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DC AUTO SHOW: Hybrids, EVs driving wider acceptance of diesel, CNG and hydrogen
Feb 6th
Filed under: Hydrogen, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Washington DC Auto Show
Now that car buyers are starting to accept hybrids and EVs, there’s more willingness to consider other green car technologies, including diesel, CNG and hydrogen. But the road to wider acceptance – and affordability – is being slowed by a lack of infrastructure and overlapping state and federal regulations that are sometime are at odds with one another.
That’s the view of environmental and regulatory experts from three automakers, Toyota, Honda and Chrysler, who spoke speaking to an audience of journalists and policy-makers at the opening of 2013 Washington Auto Show, now underway.
Chrysler’s head of regulatory affairs, Reg Modlin, said he is optimistic that investment by corporate fleets in CNG and electric will drive (pardon the pun) infrastructure development, citing that 20 states now are pushing CNG fleets. “The government has a role, but the marketplace has a bigger one,” he said.
Robert Bienenfeld, Honda’s manager of environment and energy strategy, is hopeful that the network of 100 hydrogen fueling stations California is planning to will “send a strong signal” for the viability of fuel cell vehicles, first for fleets, then for consumers. Honda’s FCX Clarity fuel cell sedan has been leased in California for several years already.
What about renaming the technology as “natural gas fuel cells” to bypass consumer reluctance to hydrogen?
Toyota’s VP of energy and environment research, Tom Stricker, predicts more collaboration between competing automakers to reduce R&D costs, such as Toyota’s partnership with BMW on fuel cell research. He even suggested using natural gas to make hydrogen, and renaming the technology as “natural gas fuel cells” to bypass consumer reluctance to hydrogen.
All three agree that oil companies should ramp up production of low-sulfur fuel. “Direct injection engines need it to live,” said Chysler’s Modlin. Having one national standard for Tier 3 fuel will help lower prices nationwide, said Honda’s Bienenfeld, adding, “if you don’t have consumer support, you can’t have policy.” All three are optimistic that EPA fuel economy standards for 2025 will be met, although Striker describes the rules as “not really about fuel economy, but about CO2 reduction.”
Honda’s Bienenfeld noted that 40 years ago, cars were “1,000 times more polluting and half as fuel efficient.” He predicts engines will continue to get cleaner and more fuel efficient, further narrowing the gap between conventional powertrains, including diesel and hybrids.
Hybrids, EVs driving wider acceptance of diesel, CNG and hydrogen originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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DC AUTO SHOW: DOE Secretary Steven Chu resigns, talks about future of plug-in vehicles
Feb 1st
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy, USA, Washington DC Auto Show
One day after announcing the Workplace Charging Challenge expansion for EV Everywhere at the Washington Auto Show, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced some big personal news: he will resign, giving President Obama one more chair to fill in his second term. In his 3,700-word resignation letter that was made public today (and available below), Chu only briefly touched on electric vehicles (and only indirectly alluded to hydrogen in the phrase “science that could lead to the direct conversion of solar energy into transportation fuels”), but we know plug-ins have been on his mind.
Following the WCC announcement yesterday, Chu spoke to reporters at the DC show and answered questions about the future of plug-in vehicles, more Advanced Vehicle Technology loans and how sometimes we need to remember that gasoline stinks.
When asked if we will still get to a million EVs by 2015, Chu said, “It’s ambitious, but we’ll see what happens … I understood that the Chevy Volt has sold 24,000 since 2011 and the Nissan Leaf has remarkable price reductions that we’re very, very excited about. With the current [US and California] subsidies, this actually puts it under $20,000. But, as I said before, we need $20,000 with no subsidies by 2022. This would be very exciting. When you get close to that, even $25,000, the market will speak for itself and so that’s why we’re so focused on improving the technology.”
“I’d be a little surprised if, within 5-10 years 80 percent of the new car fleet in the world doesn’t have start-stop.”
The cost of all alternative powertrain technologies will come down, Chu said, so much so that, “mild hybrids will almost become the de facto. Stopping your engine when you’re at a traffic light, for example. I’d be a little surprised if, within 5-10 years, 80 percent of the new car fleet in the world doesn’t do this.”
What about affordability and getting new car shoppers to buy EVs? “Some people say, ‘unless you get every single feature of an internal combustion engine car, the customers won’t accept that. Every single feature? Let’s talk about features you could not get with an internal combustion car or a normal hybrid. I look forward to the day when I have a smart phone of some kind and, two minutes before I get into the car, I push a little button and say, ‘make my car cool’ or ‘make my car warm,’ because most of the trips are 5-10 minutes and you’re either freezing or you’re sweating for the first couple minutes. With an EV, even a mild plug-in, you can condition the thing before you get in. For those of you that actually pour gasoline into your cars, you might, at some time, have spilled gasoline on your hands or clothes, and when I do that, my hands stink of gasoline. So, look at all the other features.”
