Odyne Corporation, developers of advanced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology, have revealed in their financial statements for 2006 that they have established an important new partnership with Nassau Suffolk Truck. Odyne develops proprietary electric and hybrid electric propulsion systems for advanced heavy PHEVs including trucks and buses ranging in weight from 19,501lbs to 45,000lbs GVW (Class 6,7 and 8). Components produced by Odyne include Traction Drives, Battery Chargers, DC-to-DC Converters, Vehicle Control and Monitoring Systems, Energy and Thermal Management Systems, Auxiliary Power Units, and Auxiliary Drives.
Odyne's sales and marketing partnership with Nassau Suffolk Truck, a leading regional medium and heavy duty truck fleet services firm in the New York tri-state area, gives Odyne access to their range of government and business customers. Odyne CEO Roger M. Slotkin said, "Our competitive advantages over alternatively fueled vehicles and those powered by combustion engines are substantial and our fuel-agnostic system gives us the versatility to combine our technology with vehicles utilizing various types of fuels."
Analysis: Odyne's operating loss blew out from $0.622 million in 2005 to $1.681 million in 2006 so they've got a long way to go yet. Being positioned in the PHEV market at this early stage though could pay off well for them in the long run with Odyne estimating that the PHEV market could grow to $1.8 billion per year.
As recently as January we reported on plasma vaporisation technology capable of turning organic waste material into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a mixture called synthesis gas, or syn-gas, that can be used as a fuel or as a valuable feedstock in further chemical processes. The company in question then was U.S. based Integrated Environmental Technologies.
Well, it looks like they've got some competition across the pond. U.K. based Advanced Plasma Power bills their Gasplasma Process as being able to "convert a pre-treated waste feedstock into two recyclable products: a hydrogen rich synthetic or syn-gas and a vitrified material suitable for use as a replacement aggregate or building material."
The ideal situation for technology like this is to replace existing land fill sites or garbage incinerators, (used extensively in the U.K.), which are both polluting. The Gasplasma Process plants can themselves be run on syn-gas by using it in a gas engine or turbine to generate electricity, over half of which can be exported out of the plant and onto the grid. The result is a truly environmentally friendly alternative to landfill or incinerators. Advanced Plasma Power have an informative walkthrough video on their website which explains the whole process.
Analysis: These days, wherever organic material is being produced there is someone looking into how to take advantage of it. If we could be turning our garbage into energy instead of landfill though, I'm glad all that organic material is getting so much attention.
U.S. biodiesel research company GreenFuel Technologies has licensed its process to produce biodiesel from algae to South African company De Beers Fuel fully two years before it will be ready for commercial application. That's not really so bad if De Beers want to be out in front and are willing to take a gamble on commercially unproven technology themselves.
However, De Beers has already on-sold 27 franchises based on the technology along with 40 million shares to the public without even issuing a prospectus. At R6 million (US$842,000), the franchises don't come cheap and De Beers now has a backlog of 90 reactors that have been ordered based on guarantees that each will be capable of producing 38.4 million L / 10.1 million gallons of biodiesel per year
De Beers Fuel defends their enthusiastic resale of the technology saying that GreenFuel have conducted a trial run at the Redhawk Power Station in Arizona, plus the De Beers plants will be run on traditional oilseed feedstocks before swapping them over to algae oil within two years.
Analysis: GreenFuel's algae technology looks very promising but this is a dangerous game De Beers Fuel is playing. If it all comes unstuck it could seriously dent the credibility of the algae biodiesel industry which I'd hate to see. At the same time, I think the gold rush mentality of the investors who appear to be betting the farm on a technology that has barely made it out of the lab is sure to catch up with them.
The 2007 Shanghai Auto Show is set to get underway on the 20th of April and China's largest auto manufacturer, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), will be on hand to debut a new fuel-cell vehicle. SAIC, which recently made headlines when it bought the Rover brand off BMW, said that the Shanghai-branded fuel-cell prototype will utilise fourth generation fuel-cell technology developed in-house to produce a peak power output of 60 kW / 80.5 hp that should propel the vehicle to a top speed of 150 km/h / 93 mph.
