HTL processing in High Quality mode. Vacuum tower bottoms (VTBs) are routed to the Reactor where thermal cracking takes place. Upgraded VTBs (product) are quenched at the exit of the Reactor Cyclone and routed to the Atmospheric Distillation Unit where distillate and lighter material is sent [...]
Dynetek Industries Ltd. has received approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) of their 450 bar (6,527 psi) cylinder for use in Dynetek BT450 Tube Trailer Systems for bulk transport of compressed hydrogen. In October 2007, Dynetek announced delivery of the first BT450 Tube trailer systems for the [...]
The recently-formed Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) will hold the second annual Algae Biomass Summit in Seattle, 23-24 October.
More than 400 experts in and proponents of algae biomass gathered for the first Algae Biomass Summit in November 2007. At that event, attendees agreed to form the Algal Biomass Organization to [...]
Approximately 19,000 of GM’s 74,000 US hourly employees have ">decided to take an early retirement or buyout package. Most of the employees participating in the company’s attrition program will leave the company no later than 1 July 2008. GM will fill job openings with current employees whenever possible, as spelled out [...]
Start-up algal biofuels company Sapphire Energy unveiled a renewable 91 octane gasoline that conforms to ASTM certification derived from algal a biocrude. Sapphire has developed a platform that produces a “green crude” and biohydrocarbon fuels from modified algae. Sapphire’s founders and leadership team includes scientists in the fields of petroleum [...]
Although not the sole cause for the worldwide rapid increases in food prices, the biofuels market has created a new and significant source of demand for some agricultural commodities such as sugar, corn, cassava, oilseeds and palm oil. This increase in demand, according to a report prepared by the [...]
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| The price gap between diesel and gasoline has been expanding, most visibly in the California market. Click to enlarge. |
The price of diesel jumped past the $5.00/gallon mark in California this week to $5.027—a 69% increase from one year ago, according to the latest data from the [...]
Tesla Motors CTO JB Straubel has posted an engineering update on the company’s work on “powertrain 1.5”—an improved motor to handle higher current and torque; an improved inverter to deliver higher motor current; and a single-speed gearbox designed to replace its problematic two-speed transmission—on the company’s website.
Initial production [...]
China’s Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (DFL) outlined its five-year 2008 to 2012 mid-term business plan, targeting sales of 1 million vehicles by 2012. The five-year plan, named Plan 13 (“one cubed”), expands on the company’s previous business blueprint, Plan 23 (“two cubed”), under which the company doubled sales volume between [...]
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| Verenium expects a production cost of $1.34/gallon (outlined in red) from its first-generation technology, with further reductions to come. Click to enlarge. |
Verenium Corporation has begun the commissioning phase at its demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Jennings, Louisiana. The plant is rated to produce 1.4 million gallons [...]
Nissan Forklift will debut its first Li-ion powered forklift concept model at the CeMAT 2008 logistics exhibition, to be held at Hannover from 27-31 May.
The electric-powered forklift employs battery technology developed by Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), a joint-venture between Nissan Motor Co. and NEC Corporation and NEC [...]
With a $10-million seed grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) will collaborate with AFRL to construct and operate the country’s first federal research facility designed to create jet fuel from coal and biomass in a program aimed at creating a [...]
Shell will blend BTL (Biomass to Liquids) synthetic diesel, along with GTL (Gas to Liquids) synthetic diesel, into its Shell V-Power Diesel race fuel at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, in France on 14 June. This will be the first time a second-generation biofuel has been used at [...]
Enerize Corporation has developed a new design for photovoltaic (PV) modules using a proprietary transparent polymer material to replace conventional glass, resulting in an increase in conversion efficiency of more then 20%. The polymer increases efficiency due to higher transparency and concentration of incoming light, while providing resistance to degradation [...]
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| This map shows the bias in the calculations of carbon monoxide concentration in the atmosphere after the application of Kotamarthi’s algorithms. Click to enlarge. |
A new computer algorithm developed by environmental scientist Rao Kotamarthi of the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration with Alexis Zubrow, [...]
The Swedish company SEKAB, which delivers about 90% of all ethanol in Sweden for E85 and ED95 (ethanol for heavy-duty vehicles using compression ignition engines, earlier post), announced that it will be the first company to supply verified sustainable ethanol. This ethanol from Brazilian sugarcane is quality-assured from [...]
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| The fuel cell system on the Airbus A320 ATRA research aircraft was built by DLR. Right: Airbus Project Leader Jens Dietrich Kurre. Click to enlarge. Credit: Airbus Deutschland. |
The Institute for Technical Thermodynamics of the German Aerospace Center (Institut für Technische Thermodynamik des Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und [...]
