Showing posts with label Ecology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ecology. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

New Research Could Lead to Smaller, Cheaper and Faster-Charging Lithium Ion Batteries


Lithium-ion batteries may be employed widely in a variety of products, including hybrid and all-electric vehicles, but up until now, engineers have had a limited understanding of how lithium ions “behave”.

Professor Miroslav Krstic and postdoctoral fellow Scott Moura of the University of California, San Diego, claim they have devised new algorithms that enable them to better comprehend what’s going on inside lithium-ion batteries.

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Honda Offers New Civic Natural Gas Vehicle Customers a $3,000 Fuel Card, Is It Worth a Look?


With gasoline prices creeping up again to as high as an average of $4.67 a gallon (€1.23 a liter) in California on Tuesday, according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, Honda thought it would be a good idea to launch a new promotion for its natural gas-powered Civic.

The Japanese carmaker said that it will offer customers purchasing a new 2012 Civic Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) at participating dealers from now until January 2, 2013, a debit card pre-loaded with $3,000 worth of fuel.

As always, there's some small print including that the card can only be used at Clean Energy CNG fueling stations around the country to purchase fuel. There are approximately 150 Clean Energy filling stations in the U.S., 40 of which are located inside California.

According to the most recent Department of Energy, Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price report on fuel prices, the nation-wide average price of natural gas fuel for vehicles in July was $2.05 per equivalent gasoline gallon.

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Hyundai ix35 is the First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle to Enter Series Production


At the Paris Auto Show, Hyundai announced that it will begin production of the ix35 Fuel Cell crossover (also know as the Tucson) at its Ulsan plant in South Korea. The initial projection is 1,000 units by 2015 and a limited mass production of 10,000 units after that.

The ix35 Fuel Cell features a fuel cell stack that converts hydrogen into electricity, which charges the lithium polymer battery that powers the electric motor. It is a zero-emissions vehicle since the only thing that it emits is water vapor.

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Monday, September 24, 2012

August a Record Month for Chevy Volt Sales Thanks to Big Discounts; But is it Really Good News?


All-electric and hybrid car sales so far account for just 3.5 percent of total vehicle sales in the U.S. this year. Not exactly what their makers expected when they launched these models.

At a first glance, the situation is improving for General Motors, as its Volt extended-range hybrid sold a record 2,800 units last month. Year-to-date Volt sales have so far reached 13,000 units, which certainly compares very well to the 7,700 cars that were sold in 2011.

For example, before the discounts, Bunnin Chevrolet in Culver City, California was selling three to five Volts per month. Last month it shifted 36 cars, mostly leases, and sales manager Chad Kelman told The Detroit News that the dealership is having a hard time keeping enough units in stock.

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