SAIC is investing one billion yuan (US$129 million) in developing cleaner, more energy efficient vehicle technologies. The company plans to produce 50,000 electric vehicles of various types by 2010, some 95 percent of which will be hybrids. Via a joint venture with Volkswagen, SAIC is aiming to produce 500 Touran hybrids before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Analysis: SAIC have also partnered with GM to develop hybrid vehicles of the booming Chinese market. Clearly they're planning to roll out the latest tech to the Chinese market as it comes online in Western nations as well. I think Shanghai is going to be an interesting show this year.
Click on the image for a gallery of high-res images of the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion.
The Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion is already on sale in the United Kingdom where it claims the title of producing the lowest carbon dioxide emissions of any passenger car available there at just 102 g/km. The BlueMotion also takes the U.K. prize for highest fuel economy at a remarkable 72 mpg / 3.3 L per 100 km. But how does it do it?
Fuel efficiency improvements are made by reducing the weight of the BlueMotion over regular Polos, using higher gearing and reducing drag. Reducing the weight over the regular Polo appears to have been via leaving some of the more common creature comforts out - namely sound proofing, air-conditioning, electric windows, and the CD player - all of which are absent. The aerodynamics have been improved by using a smoother grill and front bumper, adding a small rear spoiler and fitting the vehicle with lightweight alloys fitted with low-rolling-resistance tyres.
Channel 4's Tom Bird had this to say about the performance, "It's also very slow. The official performance figures show a 0-62mph time of 12.8 seconds and a top speed of 109mph, but - as with all performance figures - they would be achieved with your foot to the floor and the engine at its least economical. In normal driving, with the driver exercising restraint, the BlueMotion just crawls and clatters along, with the high gearing discouraging anything resembling zipping about. Drive it with a very light foot, and I'm in no doubt that you could easily get 700 miles from the 45-litre tank, but you'd need the patience of a saint to achieve that."
Analysis: Bird went on to say that his real-world fuel consumption was a somewhat disappointing 47.5 mpg / 5.0 L per 100 km. It sounds like the trade-offs to achieve its remarkable environmental performance may be more than the regular consumer is ready to bare at this stage.
Farmers in Washington State are experimenting with canola for biodiesel production as a new cash crop to supplement existing diary or vegetable crop income. Conditions in Snohomish County, which boasts cool temperatures, moist sea air and good soils, are proving to be so ideal for canola growing that yields are vastly outpacing European norms. Last year Snohomish County farmers averaged 158 gallons / 598 L of biodiesel per acre of planted canola compared to just 84 gallons / 318 L of biodiesel per acre in Europe.
Snohomish County, looking to power its 325 diesel vehicles and generators from B20 canola biodiesel, put up $30,000 last year to help fund the experiment and will contribute a further $125,000 over the next two years. Canola biodiesel is about 30-40 cents per gallon more expensive than soy biodiesel but rising fuel prices over the northern Summer could see this issue dissolve if diesel is more expensive than both.
Analysis: Washington state has a mandatory B2 policy in place and has already discussed increasing the blend to five percent in the future. Ideally the state would like to produce its entire biodiesel needs from locally grown feedstocks to bolster their local farming economy.
Intelligent Energy (IE), known on ABG's pages as the company behind the ENV fuel-cell motorcycle, has announced that they will partner up with Suzuki Motor Corporation on the development of prototype hydrogen fuel-cell motorcycles. Future bikes produced by the partnership will run on Intelligent Energy's proprietary Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel-cells that are billed by IE as having class-leading performance in automotive applications. The PEM design utilises thin metallic bipolar plates, allowing the resultant fuel-cell to be extremely compact and easy to mass manufacture.
Intelligent Energy's Chief Executive Dr Henri Winand was quoted as saying, "As a company, we have a range of leading clean technologies based on proprietary fuel cell and fuel processing systems. We work with key partner companies to integrate our systems into their products. It is well known that Japanese companies are particularly sophisticated and knowledgeable when it comes to fuel cell-based products. We are therefore delighted to announce our new partnership with the Suzuki Motor Corporation."
Analysis: The ENV has clearly proved the viability of fuel-cell powered motorcycles but Intelligent Energy was always going to have to partner up with an existing manufacturer to bring their PEM technology to the market in a meaningful way. This partnership paves the way for a whole new class of zero-emission vehicles on our roads.