Linc Energy Ltd has executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China’s Huadian Coal Industry Group for the joint pursuit of opportunities to use Linc Energy’s underground coal gasification (UCG) technology (earlier post) and experience with gas-to-liquids Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuel and chemicals technologies within China. In addition, the two [...]
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Wärtsilä Corporation of Finland have signed a joint development agreement to design and develop new small, low-speed marine diesel engines of less than 450 mm cylinder bore. According to Wärtsilä, it holds a 16% share of the marine low-speed main engine market, with MHI [...]
PEMEX, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, reported that crude oil production in April 2008 dropped 13% to 2.767 million barrels per day from April 2007 as output from the Cantarell field declined faster than expected.  |
| PEMEX crude production is showing accelerating declines. Click to enlarge. |
Crude oil [...]
The Volvo Group has signed a final agreement with the Indian vehicle manufacturer Eicher Motors covering establishment of a new Indian joint-venture company. The joint venture, with the proposed name VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd., comprises Eicher Motors’ entire truck and bus operations and the Volvo Group’s Indian truck sales [...]
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| The Antonov dual-speed front end accessory drive uses a planetary gear set to enable either a direct of step-up ratio. Click to enlarge. |
Antonov Automotive Technologies, which is currently offering a simple dual-speed supercharger for downsizing engines to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions (earlier post), [...]
The European Parliament has supported establishing the EU’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) Initiative—the fifth Joint Technology Initiative (JTI)—by a vote of 590 to 619. Between 2008 and 2017, the FCH JTI will have a budget of €1 billion (US$1.58 billion).
The initial proposal for the FCH JTI from [...]
All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) introduced its Ecology Plan 2008-2011, in which it sets goals for the reduction of CO2 emissions by its fleet. Specifically, ANA will reduce the amount of CO2 produced on domestic routes by 200,000 tonnes, compared with 2006 levels, down from 4.9 million to [...]
Houston Chronicle. Imperial Sugar, one of the nation’s largest sugar refiners and sellers, is exploring a plan to build a large-scale ethanol plant next to its sugar refinery in Gramercy, La.
The plant would use a mixture of a lower-grade sugar it now has to process twice to bring to [...]
Nikkei. Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., the joint venture between Honda Motor Co. and China’s Dongfeng Motor Corp., will boost its annual capacity from 120,000 units to 240,000 by next year. The planned increase will include the Civic and the CR-V sport utility vehicle. Sales at Dongfeng Honda are projected [...]
Extreme Motorsports of California, Inc. (Xtreme), the world’s only publicly traded sandcar manufacturer, recently completed the engineering and manufacturing plans for the first completely electric sandcar.  |
| A conventional 2007 Dune Racer. |
The Zero Emissions Sandcar (ZES) uses motor and controller technology from Azure Dynamics and a [...]
The Los Angeles County Lifeguards (LACL), a division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, is getting a fleet of 45 Escape Hybrids with Intelligent four-wheel-drive specially equipped for use on rescue patrol.  |
| The LACL Escape Hybrid. |
The Intelligent four-wheel-drive version of the Escape Hybrid offers fuel economy of [...]
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| Cellulosic ethanol producer Coskata has rapidly brought its microbes to levels of commercial productivity with the assistance of genomic analysis that identified optimized nutritional pathways. Click to enlarge. Source: Coskata |
General Motors is picking up the pace on its steady push for the adoption of ethanol as a [...]
Alaska Journal of Commerce. Fairbanks (Alaska) Economic Development Corp. (EDC) has signed a contract with Hatch, Ltd., a Toronto-based engineering firm, to conduct a $550,000 screening study on a possible coal or biomass-to-liquids plant in Fairbanks.
The hope is that the alternative fuels plant might lower the cost of energy [...]
The consortium formed by Petrobras (66%, operator), Shell (20%), and Galp Energia (14%), has proved the presence of oil in another block in the ultra-deep waters in the Santos Basin near the huge offshore Tupi field. The Tupi field alone, which represents only a small part of this oil [...]
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| ANWR production would peak in 2028 (ten years after the start of production). Click to enlarge. Source: EIA |
The opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR 1002 Area) to oil and natural gas development would result in additional oil production of a peak 780,000 barrels per day [...]
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| The basic element of the IDR engine is two intermeshing rotors. Click to enlarge. |
A South African inventor has developed a new engine concept—the Intermeshing Differential Rotors (IDR) engine—intended to provide a better power-to-mass ratio, improved efficiency, reduced manufacturing cost and durability than current engines. The company [...]
