's a bit more difficult - requiring a greater degree of dexterity than pulling into your local service station for a tank of regular unleaded.
We did, actually, pull into a local service station, a Shell station on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Federal Way in West Los Angeles. Shell recently installed a hydrogen pump there as part of program, backed by the feds, to help get people used to the idea of hydrogen as a fuel for passenger cars.
There are two big islands at the station, one with a bunch of gas pumps, the other with a gas pump and the new one labeled "Shell Hydrogen."
There were 10 of us from Edmunds gathered there the other morning, all aiming to drive the Equinox while we have it and all required to go through the brief fueling lesson so we could fill it up ourselves while out there on the road.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell August 25, 2008, 3:05 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Green Vehicles, Hydrogen
- Technorati Tags:
- Equinox Fuel Cell Vehicle
, General Motors, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles, Pumping Hydrogen, Shell Hydrogen
As the nine cars crossed the Hydrogen Road Tour
"finish line" Saturday in the shadow of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, promoters of the 13-day, 31-city event piped in Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" - theme song of "Rocky III" -as many in the audience of about 150 people waved mini checkered flags.
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Daimler's A-Class mercedes-Benz fuel cell car on display at Road Tour finale.
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The image they hoped to convey, of course, was the hydrogen, like actor Sylvester Stallone's fictional fighter, Rocky, is a winner.
It remains to be seen, though, whether the hydrogen fuel-cell technology promoted by the tour has a chance of knocking gas-electric hybrids out of contention as the dominant alternative to fossil fuel-powered engines.
General Motors, Honda, Toyota and Nissan were among automakers showing off their hydrogen fuel-cell cars by featuring them in the tour, which began in Portland, Maine, on Aug. 11 and ended Saturday at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.The tour was backed by the U.S. Energy and Transportation departments, the National Hydrogen Association and the California Fuel Cell Partnership.
Fully fueled, such cars, which produce electricity through an electro-chemical process in the fuel cell stack and limit tailpipe emissions to mere drops of water, have traveling ranges that vary from 100 miles for Daimler's Mercedes-Benz F-Cell to about 270 miles for Honda's FCX Clarity.
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- John O'Dell August 25, 2008, 2:30 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Green Vehicles, Honda, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota
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, Green Vehicles, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles, Hydrogen Road Tour
August 21, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
It sometimes looks like the automotive future is all about batteries, but there's still a lot of research into hydrogen,with a
potential breakthrough
just announced at an
American Chemical Society
meeting this week.
Researchers at
Ohio State University
say they've developed a new catalyst that can convert ethanol - and possibly other biofuels - to hydrogen at far less cost than possible with present methods and materials.
----------
Producing and distribution hydrogen fuel -- there are only 63 pumps in the entire country -- is one of major impediments to development of fuel-cell electric cars.
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The catalyst could make it possible for individual fuel stations to produce hydrogen on site, eliminating the need for costly pipeline or other national distribution systems and hastening the day when fuel-cell electric vehicles could become a viable part of the nation's transportation pool.
Umit Ozkan, the chemical and biomolecular engineering professor who developed the catalyst, said it costs about 26 cents an ounce to produce - while rhodium, the precious metal now used in most catalytic systems, costs about $9,000 an ounce.
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- John O'Dell August 21, 2008, 12:50 PM
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, Ohio State University
August 19, 2008
Ford Motor Co. announced today that its 30 fuel-cell test vehicles have exceeded the expectations of the company's hydrogen research engineers by accumulating more than 865,000 real world miles without significant maintenance issues since the fleet's launch three years ago.
Encouraged by the program's success, Ford said it recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to extend its three-year-old hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle program for up to 24 months, until the next-generation system is ready for deployment in the 2010 timeframe.
Ford was one of the first automakers to launch a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles in 2005, after unveiling a prototype in late 2003. Its Focus Fuel Cell fleet partners include government agencies across the U.S. and in Canada, Germany and Iceland, where cold climate testing is expected to result in significant performance improvements on the next generation.
Additional Ford hydrogen projects have included a fleet of 20 hydrogen internal combustion engine buses, the Fusion Hydrogen 999 that set a land speed record in 2007, a Fuel Cell Explorer and a Plug-in Hybrid Edge that uses a fuel cell-powered HySeries Drive.
A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle produces electricity through an electro-chemical process in the fuel cell stack. Its only tailpipe emissions are drops of water. Fuel cell vehicles hold the promise of decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming by replacing vehicles that run on fossil fuels.
According to Ford's global fuel cell team, the first-generation fuel-cell vehicles worked much better than originally expected with virtually no degradation in performance. In light of that success, the Department of Energy, which shares the test program's operating cost with Ford, agreed to extend the program.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett August 19, 2008, 3:47 PM
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- Emissions, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Hydrogen
August 15, 2008
In case you've been wondering, major automakers and the lame-duck Bush Administration have reaffirmed their joint commitment to hydrogen fuel and to getting fuel-cell electric and other hydrogen-using vehicles into the retail market by 2018.
The happy group renewed its vows during a hydrogen technology showcase Thursday in Washington.
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A pair of Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric Vehicles are shown in rendering of a hydrogen fuel station being installed near los Angeles International Airport.
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"With continued investment, hydrogen holds the potential to help fundamentally change the way we power our vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Bud Albright, an Energy Department undersecretary, said in remarks delivered during the public showcase.
The Energy Department, Transportation Department, nine automakers with prototype hydrogen-using vehicles and a number of fuel companies and other hydrogen advocates are in the midst of a cross-country tour to promote hydrogen as the logical successor to oil for fueling cars and trucks.
The manufacturers in "Hydrogen Road Tour '08" are BMW, Daimler, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co., Hyundai-Kia, Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG.
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- John O'Dell August 15, 2008, 4:49 PM
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, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Road Tour
August 12, 2008
Cilck on the map for a larger version.
Or click
here and you'll be directed to an interactive version on the road tour's website.
Then click on any city shown and you'll see the complete itinerary for that area.
And if it passes anywhere near you, we urge you to go, see for yourself.
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- John O'Dell August 12, 2008, 5:50 AM
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August 11, 2008
Large-SUV segment: Could reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated?
The run-up in gas prices from April through June spooked American car buyers into a manic rush to find the most fuel-efficient vehicles they could and to dump their gas guzzlers.
So new-car buyers nearly abandoned the large-SUV and pickup-truck segments, grew lukewarm about crossovers even compared with the first quarter, sought out small cars, pushed OEMs' subcompact-car manufacturing capacity to the max, and completely sucked up supplies of Prius and of some other hybrids. All the while, overall sales tanked.
So automakers made some of the most precipitous and significant decisions ever about production cutbacks and segment reallocations. Each of Detroit's Big Three and even Toyota moved quickly and massively to slash pickup and SUV production and goose small-car output as much as they could.
But the latest Edmunds.com data indicate that the industry may well have rushed into these moves too soon, perhaps overreacting -- along with the news media and other entities -- to how American consumers plainly were responding to skyrocketing gasoline prices.
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- Scott Doggett August 11, 2008, 7:15 AM
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Honda's FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric car (right) is one of 10 vehicles traveling 'cross country in Hydrogen Road Tour '08.
Ever wonder what a hydrogen fuel cell really looks like, or how a fuel-cell electric vehicle handles? Itching to try that hydrogen-burning BMW 7-Series that so far has been piloted publicly only by high profile business, entertainment and political people?
(Article modified at 6:45 a.m, Pacific Daylight Time)
Your chance of laying eyes, or hands, on a vehicle using what many still believe will be the fuel of the future increases beginning today as a coalition of hydrogen backers launch a 13-day, 18-state, 31-city, cross-country tour to boost interest in hydrogen vehicles.
We wish them well. And we hope everyone who has a chance stops by, takes a look - or a drive - and becomes a hydrogen missionary.
But there's a sad note to what is being billed as the "Hydrogen Road Tour '08."
At times,
Mostly,
the vehicles will be trucked rather than driven to locations very near their various destinations on diesel or gasoline-burning commercial carriers. After being off-loaded, they'll be driven under their own power just a few short miles to the venues.
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- John O'Dell August 11, 2008, 2:45 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Daimler, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen
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- California Fuel Cell Partnershp
, Hydrogen Road Tour, National Hydrogen Association
August 8, 2008
A hydrogen fuel-cell bus already in the fleet of big red buses serving London tanks up at a BP hydrogen station.
London's new mayor, intent on undoing some of his predecessor's most expensive anti-congestion plans, has tossed up a roadblock that is likely to further slow progress on the snail-paced development of a global hydrogen vehicle infrastructure.
Boris Johnson, who replaced Ken Livingstone earlier this year as Lord Mayor of England's capital city, canceled an order Livingstone had placed for 60 hydrogen vehicles, according to a report by analysts in the London office of Boston-based Global Insight economic consulting.
It would have been England's largest hydrogen transport project and one of the biggest anywhere. It also likely would have boosted interest in hydrogen vehicles and demand for hydrogen fueling stations by including a variety of cars, trucks and even motorcycles and scooters, all using hydrogen fuel cells to power emissions-free electric drive systems.
Johnson said he still will accept the 10 hydrogen buses his predecessor had ordered as additions to the city's growing test fleet of fuel-cell electric buses.
But one of his spokesmen told a major London newspaper that Johnson had decided the 60 smaller prototype fuel-cell electric vehicles would not help stimulate the market in hydrogen transportation.