Battery manufacturer Grupo Cegasa has announced plans to lead a team of fifteen companies in a four-year co-operative effort to improve upon current hydrogen fuel-cell technology. Two different types of cells will be the main focus of the project; polymer membrane and solid oxide fuel cells. In particular, reducing the cost to manufacture fuel-cells and improving the length of their operating life are seen as key factors in taking fuel-cells mainstream.
Analysis: Cegasa, which operates two modern manufacturing plants to produce alkaline and zinc-chloride batteries, sees hydrogen fuel-cells as taking over from traditional battery technologies and are making their play to ensure they have a piece of the fuel-cell market in the future. It will be interesting to see how successful this consortium of internationally diverse companies is in meeting their goals.
Ecotality, who bill themselves as a researcher, inventor, developer, acquirer, and licensor of proprietary green energy technologies, has partnered up with the Arizona Public Services (APS) to produce the ECObus, a mobile classroom for promoting hydrogen technologies. The 31-seat, zero-emissions vehicle is designed to educate the public about the benefits of hydrogen as a renewable alternative to petroleum fuels.
The ECObus is itself a hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle which runs on a hybrid system of three HyPM 65 Fuel-Cell power modules producing 180 kW / 241 hp combined with 720 volts of ultracapacitors to achieve the peak power requirements of 350 kW / 469 hp. Top speed is 55 mph / 90 km/h and range is 4 hours at full power via its hydrogen fuel storage capacity of 45 kg.
Analysis: The term "hydrogen economy" is starting to filter into the mainstream but many people are still unaware of how the entire system works from start to end. Education campaigns are sure to improve adoption rates of such new technologies as people become aware of how much cleaner and more environmentally friendly hydrogen is compared to petroleum fuels.
Maxwell is already pushing out its newly-released Heavy Duty Transportation module (HTM) 390-volt Boostcap ultracapacitor to industrial and transportation markets including for use in a number of hybrid city buses being rolled out in California. The HTM 390 has been designed to provide scalable, easy-to-integrate, energy storage and power delivery solutions of up to 1,170 volts for heavy duty electrical systems and hybrids. Margery Conner over at EDN had a test drive on one the new buses and was impressed with the smooth acceleration of the new hybrid powertrain.
Petrol-electric hybrid buses are being road tested in parts of California as a direct alternative to traditional diesel engines. While oil burners are far more fuel efficient than petrol vehicles, they have a bad reputation on the emissions front, especially with NOx emissions - a real concern in many large, Californian cities. The petrol-electric hybrid powertrain returns only slightly better fuel efficiency than a diesel engine - 5 mpg versus 3 to 5 mpg - but harmful emissions are hugely reduced. This has led ISE, the bus hybrid electro-mechanical subsystem contractor, towards utilising a series hybrid model where the engine drives a generator that produces electricity to run the electric motors driving the wheels. For Grover City, the flat terrain suits the petrol-electric hybrid, whereas in hilly Oakland, the hybrid buses will use fuel-cells instead of an electric motor.
Analysis: Using a series hybrid configuration is a good idea to allow the engine to be swapped out for different models or fuel-cells or the like. I think they should be giving a modern clean diesel configuration a go, though, to get the best of both worlds. Especially if they could run it on biodiesel.
Click on the image for Autoblog's gallery of high-res images of the 2008 Subaru Tribeca.
Subaru has taken the wraps off its new Tribeca All-Wheel Drive SUV at the New York Auto Show. Featuring more generic, but easier-on-the-eye looks and a new fully revised interior, the 2008 model's green credentials are all under the hood. Subaru are introducing their largest ever engine to power the Tribeca in the form of a 3.6-litre horizontally opposed six cylinder that produces 190 kW / 255 hp and 334 Nm / 246 ft-lbs of torque.
Despite the increase from the previous 3.0-litre unit, the new, larger engine maintains emission levels and improves fuel economy. Part of the efficiency improvement is due to the introduction of a Dual Active Valve Control System (Dual AVCS) which controls the timing of both the intake and exhaust valves, along with a revised automatic transmission and a weight reduction of the powertrain by 4.4 kg / 9.7 lbs.