A team of researchers from the US, Canada and Mexico found evidence of the acidification of the ocean caused by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide less than 20 miles off the west coast of North America during a field study from Canada to Mexico last summer. This was [...]
Ford Motor Company announced that it is cutting planned North American production and revising downward its near-term North American Automotive profit outlook, while planning further manufacturing capacity realignments, additional cost reductions and changes to its product mix to respond to the rapidly changing business environment in the US.
The company is [...]
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| The HyWind floating turbine. Click to enlarge. |
StatoilHydro will build the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine, Hywind, and test it over a two-year period offshore Karmøy, Norway. (Earlier post.) The company is investing approximately 400 million NOK (US$80 million) in the project, and plans to [...]
The Nikkei reports that Toyota Motor Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. intend to build two plants for automotive batteries: one for NiMH cells, the other for Li-ion cells. The companies seek to lift annual production of such batteries to around 1 million units by 2011. Panasonic EV Energy [...]
The California Air Resources Board approved the final list of diesel emission reduction projects to be funded by the first installment of $221 million out of the $1 billion from voter-endorsed Proposition 1B.
ARB voted to distribute $221 million among California’s four trade corridors based on the funding targets adopted [...]
Translinc, a UK provider of fleet services, is introducing a Smith Edison electric vehicle (earlier post) into courier service for the Lincolnshire County Council (LCC).
LCC’s courier service operates eight weekly runs within Lincoln city and throughout the county, supporting the library services, inter-school deliveries and the city council’s [...]
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told the Frankfurter Allgemeine that the company wants to bring the Volt to market in 2010 priced at less than $30,000.
“GM has a very clear goal: We want to bring the Volt to market in 2010 at a price of less than 30,000 [...]
Green Star Products, Inc. has developed a new micronutrient which increases the growth rate of certain strains of microalgae. Biotech Research, Inc., a consortium partner of Green Star, has confirmed a daily growth rate increase of 34% using the “Montana Micronutrient Booster (MMB)” formula.
This growth rate booster can increase [...]
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| In addition to the gasoline tank, the B 170 NGT has five natural gas reservoirs with a total capacity of 16 kilograms. Click to enlarge. |
Mercedes-Benz has introduced a new natural-gas platform in its revamped B-Class range: the B 170 NGT BlueEFFICIENCY. (Earlier post.)
The bi-fuel drive B [...]
Researchers at the University of Crete calculate that modifying metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with lithium alkoxide groups can boost the MOF’s gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity to 10 wt% at 77 K (-196°C) and 100 bar. That capacity, as determined by ab initio calculations, is about three times larger compared with unmodified [...]
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| The Mississippi State winning Equinox. |
Mississippi State University, for the second consecutive year, earned top honors in the GM and US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Challenge X student engineering competition. Over the past nine months, the 2008 Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainability competition challenged 17 [...]
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| Various PHEV targets and battery cell and pack potential mapped to a Ragone plot. Click to enlarge. |
A report from the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis provides an overview of the current state of several battery chemistries—including NiMH and Li-ion—and their abilities to meet the goals [...]
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| The ultracapacitor-based Power Net Extension is designed to alleviate the demands placed on the 12V battery by increasing micro-hybridization and electrification. Click to enlarge. |
The BMW Group is developing an application of ultracapacitors and a DC/DC converter to extend the power of the 12V power net in its [...]
Audi is showcasing an A3 TDI diesel study car at the upcoming 27th annual Lake Wörther Tour being held at the end of May in the Austrian province of Carinthia. An uppowered 2.0L TDI engine in the A3 TDI clubsport quattro delivers 165 kW (224 hp) and produces 450 Nm [...]
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| MUSIC engine on the test bed. |
Recent testing of a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder implementation of the Merritt Unthrottled Spark Ignition Combustion (MUSIC) engine, initially developed at Coventry University, (earlier post) showed a 19.8% improvement in fuel economy compared to a baseline Ford 2.0L Duratec.
MUSIC is [...]
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| The Nautilus E-30 electric drayage truck. |
The Port of Los Angeles and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) introduced an all-electric heavy-duty short-haul drayage truck—the first of its kind—that can pull a 60,000-pound cargo container at a top speed of 40 mph, and has a [...]
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| An earlier implementation of wingsails on the mv Ashington. |
A study evaluating the use of wingsails on a seismic exploration vessel found that they could reduce fuel consumption by 5% when the vessel was towing its hydrophonic cable assemblies. The researchers concluded that the savings could [...]
Total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada in 2006 were 721 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt of CO2e), a decrease of 1.9% from 2005 levels, and 2.8% from 2003 levels, according to the latest annual inventory submitted by Environment Canada. Overall, the long-term trend indicates that emissions in 2006 [...]
