Green Car Advisor

Green Car Advisor http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/  1995-2008 Edmunds.com, Inc. The contents of this feed are for non-commercial use only. Fri, 16 May 2008 06:05:51 GMT Web Crossing(r) Unix-v6.0 built May 6 2008 01:30:43 (source:1029 2008-05-05 23:05:11 -0700)/Unix-6.0 (http://webcrossing.com/) http://backend.userland.com/rss UPS Places Record Order For Hybrid and CNG Trucks Fri, 16 May 2008 10:05:05 GMT http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/107 http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/107 John O'Dell <jodell@edmunds.com> CNG UPS Compressed Natural Gas Hybrid Delivery Trucks Diesel United Parcel Service has ordered 200 hybrid electric trucks and 300 compressed natural gas vehicles from Daimler as it seeks to make its delivery fleet more fuel efficient. <a href="http://mercedes-benz-blog.blogspot.com/2008/05/ups-places-largest-order-for-green.html"> Daimler said</a> the order represents the largest ever placed for "green" commercial vehicles. Retail value of the trucks has been estimated at $50 million.The chassis will be supplied by Daimler's <a href="http://www.freightlinerchassis.com">Freightllner </a>subsidary, the hybrid systems by <a href="http://www.eaton.com">Eaton Corp</a>. In addition to helping US "green" its fleet and cut its fuel bills, use of the trucks throughout the U.s. fleet could help spread awareness of alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles. The hybrid delivery trucks, which combine a diesel engine and electric motor, achieve 40 percent improvement in fuel economy and a 90 percent reduction in emissions compared to non-hybrid UPS vehicles, Daimler said. The CNG trucks produce about 20 percent less carbon dioxide and other emissions than diesel-powered trucks. The vehicles will be used by UPS for daily delivery operations across the United States and will function in concert with the package service's fleet of conventional diesel vehicles, UPS <a href="http://www.ups.com/pressroom/corp/press_releases/press_release/0,1088,5008,00.html">said in a statement</a>. The 200 hybrid electric vehicles, which will be deployed next year, are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually. The 300 CNG trucks will enter service later this year... http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea755d#cm Arizona Legislature Says 'No' to Calif. GHG Rules Thu, 15 May 2008 22:05:20 GMT http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/.eea7532 http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/.eea7532 John O'Dell <jodell@edmunds.com> WCI Clean Car Regulations Western Climate Initiative Greenhouse Gas Arizona California Emissions Napolitano In the latest battle in the ongoing war over states' rights to set automotive emissions rules, Arizona lawmakers this week sent a bill to Gov. Janet Napolitano that would prevent her from adopting California's clean-car regulations for her state. House Bill 2017, which the Democratic governor has said she'd veto, also would block Arizona's participation in the Western Climate Initiative. The initiative, adhered to by seven states and two Canadian provinces, seeks to bring regional greenhouse-gas emissions down to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Napolitano brought Arizona into the WCI last year, and last month a gubernatorial review council approved a state agency's plan for Arizona to adopt California's vehicular emissions standards, which are more stringent than <A href="http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/418">those proposed</A> by the federal government. Proponents of the bill say it would eliminate a regulatory "patchwork" that would create hardships for consumers and businesses. But California air quality regulators and environmentalists argue that there cannot be a patchwork because federal law allows only two approaches. Individual states must follow either federal rules or California rules and cannot set up their own criteria. Napolitano has said that complex issues such as climate-change regulations are better handled by regulatory agencies than by elected legislators. Calls to her office Thursday were not returned. Scott Doggett, Contributor http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea7532#cm Did It Fly Over Greenland? Thu, 15 May 2008 21:05:56 GMT http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/.eea752a http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/.eea752a John O'Dell <jodell@edmunds.com> Lexus Hybrid Paul McCartney By John O'Dell, Senior Editor It was a Lexus in the sky, with carbon, and it is causing Paul McCartney and Lexus no end of grief. The former Beatle was given a Lexus by Toyota Motor Corp. for his help in promoting the raaather posh and expensive Lexus LS600H. In Great Britain, the hybrid costs the equivalent of $165,000. Sir Paul, as the Brits like to call the knighted entertainer and environmental activist, asked that the leather upholstery be stripped out and replaced with cloth (he's an animal rights supporter and a vegan). Then Lexus loaded the car, which also has a special paint job, onto a Korean air