Hybrid Cars

The Q1 2013 index (top) shows that the 7 top automotive nations have seen their competitive positions shift since 2012 (bottom). Source: Roland Berger. Click to enlarge. Despite maturing technology and better cost structures, worldwide production forecasts for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) are in decline, posing a threat to national targets to raise the share of xEVs in vehicle fleets, according to the latest E-mobility Index by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen (fka) for Q1 2013. The index compares the development of e-mobility in seven leading car-manufacturing nations (Germany, France, Italy, US, Japan, China and South Korea) on the basis of three parameters: technology, manufacturing, and market. Government support for e-mobility is declining in all the countries surveyed with the exception of China, according to the report. None of the subsidy programs that ended at the end of 2012 were renewed. Additionally, the support that exists is inversely proportional to the increase in these countries’ economic performance—i.e., with subsidies growing more slowly than GDP, the subsidy situation does not benefit from increases in economic output. Overall, worldwide sales forecasts—and hence the related production forecasts for EVs and PHEVs—are more conservative than in the preceding survey period. Among the seven automotive nations tracked by the index, the share of production in some segments is shifting in favor of individual countries. Since the previous survey, forecasts for vehicle production in Germany, France and South Korea have experienced positive development but remain at comparably low levels. Forecasts for vehicle sales in China, the US and Japan have been corrected downward. Growth in France is attributable above all to significantly higher sales forecasts for the Renault Twizy. ...Negative overall development in the market for EVs and PHEVs, despite mature technologies and optimized cost structures, suggests that the right conditions are not in place. Yet politicians still hold fast to the targets already set to ramp up the market for this class of vehicles—while conceding that realization will be delayed in some cases.—Roland Berger E-mobility index for Q1 2013 Plug-in America’s #PIA100K Plug-in vehicle advocacy organization Plug-in America (PIA) recently noted that the US plug-in car market topped the 100,000 unit sales mark sometime this month. Introduction of the latest generation of highway-capable plug-in vehicles began just over two years ago. Plug In America commemorated the milestone—which PIA calls the #PIA100K mark—with an award contest and by launching a counter on its website that tracks EV sales. The counter, updated using pace of sales data from the most recent published sales reports, currently stands at 100,559. According to the report, three major challenges still exist to the acceleration of adoption: xEVs are unattractive to OEMs as a financial proposition. OEMs realize lower margins on the sale of electric vehicles than on vehicles with conventional powertrains. In terms of the total cost of ownership (TCO), partially or fully electrified powertrains are still at a significant cost disadvantage over the entire lifecycle compared to conventional powertrains. OEMs experience a shortfall in profit margins if they sell a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) rather than a vehicle with a conventional powertrain. The customer benefits from lower energy costs due to lower fuel consumption, but the OEM is not fully recompensed for the extra cost it incurs. As long as emissions standards and CO2 targets can still be met with optimized internal combustion engines, there is thus no special incentive—marketing reasons aside—for OEMs to place more than the politically required minimum number of xEVs on the market (to comply with

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, Videos With a great soundtrack - Patty Griffin's Heavenly Day - Chevy is once again using robot dogs and real deer to tell us how eco-friendly the Volt is. The new Volt commercial, called "Silent Anthem," is basically an expanded version of the Volt's snippets from the Find New Roads commercial from February, but this time we see how wind power is the new gasoline (as you can see in the fictional "Instant History" iPad app used in the spot). NIce. Sure, the ad doesn't really say anything new about the Volt, but it certainly gives off an idealized vibe, and is a far cry from the way most automakers try to sell most of their cars. Just compare this spot (of Nissan's polar bear ad for the Leaf a few years ago) with most of the car-alone-on-the-highway ads that are apparently filmed after the apocalypse. What's the real message here?Continue reading Chevy Volt ad 'Silent Anthem' brings back friendly deer, robot dogsChevy Volt ad 'Silent Anthem' brings back friendly deer, robot dogs originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 22 May 2013 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

We've been thinking a lot about natural-gas fueled vehicles, for reasons that will become clear in due course. Writing about green cars can occasionally be awkward, because there are different audiences for diesels versus hybrids, for plug-in electric cars, and for other types of alternative fuels. The purchase motivations that drive buyers of...