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking comments on Texas’ petition for a 50% waiver on the volume of renewable fuel required to be used in motor vehicles and other engines. (Earlier post.) In a 25 April letter to EPA, Texas Governor Rick Perry asked EPA to halve [...]
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| GM is exploring combining supercapacitors for power with high-energy lithium-ion batteries for a next-generation energy storage system for the E-Flex EREVs. Click to enlarge. |
General Motors is actively exploring the concept of combining supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries in a next-generation energy storage system (ESS) for its [...]
Polypore International, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary Celgard, LLC (Celgard), will purchase Yurie-Wide Corp., a developer of technology for the manufacture of polyethylene separators for lithium-ion batteries, for approximately $23 million. Polypore, through its Celgard business, is a leading manufacturer of mono-layer polypropylene and multi-layer polypropylene/polyethylene separators used in [...]
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| AESC uses a Mn spinel cathode material. Click to enlarge. |
Nissan Motor, NEC Corporation, and NEC TOKIN Corporation formed the joint venture Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) in 2007 to develop and market lithium-ion batteries for hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.
With work on all three types [...]
Mr. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, ex-Formula One (F1) racer and champion, and Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH plan to enter a hybrid electric version of the Apollo supercar powered by a lithium-ion battery solution from Lithium Technology Corporation (LTC) into this year’s Nürburgring 24 hour race (ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen), 22-25 May 2008. [...]
MIT engineers have developed an alternative membrane for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) that can increase power output by more than 50%. The new material is also considerably less expensive than its conventional industrial counterpart, among other advantages.
Separately, Sharp Corporation announced that it achieved the world’s highest power [...]
Nikkei. According to the latest data, the number of vehicles owned in Japan, including minicars and motorcycles, totaled 79.43 million as of 29 Feb, down 0.2% for the year. The figure also fell for December and January. Comparable data has been available only since 1963, but this is likely [...]
Tata Motors Limited of the United Kingdom has signed an official Letter of Intent to compete in The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. (Earlier post.) Tata joins more than 70 teams from 12 countries and 22 US states who have signed a letter of intent to compete for a [...]
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| The PowerGenix 120-cell 1.2 kWh HEV pack sitting atop the larger NiMH pack in a Prius. |
PowerGenix, a San Diego-based developer of high-performance, sealed rechargeable nickel-zinc (NiZn) batteries for power tools and other applications, introduced its rechargeable D cells for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) this week at [...]
Group Lotus plc has created Lotus Lightweight Structures, following the acquisition of Holden Lightweight Structures Limited today. Lotus Lightweight Structures will be based at the former Holden Lightweight Structures Limited site in Worcester, UK and will continue to manufacture light weight aluminium and composite structures and components for its client base [...]
UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, and Honeywell Aerospace will partner with Airbus, JetBlue Airways, and International Aero Engines to study the production and use of sustainable biofuels for commercial aircraft. The effort will focus on developing and testing renewable energy technology to convert biofeedstocks to commercial aviation fuels, with specific [...]
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| GM’s new 1.4L direct-injection turbocharged gasoline engine. CLick to enlarge. |
General Motors Corp. will introduce in 2009 two new engines offering fuel efficiency gains for vehicles marketed in Europe and other regions. Both engines are new variants of GM’s existing engine families used globally.
A 1.4-liter direct-injection [...]
The Globe and Mail reports that Toronto, Canada’s fleet of Orion VII hybrid buses are saving less than half the amount of fuel claimed by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and the federal, provincial and city governments. The Toronto Transit Commission and the federal, provincial and city governments said [...]
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| The concept of APTS’ Phileas system. Click to enlarge. |
The Istanbul (Turkey) Transportation Authority has ordered 50 Metrobus trams equipped with the GM-Allison hybrid system. This will be the largest fleet of the hybrids in Europe by next year. The first of the 50 trams, built by Dutch [...]
H2 Logic A/S has received a funding grant from Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation (DANATF) to develop a third-generation fuel cell hybrid system for forklifts that reaches commercial targets and enables a following market introduction. The development will happen in collaboration with Still Danmark A/S, Müller Gas Equipment A/S [...]
Worldwide cumulative sales of the Toyota Prius have passed the 1 million mark, according to Toyota Motor, with approximately 1,028,000 units sold as of the end of April 2008. Toyota launched the Prius in Japan in 1997 and began selling in Europe, North America and other markets in 2000. [...]
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| The atomic structure of the mix of lithium amide with lightweight metal hydrides shows layers of calcium that the lithium ions can sprint through. This facilitates hydrogen storage and release. Click to enlarge.
Credit: NIST |
A materials scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has [...]
