Green Cars, Hybrid Cars, Electric Cars and Clean Diesel News

Capacity of Lithium-Ion Batteries EVs Will Multiply More than 10-Fold by 2020

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:09:00 -0500

Improvements in lithium-ion battery technology are helping to accelerate the worldwide market for electric vehicles.

In the last few years, automakers have shifted from nickel-metal hydride batteries to lithium-ion batteries.

This shift represents a major endorsement of Li-ion chemistry and its ability to perform consistently in an automotive environment.

According to a recent report from Navigant Research, total worldwide capacity of lithium-ion batteries for transportation applications will increase more than ten-fold, from 4,400 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2013 to nearly 49,000 MWh by 2020.

The market for lithium-ion batteries will primarily be driven by the growth of battery electric vehicles, as they utilize much larger battery packs than plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Today’s BEVs use battery packs ranging from 16 kWh to 85 kWh, compared to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that typically use packs ranging from 4 kWh to 16 kWh.

Additionally, many recently introduced hybrid vehicles, such as the Honda Civic Hybrid, use lithium-ion batteries, and the percentage of hybrids using lithium-ion technology is expected to grow steadily as automakers update their models.

[source: Navigant Research]

Volvo Starts Production of New VEA Engine Family

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:53:00 -0500

Volvo Car Group is starting production of the first engine variants in the new, high-efficiency four-cylinder Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) family.

The strategy of four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines with i-ART injection technology and driveline electrification is the path that Volvo Cars has chosen for the future.

The new VEA engines were developed by a Swedish team of engineers. The new, smaller engines are optimized and deliver higher performance than today's six-cylinder units, while offering lower fuel consumption than the current generation of four-cylinder units.

VEA consists of four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines with i-ART injection technology. Together with driveline electrification, VEA replaces the previous eight engine architectures on three different platforms.

The new engines will be introduced between 2013 and 2015. Almost 20,000 engines will be produced in 2013, and by the end of the year the production pace will be 2000 units a week.

The first variants will be fitted to the Volvo S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 in autumn 2013.

Swedish Researchers Develop Cheaper Rapid Chargers

Wed, 01 May 2013 04:55:00 -0500

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a unique integrated motor drive and battery charger for electric vehicles.

Compared to today's electric vehicle chargers, they have managed to shorten the charging time from eight to two hours, and to reduce the cost by around $2,000.

Saeid Haghbin, doctor of electric power engineering, undertook his doctoral studies in order to develop the optimal electric vehicle charger. The result is a novel high-power integrated motor drive and battery charger for vehicle applications, where a new power transfer method has been introduced involving what is known as a rotating transformer.

"The ideal scenario would be to have a charger powerful enough to charge a car in five to ten minutes, but this would cost over $100,000, which is more expensive than the car itself," says Saeid Haghbin. "The question we posed was: how can we reduce the size, weight and price of the on-board charger."

Model of the integrated motor drive and battery charger. The image shows a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, which also has a fuel tank and a combustion engine, but the technology system works equally well with a purely electric vehicle.

Since the electric motor and the inverter are not used during battery charging, the researchers looked into the possibility of using them in the charger circuit and building some kind of integrated motor and battery charger. In other words, would it be possible to use the motor and inverter in the charger circuit to increase the charging power at a lower cost?

"Instead of having a separate isolated battery charger, we introduced a new concept for the power transfer, the rotating transformer, which was developed to transfer electric power while rotating," says Saeid Haghbin. "The battery is charged through the transformer and a split-phase electric motor that was especially designed for this purpose."

The Chalmers integrated charger is, from a university perspective, still on laboratory level. To achieve a more optimal system, further investigations and experimentation are necessary. However, the product has resulted in both a Swedish and an international patent.

Chalmers is trying to find a potential industrial user, and Volvo AB is working on the concept for further enhancement to be used in its system.

"Electric cars have been discussed as a possible solution to reduce carbon emissions for a long time, but scientists debate whether this mode of transportation is the future or not," says Saeid Haghbin. "If we manage to solve the main problems with the battery and the battery chargers, I think the electric vehicles will succeed. And in general, I think electric transportation will become more common in the future, for example trains, trams and plug-in hybrids."

Envision Solar Completes First Cadillac Solar Tree Array

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:25:00 -0500

Envision Solar International, Inc., a sustainable infrastructure product designer and developer, has completed installation of its new Cadillac Solar Tree array at Fremont Cadillac Buick GMC.