“Fuel cells can be incredibly reliable. But our target is a $20,000 vehicle that can compete with a 45- or even 50-mile-per-gallon internal combustion car.”
Chu was non-committal on further loans being made under the Advanced Vehicle Technology Loan Program, but he did say, “We used to be the undisputed leader in the auto industry. We were not at the beginning. We didn’t invent the internal combustion engine, we didn’t invent the automobile. That was done in Europe. But very shortly after that, we took the lead and held it for roughly a half century. So, that program is an important program and if we can use it to actually have sustainable businesses that succeed as something to bring back and retain our leadership in the future, we will look at all applications.”
Oh, and despite their current expense, hydrogen fuel cells remain part of the portfolio, Chu said, which is why the DOE “will continue to support the fuel cell program. I think in the last year or two, I have been saying this is an important technology and we want to continue to support the research. Fuel cells can be incredibly reliable. There are many fuel cells in buses that have been running in buses for ten year, rock solid. But our target is a $20,000 personal vehicle that can compete with a 45- or even 50-mile-per-gallon internal combustion car.”
Continue reading DOE Secretary Steven Chu resigns, talks about future of plug-in vehicles
DOE Secretary Steven Chu resigns, talks about future of plug-in vehicles originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Exclusive: Squeaky wheels, rejoice: How 2013 Nissan Leaf was changed with EV driver suggestions
Jan 31st
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Nissan, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Washington DC Auto Show
During today’s announcement about the expansion of DC fast charging stations in the US, Brendan Jones, Nissan North America’s director of Leaf marketing and sales strategy, said that one reason the company is working harder on getting more chargers out there is because drivers asked for them. As one Leaf driver told him, “Give us more confidence by putting in more infrastructure and we’ll drive further.” Turns out that the 2013 Nissan Leaf itself was updated with EV driver input, a new industry style to match the new drivetrain.
“We frequently rely on them for what’s working and what’s not working. They’re not shy.”
“I’m an old-school car guy,” Jones told AutoblogGreen. “I’ve been in the industry since the ’80s. The amount of evangelism and groups – the Bay Area Leafers, for example, are between 300 and 350 strong – is different [with the Lef]. We frequently rely on them – there’s an Arizona club, a Tennessee club – for what’s working and what’s not working. They’re not shy. It’s great because even if sometimes there’s critical information, it’s good information.
“In San Francisco, we took 30 customers to one of those ‘have-it-sessions’ and they brought up the light [in the charge port]. They started yelling. ‘It’s absolutely crazy that you guys don’t have a light!’ When we put out the car, no one thought about that. Little things like that that improve the ownership experience. You can’t buy better customers. They’re great evangelists and they’re very involved and they make us as a manufacturer better. I’ve launched other vehicles, and it’s never been like this.”
This light is just one change that was applied to the Leaf after early adopters pointed out how the car didn’t meet their expectations. The headrests were made smaller, for example, and the electronic parking brake was removed. Also, the charging port now locks the cord in place, so no one can disconnect the charging process except the driver.
“The customers are going to play a big role in helping us make it better than anyone else.”
The interaction between Nissan and Leaf owners heralds a bigger change that the Leaf itself is a part of. “The gasoline engine has been around forever,” Jones said, “and when Henry Ford put the Model T out there, everybody started adopting it. This [the Leaf] is brand new, so this technology is at the beginning. It’s only going to get better and better and better, and the customers are going to play a big role in helping us make it better than anyone else.”
Squeaky wheels, rejoice: How 2013 Nissan Leaf was changed with EV driver suggestions originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Official: Nissan will triple number of DC fast chargers in US
Jan 31st
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan, Washington DC Auto Show
As it has done in Europe, Nissan is forging ahead with putting in DC fast charging stations so people can get many miles into their Leaf electric vehicles in short order. At the Washington Auto Show today, Nissan announced it will work with eVgo to bring 40 Freedom Stations to the DC area, and 500 more quick charge stations in the US in the next 18 months.
500 new DC fast chargers in the US would represent a three-fold increase, since there are only about 160 such charge stations installed today, according to Nissan (the Department of Energy says just 114). None of them are in the Washington DC area.
Nissan believes that it makes sense to install fast chargers in three public areas: Nissan dealerships, workplaces and at “opportunities within local neighborhoods.” With a Nissan fast charger – which is what the eVgo Freedom Stations in the DC area will use – a Leaf can fill up to around 80-percent full in under 30 minutes. That represents around 60 miles, based on the Leaf’s official range of 73 miles.
