clean transportation Archives

Top events of the year in clean transportation and advanced vehicle technologies

These topics continue to be big in the auto industry and transportation sector, a trend which started up around 2007. Here are what might be considered the top 10 news developments for this year……

New model launches and revamps – The Chevrolet Bolt, Tesla Model X, and revamped Toyota Prius, Chevrolet Volt, and Nissan Leaf were announced or released this year. The introduction of the Bolt led to the conclusion that battery electric vehicles with 200 miles per charge would be enough to find a wider level of acceptance from car shoppers (along with a more affordable price). The Model X was delayed and gained a lot of attention in blogs and social media on when it will actually be delivered to owners. The Prius, Volt, and Leaf are seeing their biggest changes adopted since first being launched, and are expected to see sales gains. Of course, increasing gasoline prices would help with consumer demand for green cars.

Volkswagen scandal – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September found that several cars sold by Volkswagen through its VW and Audi brands were given a “defeat device,” which is software in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results. The EPA’s findings cover 482,000 cars in the US only, and VW admitted that about 11 million cars worldwide, including eight million in Europe, are fitted with the defeat device. VW has denied another claim by the EPA of modifying software on the three-liter diesel engines fitted to some Porsche, Audi, and VW models. VW has been firing employees and bringing in outside inspectors; and its numbers have changed on how many vehicles sold in Europe are affected by “irregularities” in tests to measure carbon dioxide emissions – from about 800,000 in November to only about 36,000 in December following investigations. VW will be losing billions of dollars as government investigations and fines in Europe, North America, and Asia continue, class-action lawsuits pile up, and car shoppers choose other brands.

Renewable fuels – Renewable fuels saw significant gains this year with availability of commercial scale renewable natural gas, renewable diesel, and cellulosic ethanol. Fleets in California are adopting these fuels faster than in other states, but the interest level is high nationwide. California’s low carbon fuel standard and funding its producing in carbon credits is helping the new fuel move along, too. One of the best parts is that fleets can use existing diesel, flex fuel, and CNG vehicles with these renewable fuels to significantly reduce emissions.

Tesla Energy – Tesla Energy is bringing Tesla batteries to homes, business, and utilities to store energy to better manage power demand, provide backup power, and increase grid resilience – with much of it coming from solar power. Called the Tesla Powerwall, it includes Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system, and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. Soon after its launch in May, Tesla gained $800 million worth of reservations in the Powerwall.

Chinese companies enter America – Along with the Chinese government’s mandate to bring more electric vehicle to pollution-packed Chinese cities, the U.S. has been seeing more presence from Chinese investors in U.S.-based facilities producing electric cars. Fisker Automotive, owned by Chinese auto parts giant Wanxiang, signed an 11-year lease deal estimated to be worth about $30 million. Fisker will be opening a production plant in Moreno Valley, Calif., about 60 miles from its corporate office in Costa Mesa. Later in the year, the company was renamed Karma Automotive. Chinese startup electric carmaker Faraday Future will spend $1 billion on a U.S. factory and operates out of a former Nissan research facility in Gardena, Calif., next to Los Angeles. NextEV is a well-funded electric-vehicle startup backed by firms in China. The startup has an 85,000-square-foot U.S. headquarters and R&D center based in San Jose, Calif.

COP21 – The U.N. climate change agreement moved forward for the first time in several years. To help developing countries switch from fossil fuels to greener sources of energy and adapt to the effects of climate change, the developed world will provide $100 billion a year. The Obama administration was pleased with the agreement, including the section where all countries will be required to report on national inventories of emissions by source and also to report on their mitigation efforts. At the beginning of the Paris meetings, billionaire Bill Gates announced formation of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of 28 investors that will include Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. The dollar amount hasn’t been announced, but investment funds will be available for biofuels, solar and wind power, efforts to capture carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and other clean energy projects. Another coalition that has met during COP21 is the ZEV Alliance, a group of local and national governments that plans drastic reductions in vehicle emissions over the next 35 years.

Uber and other shared economy suppliers – The “shared economy” has gained a lot of attention this year with companies like Airbnb making personal homes available to travelers who want to spend a lot less on lodging and want to avoid the corporate hotel environment. Uber and Lyft have taken off in ridership, where car owners share their personal vehicles for a fare to take passengers to airports, work, social life, etc., for half the cost of a taxi ride. Zipcar, Car2go and other carsharing suppliers are seeing their user numbers grow in the past year as more consumers lose interested in car ownership and want to have solid transportation alternatives in place.