Energy produced by the Cadillac Solar Tree installation will go directly back to the dealership. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the consumption of 2,500 gallons of gas, or 52 barrels of oil, on an annual basis.

The Cadillac Solar Tree will generate approximately 33,000 kWh of clean energy from a highly architecturally accretive platform. Installation of the array will lower the dealership's environmental impact while improving the region's built environment.

Equipped with integrated electric vehicle charging stations, the Solar Tree array can generate enough renewable energy to charge six electric vehicles each day. Envision Solar's proprietary tracking system, EnvisionTrak, causes the array to follow the sun, capturing more of its energy and increasing electrical output by nearly 25 percent over typical fixed solar installations.

Within the next year, Cadillac will launch the ELR, the first luxury coupe with extended range electric technology. The Cadillac Solar Tree is available to Cadillac dealers nationwide to support the ELR launch, and to assist in making dealership facilities more energy efficient.

"Fremont Cadillac's solar tree installation is a great individual example of how we're elevating and expanding in the areas of product, technology and customer experience," said Chase Hawkins, Cadillac Vice President of Sales. "We're the fastest growing full-line luxury brand in the U.S. today, including a 54 percent increase in the San Francisco area."

Electric Vehicles Provide Power to PJM Grid

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 06:44:00 -0500

NRG Energy Inc. in collaboration with the University of Delaware has sold power from an electric vehicles to PJM Interconnection LLC’s grid.

The University and NRG said in a statement that they began work on the eV2g program in September 2011 to provide a two-way interface between electric vehicles and the power grid that enables vehicle owners to sell electricity back to the grid while they are charging their cars.

On Feb. 27, the project took a big step forward when it became an official participant in the PJM’s frequency regulation market.

Frequency regulations are used to balance supply and demand on the grid second-by-second. Since then, the project has been selling power services from a fleet of electric vehicles to PJM, whose territory has 60 million people in the 13 mid-Atlantic states.

“This demonstrates that EVs can provide both mobility and stationary power while helping making the grid more resilient and ultimately generating revenue for electric vehicle owners,” said NRG Executive Vice President Denise Wilson, who leads the company’s emerging businesses. “The advancement also proves the power of partnerships such as these to accelerate the development of clean energy technologies that will deliver for the economy, consumers, security and sustainability.” A key aspect of the technology is that it can aggregate power from multiple electric vehicles to create one larger power resource, rather than individual, smaller ones.

Additional company partnerships that make up the entire system include BMW AG providing the EVs, Milbank Manufacturing providing charging stations based on UD technology, AutoPort Inc. installing UD control technology into the EVs and others.

For grid operators, the technology serves as an innovative new approach to energy storage. It has the potential to balance the power provided by intermittent renewable resources such as wind and solar. Energy storage, such as large-scale batteries or those in a fleet of vehicles, can take the wind’s power generated at night and store it to use when demand is higher.

The technology is expected to initially help managers of commercial EV fleets by providing revenue while the vehicles are parked, with individual EV owners to eventually follow. The system is currently in development with restricted test fleets and is not now a commercial offering.

Besides being one of the country’s largest and most diverse power generators, NRG is innovating to make clean energy more accessible. This includes work to deploy large-scale renewable projects, smart meters and other demand-side management technologies, and EVs through its eVgo network of charging stations. The University of Delaware has strong clean energy research and development programs and industry partnerships in solar energy, wind energy, fuel cells biofuels and electric vehicles.

Schaeffler and Ford Demonstrate eWheelDrive Car

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 03:24:00 -0500

Schaeffler and Ford demonstrated the Fiesta-based eWheelDrive car, a driveable research vehicle that could lead to improvements in urban mobility and parking by making possible smaller, more agile cars.

Powered by independent electric motors in each of the rear wheels, eWheelDrive technology offers space under the bonnet that in conventional cars is occupied by the engine and transmission, and in electric cars by a central motor.

This technology could in the future support the development of a four-person car that only occupies the space of a two-person car today. At the same time, eWheelDrive steering system designs could enable vehicles to move sideways into parking spaces – a potential breakthrough as cities become more populated and congested.

With in-wheel motors, the components required for drive, deceleration and driver assistance technologies are installed in an integrated wheel hub drive – including the electric motor, braking and cooling systems.