When we take Level 2 chargers into account, according to DOE figures, there are just over 5,000 public stations in the US. Nissan previously announced a goal of selling 2,000 of its own DC fast chargers worldwide by 2014.
Continue reading Nissan will triple number of DC fast chargers in US
Nissan will triple number of DC fast chargers in US originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Official: Mazda Skyactiv wins inaugural Green Car Technology Award in DC
Jan 31st
Filed under: MPG, Mazda, Washington DC Auto Show
At previous Washington Auto Shows, Green Car Journal has handed out what it called the Green Car Vision award to honor green vehicles that were not yet on the market. Vehicles like the Ford C-Max Energi, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt were all winners there. Now that the market has a fair number of green cars, Green Car Journal is shifting focus and today named the first Green Car Technology Award winner, the Mazda Skyactiv system.
The idea behind the Green Car Technology Award is to highlight various components and technologies that help reduce fuel use and greenhouse-gas emissions, not specific vehicle models. Skyactiv is certainly a broad look at saving fuel, a strategy that includes lightweighting, better chassis and overall better internal combustion engines. It eschews plug-in electric vehicle technology (for now). Americans will get a new taste of Skyactiv-D when the 2014 Mazda6 sedan with a 2.2-liter clean-diesel engine arrives later this year.
Skyactiv beat out nine other finalists, including the Fiat MultiAir, the powertrains in the Fisker Karma, Tesla Model S and Toyota RAV4 EV vehicles, Ford’s Energi plug-in hybrid system, stop-start and EcoBoost technologies and Honda Eco Assist. The odd ducking on the list was the Nissan Easy-Fill Tire Alert system, which does in fact help save fuel but doesn’t always get the credit it deserves. All ten were named to Green Car Journal’s Top 10 Green Car Technology List for 2013. Green Car Journal also gives out its Green Car of the Year Award at the Los Angeles Auto Show each November. Last year’s winner was the Ford Fusion.
Mazda Skyactiv wins inaugural Green Car Technology Award in DC originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Official: Green Technology of the Year finalists announced, broad range included
Dec 20th
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Washington DC Auto Show
Green Car Journal, which gives out its Green Car of the Year Award at the Los Angeles Auto Show each November, has created a Green Car Technology Award. The first award of its kind will be will be presented at the Washington Auto Show January 31, 2012.
The award was created not for specific vehicle models but for components that help reduce fuel use and greenhouse-gas emissions. Motors, on-board communications systems and powertrain components are among the technologies that fit GCJ’s bill.
With that in mind, Green Car Journal‘s 10 nominees include the Fiat MultiAir, the Fisker Automotive extended-range plug-in powertrain, the Ford Energi plug-in hybrid, the Mazda Skyactiv system, and both the Tesla Model S and Toyota RAV4 battery-electrics (which were both built by the same cast of characters). Ford’s EcoBoost direct injection system and its Stop-Start hybrid systems also made the list, as did the Honda Eco Assist fuel-saving system and the Nissan Easy-Fill Tire Alert system.
Green Car Journal gave this year’s Green Car of the Year Award to the Ford Fusion. Check out the announcement press release below.
Continue reading Green Technology of the Year finalists announced, broad range included
Green Technology of the Year finalists announced, broad range included originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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VW announces two-year partnership with Bikes Belong
Jan 28th
Filed under: Green Culture, Volkswagen, On Two Wheels, Washington DC Auto Show
2011 was a good year for VW – the best since 2002 – said Jonathan Browning, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, and this gives the company a license to think outside the car. Thus, at the Washington Auto Show, Volkswagen announced support for another type of pedal power: for the next two years, VW will sponsor Bikes Belong, a national organization that works to get more people on more bikes more often, as part of the automaker’s expanding Think Blue campaign, which was launched in the U.S. last May. In D.C., Browning said that the Think Blue initiative is about “delivering sustainable mobility on all fronts,” and that now includes two-wheeled, human-powered bicycles. It should go without saying, but the benefits of biking include reducing traffic congestion while improving health and lowering travel’s impact on the environment. It’s good to see VW embracing this alternative in a real way. Previously, VW showed off the bik.e, a foldable bike concept that fits into a spare wheel well.
VW’s Bikes Belong sponsorship will include these three major areas:
- Peopleforbikes.org: A way to get people to publicly promote bike riding. The goal is to get a million riders together to “urge policy makers to endorse cost-effective legislation that improves bike paths, lanes and trails nationwide.”
- Safe Routes to School National Partnership: Sort of a “hey, let’s have kids walk and bike to school” program. Also known as being sensible.
- Bicycling Design Best Practices: An effort to “create more bike-friendly communities across the United States by helping cities adapt the world’s best bike facility models, policies and state-of-the-art designs.”