Analysis: It's great to see Subaru improve the fuel efficiency of the Tribeca. I would have liked to see what they could have done with a 3.0-litre engine instead of increasing its size to 3.6-litres though. Increasing the power and torque of new models is clearly still an important selling point in the eyes of the auto makers. How much longer will we live in a world where maintaining emissions from generation to generation is considered acceptable?
Planetary Fuels, a Seattle, Washington-based biodiesel startup, has filed to set up their first production facility outside of Seattle which includes the installation of tankage with a combined capacity of 442,000 gallons. The plant should produce around 6 million gallons of biodiesel per annum using crops from local farmers. The company plans to build a series of small scale biodiesel plants that can produce between 2 million and 6 million gallons of biodiesel per year each.
Analysis: I sat down with Planetary Fuels founder, Ophir Ronen, last year to discuss his roll-out strategy. He told me that the plan is to utilise his IT experience from co-founding Internap Network Services plus IT methodologies to the world of biodiesel production. Planetary Fuels will be a company to keep an eye on.
Click on the image for Autoblog's gallery of high-res images of the Infiniti G37 Coupe.
Double overhead cams and variable valve timing have been two recent technologies allowing modern engines to ring more power and torque out of ever-smaller amounts of fuel. Nissan has announced two new technologies that push the bounds of valve actuation efficiency even further; Variable Valve Event and Lift (VVEL) and continuous valve timing control (C-VTC). When combined, significantly enhanced performance is available via the continuous adjustment of the valve lift and CO2 emissions are cut by up to 10 percent. Nissan is planning to roll out the new VVEL system on its upcoming Infiniti G37 coupe.
Analysis: It seems that the pace of improvements to engine efficiency and improved emissions seems to be increasing which would indicate that the internal combustion engine has a long way to go yet. Nissan will include VVEL on its products worldwide starting from FY07 under the Nissan Green Program 2010.
Check out the press release after the jump for specific details on how VVEL achieves higher fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions.
Mitsubishi has just announced a 2.4-litre, 4 cylinder petrol engine as a new option for its Australian ML Triton SUV range. Joining an existing 3.2-litre common rail diesel engine option which puts out 118 kW / 158 hp of power and 347 Nm / 256 ft-lbs of torque, the new 2.4-litre petrol can offer up only 94 kW / 126 hp of power and 194 Nm / 143 ft-lbs of torque.
And get this, the existing oil burner returns 9.1 L per 100 km / 25.8 mpg while the new petrol can only manage 10.9 L per 100 km / 21.6 mpg!
To make matters worse, not only does Mitsubishi refer to the new engine as "economical" and "lively", it also says it has "class-leading economy". Compared to what? Obviously not the diesel version.
But... it's cheap.
Analysis: Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely a place in this world for entry level vehicles at low prices, but talking about how fuel efficient a model is when it is so clearly outclassed by other options in the same range just doesn't make any sense to me. Don't try to tell me how fantastic 21.6 mpg is because these days, it just isn't.
The vice chairman of Toyota's Thai business unit, Ninnart Chaithirapinyo, has been quoted as saying that biodiesel production and quality in Thailand isn't ready for blending mandates, "the government should not compel refiners to mix B100 formula biodiesel in diesel, not until it is ready in terms of raw materials and the standards of biodiesel are improved."
Instead, Chaithirapinyo said that the government should move to promote sustained biodiesel production and improve biodiesel quality in case the fledgling industry is overwhelmed by demand.
Analysis: Production of biofuels in emerging economies like Thailand is less regulated and more likely to result in off-spec fuel that could damage vehicles. Promotion can obviously take place without mandates, so perhaps a "one step at a time" approach might gain a better result in Thailand than compulsory blend ratios.
Odyne Corporation, developers of advanced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology, have revealed in their financial statements for 2006 that they have established an important new partnership with Nassau Suffolk Truck. Odyne develops proprietary electric and hybrid electric propulsion systems for advanced heavy PHEVs including trucks and buses ranging in weight from 19,501lbs to 45,000lbs GVW (Class 6,7 and 8). Components produced by Odyne include Traction Drives, Battery Chargers, DC-to-DC Converters, Vehicle Control and Monitoring Systems, Energy and Thermal Management Systems, Auxiliary Power Units, and Auxiliary Drives.