Ironically, Johnson just a few weeks earlier told a group of London school children that hydrogen is the alternative fuel of the future.
The hydrogen buses alone, however, will cost the city about $20 million ($1.92 million or £1 million each), and Johnson apparently doesn't have enough faith in the future to spend that much or more on the 60 smaller vehicles.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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- John O'Dell August 8, 2008, 5:06 PM
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August 6, 2008
Nissan packaged its new electric vehicle ssytem in a Cube compact van for testing, but is planning a more conventional sedan for production.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
OPPAMA, Japan -- Much of the rest of the auto industry seems to be slowing down, but Nissan Motor Co., hoping to ride the green wave to growth in the U.S. and globally, is pumping billions into environmental initiatives that executives say could propel the company to the top tier of automakers in a just a few years.
In pursuit of that goal, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's charismatic chief, already has committed the company to zero-emissions leadership by 2012.
Nissan this year has announced plans for a rear-wheel-drive hybrid and a battery-powered electric car by 2010; has formed a partnership with electronics giant NEC to develop a new generation of powerful lithium-ion batteries for hybrids and EVs; is helping develop a rapid charging system for electric cars that could recharge battery packs in as little as 10 minutes; and continues development work to commercialize hydrogen fuel cells for automotive use.
It showed off many of those technologies for the first time in a seminar this week at its research and development facilities in this port city southwest of Toyko.
The company isn't alone. As fuel prices have soared globally and international concerns about energy independence grows, most automakers have begun or stepped up efforts to bring alternative fuel and alternative power plant cars and trucks to market.
But Nissan is a standout for its push for battery EVs and its determination to make the technology -- promising in the late 1990s but long-since abandoned by most -- viable once again.
On Wednesday (Tuesday night in the U.S.) Nissan let a group of journalists try out prototypes of its 2010 EV and hybrid powertrains and showed us the technology behind the advanced lithium-ion batteries that will make them go.
Minoru Shinohara (right)
, Nissan's senior vice president of technology development, told Green Car Advisor
that the company sees a business advantage in EVs and intends to be the industry leader in affordable, mass market zero emission cars that use batteries to power electric motors.
Nissan also wants to be a leader in providing the batteries and the battery-charging infrastructure that will make EVs work, he said.
While others champion the gas-electric hybrid and the plug-in hybrid with limited all-electric range, Nissan's faith in the all-electric vehicle is based on its belief that people all over the world are moving out of suburbia and back into cities as they try to minimize commutes and economize on fuel.
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- John O'Dell August 6, 2008, 11:27 AM
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- Batteries, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric
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- Electric Vehicles
, EV, Hybrid, Lithium-Ion, Nissan
August 5, 2008
Larry Burns, as GM's vice president of R&D and strategic planning, is the General's pointman on developing vehicles that meet the demands of the marketplace and turn a hefty profit.
Design News emailed Burns a bunch of questions for a profile piece the magazine will publish next month, but it chose to post the questions and answers online today. Odder things have no doubt happened, but nothing jumps to mind.
Here, then, are some of Burns' more remarkable comments:
The VP confirms GM's plans to be "selling Chevrolet Volt to real customers in 2010."
In response to being asked if a final version of the Volt's battery -- versions based on a nano-phosphate cathode, manganese spinel chemistry or something else -- has been chosen, Burns says no.
"We continue to work on the battery with our two development partnerships, one involving LG Chem and Compact Power and the other involving A123 Systems and Continental," he said.
But, he said, GM has "confirmed the capability of our selected cell chemistry in terms of safety, range, recharge time, power density and energy density."
Although the battery version remains undecided, Burns said its "development is on track."
But, Burns admitted that "one of the important challenges remaining is proving ten-year, 150,000-mile life when we're developing the battery over a three-year timeframe. Obviously, we'll protect the customer in this regard with our warranty, but we still need to prove out the required durability."
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- Scott Doggett August 5, 2008, 7:33 PM
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- Batteries, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Chevrolet
, Chevrolet Volt, Electric Vehicles, EV, General Motors, GM, Larry Burns, PHEV, plug-in hybrid
America's auto-emissions regulators have nothing on the youth brigade of the Swiss Green Party.
The youth have obtained the 100,000 signatures needed to put a measure before Switzerland's voters that would ban passenger vehicles that have a curb weight of more than 4,820 pounds, emit more than 250 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, or have front ends deemed dangerous to pedestrians.
The measure would also ban diesel cars lacking particle filters. Non-compliant cars registered before the measure goes into law would be fitted with a governor limiting them to 62 miles per hour.
The measure, which is viewed as moderate by its proponents, would remove all but the most fuel efficient models from Swiss roads. The forbidden list contains 785 models. In Porsche's lineup, for instance, all but the Boxster and Cayman fitted with 2.7-liter engines would be barred.
Lots of Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and Audis would be history, as would every Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. Not all automakers would suffer. Lotus's entire lineup, for example, would be compliant.
The vote has not been scheduled and could be a couple of years away. Also, more than 90 percent of initiatives presented to Swiss voters since 1848 have been rejected. But "moderates" can hope.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett August 5, 2008, 11:22 AM
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- Audi, BMW, Diesel, Emissions, Ferarri, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Lamborghini, Legislation, Lotus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Porsche, Volkswagen
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, car bans, Ferrari, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficient, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Swiss, Switzerland
Honda Motor Co. today announced that its second FCX Clarity customer -- actress Jamie Lee Curtis and actor-filmmaker-composer Christopher Guest -- took delivery of the vehicle last Thursday.
The couple are the second of 200 customers who will begin leasing the vehicle in the U.S. or Japan over the next three years.
"I really wasn't expecting it to be so luxurious," the effervescent Curtis said of the next-generation, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle. "I love the interior layout, design and access to controls."
Curtis (a scream queen best known for her roles in Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train) and Guest (the unforgettable Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 "rockumentary" film This Is Spinal Tap) live in Santa Monica, California. They have owned alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles, and a strong advocates of a greener lifestyle.
Ron Yerxa and Annette Ballester of Santa Monica took delivery of the first FCX Clarity on July 25.
Honda made significant advances with this generation of FCX Clarity over its previous one. They include a 25 percent increase in combined fuel economy to 74 miles per gallon equivalent and a greater than 30 percent increase in driving range up to 280 miles.
Propelled by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated in the fuel cell, the vehicle's only by-products are heat and water and its fuel efficiency is three times that of a modern gasoline-powered automobile.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett August 5, 2008, 9:51 AM
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, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficient, Honda, Hydrogen, Jamie Lee Curtis
August 4, 2008
Auto dealers and consumer advocates told federal rulemakers today that a proposed 25 percent mandatory increase in fleetwide fuel economy standards is out of touch with importance buyers now give fuel-efficiency.
Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, said rulemakers wrongly assumed U.S. drivers would continue to covet large trucks and SUVs, even though car buyers began moving to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in 2004.
"The auto industry acts as if plummeting SUV and pickup truck sales are a new phenomena," he told the National Transportation Safety Board at a Washington public hearing. "The fact is, gas-guzzling-vehicle sales have been falling off a cliff for over three years. And yet the administration's proposed fuel economy standards presumes no fall and no cliff."
As a result, Cooper said, the proposed fleetwide fuel economy standard of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015 would fail to meet consumer demands. According to a study performed by his organization, 59 percent of those surveyed want their next vehicle to get more than 35 mpg. Meanwhile, only 1 percent of new models offer that degree of fuel economy.
Adam Lee, president of Lee Auto Malls, which has a dozen Maine dealerships, said he has seen firsthand the shifting buying trends that have resulted in across-the-board losses for major carmakers.
Lee said he has laid off salespeople while waiting for automakers to produce the type of cars Americans want. "We just don't have the cars to sell," he said. "And I'm not just talking hybrids.... Consumers are waiting for good, old-fashioned small cars."
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- Scott Doggett August 4, 2008, 2:05 PM
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, Consumer Federation of America, Corporate Average Fuel Economy, EV, GM, National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, PHEV
August 1, 2008
Right, MIT researcher Daniel G. Nocera.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Hydrogen is widely regarded as the most promising automobile fuel of the future. Among its major obstacles: The cost of the catalyst needed to separate it from oxygen.
Electrolizers use platinum as a catalyst to split water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Platinum is also used by fuel cells to recombine hydrogen with oxygen, which produces electricity, which in turn can power the electric motors of EVs.
One of the main reason there aren't more hydrogen vehicles on the road today is that platinum costs upwards of $2,000 an ounce.
But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Monash University in Australia report in today's issue of Science (subscription required) that they may have found a cost-effective replacement for platinum.
MIT professor Daniel Nocera and graduate student Matthew Kanan reported that they could split water into its constituent parts by replacing platinum with cobalt and phosphate. Those metals cost about $2.25 an ounce and $.05 an ounce, respectively.
On the fuel-cell side of the equasion, chemist Bjorn Winther-Jensen and colleagues at Monash University have developed new electrodes for fuel cells made from a special conducting polymer. It costs $57 an counce.
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- Scott Doggett August 1, 2008, 11:27 AM
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July 30, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
PORTLAND, Ore. -- I'm sitting in my hotel room after a day of panels and seminars at the 2nd running of an event called Meeting of the Minds, and am wishing I had a better one than was issued as original equipment.
This is a by-invitation gathering of about 250 people, mainly concerned with transportation and urban planning, and was convened to consider, as the confab's subtitle states: The Innovations We Need for More Sustainable Cities.
