Filed under: Diesel, Ethanol

Remember O2Diesel, the company that is blending ethanol with diesel to make a cleaner-burning, less-polluting fuel? It's just taken another forward in getting its product into the market. O2Diesel said yesterday that all the school buses in the South Dakota Lead-Deadwood school district will move to O2Diesel. The switch is part of a national air quality initiative called CityHome. CityHome uses corporate sponsor dollars to pay to move municipal and school bus systems to use O2Diesel at no additional cost. The ethanol in the blend is made by KL Process, which currently makes ethanol from grains but says it wants to lead the move to cellolusic ethanol.

Exactly how much cleaner O2Diesel's ethanol-diesel blend is compared to straight diesel in the overall CO2 emissions picture (figuring in what it takes to grow and process the ethanol, for example) is still up for debate. O2Diesel says that a 2005 study transit bus study in Kansas "predicted emissions reductions of six tons per year by switching to O2Diesel." 75 buses were involved in that study.
Related:

• O2Diesel gets funds to test ethanol-diesel blend
• O2Diesel to Begin Testing New Ethanol-Biodiesel Blend

[Source: O2Diesel]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid

Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief at Edmund's has his own blog on the site, and in the latest installment, he highlights an electric motorcycle that I have heard about before, the Killacycle. What I did not know is that the cycle is capable of making a run to sixty from a standing stop in 1.4 seconds. The lithium ion batteries for the cycle come from A123 Systems and cost $12,000 in this one-time application. Karl thinks that if these batteries are available right now for an electric motorcycle, and have been super reliable, then we cannot possibly be that far off from a reasonably priced plug-in hybrid. I think his argument makes perfect sense. Everybody who reads this site is probably familiar with the idea of economy-of-scale. Basically, the more of a product you make, the less each individual product will cost. Makes sense, right? If batteries like these were made in the amounts necessary for a midsize car which sold, say, 50,000 units per year, that $12,000 battery pack should go down in price. That is the idea, at least. Care to comment?

Related:

• Watch an electric motorcycle run an 8-second quarter mile

[Source: Edmunds]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants, MPG, Volkswagen

It's well known by now that the enormous growth in the car population in China over the past decade and a half has put serious environmental pressure on cities there and dramatically increased gasoline consumption. Volkswagen was one of the first western car-makers to get involved in building cars there through their joint-venture with First Auto Works. Now VW wants to help clean up the air and reduce gas consumption. Volkswagen has already invested €80 million toward a total of €145 million by 2011 in a new plant to build their TFSI engines. The plant will have a capacity of 300,000 engines when completed. By installing the new engines and modern electronically controlled automatic transmissions they expect to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by twenty percent compared to current models.

[Source: Volkswagen]

Volkswagen launches new initiative to reduce fuel consumption in China

Environmentally friendly powertrain strategy presented at inauguration of new engine plant in Dalian

Dalian/Beijing, 30 March 2007 - Volkswagen announced new environmental goals for China at the inauguration of the engine plant in Dalian. These goals envisage a reduction of over 20 percent in fuel consumption and emissions for models built at the plants operated by the two joint ventures FAW-Volkswagen and Shanghai Volkswagen by 2010. Volkswagen intends to become the most environmentally friendly automaker in China with the help of modern TFSI engines, innovative automatic gearboxes, lightweight design and further initiatives. So far, some 80 million euros has been invested in the new engine plant, and total investment until 2011 amounts to roughly 145 million euros. The plant is designed for an annual production capacity of 300,000 engines.

Environmental protection was the central theme at today's opening ceremony of the Volkswagen engine plant in China. As Dr. Winfried Vahland, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, emphasized: "As the market leader in China we have an obligation to ensure that growth is compatible with the environment while also keeping ahead of government regulations."

Volkswagen intends to cut fuel consumption and emissions in China by more than 20 percent by 2010 through the introduction of the innovative TFSI engine technology and a new generation of automatic gearboxes as well as lightweight design for individual vehicle components. In addition, the company is currently arranging for the certification of all production sites in China to the ISO 14001 environmental management standard.

Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen have already been complying with the standard for several years, the FAW-Volkswagen powertrain components plant was certified in February. The company has undertaken to recognize the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and plans to complete certification of all productions plants in China by the end of 2007.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, Toyota

Toyota announced today it will build a new plant in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan to make hybrid components. The 340,000 square meter lot will house hybrid parts production lines that are currently made in two other Kyushu plants.

Automotive News (subs req'd) says that the investment in the plant will likely run into the tens of billions of yen. I guess you have to spend money to make money (by selling some 430,000 hybrids a year)

Marketwatch says that the exact site is between the city of Kitakyushu and the town of Kanda in northern Kyushu, and that the plant should start up in 2009.

What we want to know, of course, are the details on these hybrid parts so we can start speculating more on this.