jet and flew it to Britain. The British press is having a field day, going on about how that flight created a carbon footprint almost 100 times larger than if the car had been shipped by sea, as is usual. The Telegraph, for instance, quotes an unidentified source in <A href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1951848/Paul-McCartney-'horrified'-as-his-eco-car-is-flown-7,000-miles-from-Japan.html">its story</A> as saying McCartney will be "horrified after learning it was delivered by plane." The paper says that a carbon-offset company, CO2balance.com, said the plane flight "caused a carbon footprint of 38,050 kilograms [23,591 pounds] compared to 397 kg [246 lbs.] for a three-week boat journey." McCartney hasn't said anything, but Nancy Hubbell, a Lexus spokeswoman at the company's North American headquarters just south of Los Angeles, called it a case of mistaken assumptions. "It was a scheduled flight, so the carbon footprint was there whether we shipped the car or not," she said, adding that McCartney shouldn't be shocked or horrified as the decision to ship the car by air "was a joint one." Lexus and McCartney's people jointly decided to do the air shipment to help protect the expensive paint and to speed delivery to fit into Lexus' plans to use the car in several upcoming promotional events in Britain, she said. But even had the car come by boat, there still would have been grumbling. The Telegraph quotes a spokesman for the anti-aviation lobby Plane Stupid complaining that "for anyone to pretend that a private limousine is in any way eco-friendly is like pretending a private jet is. It's total greenwash." McCartney and Lexus have a long relationship stemming from the carmakers' sponsorship of his 2005 U.S. tour... http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea752a#cm Smaller, Lighter, Cheaper Hybrid Battery Unveiled Thu, 15 May 2008 20:05:20 GMT http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/92 http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/92 John O'Dell <jodell@edmunds.com> Advanced Automotive Battery Conference Nickle Metal Hydride Batteries Lithium Ion Electric Vehicle Power Genix Battery Hybrid Powergenix Prius <IMG height=287 src="http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea750e/cmd.233/embedded..eea7514" width=430 align=textTop> New battery pack is stacked atop standard Prius battery to show size difference. By John O'Dell, Senior Editor Building a better battery is no easy chore -- witness the scramble going on right now to prefect batteries for plug-in hybrids and extended range electric vehicles such as the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. There are a host of issues to tackle including weight, safety, power and energy density, and, of course cost. So there ought to be a maket for a hybrid vehicle battery that's lighter, cheaper and safer than the kind presently in use. Squiler says his Southern California company has one. A World's-First It's a nickel zinc battery, NiZn for short and not to be confused with NiMH, for nickel metal-hydride, the standard today for hybrid-electric vehicles while the auto and battery industries are hard at work perfecting lithium ion batteries to replace them. But lithium ion batteries, while lighter and more powerful, is a lot more expensive than nickel metal hydride, and that has given Squiller's compnay a wedge it hopes will make it a big player in the battery biz. PowerGenix, an 8-year-old San Diego company that started selling its first batteries for cordless power tools just last month, says it has developed the world's first rechargeable nickel-zinc batteries suitable for hybrid-electric vehicle application. The company, which unveiled its prototype battery pack today at the Advanced Automotive Battery and Ultracapacitor Conference in Tampa, Fla., said its nickel zinc chemistry is non-toxic, non-combustable and enables it to build batteries that are smaller, lighter, more energy-dense and cheaper than the prevailing nickel metal-hydride batteries. To demonstrate some of those advantages, PowerGenix built a NiZn battery pack that, it said, will provide a 2008 Prius hybrid with the same power as the car's conventional nickel metal-hydride pack but is 33 percent smaller and 40 per cent lighter. In an interview with Green Car Advisor, PowerGenix CEO Dan Squiller said his company's batteries also would cost 20 percent less than those now used by Toyota for the Prius. The batteries would be about half the cost of comparable lithium ion cells, he said. The PowerGenix batteries aren't suitable for use in plug-in hybrids or all-electric vehicles, Squiller said, but that's not their purpose. The company is betting that their low cost and other advantages will make them the battery of choice for future generations of conventional battery-electric vehicles. Benefits A NiZn battery pack's reduced size and weight will give designers and engineers more flexibility and will enable automakers to put hybrid-electric powertrains into smaller vehicles than can use the systems now, Squiller said. The batteries also could help improve fuel economy in larger hybrids that