The reason an automobile writer, albeit one specializing in green issues, was invited (and I have to confess I'm not the only one) is that these folks get it -- most cities in the U.S. were built to accomodate the car, and there's no cure for what ails our municipalities without addressing transportation-related woes.
After a full day of discussions, it is clear that a lot of people are working hard to head off disasters that could be caused by horrid traffic congenstion, rapidly degrading infrastructure and a national political malaise that has robbed us of leaders with the guts to stand up and lead the charge for things we need.
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- John O'Dell July 30, 2008, 10:09 PM
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July 25, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
The first Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell car was delivered to its proud and happy new owner about an hour ago.
We'll provide some photos and perhaps a bit more text in just a little while, but wanted to be first to let everyone know that Honda has made good on its promise to start getting the swoopy and silent Clarity into consumers' hands by the end of July.
The first customer for the limited-production fuel-cell electric car is Hollywood producer Ron Yerxa ("Little Miss Sunshine"), who has described himself as a green guy who just wanted to be able to drive the coolest clean car around.
Like others who have signed up to lease the Clarity for three years (at a heavily subsidized $600 a month), Yerxa lives in Southern California, near one of four hydrogen fueling stations that Clarity drivers can use to fill their 74-miles-per-gallon (actually, it's "gallon-equivalent" as hydrogen gas is measured by weight - kilograms - not volume) cars.
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- John O'Dell July 25, 2008, 1:22 PM
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July 23, 2008
General Motors and the U.S. Postal Service have joined forces again to deliver mail using hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.
The two organizations announced today that the Postal Service has for the third time joined Chevrolet's Project Driveway, one of the largest market tests of fuel-cell vehicles to date.
Two postal stations - one in Irvine, California, another to be announced - will be using hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Equinox fuel-cell electric vehicles to deliver the mail on regular routes six days a week. The service will begin immediately in Irvine.
The Postal Service began using an Equinox in 2004 in Virginia. The service began using an Equinox two years later to deliver mail in Irvine. Both trial programs, which ended last year, helped GM learn a lot about how fuel-cell vehicles operate in real-world conditions.
GM will maintain the vehicle and pay the cost of its fuel. Letter carriers will fuel the vehicle at the University of California, Irvine, hydrogen fueling station.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 23, 2008, 3:26 PM
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July 22, 2008
Right, BMW 7 Hydrogen on Nürburgring racetrack. The car or one like it will be available for test drives.
The Detroit area is famous for the Woodward Dream Cruise, a summertime showcase of thousands of hotrods, muscle cars and other exotics.
Now in an effort to improve Motown's gas-guzzling image, a new group has organized what they call Nextcruise, which will actually give the public an opportunity to drive what many see as the next generation of vehicles - hybrids, fuel cell, clean-diesel, plug-in electric and other green machines.
The low-emissions, fuel-efficient vehicles will be available for free 15-minute drives on a first-come, first-served basis in Pleasant Ridge, just outside Detroit, in mid-August.
The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Memorial Park, 23925 Woodward Avenue, Pleasant Ridge 48069-1199.
Nine automakers have agreed to provide green vehicles and green-car-technology demonstrations for event to date. They are: General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
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- Scott Doggett July 22, 2008, 3:44 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Audi, Auto Shows, BMW, Biofuels, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler, Diesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen
July 17, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
In a speech that every American ought to read or at least watch, former VP Al Gore today told an energy conference "to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge: for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now."
It was in large part his inconvenient-truth pitch, but he broadened his case; he says we must abandon fossil fuels for national security and dire economic reasons, too. The New York Times' coverage made a nice note of the expansion.
But we could practically hear the ears of thousands of plug-in EV fans perk up when the Nobel laureate said, 27 minutes into his speech: "We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid."
Those 49 common-yet-wonderfully-arranged words were magic to Felix Kramer, one of this nation's most resilient proponents of plug-in EVs, and thousands of other plug-in fans.
"This definitive acknowledgment of the benefits of electrification gives advocates of steps on global warming a better answer for transportation than timid suggestions that more people buy more efficient gasoline cars or drive less," Kramer wrote in a passionate posting on his calcars.org site.
But it was another Website that came to mind when we heard Gore speak, the one belonging to Tesla Motors, maker of the all-electric Roadster. Tesla sponsors blogs for its customers, one of whom wrote something two years ago that stayed with us.
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- Scott Doggett July 17, 2008, 8:20 PM
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Right, the cockpit of Honda's HFCV.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
A transition to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is entirely doable but requires nearly $200 billion in funding and further technological breakthroughs, National Research Council experts said today in a report requested by Congress.
While stressing the "best-case scenario" nature of their report, the experts concluded that hydrogen could be the key driver of a shift away from fossil fuels and emissions tied to global warming, with other clean technologies and biofuels helping in that transition.
"The benefits of hydrogen would be less in the early years but have a dominant effect" in the longer run, panel chairman Mike Ramage, a retired ExxonMobil executive, said in a conference call with reporters. "Hydrogen is a pathway to a sustainable energy future."
The best-case scenario assumes the automotive industry invests $145 billion and the federal government spends $50 billion over the next 15 years to drive down the costs of hydrogen production and vehicles that run on hydrogen.
"The number is big, but in perspective" it is doable, Ramage said, noting that the federal ethanol subsidy is at a pace to cost $160 billion over that same period. "We need durable, substantial and sustainable government help to make this happen, just as there is for ethanol."
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- Scott Doggett July 17, 2008, 4:31 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Transportation Alternatives
July 15, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
General Motors Corp. announced today that it will lay off salaried workers, cut truck production, borrow up to $3 billion and make additional investments in green-car technologies in response to the weak economy, high fuel prices, shifts in consumer vehicle preferences, and the lowest U.S. industry sales volumes in a decade.
GM said the moves will raise $15 billion to help cover losses and turn around its North American operations, including $10 billion from internal cost-cutting and $5 billion from selling some assets and borrowing against others.
"We are responding aggressively to the challenges of today's U.S. auto market," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a broadcast to employees. "We remain committed to bringing to market great products that target changing consumer preferences for more fuel-efficient vehicles."
Wagoner noted that 11 of GM's 13 most recent major U.S. product launches, and 18 of its next 19 launches, are cars and crossovers, which are key growth areas.
Spending for non-product programs will also be reduced, the company said, but powertrain spending will be increased to support the development of alternative propulsion and fuel economy technologies and small-displacement engines.
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- Scott Doggett July 15, 2008, 1:58 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Diesel, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Hummer, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
July 14, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Chrysler is working on three extended-range electric vehicles that will be ready for market within three to five years, a company spokesman told Green Car Advisor today.
The EVs will be based on the Jeep Renegade, Dodge Zeo (at right) and Chrysler ecoVoyager (in Moon rock silver-beigel, below) concept vehicles that stole much of the limelight for their über-cool designs at their debut in Detroit this past January.
All three production models will be powered by electric motors connected to advanced lithium-ion battery packs, and each will be capable of extended drive ranges, Chrysler's Nick Cappa said in an interview.
The Dodge Zeo will be a pure plug-in electric sports car packing enough lithium-ion battery modules to travel 250 miles between charges, Cappa said. The sleek, four-door coupe will certainly be one of the most exciting concept cars to debut all year, and the reason should be apparent (it's breathtakingly beautiful!).
What's not apparent is the fact that the Zeo's doors -- front and
back -- open upward instead of outward. Also not apparent is the Zeo's single 200-kilowatt/hour, 286-horsepower electric motor capable of propeling the EV to 60 miles per hour in under six seconds.
To keep costs and prices in check, the same motor, electrical architecture, power electronics and next-generation lithium-ion battery technology in the Zeo will be used in Chrysler's two other initial EVs.
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- Scott Doggett July 14, 2008, 6:38 PM
- Categories:
- Chrysler, Dodge, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Jeep, Plug-ins and Electric
July 8, 2008
Soon to join the I-didn't-know-that file comes a story
published in the Wall Street Journal
regarding Toyota Motor Corp.'s increasingly bold home-building plans.
That's right. The automaker is also a homemaker. It's got a prefabricated-housing division and everything.
According to the Journal, Toyota has been building steel-frame houses designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons for 33 years. But with the Japanese government calling for sturdier home construction, Toyota is shifting its prefab-housing division into high gear.
What's more, the carmaker is testing an electricity-monitoring system in its homes that could charge plug-in electric vehicles during off-peak hours to keep utility bills low, while the car's battery can serve as an electrical backup, powering the home during blackouts.
The Journal says Toyota engineers are also experimenting with using solar panels as house siding and powering homes with fuel cells, which combine hydrogen and air to produce electricity.
It's got to be only a matter of time until Toyota offers a house as a Prius accessory, or vice versa.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 8, 2008, 11:09 AM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar, Toyota
July 7, 2008
The same day a World Bank report identifies biofuels as the principal cause
of the global food crisis, the Bush administration announces creation of a Web site that Americans can use to locate biofuel service stations.
"Need to know where to buy E85 or other alternative fuels?" today's announcement asks. "The U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center now has an online station locator. Just specify which kind of fuel you want, then enter your address and the locator will map out the closest stations that sell that fuel."
It's been reported that the World Bank withheld publicizing its findings to avoid embarrassing President Bush. The World Bank's determination that biofuels are responsible for the food crisis that threatens the lives of 100 million people contradicts the U.S. government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3 percent to food price rises.