Urban mobility – “I believe we’ll see more change in the automotive industry in the next five to 10 years than in the past 50. Driving this historic transformation are shifting views of vehicle ownership, growing urbanization and the very digital and sharing economies that have disrupted so many other industries,” wrote General Motors CEO Mary Barra in a LinkedIn guest editorial. Shared mobility, autonomous vehicles, and alternative propulsion were analyzed in her column. These are the reasons Green Auto Market has added a new section on advanced transportation and urban mobility – very big changes are in the works.

Autonomous vehicles – This topic continued to be hot in 2015. Along with the California DMV deciding to require a human passenger in the driver’s seat for emergency takeovers, Google and Ford made big news deciding to forge an alliance for joint development of autonomous vehicles. That could help jump-start testing an autonomous version of the Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan on public roads near its high-tech center in Silicon Valley in the near future. Another interesting move has been Austin, Texas, courting Google to set up self-driving car testing in that city.

FAST Act – House and Senate negotiators passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, a five-year, $305 billion package, in early December in a 1,300 page transportation bill. Signed into law by the president, advocates are pleased to see support for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program; incentives for natural gas vehicles and fueling infrastructure; and support for intelligent transportation systems. Electric vehicle advocates are also pleased with FAST Act. One of the items in the final bill is a mandate for the Department of Transportation to designate corridors for electric-car charging; it also requires more hydrogen, natural gas, and propane fueling on the nation’s highways.

This Week’s Top 10: The state of federal mpg standards, Fiat Chrysler purchasing greenhouse gas emissions credits

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the 10 most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