Ford joined the project led by Schaeffler, the leading German-based automotive component manufacturer and supplier, to investigate the potential for future vehicles that also could offer zero emissions, and more space for features such as additional protection zones.

In-wheel electric motors are seen by many industry experts as a potentially important future technology enabler for city cars as the world becomes more crowded and urbanised. It is projected that by 2050 the number of people living in cities globally will have increased from 3.4 billion to 6.4 billion, and the number of cars worldwide will have increased fourfold.

Ford will next partner with Schaeffler, Continental, RWTH Aachen and the University of Applied Sciences, Regensburg, on project MEHREN (Multimotor Electric Vehicle with Highest Room and Energy Efficiency) to develop two new driveable vehicles by 2015. The project aims to increase the integration of in-wheel motors in a car and will look at vehicle dynamics control, braking, stability and the fun-to-drive factor.

BMW i, SOLARWATT to Provide Sustainable Charging Solutions

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:00:00 -0500

BMW i and SOLARWATT GmbH announced partnership to supply combined rooftop and carport photovoltaic solutions for future BMW i customers.

The new SOLARWATT CARPORT SYSTEM will offer BMW i3 and BMW i8 owners an attractively designed solar-based electric vehicle charging plus household microgeneration system using innovative glass-glass modules.

Various ordering methods will be available: customers can obtain SOLARWATT products at the same time as they purchase their BMW i vehicle or, alternatively, place their order over the internet.

“This is the next step in the BMW i 360-degree package for customer-friendly electric mobility. With SOLARWATT, we are delighted to be working with a premium partner for customised solar solutions who will cater to our customers’ high standards of quality and style,” says Marcus Krieg, head of the 360° ELECTRIC project.

Through the 360° ELECTRIC program, BMW i will offer solutions for all aspects of electric mobility. Under this banner it has already entered into partnerships with Naturstrom, Schneider Electric and The Mobility House. These partnerships will support the overriding goal of ensuring that, by the launch date, the charging options for the BMW i3 and BMW i8 will include customer-friendly, sustainable and convenient solutions for home garage charging. All these partnerships are centred on the concept of sustainability. The BMW i3 will be the first electric vehicle on the market that has been designed specifically for electric mobility from the outset. Its market launch is scheduled for late 2013.

Volvo Flywheel Provides Fuel Savings of 25 Percent

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 03:24:00 -0500

Volvo has completed extensive testing of kinetic flywheel technology on public roads - and the results confirm that this is a light, financially viable and very eco-efficient solution.

The testing of the flywheel system for kinetic energy recovery was carried out during 2012.

According to Volvo, the results show that this technology combined with a four-cylinder turbo engine has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up to 25 percent compared with a six-cylinder turbo engine at a comparable performance level.

"Giving the driver an extra 80 horsepower, it makes a car with a four-cylinder engine accelerate like one with a six-cylinder unit," says Derek Crabb, Vice President Powertrain Engineering at Volvo Car Group.

The experimental system, known as Flywheel KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), is fitted to the rear axle. During retardation, the braking energy causes the flywheel to spin at up to 60,000 revs per minute. When the car starts moving off again, the flywheel's rotation is transferred to the rear wheels via a specially designed transmission.

The combustion engine that drives the front wheels is switched off as soon as braking begins. The energy in the flywheel can then be used to accelerate the vehicle when it is time to move off again or to power the vehicle once it reaches cruising speed.

Since the flywheel is activated by braking, and the duration of the energy storage - that is to say the length of time the flywheel spins - is limited, the technology is at its most effective during driving featuring repeated stops and starts. In other words, the fuel savings will be greatest when driving in busy urban traffic and during active driving.

If the energy in the flywheel is combined with the combustion engine's full capacity, it will give the car an extra 80 horsepower and, thanks to the swift torque build-up, this translates into rapid acceleration, cutting 0 to 62 mph figures by seconds. The experimental car, a Volvo S60, accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 5.5 seconds.

Flywheel propulsion assistance was tested in a Volvo 260 back in the 1980s, and flywheels made of steel have been evaluated by various manufacturers in recent times. However, since a unit made of steel is large and heavy and has rather limited rotational capacity, this is not a viable option.

The flywheel that Volvo Cars used in the experimental system is made of carbon fiber. It weighs about six kilograms and has a diameter of 20 centimeters. The carbon fiber wheel spins in a vacuum to minimize frictional losses.