The White House must be delighted that Bush isn't the only Western leader with egg on his face today. The president's good friend, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, sparked outrage after it was disclosed today that he and other world leaders enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit, where the global food crisis tops the agenda.
The prime minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit -- just hours after urging the world to reduce the "unnecessary demand" for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food.
For the low-down on that scandal, take a look at an article in today's edition of the British newspaper Telegraph.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 7, 2008, 2:17 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Natural Gas
By Dale Buss, Contributor
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan -- Like the environmentally friendly "hydrogen energy loop" that he designed more than a half-century ago, Stanford R. Ovshinsky's career has come full circle.
He was among the first in the world to outline how solar and hydrogen power might someday renewably and cleanly provide most of modern man's transportation and other energy needs -- his "loop" -- and now it looks as if things might come to that.
At 85, Ovshinsky finally is enjoying a turnaround in fortunes of the company he founded in 1960, Energy Conversion Devices Inc.
The inventor's science underlies fabulous technologies such as flat-screen TVs, photovoltaic roof shingles, lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries for cell phones and automobiles, and a form of computer memory that Intel is investigating as a possible successor to Flash.
But Ovshinsky always ran ECD more as a research institute than as a capitalistic enterprise and was unable to make the company commercially successful over the long haul. ECD's board and long-suffering investors finally ran out of patience and ushered Ovshinsky out last summer.
Also booted was CEO Robert Stempel, the former General Motors chief executive who had teamed with Ovshinsky 13 years ago and had brought ECD to the brink of commercial viability.
Since the shakeup, the long-moribund stock of this small technology company has risen to prices of around $77 a share, about double its trading average last fall. ECD also just reported a first-quarter profit, its first in years.
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- Scott Doggett July 7, 2008, 12:10 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
July 1, 2008
Above, a gas-powered A-Class Mercedes. Daimler says an electric version of the small family car is planned.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Mercedes-Benz is planning to launch an electric version of the A-class small family car in 2010, according to press reports.
The four-door hatchback will have lithium-ion batteries and be produced at an initial rate of between 500 and 1,000 cars year, the German weekly Automobilwoche reported Monday. Production should climb quickly, however.
In an interview with German business daily, WirtschaftsWoche, Thomas Weber, a Mercedes-Benz board member responsible for research and vehicle development, let it be known that the company is building what was originally meant to be the fuel cell-powered A-Class model as an all-electric model.
In the Automobilwoche report, an unidentified senior manager at Mercedes-Benz said that the A-class is an ideal candidate because its "sandwich" construction means the basic layout of the vehicle does not have to be changed much. The car was developed to accommodate a fuel cell and therefore has a double floor that can fit the cell, the manager said. This space can instead be used for the lithium-ion batteries.
In a separate article, Automobilwoche reported that U.S. electric-car maker Tesla Motors is expected to supply the lithium-ion batteries. The magazine didn't reveal the sources for its story and Tesla spokeswoman Colette Niazmand wouldn't comment on the subject when Green Car Advisor inquired today.
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- Scott Doggett July 1, 2008, 10:22 AM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Daimler, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
June 27, 2008
Although not particularly good news for autoworkers worried about their jobs today, presidential hopeful John McCain's opposition to government bailout of the auto industry could hold promise for tomorrow's green technology should he wind up in the White House.
During a meeting with General Motors Corp. employees today, McCain told a Wall Street Journal reporter that rather than guaranteeing operating loans or providing direct grants, he would invest in research and development that advances fuel-cell and battery-electric cars.
"It depends on what you mean by a bailout," he told the reporter. If you're talking about it in the classic terms, I'm afraid not...I would like to invest American federal dollars in pure research and development as we move forward with new technologies, whether they be flex-fuel or whether it be hydrogen or whether it be the electric capability."
Now, if someone could remind him that flex-fuel vehicles aren't a new technology....
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- John O'Dell June 27, 2008, 3:57 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Flex-Fuel, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
Mazda Motor Corp. says it will improve the fuel efficiency of its cars 30 percent by 2015 in a broad campaign that will see Ford's Japanese affiliate replace almost every engine in its lineup and shave at least 220 pounds from every car it builds.
The push begins with next year's models, when the company says it will introduce a proprietary Smart Idle Stop System in "one of its cars." The system stops the engine at idle, then restarts it by forcing fuel directly into the cylinder and igniting it to start the car – a procedure Mazda says improves fuel economy as much as 8 percent. The automaker also plans to introduce an E-85 "flex fuel" engine in North America next year...
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- Scott Doggett June 27, 2008, 9:33 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mazda, Plug-ins and Electric
June 26, 2008
CIBC chart shows 10 million fewer vehicles on U.S. roads by 2012 than today.
Gasoline prices in America have risen from around $1.80 in 2004 to the current $4 per gallon mark. The most recent surge in pump prices has, in inflation-adjusted dollars, already taken pump prices to a buck a gallon above the record prices seen in 1981...
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- Scott Doggett June 26, 2008, 4:59 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Transportation Alternatives
Betcha it'll be on TV tonight!
Cameramen crowded the apron this morning to get shots of a Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicle filling up with compressed hydrogen gas at the
new Shell Hydrogen pump on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles.
The hydrogen pump is the 46th in the nation and one of only two that shares location with a regular retail gas station.
The facility was dedicated in a ceremony attended by a number of Los Angeles area dignitaries including -- in the Equniox for the posed photo above -- David Nahai, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and (driving) Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.
The pump is one of five being installed nationwide (others already in are in New York and Washington, D.C.) as part of a hydrogen fuel demonstration project cosponsored by the federal Energy Department, General Motors and Shell Hydogen...
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- John O'Dell June 26, 2008, 3:38 PM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
The U.S. gets another hydrogen fuel station this morning – the 46th according to the latest count available – as Shell Oil opens a hydrogen pump at a conventional gas station in Los Angeles.
Part of a national hydrogen demonstration project jointly sponsored by the federal Energy Department, Shell Hydrogen and General Motors Corp., the pump will be open to any hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle.
Fuel cells are electro-chemical systems carried on-board vehicles and used to convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity that is used to power the vehicle's electric drive system.
Because Southern California is a major center for fuel-cell vehicle testing, it has more than half the nation's hydrogen pumps to serve the more than 200 hydrogen-using vehicles in the area.
The number of vehicles could nearly double over the next few years as Honda Motor Co. begins leasing its FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle next month.
For now, though, the primary users of the station's single, blue-labeled hydrogen pump will be drivers of the nearly 80 Chevrolet Equinox fuel-cell vehicles GM has placed on the region's roads as part of its Project Driveway fuel cell program.
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- John O'Dell June 26, 2008, 3:06 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen
June 25, 2008
Renault today unveiled additional details and a schematic of the Scenic ZEV H2, the fuel cell-electric prototype we blogged about last month that loads Nissan's fuel cell technology and lithium-ion batteries onto Renault's five-seat Grand Scenic minivan.
The French carmaker says the Scenic ZEV H2 (for zero emissions vehicle, hydrogen) project is part of wider, continuing efforts with its Japanese alliance partner to develop and bring to market a range of zero-emission vehicles.
Renault engineers redesigned the Scenic's floor and raised its ground clearance by 2.3 inches to accommodate Nissan's fuel-cell stack, a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank, and lithium-ion batteries.
Instrumentation has been adapted to the new powertrain...
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- Scott Doggett June 25, 2008, 9:30 AM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Renault
June 24, 2008
Congress is vowing to take actions that it believes will reverse runaway crude and gasoline prices. Oil rose above $136 a barrel on Monday – more than double what it cost a year ago – and gas hovered around $4.07 a gallon nationwide.
Lawmakers have introduced nine different bills on speculation, not to mention many more that tackle other causes of escalating fuel and oil prices. Several of the speculation measures have bipartisan support...
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- Scott Doggett June 24, 2008, 7:46 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Courts, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
June 20, 2008
Honda Motor Co. has reiterated plans to continue development of its FCX Clarity fuel cell-electric vehicle with the goal of someday releasing a second, less-costly model.
An article published earlier this week by a Japanese press service cites Honda President Taeko Fukui as saying the company wants to get the cost of the new model down into the tens of millions of yen – 10 million yen is $93,192 at today's exchange rate – versus the hundreds of millions of yen the present model costs.
Fukui also said that he noted that a retail version of the Clarity would have to be priced below the 10-million-yen mark in order to be appeal to the masses. Right now the sedan is still considered a research vehicle and is not available for purchase.
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- Scott Doggett June 20, 2008, 9:36 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Honda, Hydrogen
June 16, 2008
Honda workers prepare to install Clarity's hydrogen fuel tank assembly.
TOCHIGI, Japan --As Honda Motor Co. launched production of its FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric vehicle this morning, Green Car Advisor asked company executives for their thoughts on the significance of commercializing the zero-emissions sedan.
Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said that fuel cell vehicles such as the 2009 Clarity can help reduce oil consumption while avoiding the range restrictions imposed battery-electric vehicles due to their weight and the energy storage limitations of their nickel metal-hydride batteries.
"Even the lighter and higher output lithium-ion batteries do not improve range and performance as we would like," Fukui said.
"In contrast however, hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars offer the best alternative given their non-use of fossil fuels, zero emissions, lighter weight and most importantly, greater range" of 280 miles per tank of hydrogen versus 120 miles per battery charge, he said.
