Green Car Advisor
Hydrogen
August 21, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior EditorIt 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.
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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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- BMW, Daimler, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen
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, Fuel Cell, Hydriogen 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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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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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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, Chevy Volt, Electric Vehicle, EV, General Motors, GM, Larry Burns, PHEV, Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle
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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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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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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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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- Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric
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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- Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Hydrogen
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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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