Federal mpg standards… Automakers have been seeing the mpg progress continuing to slow down as cheap gasoline drives demand for more pickups, SUVs, and crossovers. Even with that trend, the industry did continue to get cleaner and meet U.S. targets for 2014 and 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. EPA projects fleet-wide fuel economy to average 24.7 mpg in the 2015 model year – that’s part of a 5 mpg increase in the past 10 years, a 26% improvement. Consumers are leaning toward more fuel efficient cars and trucks, which is offsetting declining sales in electric vehicles and hybrids. Automakers with the highest mpg ratings also have lighter and smaller vehicles than do OEMs selling a lot of trucks and SUVs. Mazda finished first in the 2014 model year, followed by Subaru, Hyundai, Honda, and Nissan.
In news related to the 54.5 mpg by 2025 mandate, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has purchased greenhouse gas emissions credits from Toyota, Tesla, and Honda – about 8.2 million megagrams (equal to 1,000 kilograms) of emissions credits. Even without acquiring credits, Fiat Chrysler still would have been in compliance in the 2014 model year, according to the federal report. FCA said it earned credits through improvements to air conditioning systems and other technological changes. The automaker had previously purchased nearly 1.7 million megagrams of emissions credits from Tesla, Nissan, and Honda, and more recently acquired another 6.5 million credits through the end of the 2014 model year. Tesla has sold all of its 2013 and 2014 greenhouse gas emissions credits to Fiat Chrysler.
Along with Faraday Future, Chinese companies are continuing to play a role in the future of EVs in the U.S. and China. NextEV is a well-funded electric-vehicle startup backed by firms in China. The startup has an 85,000-square-foot U.S. headquarters and R&D center based in San Jose, Calif. The company has named Padmasree Warrior, Cisco Systems Inc.’s former technology chief, to lead U.S. operations. NextEV plans to take on competition with Tesla Motors in the luxury electric car market. Warrior has been considered a leading advocate for women in technology in Silicon Valley, and has recently joined Microsoft’s board of directors. Martin Leach, former CEO of Maserati and president of Ford Europe, is president of NextEV. The startup plans to roll out a battery electric supercar in late 2016 that can match Tesla’s “Ludicrous” speed mode.
Saab Automobile is now part of National Electric Vehicle Sweden, or Nevs, which bought the Swedish automakers assets in 2012. Nevs now has a $12 billion deal to supply 150,000 electric cars to Chinese leasing firm Panda New Energy. Nevs will provide Panda with 150,000 9-3 sedan electric vehicles by the end of 2020 and 100,000 other electric vehicle products and services from companies associated with Nevs and its owners, the company said.
The 2016 Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo will be offering a sneak-peak webinar on electrified transportation issues to be explored at the annual conference. This complimentary, one-hour webinar will highlight what we can expect from the electric vehicle charging infrastructure industry, including issues of “roaming” and being able to pay by credit card; pricing structures; challenges and the promise of inductive charging; and fleet applications. Panelists work with the nation’s premiere electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) companies. This webinar takes place on Tuesday, January 12, 2016, at 10:00 am PST. ACT Expo will be taking place May 2-5, 2016, in Long Beach, Calif.
General Motors has stepped up its efforts to become a zero waste manufacturer by adding more facilities and turning byproducts such as polystyrene foam packaging into footwear. GM’s Toluca, Mexico, facilities take byproducts to a warehouse, where it is turned into pellets and combined with other polymers to create shoe soles. The Toluca complex (which has two engine plants, a warehouse and a technical center) joins GM’s Luton Assembly and Ellesmere Port Assembly plant in Europe to achieve landfill-free status. These moves have increased the landfill-free sites to 131 – another step forward toward achieving 150 landfill-free sites globally by 2020.
In the wake of the Volkswagen emissions reporting scandal, Daimler said test results from the German environmental lobby group DUH allegedly showing that a Mercedes C class 200 CDI exceeded emissions of nitrogen oxides were “questionable.” DUH claims that the test model released NOx emissions that were more than twice the legal limits for Euro-5 standards when tested under new European testing cycles. “The test results are questionable as the conditions of the test are not clear. We don’t know the specific car, the temperature at the time of the tests, the loading weight,” a Daimler spokesman said. In other VW scandal news, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk co-signed a letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) urging it to direct Volkswagen to accelerate production of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). Musk and 44 other prominent people in the electric vehicle and charging sector sent the letter addressed to CARB chair Mary Nichols. In the place of fining VW and forcing the automaker to fix non-compliant diesel vehicles on the road, it was suggested that VW instead be forced to significantly increase the production of ZEVs. As of yesterday, CARB said it was extending a deadline to approve or reject a diesel emissions repair plan submitted by Volkswagen AG for nearly 500,000 2.0-liter vehicles until January 14.
NGVAmerica applauded the U.S. Senate and House for passing tax legislation that will extend the natural gas fuel and infrastructure tax credits for two years – retroactively for 2015 and for all of 2016 – if signed into law. The credit is retroactive to 2015 and extends through 2016 and applies to compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. President Obama has yet to sign the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. “Passage of the alternative fuel tax and infrastructure credits means hundreds of millions in savings to NGVAmerica members and their customers for using clean-burning natural gas for their transportation needs,” said NGVAmerica President Matthew Godlewski. “Congress clearly recognizes the economic, environmental and energy security benefits of natural gas in powering fleets across the country.”
BMW and Nissan are partnering in an effort to set up fast-charging stations at 120 locations across the U.S. The automakers plan to install dual-port chargers at 120 locations in 19 states. That list of states includes California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The chargers include two different types of ports to service Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 battery-electric vehicles – and a number of others that can use CHAdeMO and CCS connectors.
Clean transportation investments funded by market-based user charges would reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also providing a net economic benefit, a study for five Northeastern states and the District of Columbia concludes. Reduced fuel costs and other economic benefits would more than offset new fees, the report found. Georgetown University’s Climate Center released the study; Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont participate in the Transportation Climate Initiative which is headquartered at Georgetown University. The study was released to coincide with COP21 in Paris and a joint pledge by the six jurisdictions to jointly “develop potential market-based policies that, when combined with existing programs, are targeted to achieve substantial reductions in transportation sector emissions and provide net economic benefits.”

This Week’s Top 10: COP21 climate change agreement, China largest EV market and dealing with air pollution

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the 10 most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