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- June 16, 2008, 2:43 PM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Fuel Cell, Honda, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
June 15, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior EditorTrue to its word, Honda Motor Co. began production of its long-awaited FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric sedan this evening (Monday morning in Japan) and said that it would begin putting the strikingly sculpted vehicles into the hands of carefully selected customers early next month.
The first of the cars, which produce electricity from hydrogen gas and oxygen and emit only water vapor from their tailpipes, will go to Hollywood producer ("Little Miss Sunshine") Ron Yerxa, who traveled to Japan to attend the ceremony at Honda's new fuel-cell vehicle assembly facility at its advanced R&D campus in Tochigi, about 100 miles north of Tokyo.
Honda introduced the production model of the garnet-red car at the 2007 Los Angeles International Auto Show in November and said at the time that it would launch a three-year Clarity leasing program this summer.
Yerxa and other lessees – there will be about 200 in Southern California and Japan by the end of 2011 – will pay $600 a month and will be required to provide considerable feed-back to Honda about their experiences with the vehicle.
Closer But No Cigar"This is an important day in the history of fuel-cell vehicle technology and a monumental step closer to the day when fuel cell cars will be part of the mainstream," John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda, said in a statement.
"Our customers and dealers share in our vision for a cleaner and more sustainable transportation future, and share in our challenge to embrace a new generation of automotive technology that we think will carry the auto industry and its customers into the future."
While fuel cell cars represent the auto industry's best effort so far to free the motor vehicle from its dependence on oil and to avoid some of the perceived pitfalls of using rechargeable batteries to store power for electric cars, the technology is not without problems.
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- John O'Dell June 15, 2008, 9:30 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen
June 12, 2008
Drawing of new hydrogen fuel station planned for Los Angeles Airport area.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Two new pit stops are soon to be added to the hydrogen highway that GM, Honda and a few other automakers want to see established nationwide before they commit to mass production of fuel-cell electric vehicles.
General Motors and natural gas retailer Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said Wednesday that they are joining forces to open a high-pressure hydrogen fueling station at an existing Clean Energy compressed natural gas station near Los Angeles International Airport.
And Shell Oil Co.'s hydrogen unit has now slated June 23 as grand opening day for a public hydrogen station in West Los Angeles, about 10 miles from the Clean Energy site.
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- John O'Dell June 12, 2008, 2:01 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, General Motors, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
June 9, 2008
Sanitation facility will extract hydrogen from methane gas in sewage tanks.Some Southern California drivers may be able to tool around in "poop-powered" vehicles as early as next year, according to
a Bloomberg report.The motorists would have to be among those driving the limited number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that automakers including General Motors Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are beginning to make available.
Those who've got one will be able to fill up at a sewage treatment facility run by the Orange County Sanitation District, which plans to turn the inflow of excrement and other waste into hydrogen for electric vehicles that run on fuel-cell systems.
"Poop is actually a relatively minor portion of the material coming down the pipes,'' said Ed Torres, the district's director of technical services. "It's mostly food wastes and other organic materials washed down the drain, and all the paper that's flushed down the toilet."
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- John O'Dell June 9, 2008, 3:01 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Recycling
June 6, 2008
By John O'Dell and Scott Doggett
Honda Motor Co. plans to announce on June 16 that it is beginning the much-anticipated leasing program for its production-ready FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle.
Honda executives will make the announcement in Japan and at the same time release the identities of some of the initial lessees of the vehicle, which will be available to residents of Japan and three Southern California communities located near publicly accessible hydrogen fueling stations.
The company has previously said
it will build and deliver about 200 of the futuristic cars during the "first three years" of production – signaling that there will be more to come.
Honda initially showed what will be the 2009 FCX Clarity as a concept car at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. That's the same year the present, minivan-based FCX model was introduced for limited leasing and on-road testing, principally in commercial and government fleets.
The production-ready version (pictured above) of the Clarity, riding on an all-new platform, was unveiled last November at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show. At the time Honda said it would begin leasing a limited number of the virtually hand-built cars this summer.
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- Scott Doggett June 6, 2008, 6:33 PM
- Categories:
- Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen
Toyota has developed a follow-up to its Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle, featuring a newly designed high-performance fuel cell stack that provides a travel range of 516 miles on a single fueling and the ability to start and drive the vehicle at temperatures well below freezing.
In a statement released today, Toyota said that its Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle-Advanced, or FCHV-adv, can start and run at temperatures down to minus-22 degrees Fahrenheit.
Getting fuel cells to work properly in frigid weather had been a huge technological hurdle.
The new fuel-cell hybrid system, which is powered by hydrogen and electricity, also allows the FCHV-adv to travel more than twice the distance than its predecessor, which was limited to 205 miles on a single tank of fuel...
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- Scott Doggett June 6, 2008, 8:42 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Toyota
June 5, 2008
Green Car Advisor had never heard of Ronn Motor Co. before today, but the exotic-car startup says it's taking orders for a claimed "hydrogen-burning" supercar with a 3.5-second 0 to 60 time and 200+ mile an hour top speed and fuel economy exceeding 40 miles per gallon.
According to a Ronn press release, as well as a conversation we had with spokesman Ed Monet, the wannabe Ferrari-killer is located in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, has built one prototype of the gasoline-hydrogen hybrid, secured orders for two vehicles and will begin delivery of its Scorpion supercar this fall.
The Scorpion will cost $150,000 and offer two engine choices, Monet said: "The twin turbo has, like, 460 horsepower and just the regular one has about 355 horsepower – similar to a Porsche – with a 3.5-liter and everything."
To achieve its fantastic mileage, the company claims the Scorpion will be fitted with "a hydrogen delivery system with dual computer processor controls [that] produces hydrogen on demand, and in real time, which will be inducted through the air intake manifold and blended with gasoline at a ratio of 30-40 percent hydrogen."
Just as remarkable, the fuel for the system is purportedly "derived from fracturing water molecules drawn from a small on board water tank, and will not require a high pressure, on board hydrogen storage tank or hydrogen fueling station." (All grammatical and typographical errors are theirs.)
And when might Ronn begin mass producing the Scorpion?
"Oh, for mass production?..
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- Scott Doggett June 5, 2008, 1:57 PM
- Categories:
- Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Green Car Advisor had never heard of Ronn Motor Co. before today, but the exotic-car startup says it's taking orders for a claimed "hydrogen-burning" hybrid supercar with a 3.5-second 0 to 60 time and 200+ mile an hour top speed and fuel economy exceeding 40 miles per gallon.
According to a Ronn press release, as well as a conversation we had with spokesman Ed Monet, the wannabe Ferrari killer is located in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, has built one prototype of the gasoline-hydrogen hybrid, secured orders for two and will begin delivery of its Scorpion supercar (shown above) this fall.
The Scorpion will cost $150,000 and offer two engine choices, Monet said: "The twin turbo has, like, 460 horsepower and just the regular one has about 355 horsepower – similar to a Porsche – with a 3.5-liter and everything."
To achieve its fantastic mileage, the company claims the Scorpion will be fitted with "a hydrogen delivery system with dual computer processor controls [that] produces hydrogen on demand, and in real time, which will be inducted through the air intake manifold and blended with gasoline at a ratio of 30-40 percent hydrogen."
Just as remarkable, the fuel for the system is purportedly "derived from fracturing water molecules drawn from a small on board water tank, and will not require a high pressure, on board hydrogen storage tank or hydrogen fueling station."
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- Scott Doggett June 5, 2008, 10:27 AM
- Categories:
- Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen
May 27, 2008
BBC reporter works the Sexy Green Car Show in Cornwall, England.
The Sexy Green Car Show – "the world's foremost eco-friendly motor show" – is under way at Eden Project in Cornwall, England.
Before we say another word about it, let's be clear: No car is eco-friendly, despite what the show's sponsor (The Co-operative Insurance) says.
The second-annual show features 17 low-emission cars made by 11 automakers. Click here to see the list.
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- Scott Doggett May 27, 2008, 8:14 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Auto Shows, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Saab
May 21, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
After keeping us guessing for months, Honda Motor Co. said today that it will begin leasing its much-anticipated FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric car in July.
The company also said it will build an deliver about 200 of the futuristic cars during the "first three years" of production – signaling that there will be more to come.
Most of the cars are slated for the U.S., and all of those will be allocated in three regions of Southern California.
American Honda said it has a list of more than 50,000 people who've asked to be considered for the rare leases, and has narrowed that to 500 peple who actually live in the designated regions. That makes the odds of getting one about 1 in 2 –a whole lot better than the lottery.
Slow to Roll
Rollout looks to be rather slow though: The company said it will be leasing "several dozen" of the cars in the U.S. and Japan in each of the three years of the program. That works out to an average of 63 a year, although there's been no indication that leases will be that evenly spaced.
Honda says it will announce the first batch of FCX Clarity leasing customers when Clarity No. 1 rolls off the production line in Japan on June 16.
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- John O'Dell May 21, 2008, 12:34 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Honda, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
By
Scott Doggett and John O'Dell
Expanding on an ambitious hybrid plan that has been
openly talked about
for nearly a year now, Honda Motor Co.'s chief executive has confirmed that the company will introduce a new and affordable compact hybrid car early next year and will follow it with at least two other new hybrid models and an improved version of the
Civic Hybrid
.