[Source: Automotive News, Marketwatch]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Ethanol

Robert Kennedy Jr. recently spoke at a press conference in the Bloomington, Illinios area, and gave his opinions on ethanol production. Kennedy suggests, quite correctly, that it takes too much corn from the food arena to create ethanol fuel from that particular crop, and instead believes that cellulosic ethanol from crops such as switchgrass makes much more sense. Kennedy also said that the actual environmental benefit of ethanol is reduced dramatically because of all the mechanized equipment required to farm the corn. These sentiments were given to area television stations shortly before an address sponsored in part by the Illinois Corn Growers Association.

We have pointed out many times in the past that ethanol has some benefits to fossil fuels, and could even provide a performance benefit if used instead of gasoline, however, the potential of ethanol as a fuel source is limited by the amount of crops available for fuel use. Using corn to create ethanol is rather inefficient, and there are many better choices as a starting crop. I was going to make links out of that entire sentence above, but figured you'd get the picture even if I stopped there.

[Source: Myke Feinman / Grainnet]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Biodiesel, Etc., Green Culture, Carbon Offset

I'll never pass up a chance to post a blog with BBQ tips or recommend a blues festival! I know that slathering sauce on a fine rack of ribs isn't everyone's idea of a feast, and now meat eaters are being blamed for more greenhouse gases than vehicles. But combining Earth Day activities with a blues and barbeque festival is a chance to spread the word to an audience that might not normally seek out ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

The Earth Day agenda in this Colorado community includes handing out energy efficient light bulbs to those who'll sign an EPA-sponsored pledge. The Earth Day organizers will have other important information about energy consciousness to deliver at the show, including biodiesel facts. Environmentalists at times have been accused of being aloof if not tyrannical in presenting their views. Mixing with a crowd that may not share liberal convictions for all issues is a positive way to reach out with green issues. Congrats to the Keystone Earth Day organizers for joining the River Run's Blues and Barbeque Festival.

[Source: Summit Daily News]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Biodiesel, Hybrid, AFVI Show

We've mentioned all of these green car rental companies before, but this is the perfect time to recap, what with the Anaheim Alternative Fuels and Vehicles National Conference and Expo starting Sunday. If any of our readers will be traveling to the LA-area for the event (or any time), consider this a heads-up that you can drive an alternative-fuel car during your stay.

The AFVI conference support crew sent out an email listing three green rental companies: Bio-Beetle, Fox Rent-A-Car and EV Rental Car. If you're signed up for the conference, you can get a discount at the latter two. I've put the contact info for these companies after the jump.

Also, check out my story on the Maui Bio-Beetle experience.

[Source: AFVI]

• Bio-Beetle (Biodiesel Jettas and Beetle - 8-10 cars total). 877-873-6121. Cars available at: Los Angeles Airport.
• FOX Rent-A-Car (hybrids - Highlander, Escape, Camry, Honda, Prius). www.foxrentacar.com or 800-225-4369. Cars available at: Los Angeles Airport, Orange County Airport and San Diego Airport.
• EV Rental Car (partners with FOX Rent-A-Car, offers hybrids). 877-EV-RENTAL. Cars available at: Los Angeles Airport and San Diego Airport

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Etc., Toyota

The lovely Jennifer Aniston, neighbor of Prius driver Leonardo DiCaprio, has replaced her Range Rover with a Toyota Prius. There is not much more to add to the story, other than the fact that she more than doubles her fuel efficiency for less than half of the price of the large SUV. Somehow I doubt that the money savings were very high on her list of reasons to go the environmentally friendly route, but, what do I know? Am I rambling on just to fill up some space so that my text is at least as long as the picture I included to the right? Maybe. But, it did work, didn't it!

[Source: Ecorazzi]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Biodiesel, Manufacturing/Plants, Legislation and Policy

If the U.S. continues to underwrite biodiesel production, then the British are going to blow a gasket. They worry that subsidized biofuel coming into their country to get another subsidy will undermine European efforts to develop its own biodiesel network. Other European bidiesel producers have also complained. The United Kingdom offers tax incentives for domestic and imported biofuels. So the questions remains: do you keep the import incentives to get cleaner fuels flowing in the country sooner, or do you protect European economic interests and drop the import incentive?

[Source: Reuters via Business Report]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Ethanol

Back in February, Jeremy provided some great coverage of our visit to SVS Power in suburban Chicago to check out the remarkable performance that can be achieved from engines running on ethanol. This weekend legendary hot rod builder Boyd Coddington will be unveiling his latest creation at the ESA East Coast Scholastic Surfing Championships at Bethune Park in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

Although most details of the new car are secret until Saturday, they have revealed some information on the engine in what they are billing as the "world's first ethanol powered hot rod." While the world's first claim is highly dubious, this will definitely be a powerful machine. The engine which is based on a bored out version of a Ford 460 cu. in. block is rated at 677hp and 651 lb-ft of torque. If any ABG readers are in the vicinity of New Smyrna Beach (it's just south of Daytona) on Saturday, stop by and grab some pictures and/or video and send them in and we'll put them up.

[Source: Eastern Surfing Association]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.