The COP21 climate change conference agreement, released to the public Saturday morning, may provide a solution for developed and developing countries that’s been unsuccessfully sought after for several years at these United Nations meetings. The agreement was signed by 196 nations outside Paris and sets the goal of limiting the world’s rise in average temperature to “well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” as read in the agreement. To help developing countries switch from fossil fuels to greener sources of energy and adapt to the effects of climate change, the developed world will provide $100 billion a year. The Obama administration was pleased with the agreement, including the section where all countries will be required to report on national inventories of emissions by source and also to report on their mitigation efforts. During the conference, mayors of five West Coast cities – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, and Eugene, Ore., – met in Portland for a two-day summit and united to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 within their cities. That announcement followed California, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia joining the International ZEV Alliance during COP21. Another interesting moment was Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk speaking to a group of college students at the Université de Paris Panthéon Sorbonne, laying out his vision for sustainability in transportation and the steps required to stem climate change. He also discussed the business opportunities in cost reductions from energy storage and how much mobile devices will be changing in the future.
China largest EV market and dealing with air pollution: Electric vehicle sales in China are expected to top 220,000 units this year, beating the U.S. (expected to be at 180,000 units sold) for the first time as the largest EV market in the world, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufactures (CAAM). China’s “new energy” vehicle sales have seen rapid growth in the past two years thanks to subsidies and tax cuts. Air pollution in Beijing and other major Chinese cities have been driving the incentives and sales. Tesla Motors and BYD say car shoppers are more interested in owning an EV due to the air pollution – and its making for an effective marketing message. One of BYD’s online ads shows a man in a cloud of pollution calling for help from China’s fabled Monkey King hero.
ACT Expo and EDTA partnering again: The Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo and the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) have renewed their strategic partnership, committing to realizing the economic, national security, and environmental benefits of alternative fuel vehicles. “The 2016 event will showcase the significant range of electric-drive technologies now available and being deployed in the marketplace and will be a hub of activity for those looking to accelerate the deployment of advanced hybrid, battery, and fuel cell electric vehicles,” said Erik Neandross, CEO of GNA, the producers of ACT Expo. ACT Expo 2016 – set for May 2-5 in Long Beach, California – will assemble more than 3,000 attendees and 250 sponsors and exhibitors to examine the latest alternative fuel and advanced vehicle technologies for all weight classes, including electric drive, hybrid, hydrogen, natural gas, propane autogas, renewables, and efficiency technologies. It’s become the “must attend” event in clean transportation for fleets, OEMs, infrastructure suppliers, government agencies, and industry trade groups.
Tesla’s leasing program and secrecy: BWG Strategy hosted a conference call discussion last week with auto industry analysts, electric vehicle groups, and media. Most electric vehicles sold in the U.S. are being leased – coming in at 75% of sales this year versus 80% last year. It gets a bit tricky analyzing Tesla lease residual value performance since so few of them have been sold relative to other automakers and their luxury vehicles. There’s not enough resale value data from auctions, and there’s a secretiveness attached to Tesla and its residuals and overall operations. An example of this given by one of the call participants was Tesla Motors not joining the ROEV Association, a collaboration of industry stakeholders designed to support electric vehicle adoption by facilitating public charging network interoperability. BMW, Nissan, CarCharging/Blink, ChargePoint, and NRG EVgo, do belong to this group. They do know that Tesla lessees have an average income of $200,000. One analyst said that a key element of Tesla’s upcoming Model III sedan will be that it’s going to be lighter than other Tesla models and its battery will be getting denser. The Model III is expected to have 35-to-55 kilowatt hour battery packs (versus 90 kWh upgrades available in the Model S).