The U.S. is sitting on top of a fuel goldmine, it seems. Not shale gas or crude oil, but fresh water and suitable land to produce 25 billion gallons of algae-based biofuel--a month's worth of the country's fuel needs each year. The discovery comes from the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which looked...

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, On Two Wheels, USA Looks like 3rd of June will be a red-letter day for electric motorcycles. Not only are we to have our hearts unbroken by Mission Motors, but it is also the exact same day that another of our two-wheeled favorites will ride into the spotlight. Moto Electra Racing has announced it will begin a journey from coast to coast with its Norton-styled retro-electro machine in a bid to make the record books for the quickest continental crossing by an electric vehicle. The team will set out from Florida and drive to Santa Monica in about 3 days, with an estimated 20 stops for charging and cat-napping. Inspired by a film about the first gas-powered automobile cross-country trip in 1903 - a time before gas stations and, for the most part, paved roads - the team plans to set out from the beach in Jacksonville, Florida and quietly hum their way to the Santa Monica Pier in California in about 3 days. That's about 2,500 miles along Interstate 10 at, or slightly below, the 70 mile-per-hour speed limit with an estimated 20 stops for charging and cat-napping. In the saddle will be team stalwart Thad Wolff. The former AMA Superbike racer has lots of experience with the bike, having raced it in the TTXGP and claiming 2nd place overall in the North American 2011 season. He will be supported by team principal Brian Richardson and a group of students from James Madison University who will bring along a portable generator. The general strategy is to ride for two hours, then charge for one, being careful not to tax the batteries. The bike itself is one sweet piece of work. Built around the famous Norton featherbed design, it is powered by an air-cooled AC motor and holds a battery pack which, while somewhat old, still holds an amazing 19 or 20 kilowatt-hours of energy (most comercially-available electric motorcycles offer about half that capacity, it's more than the 16.5-kWh in the Chevy Volt). While copies are not yet officially offered for sale, the team hinted in an email that it may be a possibility in the future You can follow the effort on the Moto Electra Facebook page where it will post plenty of photos and keep fans abreast of its progress. You can read the official press release by simply scrolling below. Godspeed.Continue reading Moto Electra Racing will drive electric mototcycle coast-to-coast in record-setting 3 daysMoto Electra Racing will drive electric mototcycle coast-to-coast in record-setting 3 days originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 22 May 2013 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

There are lots of very good plug-in electric cars for sale now, and some of them are starting to show up on used-car lots. We recently suggested some used hybrid-electric vehicles to avoid on the used-car lot--and now we turn to electric cars. Here are four vehicles we suggest you think long and hard before buying, no matter how attractive their...

Navitas Systems LLC, which earlier this year acquired substantially all of the assets of bankrupt A123 Systems’ former Ann Arbor, Michigan-based government business, including US military contracts, has signed a contract to supply prototypes of its upcoming 6T lithium-ion battery (earlier post) for use by CALSTART in assessing the efficacy of this advanced battery in hot and cold weather testing on Class 8 highway trucks. The 6T battery is commonly used in military vehicles, and to-date has been based on lead-acid chemistry. The Navitas 6T prototype batteries embody the same physical form factor, but utilize advanced lithium iron phosphate chemistry, offering greater cycle and calendar life, discharge runtime, charge acceptance rate and amp-hour throughput over life, all at half the weight of lead acid. [Saft was recently awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin for delivery of e6T Li-ion battery systems for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Program. (Earlier post.] CALSTART is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to the growth of an advanced transportation technologies industry. One of CALSTART’s programs, the High-Efficiency Truck Users Forum (HTUF) program, was developed in partnership with the US Army National Automotive Center (NAC). HTUF is a national program operated by CALSTART in partnership with and under contract tot he US Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center(TARDEC) National Automotive Center. TARDEC recently announced an award to CALSTART for the testing of three advanced lithium chemistry batteries on commercial trucks. This program will help assess the potential of lithium chemistries, specifically to apply recent advances in lithium-ion anode, cathode, electrolyte, and separator battery materials to electrode, cell and pack designs in order to develop 12V and 24V 6T form-factor military-vehicle batteries with significantly improved power and energy densities over existing lead acid alternatives. The effort focuses on the development of current commercial Lithium-ion battery technologies (Gen 1) of the three competing sub-electrochemistries from three domestic manufacturers into military 6T form-factor battery packs for evaluation by integrating into both commercial and military trucking fleets for performance testing and field data collection. The field-testing activities are designed so that the prototype battery technology can achieve a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) level 6.