One of the new Honda hybrids will be a sporty model based on the
CR-Z concept
(left)
that the company showed in Tokyo last year. The other will be a hybrid version of the subcompact
Fit,
already a popular gas-sipping member of the Honda lineup as a conventionally powered car.
The company's plans will help broaden the U.S. hybrid market and provide additional fuel-efficient transportation choices for consumers as fuel prices continue climbing and political and economic pressure to reduce oil use grows.
The first of the new hybrids will be, as Honda has long said, a new model that will be sold as a hybrid only -- echoing Toyota Motor Co.'s successful strategy that has helped make the
Prius
the world's best-selling hybrid.
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- John O'Dell May 21, 2008, 10:45 AM
- Categories:
- Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
May 19, 2008
Underscoring its newfound commitment to electric cars, Nissan Motor Co. said today that the joint-venture company it formed with NEC Corp. and NEC Tokin Corp. last month would invest $115 million over three years to make lithium-ion batteries starting next year for use in next-generation green vehicles.
Batteries that are long-lived, fast-charging, lightweight, powerful, reliable, cheap, safe and easy on the environment continue to elude automakers worldwide. As we reported recently, they represent the missing piece in the otherwise complete electric-drivetrain puzzle.
Car and battery manufacturers generally believe that the solution will come in the form of advanced lithium-ion batteries.
Automotive Energy Supply Corp., the three-way joint venture announced last month, would initially have capacity to build 13,000 units a year at a planned factory in Kanagawa, near Tokyo, first supplying batteries for forklifts in 2009.
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- Scott Doggett May 19, 2008, 3:40 PM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric
May 12, 2008
GM's Equinox Fuel Cell Vehicle in "stealth" garb for publicity-shy celebs.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
It's been almost two weeks since we took GM's fuel cell Equinox for an extended spin – the first loan of one of the hydrogen-powered cars to a journalist, the company says.
(Yes, we're bragging, but we also mention that because, well, because we're bragging.)
Anyhow, time to stop dithering and start reporting.
The news is that, I'm happy to report, the Equinox Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, or FCEV, is quite a bit faster than GM publicly admits (more about that a little later) and is as comfortable and driveable as I'd remembered from a short spin during a press event back in October.
I'd been bugging GM for months to let us have one to use for a week or so we could see how it stood up to the daily grind in Southern California traffic with a variety of drivers from the Edmunds stable behind the wheel.
That hasn't happened – the hydrogen station being built near our office in Santa Monica hasn't opened yet and GM won't let us have one for a prolonged period until there's fuel nearby.
But the company did agree to let Green Car Advisor have one overnight, with restrictions – no refueling, so no long trips.
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- John O'Dell May 12, 2008, 3:02 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen
April 29, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
CASCAIS, Portugal – Nissan Motor Co. which has promised to introduce an electric vehicle in North American in 2010, now sees enough market potential for battery-powered electric cars that it is planning a second model for as early as 2012.
The Japanese carmaker was late to the game with gas-electric hybrids and doesn't intend to get caught with a bare product portfolio as cheaper and more reliable batteries make EVs an economic and practical choice in coming years, product planning chief Tom Lane told Green Car Advisor in an interview at Nissan's global vehicle show-and-drive program in this coastal resort town just west of Lisbon.
Lane said that while Nissan began its green planning half a decade ago with a broad slate of possible technologies, economic and scientific changes have pushed battery-electric vehicles to the forefront as a near- and midterm market strategies to meet increased political and social demand for cleaner, more efficient vehicles.
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- John O'Dell April 29, 2008, 2:45 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Diesel, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric
April 24, 2008
Fuel cell hybrid truck uses batteries and hydrogen with quick-change fuel tanks.
By
Scott Doggett and John O'Dell
French automaker
PSA Peugeot Citroën
and British fuel-cell developer
Intelligent Energy
have built a battery-electric delivery truck outfitted with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell stack to significantly extend the vehicle's range between battery charges.
Sounds good, but the companies' announcement this week has simply stirred up more debate over the efficiency of hydrogen as an automotive fuel.
One key element of the system's design – easily swappable pressurized hydrogen fuel tanks – is aimed at answering concerns about the lack of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure to support widespread use of fuel cells.
But fuel cell and auto industry specialists interviewed by
Green Car Advisor
raised questions about financial feasibility and public safety.
Some also question whether an extended range electric vehicle that relies on compressed hydrogen fuel is better for the environment than a battery-electric vehicle that relies on electricity from the commercial power grid
Like a Volt, But Bigger
The French-British partnership's H2Origin Partner vehicle is an electric-drive delivery truck that uses a 10-kilowatt fuel cell system fueled by hydrogen gas stored in 10,000-psi fuel tanks to produce electricity for the drive system.
Essentiallly, it is a truck version of GM's
E-Flex
and Ford's
HySeries
electric car concepts, using a fuel cell instead of a gasoline or diesel generator to produce electricity on board the vehicle.
The developers say it can travel up to 186 miles before the hydrogen is depleted – triple the 62 miles the battery-only version gets between charges.
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- John O'Dell April 24, 2008, 2:16 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
April 23, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior EditorAngela Coletti was trying to maintain a cheerful demeanor, but even over the slightly crackly On-Star connection she didn't sound quite as cheerful as usual.
I'd just called to tell her that I might have broken the very expensive Chevrolet Equinox Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicle (that's FCEV in both corporate and electric-car talk) she'd delivered into my hands a few minutes earlier at the start of what was to have been a two-day loan last week.
I really hadn't done anything terrible, I asured Coletti, one of the "driver relationship managers" for GM's Equinox FCEV program.
I just gave it a little extra gas coming around a wide corner near my home. The tires chirped for a nano-second and when i looked down at the instrument panel there it was -- a bright blue "CALL SERVICE CENTER NOW" capped by the yellow silhouette of a car emblazoned with an open ended wrench, just in case the other message wasn't clear.
"Does it say 'call the service center
soon'?" Coletti asked in a hopeful tone.
Nope. NOW.
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- John O'Dell April 23, 2008, 11:15 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Chevrolet, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen
April 16, 2008
Widespread use of hydrogen as an automotive fuel is anywhere from a decade to 25 years in the future, says the president of Shell Oil's U.S. operation.
Obstacles to hydrogen are mainly infrastructure-related and include the difficulty in converting retail gas stations to dispense the fuel in either liquid or gaseous form, Shell 's John Hofmeister told a Sacramento, Calif., audience Monday at a conference on low-carbon fuels.
His remarks were reported by Greenwire, a subscription news service.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pushed for development of a so-called hydrogen highway in his state, saying a series of hydrogen filling stations linking California's main population centers would help speed introduction of hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles.
But Hofmeister, who is retiring in July, said building that highway "is going to be a long, drawn-out process. These infrastructure issues are going to continue getting in the way."
His comments appeared to be a response to a call for increased development of hydrogen stations by fuel providers that was issued earlier this month by General Motors Corp.'s strategic planning chief Larry Burns.
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- John O'Dell April 16, 2008, 11:08 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
April 14, 2008
Indiana high school team's fuel economy record-setting 'cheese wedge.'
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Smart motoring, a cheese-wedge design and high winds propelled a $3,500, gasoline-fueled 3-wheeler built and driven by a team of high school kids past a pack of much-pricier supermilers crafted by collegiate engineering students to win the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas fuel-efficiency competition Saturday.
The team, from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Indiana, took home the $10,000 grand prize with a fuel-efficiency run equivalent to 2,843.4 miles per gallon.
Strong, sustained winds in Southern California over the weekend, often gusting to 50 miles per hour, plagued all of the teams and rolled several of the lightweight vehicles competing at the California Speedway in Fontana, better known as the home track for the Auto Club 500 and other NASCAR races each year.
The purpose of the Eco-marathon is not speed but high mileage. Teams build ultra-lightweight, streamlined, one-seat vehicles that use tiny internal combustion engines or alternatives such as solar powered or hydrogen fuel-cell powered electric drive—and make repeated solo runs on a flat, 9.7-mile track course.
In a twist some competitors viewed as dumb luck and others grudgingly decided was brilliant design, the vertical air foil shape (think cheese wedge) of the two gasoline engine vehicles entered by Mater Dei benefited immensely from the hair-blower conditions.
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- John O'Dell April 14, 2008, 3:02 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Diesel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen
April 9, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior EditorFord Motor Co. said today that it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its nationwide fleet of new cars and trucks by at least 30 percent by 2020.
The company is the first U.S, automaker to publicly announce a GHG reductions goal. It acted in response to shareholder resolutions from a number of major investment groups concerned about climate change.
Because automotive greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to fuel consumption, Ford's goal means the company intends to provide a 30 percent increase in average fuel economy.
That's not particularly bold of Ford as it is the same level of improvement demanded in the new federal Energy Bill that was signed into law late last year and set a 35-miles-per-gallon corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, requirement for the entire auto industry to meet by 2020.
But announcing a goal and laying out the steps it intends to follow to achieve it is a major move by an automaker, the investor groups pushing for such action said.
In a press conference staged in New York City, representatives of those groups, including the
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and the
Investor Network on Climate Risk praised Ford for taking what one called a"giant step forward" in corporate leadership on global warming.
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- John O'Dell April 9, 2008, 11:54 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
April 2, 2008
GM's message is emblazoned on slide accompanying GM executive's speech chastizing hydrogen industry.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Crusty corporate vice chairman Bob Lutz usually is cast as General Motor's hitman when there's a hard-nosed message to be delivered. But the automaker this week is calling on soft-spoken strategist Larry Burns to blast the hydrogen industry for not working hard enough to realize what should be a common goal.
