The US Department of Energy will be providing funding to a partnership comprised of Ricardo, Bosch and the University of Michigan for research on an optimized flex-fuel engine (see related post). The team will start with an existing gasoline optimized engine that is turbocharged and direct injected. After characterizing the engine, Bosch and U of M will focus on developing quick accurate means of measuring the ethanol content in the fuel blend.

The partners will then work at using all the available performance parameters that can be adjusted to optimize the combustion performance when running on ethanol blends in order to try and match the fuel efficiency when running on gasoline.

A turbocharged engine is a good place to start since the boost can be adjusted to take advantage of the higher octane rating to ethanol compared to gas. Companies like Saab have already shown clearly that a turbocharged flex-fuel engine can achieve better performance on ethanol that overcomes the lower energy density. Now they just have to get the mileage.

[Source: Ricardo]

If you are in the Southeast Michigan area on Tuesday, June 12 (tomorrow), come on over to Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan is putting on an Alternative Fuels Cars forum at the Power Center on central campus downtown. The presenters will include Dr. David Cole of the Center for Automotive Research, Larry Burns from General Motors, Mark Goodstein of the Automotive X-Prize, Nancy Gioia from Ford and Chuck Gulash from Toyota.

They will be joined in a panel discussion by Scott Lindholm of Cobasys, Dennis Assanis from the U-M engineering department and Jim Croce from the NextEnergy Center. The festivities start at 3pm with exhibits outside the Power Center and the presentations and panel start 5pm. if you're interested head over to the TechKnow Forums site to register or stay tuned here at ABG where we will bring you full coverage of the event. Sebastian, Jeremy and I will all be there. If you are planning to be there look for us and say hi!

[Source: TechKnow Forums]

Last October the University of Michigan teamed up with ZipCar to offer the car-sharing service for staff and students at the Ann Arbor School. There are currently six cars available at three different campus locations around town and the service has been growing in use ever since. The Ann Arbor News has an interview with a U-M representative about the program.

So far students have been the main users of the service. Unfortunately their use is limited because the insurance company requires users to be twenty-one and older. Many of the students at U-M fall below that threshold and the university is actively working with the insurance company to lower that limit. Check out the interview at the Read link.

[Source: Ann Arbor News]

This June the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will be hosting a forum on alternative fuel vehicles that will include a panel of interested people discussing the future of personal transportation. Ms. Vile Gossip herself, Jean Jennings of Automobile will be the MC and some of the panelists will include Larry Burns from GM, Dr. David Cole from the Center for Automotive Research, and representatives from Tesla, Ford, Toyota and others. ABG will of course be there to provide the full scoop on everything that happens. If you are going to be in the Ann Arbor area that day you can register for the event at the website.

[Source: University of Michigan]

Engineering students at the University of Michigan have been building solar powered racers for many years. Currently they are working on their ninth generation car called Continuum with technical assistance from General Motors. Staff at the Pre-Production Operations (PPO) Design Center shop at the Warren, MI Tech Center are providing resources to the team to help design and fabricate the car. The PPO staff are providing equipment to help cut the foam to be used for molds for the vehicle's body, and UAW staff are helping the students with actually fabricating the fiberglass body panels. The U-M team will be competing in the 1800 mile Panasonic World Solar Challenge in Australia this fall, against teams from around the world.

Click on the thumbnails to see images from U of M's solar cars at this year's NAIAS.



[Source: General Motors]

Shortly after the University of Michigan released a report indicating that auto executives believe gas prices and CAFE standards will increase dramatically in the next decade, Rick Wagoner said, "With the price of oil at its lowest level in 19 months, we run the risk of reverting back to our traditional energy policy, that is, relying heavily on the lowest-cost energy available on world markets, including imported oil, without providing adequate support for developing alternative sources.

"One of the things that government has to do to really promote energy diversity is proactively support the development of alternative fuel technology, And incentivize consumers through tax credits, fuel subsidies and so on to adopt these exciting new technologies."

Wagoner and GM have been focusing a good deal of research and development towards alternative energy vehicles in the past few years. This is evident by the release of the Chevy Volt, which was preceded by their hydrogen fuel cell platforms and the EV1 electric car programs, and even as far back as the 70's hydrogen tests. Also, don't forget their plug-in plans for the Saturn Vue hybrid. Additionally, GM has been producing E85 capable vehicles for a few years now, and last year advertised them heavily.

Although Wagoner believes that the government could and should help out, he fell short of suggesting that the federal gas tax be enlarged, as did Tim Leuliette, chairman and CEO of Metaldyne Corp. as mentioned today in a different post. These are certainly hot-button topics to many, and if you have an opinion you would like to share,
feel free to do so in our comments.

Related:

• Detroit automakers issue joint statement on their meeting with President Bush
• Detroit Auto Show: Will the Volt generate new EPA regulations and ratings?
• GM wants production to respond to gas prices

[Source: Detroit News]

(Whoops. Edited to correct name)

Here are the numbers generated by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute's Automotive Analysis Division survey of automotive experts:

• Gas prices will average slightly more than $4 a gallon by 2015 and just over $5 a gallon by 2020
• CAFE standards for cars is expected to increase from today's 27.5 miles per gallon to 33 mpg in 2015 and 38 mpg in 2020 -- a 38 percent jump
• CAFE standards for trucks will rise from the current 21.6 mpg to 27 mpg in 2015 and 31 mpg in 2020 -- a 44 percent increase
• Alternative-fueled engines will make up 42 percent of vehicle sales by 2015, and 55 percent by 2020
• The majority of alternative-fueled vehicles will be based on advanced diesel and hybrid technologies

According to this site, "More than 100 powertrain experts from across North America responded to UMTRI's online survey, which sought to examine strategic planning factors, alternative powertrain technologies, company barriers to the introduction of new powertrain technology, sourcing issues, powertrain and drivetrain technologies, and human resource issues through 2020. This continuing study also will examine the opinions and attitudes of powertrain experts in Asia and Europe over the coming months."

Reactions to this survey by Rick Wagoner and Tim Leuliette, chairman and CEO of Metaldyne, will be posted today as well.

(Edited for name correction)

[Source: Mitech News]

The fast growing car sharing/short term rental service ZipCar is starting up their service in Ann Arbor, MI on November 1. The company will be making six vehicles available from three different locations on the University of Michigan central campus, north campus and medical campus. The company is actually working with the university, which wants to reduce the number of cars on campus. Open parking spaces in central Ann Arbor are notoriously hard to find and if people in the campus area can avoid having to drive downtown, but still have a viable transportation option it would definitely help.

The University of Michigan will guarantee a minimum revenue level for ZipCar and also provide designated parking spaces for the cars. The service will allow University employees to leave their cars at home but still have a means to get across campus when necessary. If the program works out and is popular, U of M will expand the fleet.

[Source: Ann Arbor News]