Hybrid News

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Chevrolet, GM, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Green Daily

Over at the RenCen yesterday, AutoblogGreen sat down with Britta Gross, GM’s manager of Hydrogen and Electrical Infrastructure Development and Strategic Commercialization, and Mark Duvall, program manager at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), to talk about how the Volt - actually, how millions of Volts and other plug-in vehicles - could change the way electricity is thought of in the U.S., and what the automaker and utilities are doing today to get ready for the day when it’s normal to plug in your car.

Gross said that GM is working with dozens of utilities to figure out how to best sell the public on plugging in a car. AutoblogGreen readers might be anxiously counting down the days until their garage becomes a fueling center, but there are a lot of people who just don′t get what plugging a car in might mean, and we could all use a bit more information, no? The major automakers have a long way to go before everyone knows what PHEVs are and how to best use them. Duvall said that it’s not just the batteries in the Volt, but also what might happen to li-ion automotive batteries after they’re used in cars that presents a real opportunity for consumers and utilities for energy storage from wind, solar or just nighttime power. It was an interesting talk, and you can listen in here (21 min):

For more from Duvall, click here.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Natural Gas, Green Daily

If you listened to or read our post on T. Boone Pickens speaking at the AFVI Expo in May, then you know that he’s a big proponent of wind power and natural gas (some say he needs to learn more about hydrogen cars). Mr. Swift Boat is all over the media today because of an announcement regarding something called “The Plan,” Pickens’ big new idea to shift some of the $700b the U.S. spends each year on foreign oil into increasing domestic energy production. Unsurprisingly, Pickens says that wind and natural gas are the ways to go. Maybe this is what he meant when he said he wanted to be a player in the fall election.

Pickens spoke to NPR this morning about The Plan, which includes installing 2,500 wind turbines in Texas to deal with Peak oil (The Plan website says that happened in 2005). As for natural gas, Pickens says it should win as a power source for vehicles because it is cheaper than gas, abundant and domestic.

If you need a jolt of irony with your lunch today, check this out. Pickens told NPR that, “The mistake was made because we didn’t have the leadership that stepped up and said, ‘We cannot continue to import foreign oil.’” One reason no one stepped might be that people like Pickens invested a lot in oil companies looking for oil in foreign lands. Sheesh. h/t to Dave B.

[Source: Pickens Plan, NPR]

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Transportation Alternatives

The Skysail, a giant kite used to help propel ships, has made its debut as you can see in the Reuters video above. MV Beluga Skysail is the world’s first cargo ship to use the Skysail and the ship will make its maiden voyage in early 2008 from Germany to Venezuela. The Skysail is 400 feet long and the kite can rise 100 yards into the sky, controlled by a computer system. The system costs $725,600 but it pays for itself in a few years because it saves 20 percent in fuel (about $1,600 a day). Below the fold is another video of the Skysail in action.

Related:

• Kite sails could help lower ship emissions and fuel mileage
• Build a kite big enough for a ship, and you’ll save fuel

[Source: Reuters, YouTube via Treehugger, Gizmodo]

 

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

Original post by Lascelles Linton

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Chevrolet

One of questions that went unanswered after the debut of the Chevy Volt earlier this year was the drag coefficient. Last night at a dinner with bloggers before the opening of the Los Angeles Auto Show, GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz provided a clue. While talking about the Volt he said that the production version would look different from the concept but will be recognizable as a Volt. When they put the concept into the wind tunnel it was a huge disappointment. Lutz said they might have gotten better results if they put it in backwards.

[Source: Bob Lutz]

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

Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants, Ford

Wind-power is proving a popular choice for automakers in their quest to curb costs and present an environmentally-aware public face. Nissan has eight turbines at its Sunderland plant, Toyota has one planned for its Flintshire, Wales factory and even Chrysler is investing in a wind project at its Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan.

While that may seem like a decent effort they will have to do better than that if they want to match the initiative of Ford at its Dagenham Diesel Center. Already supplied with 100 percent wind-generated electricity for its existing operations, expansion plans for a 1.4/1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi engine line means they′re adding a third wind turbine to supply the extra needed power. The new installation will be handled, as before, by Ecotricity and should produce 1.8 megawatts. Check out the press release from Ford for all the details after the jump.

Press Release:

THIRD WIND TURBINE FOR FORD DAGENHAM’S LOW CO2 ENGINE PLANT

DAGENHAM/COLOGNE, April 4, 2008 - Ford will add a third wind turbine at its Dagenham engine manufacturing plant (London, UK) to reduce further the CO2 emissions from its European operations.

The extra turbine enables Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Centre to remain 100 per cent powered by wind generated electricity, following installation of a new 1.4/1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi engine line. The engine goes into Ford of Europe’s popular Fiesta, Fusion and Focus models.

“This initiative marks another cornerstone in our ongoing efforts to implement a broad portfolio of measures across our European plants, aimed at further reducing the CO2 footprint from our manufacturing operations,” said Dr Wolfgang Schneider, vice president, governmental and environmental affairs, Ford of Europe.

“Earlier this year, we announced we are sourcing renewable electricity for our Cologne plant where Fiesta and Fusion models are assembled. Now follows the announcement about the installation of the third wind turbine at Dagenham where the engines for those models are manufactured. Both initiatives show our progress in minimising CO2 emissions of our vehicles during their entire life cycle,” he added.

Ford/Ecotricity wind turbine partnership for Dagenham
By using the existing two wind turbines - provided by London-based energy company Ecotricity - Ford Dagenham has avoided the emission of over 6,500 tonnes of CO2 a year since 2004. The third Ecotricity turbine - which is subject to planning approval, would have the capacity to produce 1.8 megawatts of green electricity for Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Centre - the equivalent of powering 1,000 homes.

Ford/RheinEnergy renewable electricity partnership for Cologne
Ford is also investing in environmentally sensitive manufacturing in its other European manufacturing sites. The company is sourcing renewable electricity for its Fiesta/Fusion production and car engineering facilities at Ford Cologne in Germany. The green electric power is generated by three hydro-power plants in Scandinavia and provided to Ford through Cologne-based energy infrastructure service provider RheinEnergy. Through this initiative, the company will reduce its CO2 emissions by 190,000 tonnes per year.

Global commitment
Globally, Ford continues to reduce the environmental footprint of its manufacturing operations. Since the year 2000, Ford has reduced its global operational energy use by 27 per cent overall (12 per cent per vehicle built), CO2 emissions by 31 per cent (16 per cent per vehicle built), and water use by more than 25 per cent (11 per cent per vehicle built).

Renewable or “green” power supplies about three per cent of Ford’s energy needs worldwide, through the use of hydro, solar, wind and geo-thermal power, landfill gas and waste gases.

[Source: Ford]

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Original post by Domenick Yoney