The world needs fuel-cell electric vehicles, but the hydrogen industry is not stepping up to do its part, Burns will tell hundreds of industry insiders in a speech at the National Hydrogen Association's annual conference here this morning.
"There does not appear to be a sense of urgency" by hydrogen suppliers to build the refining, delivery and refueling infrastructure now needed to support the fuel cell cars that automakers including GM are ready to start producing, he said in a pre-speech interview with Green Car Advisor.
"We need to build more of these cars, but why do it if there are no fuel stations out there?"
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- John O'Dell April 2, 2008, 2:00 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Toyota
April 1, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Overlooked in the scramble to relay what the California Air Resources Board did about zero emission vehicles at its meeting last week was what the board did about fuel for the fuel-cell electric vehicles it envisions as the centerpiece of the state's ZEV strategy going forward.
In a move that could be as significant – and controversial – as the original decision to require major automakers to build emission-free cars, the board directed its staff to look into means of pushing the fuel industry to provide adequate hydrogen fueling support for the fuel cell vehicles.
The state's ZEV Mandate as amended last week now requires production of a minimum of 7,500 fuel-cell electric vehicles with 200 mile range for sale in California between 2012 and 2015. But there are only 24 hydrogen stations in the state and not many more on the drawing boards.
Mary Nichols, CARB's chairwoman, said Tuesday that the board wants to be able to "resolve this chicken or egg situation" by ending a "shortage of hydrogen fuel stations that the automakers say is holding back development" of fuel cell vehicles.
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- John O'Dell April 1, 2008, 5:14 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
Fuel-cell Highlander successfully logged 2,300 miles on Alcan Highway, but even if Toyota built retail version, there's little hydrogen fuel available.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The conference is about early commercialization of hydrogen fueling and fuel-cell products and services, but the buzzwords still are "research" and "study," not "build" and "sell."
Granted, the National Hydrogen Association conference has just begun and there are, literally, scores of papers being delivered. Some do talk about things with real market potential – things like Plug Power's hydrogen fuel-cell electric fork lift and Air Products' on-site hydrogen fuel stations for commercial and government fleets. But most still deal with what could be, after a lot more research and development and testing gets done.
A hydrogen economy that relieves our dependency on foreign oil may be in our future, but it hasn't yet arrived.
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- John O'Dell April 1, 2008, 4:15 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Toyota, Volkswagen
March 31, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
SACRAMENTO, Calif. --Those sly devils at BMW waited until today to drop the other shoe.
Turns out the Hydrogen 7 that cleaned up in a recent Argonne National Laboratory emissions test wasn't one of the bi-fuel, gasoline-or-hydrogen internal combusion models the automaker has been testing. It was a new mono-fuel model, built to run only on liquid hydrogen.
BMW officially debuted the car -- which looks just like the bi-fuel models -- at the National Hyrogen Association's annual conference here in California's capital city.
The big differences are that the bi-fuel models have gas tanks as well as hydrogen tanks, and engines that are tuned to run well on gasoline, meaning that performance and fuel economy drops when they are driven under the influence of hydrogen.
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- John O'Dell March 31, 2008, 8:00 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Hydrogen
Researchers at Argonnne National Laboratory have put BMW's hydrogen-burning V12 engine to the test and found that it is, indeed, as clean as the automaker has been claiming.
The hydrogen internal combustion engine, mounted in a test fleet of about 100 7-Series sedans, is being placed with a variety of celebtrities, politicans, opinion-leaders and other high-visibility types around the U.S. and Europe this year to help raise awareness of BMW's alternative fuel strategy.
The company, which has been developing the engine for years, has always maintained that, except for miniscule amounts of carbon and NOx, created by the heating of engine oil used for lubricating pistons and other moving parts, the internal combustion engine is as clean as a hydrogen fuel cell, emitting only water vapor from the cars' tailpipes...
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- John O'Dell March 31, 2008, 4:20 AM
- Categories:
- BMW, Hydrogen
The National Hydrogen Association's annual hydrogen conference this week promises to explore the challenges and opportunities in early markets for the fuel that supporters see as the best cure for our oil dependency.
Theme of the event, which runs through Wednesday and features more than 50 speakers and a hydrogen products exposition, is "ramping up commercialization."
The timing is coincidential but interesting -- just last week the California Air Resources Board drastically cut the number of zero emission vehicles the state will require of major automakers through 2014, and established hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles as the gold standard for zero emissions technology.
Critics of that decision, mainly supporters of battery-electric technology, believe hydrogen is a pipedream because of the enormous amounts of electrical power required to produce and compress the gas into a usable automotive fuel format and because of the tremendous costs of extablishing a nationwide hydrogen fueling infrastructure.
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- John O'Dell March 31, 2008, 3:00 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
March 28, 2008
California air board's action reduced pressure on automakers to to build more zero emission cars like this Chevrolet Equinox.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
California's air regulators may have gutted the state's zero-emission vehicles requirement Thursday, but they did wonders for another nascent technology – the plug-in hybrid.
While slashing the minimum number of all-electric ZEVs to be required in the state between 2012 and 2014 by 70 percent – to 7,500 from the 25,000 that had been ordered previously – the California Air Resources Board required major automakers to "fill in" with us many as 58,333 vehicles in a new low-emissions category created mainly for plug-ins such as the Chevrolet Volt that General Motors Corp. says will hit the market by early 2011.
Only the six largest automakers are affected by the mandate's ZEV requirements through 2014, and the numbers are a collective total: on average, each would have to produce only 417 zero emission vehicles and 3,240 plug-in hybrids a year for the three years in order to meet the quota.
National Scope
Still, the action is significant because California's ZEV Mandate is more than a local law – it helps determine the kinds of advanced technology cars the auto industry will be building for everyone.
Since it was first approved in 1990, it has been adopted by 10 other states including several of the nation's most populous. Together they represent about a third of the national new car market, making it impossible for automakers to ignore their collective demand for cleaner, more fuel efficient cars and trucks.
As a result, the ZEV Mandate has become a de facto national mandate, fostering development of a variety of clean emissions and fuel-saving technologies including gas-electric hybrids and still-experimental battery- and fuel-cell electric systems.
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- John O'Dell March 28, 2008, 2:50 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
By Nick Kurczewski, Contributor
MONTE CARLO, Monaco --The BMW Hydrogen 7 sedan is loaded with luxury touches and powered by a state-of-the-art emissions-free engine. Unfortunately, it also requires its own tanker truck when it comes time for a fill-up.
But Prince Albert II of Monaco didn’t seem overly concerned about trivial matters like finding the closest hydrogen fueling station – there isn't one, hence the tanker -- when BMW handed him the keys to a Hydrogen 7-Series at this week’s EVER Monaco ecological car show.
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- John O'Dell March 28, 2008, 11:37 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Auto Shows, BMW, Hydrogen
March 26, 2008
EVs from Monaco's own Venturi will be on display at annual eco-car event .
By Nick Kurczewski, Contributor
MONTE CARLO, Monaco – A convention hall filled with electric, hydrogen, biofuel and hybrid-powered vehicles is a strange site in any town, much less the world’s most famous principality and one of James Bond’s favorite holiday hideaways.
A haven for the rich and powerful -- where champagne glasses are never empty, every parking lot is overflowing with Ferraris and Aston Martins and Formula 1 takes over the town once a year -- Monte Carlo is the most unlikely setting in which to find a show dedicated to green-car technology.
The EVER Monaco ecological car show, here from Thursday through Sunday, is dedicated to all forms of transport powered by fuels offering environmental benefits. Now in its third year, the annual Ecological Vehicles and Renewable Energies (EVER) exhibition is a showcase for vehicles powered by alternative fuels or technology.
We’ll be attending the show, and making our way through the Grimaldi Forum to see what progress is being made and what technology looks promising – not to mention what looks far-fetched and totally unfeasible.
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- John O'Dell March 26, 2008, 8:58 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Auto Shows, BMW, Hydrogen, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
March 21, 2008
Auto X-Prize entries will include mainstream vehicles and fanciful concepts.
By Robert E. Calem, ContributorNew York --The Automotive X Prize competition, an effort to do for the green car what the original
X Prize did for private space flight, was officially launched Thursday at the New York International Auto Show, where sample vehicles were displayed by four of the more than 60 teams from nine countries that will be vying for shares of a $10 million bounty.
The prize money was put up by Progressive Insurance, which has become the main sponsor in return for a name change: the competition is now the
Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize.
Additionally, the federal Department of Energy plans to provide a $3.5 million grant to fund a national education program organized around the competition in order to “inspire youth and the general public about the alternative vehicle and fuel options of the near future,” the X Prize Foundation announced.
Inspiring EntrepreneursThe contest, developed over the past two and a half years by the non-profit foundation, has the lofty goal of inspiring entrepreneurs to develop a new generation of commercially viable automobiles with low emissions and fuel economy equivalent to 100 miles per gallon.
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- John O'Dell March 21, 2008, 4:03 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Auto Shows, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar, Transportation Alternatives
March 19, 2008
As Europe cracks down on carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles, automakers are ratcheting up R&D efforts aimed at putting more fuel-efficient vehicles into their fleets.
The latest news comes form BMW, which already is deep into development of hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines for its larger cars.
The Munich-based luxury-performance car maker says it has launched an independent unit to begin developing a small city car (shades of Smart).