Lexus has announced a coupe version of its compact luxury sedan, the IS, will go on sale in 2014. The company hasn't confirmed whether a hybrid version will be made, though with the latest IS inspired by last year's LF-CC concept, itself a hybrid, such a thing is likely. The coupe is expected to look very similar to the LF-CC concept, one of the...

Two companies that make apps to let electric-car drivers locate nearby charging stations will merge, they announced today. Recargo and Xatori will combine their communities and unify their apps, creating a single directory of more than 20,000 charging points across the country. Recargo currently offers the Station Finder app; Xatori's app is...

A techno-economic analysis of renewable aviation fuels by Australian researchers has found that, based on currently available long-term reputable technological data, biorefineries producing biofuels from microalgae, oil seeds of the Pongamia tree, and sugarcane feedstocks would be competitive with crude oil prices at $1,343, $374, and $301/bbl, respectively. Sensitivity analyses of the major economic drivers suggest technological and market developments that would bring the corresponding figures down to $385, $255, and $168/bbl, the researchers said in their paper, published in the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining. The results of the study, which was conducted as part of the Queensland Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative, were presented at the Boeing-hosted Aero Environment Summit in Sydney. The authors presented three process models for production of renewable aviation fuel from microalgae, Pongamia pinnata seeds and sugarcane molasses to produce a minimum selling price for aviation biofuel. (Pongamia pinnata is a legume tree which produces a seed rich in oil.) They assumed a production scale of 15 million gallons per year to reflect a mature, full-scale biofuels production facility. The models and assumptions have been deposited on a wiki and are open and accessible to the community. The researchers suggested that the dynamic nature of the freely accessible models will allow the community to track progress toward economic competitiveness of aviation fuels from these renewable feedstocks. While the research showed biofuel processes still require research and innovation to become economically viable for use in jets compared to existing fuels, the aim of the study was to identify research priorities that will have the largest impact on lowering the price. These priorities include: delivering higher fermentation yields in the sucrose process; producing Pongamia seeds with a higher oil content; and developing cheaper and more effective microalgae harvesting technologies. Market developments such as good access to animal feed markets, would also help, since the three routes could all produce high-protein meal as a by-product. The research contributes testable numbers and models to the debate—and provides guidance on where researchers may wish to concentrate efforts to make the biggest impacts on reducing the price of the biofuel.—Dr. Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer, first author and manager for techno-economic analysis at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) This Australian research is an important part of Boeing’s global commitment to supporting research into sustainable aviation biofuels. We’ve proven that aircraft can fly on biofuels. The next step is establishing the commercial and sustainable biofuels industries needed to take biofuels flights from demonstration to reality.—Michael Edwards, general manager of Boeing Research & Technology-Australia The Queensland Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative was established in 2010 through a Queensland Government National and International Research Alliances Program grant that brought together a consortium of university biofuel experts and industry for the AU$6.5-million project. Hosted at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland, the initiative involves partnerships with UQ institutes IMB, QAAFI and the Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research; James Cook University; Boeing; Virgin Australia; Mackay Sugar Limited; and IOR Energy. Resources Klein-Marcuschamer, D., Turner, C., Allen, M., Gray, P., Dietzgen, R. G., Gresshoff, P. M., Hankamer, B., Heimann, K., Scott, P. T., Stephens, E., Speight, R. and Nielsen, L. K. (2013), Technoeconomic analysis of renewable aviation fuel from microalgae, Pongamia pinnata, and sugarcane. Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. doi: 10.1002/bbb.1404