Volvo embracing renewable diesel: Volvo Trucks North America, after concluding truck and engine lab testing, approved the use of renewable diesel fuel for all of its proprietary Volvo engines, offering environmental and cost-savings benefits to customers. Volvo says that it’s the first OEM to endorse the use of advanced hydrocarbon renewable diesel fuel. “Availability of renewable diesel fuel is growing in California and throughout the country. Renewable diesel meets the same ASTM D975 standard for petroleum diesel, making it a true ‘drop in’ fuel,” said Frank Bio, director – sales development, specialty vehicles and alternative fuels for Volvo Trucks North America.
Faraday Future plans to build a $1 billion factory near Las Vegas, which is expected to create 4,500 jobs. Brian Sandoval and state and local economic development officials announced a deal with the company on Thursday that includes tax incentives valued at $217 million over 15 years, depending on the company’s actual investment. Nevada will also help with infrastructure needs at the Apex industrial site in North Las Vegas where the company plans a three million square-foot assembly plant. Earlier in the week, Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting disclosed to Nevada legislators that he is backing the luxury electric carmaker; he also said he is not the only founder, but he did not name any other investors.
Volkswagen scandal: There have been quite a lot of lawsuits filed against Volkswagen for the use of software to evade emissions limits in its diesel car models. More than 500 civil lawsuits filed against VW will be heard by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in the Northern District of California. That’s the court where the first case was filed and the state where about 20% of the suits have been filed. VW and the Dept. of Justice had requested the case be sent to Detroit.
Last month in Chicago, EcoCAR 3’s 16 competing university teams unveiled their advanced, energy-efficient vehicle architecture for the 2016 Chevrolet Camaros donated by General Motors. EcoCAR 3 is a four-year engineering competition where 16 North American universities are challenged to redesign the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to reduce its environmental impact while maintaining the performance and safety of the vehicle. It’s sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and GM, and managed by Argonne National Labs. One of the teams active in all three EcoCAR challenges has been Cal State LA. That team received the Camaro for Year 2 of the EcoCAR 3 competition on Friday. The Cal State LA EcoCAR 3 team will spend the rest of the academic year transforming the 2016 Motor Trend Car of the Year into a plug-in hybrid electric police vehicle that runs on E-85 fuel, preparing the car to test its capabilities at the General Motors Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz., in June.
Ford will invest $4.5 billion to add new hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery-electric vehicles to its line-up by the end of the decade, CEO Mark Fields said. Ford will also expand where it will offer those models, with two new produced, the plug-in C-Max Energi and the Mondeo Hybrid, entering the Chinese market in the coming months. By the end of the decade, Fields says that more than 40% of the automaker’s nameplates will be electrified, up from 13% today.
Vision Fleet will continue its working relationship leasing electric vehicles and installing charging infrastructure for the City of Indianapolis after having been stalled out by litigation. Consulting firm Vision Fleet had been able to deliver about half of the 425 electric vehicles that came from an agreement last year with the city. Vision Fleet had filed a lawsuit alleging the city didn’t follow procurement practices. Indianapolis had put out a notice that it was seeking proposals from another firm. Vision Fleet was the only bidder, and the contract has been revised with suggested improvements.