Honda to Start Smart Home Project in the US

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:37:00 -0500

American Honda announced its plan to create the Honda Smart Home US, a showcase for environmental innovation and renewable energy enabling technologies that demonstrates Honda's vision for sustainable, zero-carbon living and personal mobility, including the use of solar power to charge a Honda Fit EV.

A groundbreaking today at the construction site on the campus of the University of California, Davis, marked the start of the building process.

Envisioning a lifestyle of renewable energy for home and transportation, the Honda Smart Home US will feature new and emerging technologies to greatly reduce the amount of energy consumed by individual households, and will provide a pathway for the full integration of electric vehicles into the home.

The hi-tech sustainable home will demonstrate an approach to meeting the state of California's goal of requiring all new residential construction to be "zero net energy" by 2020. It is expected to produce more energy than it consumes, using less than half of the energy of a similarly sized new home in the Davis area for heating, cooling, and lighting.

The Honda Smart Home will also give its occupants comprehensive control over all home systems, allowing the residents to remotely and continually monitor and adjust all aspects of energy use in real time.

Among the many technologies that will be applied to the Honda Smart Home US:

Solar Power System
A photovoltaic (PV) system will provide the energy for the home and for daily commuting in an all-electric vehicle like the Honda Fit EV. The zero net energy home will generate, on average, more electricity from on-site renewable power sources than it will receive from its electric utility provider.

Honda Energy Management System
The Honda Energy Management System introduces a smart-grid technology that will actively manage energy use and communicate with the homeowner and utility provider, allowing the home to maximize its energy efficiency while responding to the needs of the electrical grid, thereby minimizing the impacts of solar generation and electric vehicle charging on the utility grid.

High-efficiency HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and Lighting System designed by UC Davis
UC Davis energy research centers will design high-efficiency, cost effective solutions to major home energy loads. UC Davis researchers will explore new methods for geothermal heating and cooling, and a new circadian color control logic LED lighting system to improve quality of life while reducing energy consumption.

Direct solar PV-to-vehicle charging
Direct PV-to-vehicle DC battery charging will substantially improve charging efficiency by reducing losses associated with DC-to-AC and AC-to-DC conversion. "PV-to-EV" charging will decrease CO2 emitted in the lifecycle of an electric vehicle by avoiding the carbon associated with grid electricity production.

Certified "Green" Home
The home will be designed to achieve top-level green building certifications from the major U.S. rating systems. With a holistic approach to sustainability, the home will feature passive design elements as well as novel materials to further reduce CO2 emissions from the production of building materials and the construction and operation of the home.

Honda anticipates construction of the Honda Smart Home, at a site in the UC Davis West Village development, to be completed by the end of 2013. The home will be leased to individuals associated with UC Davis, though further details have not been finalized.

In 2012, Honda unveiled the Honda Smart Home System (HSHS) in the city of Saitama, Japan. The HSHS project includes two homes: one is a demonstration-only home while the other serves as a residence for Honda associates. Both feature comprehensive controls of in-house energy supply and demand, and help manage both the generation and consumption of energy for the home.

Electrovaya Launches New Generation Li-ion Battery Technology

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 03:25:00 -0500

Electrovaya, the Canadian manufacturer of lithium ion battery systems, launches its new generation of lithium ion battery technology SuperPolymer 2.0.

The Lithium Ion SuperPolymer 2.0 battery technology is a new generation of lithium ion batteries.

Electrovaya says the SuperPolymer 2.0 battery technology represents the integration of their automotive and grid knowledge, recent safety enhancements in the aerospace sector and their overall vision of the future design of advanced batteries.

This technology meets the demands of a wide range of applications including electric vehicles, marine, telecom, grid, residential storage and more.

The Company has focused on enhancing its technology by adding more safety features on all levels of the battery system. Key improvements in the battery system include:

-Safety improvements: fire resistance, reduced flammability, anti-propagation
-Wider operating temperature range at both hot and cold extremes
-More efficient thermal management system in a smaller space
-Other improvements along key performance metrics

The module-level and system-level improvements are a result of intensive development at Electrovaya as well as the addition of intellectual property acquired from Tata Motors through the August 2012 acquisition of Miljobil.

The Super Polymer 2.0 will be produced using Electrovaya's green manufacturing process, which avoids using a toxic chemical called N-Methyl Pyrrolidone (NMP), unlike most lithium ion battery manufacturers.

NMP is known to have a negative effect on human health and many countries have set occupational exposure limits.