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| Comparison of battery performance using the older generation of monolayer separator and the new co-extruded multi-layer separator. Click to enlarge. |
ExxonMobil Chemical introduced two new grades of its co-extruded separator film for lithium-ion batteries at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) in Tampa, Florida (12-16 May). (Earlier [...]
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) has published data collected at its Mauna Loa atmospheric baseline observatory in Hawai’i showing that atmospheric CO2 concentration at Mauna Loa has reached 387 part per million by volume (ppmv), the highest concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere in the last [...]
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| The hydraulic series hybrid uses the combustion engine to power a hydraulic pump/motor. Click to enlarge. |
The Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF), a government-corporate partnership led by CALSTART, has selected Hybra-Drive Systems LLC (HDS) to build three identical Class 6 hydraulic series hybrid delivery trucks for [...]
UPS has ordered 200 hybrid-electric (HEV) and 300 compressed natural gas vehicles from Daimler Trucks North America’s (DTNA) Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC). The order is being manufactured on FCCC’s walk-in van MT45 and MT55 chassis product line. The diesel hybrids combine a Mercedes-Benz MBE 904 diesel and hybrid system from [...]
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| The battery pack of the i MIEV. Click to enlarge. |
At the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference and Symposium 2008 in Tampa, Florida (12-16 May), Takuha Miyashita from Mitsubishi described the characteristics of the lithium-ion battery pack that Mitsubishi, in partnership with GS Yuasa, developed for the i MiEV [...]
DuPont and Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, are forming a 50-50 global joint venture—DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC—to develop and commercialize a low-cost technology solution for the production of cellulosic ethanol.
The partners plan an initial three-year investment of US$140 million, which will initially target corn stover and [...]
The Nikkei reports that Volkswagen AG and Sanyo Electric Co. jointly will develop a lithium-ion battery for hybrid and electric cars. VW hopes to start importing the battery for use in its vehicles by 2012, according to unnamed company sources.
Sanyo Electric Co Ltd showed a prototype Li-ion module for [...]
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| New generation Audi A3. |
Audi is introducing the 2009 model year A3 series equipped with wholly new or revised engines delivering reductions in CO2 emissions of up to 15%. The output of the 1.8 TFSI S tronic model, for example, drops from 179 g/km to 153 g/km.
As before, [...]
The Plain Dealer. The state of Ohio has pulled the title and registration of the first three-wheeled ZAP Xebra sold there because the vehicle doesn’t meet the definition of any kind of road-sanctioned vehicle in the state. About six weeks after [Alan Fuller] got his pickup from a dealer in [...]
Biomass Magazine. Butalco GmBH, a Swiss-based biotech startup developing new production processes for second generation biofuels and biochemicals based on lignocellulose, secured its first round of external financing from Volkswind GmbH based in Ganderkesee (Lower Saxony), Germany. Butalco’s core technology is based on genetically optimized yeasts to increase [...]
RTEV, a provider of recreational electric low-speed vehicles (LSVs), officially launched itself last week in Atlanta, Georgia, with an eye toward expanding its line-up to the highway. Low Speed Vehicles are a US Department of Transportation designation for cars that can be licensed and driven on roads that have [...]
Chile’s National Energy Commission (CNE, Comision Nacional de Energia) has authorized the use of bioethanol and biodiesel blends, at 2% and 5% respectively, for transportation.
According to the CNE, the limits imposed on the mixtures are based on the ability of the Chilean vehicle fleet to run on these [...]
Swift Enterprises Ltd. has unveiled a new patented synthetic hydrocarbon general aviation fuel—SwiftFuel—that is produced from biomass.
SwiftFuel meets or exceeds the standards for aviation fuel as verified by nationally recognized laboratories, said co-founder John Rusek, a professor in Purdue University’s School of Astronautics and Aeronautics Engineering and research [...]
The Nikkei reports that the Nissan Motor - NEC Corporation 50-50 joint venture for lithium-ion batteries—Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (earlier post)—will begin mass production of Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles next spring. A new production plant in Kanagawa Prefecture is expected eventually to roll out enough batteries for [...]
Electro Energy Inc. has won a contract award of $750,000 sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to continue development of ultra-high energy density, rechargeable, lithium battery chemistry for Air Force applications.
The US Air Force SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Phase II contract award identifies a nanocomposite, rechargeable, lithium [...]
AC Transit of Oakland, CA will purchase a minimum of eight 120 kW PureMotion Model 120 fuel cell systems from UTC Power, with options for an additional 13 units, to power AC Transit’s next-generation hybrid-electric, fuel cell buses, scheduled for delivery in 2009 and 2010. This is the largest [...]
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