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- John O'Dell March 19, 2008, 12:40 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
March 18, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior EditorCalifornia's clean air regulators are updating the state's controversial zero emissions vehicle, or ZEV, mandate and are holding a public hearing in Sacramento next week to hear comment on the proposed revisions.
In advance of that, the
Plug In America advocacy group today sent a lengthy letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to influence the panel to protect present rules calling for automakers to collectively build 25,000 zero emissions vehicles for sale in the state between 2012 and 2014 and 50,000 between 2015 and 2017.
One of the proposed changes would cut the number of ZEVs to just 2,500 in the first stage of the build-up and to 25,000 in the second stage.
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- John O'Dell March 18, 2008, 1:58 PM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Natural Gas, Solar
March 10, 2008
Ah, Monday.
Another week of commuting begins, and with it, more concern about what the price of gasoline is doing to the family budget.
Which brings up this thought: What if you could do a whole year's worth of commuting on a couple gallons of gas?
A team of students from a French technology school accomplished the equivalent (in theory) when they achieved an amazing 7,148 miles per gallon driving their ultralight, ultra-streamlined wondercar around the 1.94-mile banked circuit at Rockingham Motor Speedway outside of London during the Royal Dutch Shell-sponsored 2007 Eco-Marathon last July.
We say "in theory" because Team Microjoule, entered in the "prototype" category, didn't burn anywhere near a gallon of gas -- the car's fuel tank held only 1.01 ounces of fuel and the mileage was extrapolated from the gas used during 7 laps around the racecourse.
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- John O'Dell March 10, 2008, 10:30 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Solar, Transportation Alternatives
March 7, 2008
THIS....Chevrolet Volt typifies battery-electric cars GM's Lutz wants to promote.
Or THIS.....Honda FCX Clarity uses hydrogen fuel-cell electric drive system.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The schizophrenic nature of auto industry in an increasingly green market was perhaps never more evident than this past week, as major carmakers split on the future of fuel-cell vehicles.
Larry Burns, vice president of research and development for GM, kicked things off Monday on a positive note for fuel-cell fans, talking up the importance of company's Project Driveway. That's GM's just-initiated 30-month test program involving 100 Chevrolet Equinox Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles being driven by consumers in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.
Ready for Prime Time
"We just coauthored a paper with Shell that makes a compelling case that the hydrogen infrastructure is real, it's viable, it can be done affordably and safely," Burns told reporters covering an alternative energy conference in New York.
"So the next step here as we learn from these hundred Equinox Fuel Cells will be getting into the thousands. We see that happening within the 2011-2012 timeframe. And then once we get to thousands we need to get to hundreds of thousands and millions. We think that within the next decade that is within our grasp."
So far, so good.
But only hours later, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was reading from a different page.
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- John O'Dell March 7, 2008, 6:54 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Batteries, Daimler, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
March 3, 2008
Virgin Atlantic gets three of these GM Equinox fuel cell vehicles for use at LAX .
Virgin Atlantic Airways
and
General Motors
announced a deal that morning that gives the British air carrier a trio of GM's
fuel-cell electric Chevrolet Equnox
SUVs to use for select VIP passengers for the next 30 months.
But Virgin, which has been actively pursuing ways to plant a greener footprint, won't have fuel cell Equinoxes at its beck and call everywhere it flies, just at Los Angeles International Airport -- at least for the first phase of the program.
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- John O'Dell March 3, 2008, 7:00 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen
February 29, 2008
Adding hydrogen to a hydrocarbon fuel such as gasoline or diesel can dramatically reduce emissions and boost fuel economy – the problem is how to produce, store and use the hydrogen.
A Japanese company,
Hrein Energy, has been working on a solution and this week announced it has tested "the world's first organic hydride hydrogen vehicle."
The
chemistry in the translated-from-Japanese release is hard to wade through, but essentially, Hrein is developing a system that uses a catalyst and heat from the vehicle's exhaust to separate hydrogen from an organic liquid and then feed it into the vehicle's fuel stream.
Hrein, based in Sapporo, used a Nissan March subcompact with a 1.2-liter gas engine outfitted with the company’s on-board system (Hrein calls it a dehydrogenation reactor).
The company claims it achieved a 30 percent increase in fuel economy, thus reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent.
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- John O'Dell February 29, 2008, 10:40 AM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen
February 28, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The governors of 19 western U.S. states and three Pacific island nations have agreed to work together to speed the development and use of alternative fuels, improve vehicle fuel economy and help reduce dependence on foreign petroleum.
A
resolution adopted by the
Western Governors' Association earlier this month incorporates recommendations contained in
a report developed at the request of the governors and with the assistance of energy experts.
The resolution calls for development of a regional framework for performance-based greenhouse gas standards for transportation fuels, such as a low-carbon fuel standard. The fuels and technologies include biodiesel, biofuels, coal-to-liquids, compressed natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen.
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- John O'Dell February 28, 2008, 5:40 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Natural Gas
February 27, 2008
Is energy giant BP, once seen as a burgeoning leader in the green fuels arena, turning brown again?
The company’s new CEO says BP gets no kick from green – a sharp turnaround from his predecessor's drive to make renewable energy the core of BP business.
But investments in renewable energy and alternative fuels have produced little if any boost in the value of BP's shares, while its work in the field of traditional fossil fuels – hydrocarbons – will promote growth for years to come, CEO Tony Hayward said Wednesday in an investment presentation covered by Reuters news service.
Hayward, who replaced John Browne in the chief executive's seat last May, said he's been making "significant progress" restructuring BP and adding new oil reserves. He added that even without new oil and gas finds, BP's asset base could support production of 4 million barrels per day through 2019.
Browne spent tens of millions of dollars trying to establish BP – formerly British Petroleum -- as a brand that now stood for "Beyond Petroleum."
But focusing on hydrocarbons means BP will take a new look at its Alternative Energy operation, which invests in wind and solar power and biofuels made from crops. Hayward hinted at the possibility of selling part of the operation, Reuters said.
The news comes just a day after Green Car Advisor began chasing rumors of BP's possible withdrawal from the California Fuel Cell Partnership.
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- John O'Dell February 27, 2008, 4:43 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Hydrogen
February 26, 2008
More from the "no free lunch" file.
Everyone is looking for a replacement for gasoline, but the cures so far seem to be as troublesome as the disease.
Latest case in point is a European Union study that says hydrogen is a realistic alternative to fossil fuels and predicts that 16 million Europeans will be driving hydrogen-fueled vehicles by 2030. By 2050, the study says, hydrogen could cut Europe's oil consumption by 40 percent.
Huge Outlay Required
Unfortunately, to get the fuel for the cars – whether they use hydrogen fuel cells to make electricity for electric drive systems or burn the stuff in place of gasoline in internal combustion engines -- is going to require someone to step up to the plate, or pump, with a huge capital investment.
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- John O'Dell February 26, 2008, 5:15 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen
February 19, 2008
It's not packed with sexy new technology like hybrid or fuel-cell cars, but its clean, low-carbon fuel and respectable fuel economy combined to earn Honda's 2008 Civic GX top place on a leading environmental guide's "greenest cars" list for the fifth consecutive year.
Honda's natural gas Civic GX is rated "greenest" car in U.S. for fifth year.
VW's Touareg diesel ranked "meanest" of more than 1,300 vehicles rated.
The four-wheel-drive version of Volkswagen's diesel-burning V10 Touareg SUV placed dead last on the lengthy list, behind such gas guzzlers as the Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Murcielago and the 6.0-liter Hummer H2.
In taking the top spot the GX, fueled by compressed natural gas, once again beat out the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrids.
The rankings are contained in the Washington, D.C.-based the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's 11the annual
Green Book
. The online guide to environmental rankings for every 2008 model car and passenger truck sold in the U.S. was released this morning by the ACEEE.
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- John O'Dell February 19, 2008, 1:05 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Diesel, Emissions, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas
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February 11, 2008
Turning E-450 Shuttle van into hydrogen burner more than doubles its cost.
Here's a little eye-opener for those who see articles about test programs for emissions-free hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines and wonder why they're not publicly available yet.
The California Air Resources Board is acquiring two Ford E-450 shuttle vans powered by 6.8-liter, V-10 diesel engines converted to run on hydrogen. The first was put into service this weeked in the San Francisco Bay area community of East Palo Alto.
As conventional diesel vans, the 21-passenger E-450s cost about $100,000 each, a CARB spokesman said.
The converted vans will cost $250,000 each -- and that's for a two-year lease. Ford gets the vehicles back af the end of the leases.
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- John O'Dell February 11, 2008, 5:15 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Ford, Hydrogen
February 1, 2008
Fuel for BMW Hydrogen cars is scarce and likely to remain so, company says.
In yet another blow to those who hope to see hydrogen become the world's preferred automotive fuel sooner rather than later, BMW – long a hydrogen proponent – now says it doesn't see much chance of widespread commercialization of the fuel over the next 15 to 20 years.
While it will still keep experimenting with liquid-hydrogen fueled internal combustion engines, BMW now is working on an electric car as well, the German automaker's clean technologies director, Jochen Schmalholz, told Australian journalists this week.
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- John O'Dell February 1, 2008, 10:55 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
Early studies of one of the most promising hydrogen-creating technologies - electrolysis - indicate it would require dramatic increases in U.S. water withdrawals, according to an article published by Reuters today. 