This Week’s Top 10: Bill Gates announces investor coalition at COP21, FAST Act approved in Washington

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the 10 most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

Investors announced at COP21: COP21, the United Nations climate change conference being held in Paris, is about halfway through the negotiation process. Nearly 200 countries have gathered for the challenging task of forging a deal; reducing fossil fuel use in energy and transportation is at the heart of discussions. Early last week, billionaire Bill Gates announced formation of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of 28 investors that will include Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. The dollar amount hasn’t been announced, but investment funds will be available for biofuels, solar and wind power, efforts to capture carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and other clean energy projects. Another coalition that has met during COP21 is the ZEV Alliance, a group of local and national governments that plans drastic reductions in vehicle emissions over the next 35 years. Members include California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Quebec, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. While the U.S. government hasn’t joined yet, the U.S. said it intends to double its current $5 billion R&D investment portfolio in advanced transportation systems and fuels, along with other cleantech products and technologies.
FAST Act approved in Washington: House and Senate negotiators passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, a five-year, $305 billion package, late Tuesday in a 1,300 page transportation bill. President Obama signed the bill into law on Friday, with just hours to spare before the scheduled expiration of the nation’s road and transit spending. Critics have warned it doesn’t provide enough funding to deal with several infrastructure issues – nor does it provide a long-term source of funding. Advocates are pleased to see support for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program; incentives for natural gas vehicles and fueling infrastructure; and support for intelligent transportation systems.
EV sales in November: The Tesla Model S continued its strength as the No. 1 selling plug-in electric vehicle in the U.S. in November. The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf continue swapping the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on the list. In its second full month on sale, the 2016 Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid sold 1,980, bringing sales over for October and November to more than 2,000 a month. With year-to-date sales of 13,279, the Volt follows the Nissan Leaf, which so far has sold 15,922 units in the U.S. The Ford plug-in hybrids – the Fusion Energi and C-Max Energi – continue to see moderate and steady sales figures.
SCAQMD strengthens pollution credit trading: The South Coast Air Quality Management District has significantly strengthened the region’s pollution credit trading program, requiring major emission reductions from some of the largest facilities in Southern California. SCAQMD has ordered cumulative reductions of 12 tons per day of smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) credits from 56 RECLAIM (Regional Clean Air Incentives Market) facilities to be implemented from 2016 to 2022. Along with internal combustion engines, compliance levels are being monitored for fluid catalytic cracking units, refinery boilers and heaters, refinery and non-refinery gas turbines, cement kilns, glass melting furnaces, metal heat treating and petroleum coke calciners, and other equipment affecting air quality in the region. The AQMD says that since RECLAIM’s adoption in 1993, there’s been a 71% reduction in emissions, new technology for pollution controls, better monitoring and reporting, and a high level of compliance in achieving facility emissions caps.
NYC going electric: New York City will be deploying a lot of electric vehicles into its fleet by 2025, says Mayor Bill de Blasio. EVs could make up half of the city’s non-emergency fleet by that time, and a large network of charging stations will be installed to keep them fueled up. That will include about 2,000 cars used by the Parks and Recreation Department. The fleet will have a mix of battery electric models like the Nissan Leaf and plug-in hybrid vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt.
Plug-in roundup: More announcements on upcoming plug-in electric vehicles…… Porsche is getting ready to launch its first pure battery-electric supercar, the Mission E. It will deliver a maximum output of 600 horsepower, and will be able to go from 0 to 62 mph (based on kilometer conversion rating), in 3.5 seconds. Porsche said it will be able to travel at least 310 miles per charge, about 5-to-10% more than the Tesla Model S……… Hyundai will launch a new vehicle in January named the Ioniq. It will have available three electrified drivetrain options in one body type – all-electric, traditional gasoline-electric hybrid, or plug-in hybrid powertrain. It will debut in South Korea next month, and then be shown at the Geneva and New York auto shows in March………. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt battery electric vehicle’s production version will be unveiled January at International CES in Las Vegas. A spy photo near Palm Springs, Calif., shows that it closely resembles the 2016 Chevrolet Volt in its grille and side styling. But it looks a bit different than the concept model shown at the 2015 Detroit auto show.
The National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC), in partnership with the Tulsa Area Clean Cities (TACC), today is launching three newly developed Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) First Responder Safety Training classes at Tulsa Community College in Tulsa, Okla. Focused on targeted information for firefighters, emergency medical services, and law enforcement, these three courses feature techniques to safely respond to vehicle collisions, incidents and injuries involving alternative fuel vehicles. In addition to the training sessions, activities associated with the training launch include a press conference and an alternative fuel vehicles display. The vehicles on display will be utilized as part of the training sessions and available for viewing by the media and press conference attendees. For more information, contact Judy Moore of NAFTC at Moore@mail.wvu.edu.
M-B fuel cell SUV: Mercedes-Benz will be rolling out a hydrogen fuel cell powered version of its GLC luxury SUV. It will replace the GLK and will be called the GLC F-Cell when it comes out in 2017; and will be revealed at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show to reach showrooms the following year. The SUV is targeted to have a combined range for the fuel cell and battery of up to 373 miles, and a refueling time of three minutes.
Latest on VW diesel scandal: About 50 Volkswagen employees have come forward to testing in an “internal witness program” in Germany; that followed a raid of corporate offices by German prosecutors. In the U.S., sales by the VW brand tumbled by a 24.7% last month. A federal judicial panel will decide soon how to handle the more than 300 lawsuits already filed over the scandal. Plus, VW has lined up a $21 billion bridge loan it may need to cover the costs it’s expected to incur.
Growth in workplace charging: This year, the Workplace Charging Challenge (sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy) celebrated a major milestone – it reached the halfway point to its goal of 500 Challenge partners committed to installing workplace charging by 2018. Their efforts have resulted in more than 600 workplaces with over 5,500 charging stations accessible to nearly one million employees. In 2015, more than 9,000 PEV-driving employees charged at these worksites on a regular basis.

This Week’s Top 10: ARPA-E awards $125 million to 41 projects, Geely and Cadillac adding plug-ins to meet China mandates

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the 10 most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