Browning called the sponsorship, “a perfect example of our Think Blue initiative,” and Bruno Maier, vice president of Bikes Belong said that VW “complements our mission.” The automaker “understands that when people ride bikes, great things happen,” he said.
Continue reading VW announces two-year partnership with Bikes Belong
VW announces two-year partnership with Bikes Belong originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ford C-Max Energi wins 2012 Green Car Vision Award
Jan 26th
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Ford, Washington DC Auto Show
For the second year in a row, Ford drove off with the Green Car Journal Green Car Vision award at the Washington Auto Show, this time with the C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle. In 2011, Green Car Journal (GCJ) editor Ron Cogan handed the award to Ford’s Sue Cischke for the Focus Electric. This year, the retiring Cischke was on hand once more to accept the award (look at this picture compared to the one above. It’s déjà vu all over again), a fine cap on a long and ambitious career.
GCJ’s decision will likely not sit well with our readers, who overwhelmingly picked the Tesla Model S to win this year. Our unscientific poll had the Model S winning with 83.6 percent of the vote, followed by the BMW i3, (6.5 percent), the Cadillac ELR (5 percent), C-MAX (2.9 percent) with the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell picking just 1.9 percent to take up the bottomw spot out of the five nominees.
Each year, GCJ’s Green Car Vision award goes to a “green vehicle” that is not yet available on the market, but does show a possible way forward to increase fuel efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions or in some other way have a lower environment impact. The 2010 Green Car Vision award was won by the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt won in 2009. Speaking at the press conference today, Cogan said the C-Max can meet the utility requirements of a wide variety of drivers because the interior space and powertrain are both versatile.
Ford C-Max Energi wins 2012 Green Car Vision Award originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Autoline goes live from the Washington Auto Show
Jan 26th
Filed under: Legislation and Policy, Washington DC Auto Show, Daimler, Coda Automotive
If you can’t be at the Washington Auto Show today but want to know what’s going on, join John McElroy and the crew of Autoline in just a few minutes for the skinny.
Starting at 12 p.m. EST, Autoline will be broadcasting from the floor, interviewing a few industry execs about the automotive political goings on in the nation’s capitol. The expected list of participants includes Margo Oge, director of the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory at the EPA; Roland Hwang, transportation program director, National Resources Defense Council; Jake Jones, executive director, external affairs and public policy, Daimler, and Phil Murtaugh, CEO of Coda Automotive.
You can watch the stream, live, after the jump starting very soon. If you’d like to get particular questions answered, use this link to submit them.
Continue reading Autoline goes live from the Washington Auto Show
Autoline goes live from the Washington Auto Show originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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DC 2011: Novozymes wonders how far you can drive on a ton of corn biomass
Jan 28th
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Ethanol, Washington DC Auto Show
Here’s a question. Take that one-ton bale of biomass (specifically, corn cobs and stalks) in the picture above, turn it into cellulosic ethanol and mix it into E85 (so, dilute it with a bit of gasoline). Now, pour it into the flex-fuel Ford Fusion parked before it and start driving. Once you leave the DC Auto Show, where we came across all of this, how far will you be able to go?
This is the question that Novozymes is asking auto show attendees, and we’re reproduced the company’s possible answers in a poll below. You can’t win a prize by playing this way, but you can take a stab anyway. Novozymes declares two assumptions. First, that the flex-fuel Fusion will get 20 mpg the entire way. Second, that a ton of corn stover can make 100 gallons of ethanol. As you can see in the poll, 2,000 miles is not an option. Novozymes will announce a winner, chosen randomly from all the right answers, February 7.
What else did Novozymes share with people in DC? Amy Ehlers, Novozymes’s government relations manager, said:
It will take a strategic desicion in this country to move to a flex-fuel transportation infrastructure to provide market choice for consumers and energy security to our nation. We need to keep moving forward with continued support from the federal government and key strategic technology partnerships like the one we have with Poet.
Poet is the largest producer of ethanol in the world, with 27 plants in seven states. The company makes about 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol and 9 billion pounds of animal feed a year. It also has a pilot cellulosic ethanol plant.
Novozymes has gotten government assistance in the past. Then-President Bush visited the company in North Carolina in 2007 and Novozymes received $2.2 million in DOE grants 2002 and $12.3 million in 2008. Last year, Novozymes brought two ethanol-powered vehicles – a Chevrolet HHR and a flex-fuel Ford F-150 to the DC Auto Show with the theme of government waste. The twist was that the vehicles were refueled with ethanol made from government office waste paper and waste cardboard. Get it?
Continue reading DC 2011: Novozymes wonders how far you can drive on a ton of corn biomass
DC 2011: Novozymes wonders how far you can drive on a ton of corn biomass originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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