now use nickel metal-hydride by reducing the vehicles' overall heft, he said. Each the 120 cells in a Prius-sized PowerGenix pack are the same size as a conventional D-cell battery and the same size as the cells used in nickel metal-hydride packs, he said. But the PowerGenix battery cells pack 1.6 volts versus 1.2 volts in an NiMH cell. "We have more energy density, for increased length of service," Squiller said... http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea750e#cm Prius Sales Globally Top 1-Million Mark Thu, 15 May 2008 16:05:13 GMT http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/86 http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/86 John O'Dell <jodell@edmunds.com> Car Sales Hybrid Prius Toyota <IMG height=250 src="http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea74f5/cmd.233/enclosure..eea74f6" width=430 align=textTop> Toyota's Prius is top hybrid in the world with more than a million sold so far. Over the years, automotive industry analysts repeatedly have pondered the question of just what the gas-price tipping point might be. For a while it was thought, based on focus groups, surveys and gut feelings, that people wouldn't change their car-buying habits until gas hit $3 a gallon. Then it was $4 and some even said it would take $5 a gallon gas to do the trick. Well, it seems that $3.60 did the trick. As gas prices hit that mark in early April, small car and hybrid sales began soaring. As we reported earlier, both segments <A href="http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/30">captured record shares</A> of the U.S. new vehicle sales market for the month. Toyota's Prius, synonymous with "hybrid" for many people, was not only the top-selling hybrid but the eighth-best selling passenger car overall for the month. Now Edmunds<A href="http://www.autoobserver.com/2008/05/toyota_prius_1_million_sales_a.html"> AutoObserver</A> brings us news that Toyota has announced that the Prius sales motored proudly past the million-mark in April, hitting a global total of 1.028 million – and climbing. Success like that is likely to spur Toyota's decision-makers to give a big green light to a project they've been discussing publicly for months now – an expanded line of Prius models. John O'Dell, Senior Editor http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea74f7#cm Nano Maker Tata to Compete in Automotive X-Prize Thu, 15 May 2008 15:05:48 GMT http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/80 http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/80 John O'Dell <jodell@edmunds.com> Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize X-Prize Foundation Tata Nano Electric Car Hybrid <IMG height=245 src="http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea74e9/cmd.233/embedded..eea74f0" width=180 align=right>If a $2,500 car from India isn't enough for automakers to worry about, Tata Motors now says it will develop an all-electric vehicle to compete in the upcoming automotive X-Prize competition. The contest, underwritten by Progressive Insurance, is offering a $10 million purse to contestants who can come up with a new car that is suitable for mass production and can achieve fuel economy equivalent to 100 miles per gallon or better. Entrants also have to have a business plan for making and marketing their vehicle. Organizers hope the competition will showcase viable alternatives to the internal combustion engine as well as technologies that improve ICE performance and reduce emissions. Tata, best known for the <A href="http://www.autoobserver.com/2008/01/tata-nano-the-w.html">four-seat Nano</A> "people's car" that it introduced at the New Dehli auto show earlier this year and has said will sell for the equivalent of $2,500, actually plans to enter two vehicles in the <A href="http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org">Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize</A> competition, the Santa Monica-based <A href="http://www.xprize.org">X-Prize Foundation</A> said this morning. The first will be an electric micro car, in the Alternative Class for vehicles which can carry at least two passengers and can have fewer than four wheels. Tata said its second entry will be a hybrid-electric car in the Mainstream Class, for vehicles that can carry at least four people and have a minimum of four wheels. In all, more than 70 teams from 12 nations have signed letters of intent to compete in the competition, which was inspired by the X-Prize for aerospace. Many of the teams are from the U.S. The competition will begin in New York City in September, 2009, and will be operated as a multi-stage cross-country "race" with stages held over several ensuing months in nine other U.S. cities and wrapping up sometime in 2010. (The dates aren't set in concrete because the organizers are still seeking cities to host the nine stages outside of New York.) Competing vehicles will be judged on fuel economy, emissions and elapsed time to compete the stages. Other criteria to be considered by the judges include efficiency, safety and affordability. John O'Dell, Senior Editor http://blogs.edmunds.com/.eea74e9#cm