ARPA-E awards $125 million: The U.S. Dept. of Energy announced the awarding of $125 million for innovative energy technologies by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The 41 projects include advanced vehicle technologies and alternative fuels, including: Achates Power, Inc. of San Diego, Calif., winning $9,002,986 to develop a multi-cylinder opposed piston engine operating with compression ignition; the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will develop a high-efficiency engine system that integrates a compact micro-hybrid configuration of a supercharger with an electric waste heat recovery system and employs high rates of recirculated exhaust gases, which was granted $1,923,845; another University of Michigan project was granted $3,500,000 for electrode structures and manufacturing techniques to incorporate lithium-conducting ceramic electrolytes into solid-state batteries; researchers at Corning Incorporated in Corning, N.Y., won $3,102,359 and will develop roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques to produce thin ceramic electrolytes for solid-state batteries for higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries. Read more about other transportation and energy grants made in the ARPA-E announcement.
Geely and Cadillac take on China mandates: Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings has committed to meeting “new energy” vehicle government mandates more than any other domestic OEM; during the next five years, more than 90% of its new models will come equipped with alternative-energy powertrains. About two-thirds of Geely’s new-energy vehicle models will be conventional gasoline-electric hybrids and plug-in hybrids by 2020, with the remaining new-energy vehicles being battery-electric vehicles. Geely, which has been developing vehicles with Volvo Cars, also said it aims to make “substantial progress” on fuel cell vehicles by 2020. Cadillac will be rolling out plug-in hybrid versions of most of its vehicles in coming years to meet China’s tightening regulations, according to Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen. Adding a battery electric luxury car to compete directly with Tesla isn’t in the brand’s business plan, he said. There are plenty of other models meeting U.S. fuel economy and emissions regulations, including the Chevy Volt and fuel efficient cars, he said.
GM & Daimler committed to diesel: The Volkswagen diesel reporting scandal isn’t pushing General Motors or Daimler out of diesel-engine vehicles. GM product chief Mark Reuss thinks that diesel demand among truck buyers won’t be affected by the fallout from the VW scandal, and that its diesel-powered Chevrolet Cruze will be doing well. GM has begun production of diesel-equipped Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups. These pickups will join the V-8 Duramax diesel engines on its heavy-duty full-size pickups. Next year, GM will roll out a 1.6L diesel in the next-generation Cruze; the automaker will roll out at least one more diesel car, but hasn’t yet released details on it. Daimler’s commercial truck operation will invest $375 million at a complex near Detroit to build diesel engines for medium-duty trucks, expanding a strategy of building and selling trucks, engines, transmissions and axles as a package. It’s not competing directly with VW light-duty passenger cars, but the commitment to diesel technology is still significant during this time. In other VW news, U.S. Dept. of Justice investigators are investigating German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH for its role in VW’s scheme to cheat U.S. emission standards. Bosch built key components in the diesel engine used in six Volkswagen models and one Audi model that the automaker has admitted to rigging to defeat emissions tests.
Tesla researches German battery factory: Tesla Motors has been in discussions with the German government over the prospect of building a battery factory in the country. Tesla may seek financial backing from the government. This may be targeted at Tesla’s competition in the luxury electric vehicle space with German automaker BMW and would support the opening of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada. Tesla wouldn’t make comments to the media on a German battery factory, saying that there are “no current plans to build a battery factory in Germany.” Tesla did announce that it will recall the entire Model S fleet to deal with a potential seat belt defect. That will mean brining in 90,000 of these cars for inspection by Tesla. The recall came from the discovery in Europe two weeks ago of a single Tesla Model S with a “front seat belt that was not properly connected to the outboard lap pretensioner,” Tesla told its customers by email.
Green truck awards: The Ford F-150 pickup has been named the Green Truck of the Year, and the Ram ProMaster City has won the Commercial Green Car of the Year. While the 2016 Chevrolet Volt won Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show (see article that follows), the truck awards were announced at the San Antonio Auto & Truck Show.
Volvo and Microsoft going for autonomous vehicles: Volvo’s partnership with Microsoft will also extend to autonomous driving and other advanced automotive tech. The automaker announced it will work with Microsoft yet-to-be-released HoloLens augmented reality device. Volvo will also be working on autonomous driving technologies as well with Microsoft, and plants to use the enormous amount of data generated from connected cars to create other new services.
Green Truck Summit expanding: The Green Truck Summit, held annually in conjunction with The Work Truck Show, features a more comprehensive educational program for 2016. The event includes a full day of in-depth general sessions on innovations for vocational trucks on March 1. Attendees can also choose from more than 30 Green Truck Summit and Work Truck Show concurrent sessions covering a range of topics March 2-3. Produced by NTEA, the Summit takes place at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.
Google Express expands in delivery business: Google has joined up with Amazon in the product delivery space by expanding its Google Express service into Southern California. Just in time for holiday shopping, Google Express is offering next-day service for shoppers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, and the Inland Empire. Google Express is already been in place in Northern California and West Los Angeles, along with Manhattan, Boston, Chicago, Washington, and in several states in the Midwest. Participating retails merchants include Costco, Target, Kohl’s, and Walgreens. Soon after the Google Express announcement, Amazon said that it’s expanding its same-day Prime Now delivery service in the San Diego area. Amazon now offers free same-day delivery options in 24 metropolitan areas — including Los Angeles and San Diego.
Renewable diesel takes off at Propel stations: Consumer adoption of Propel Fuel’s Diesel HPR (High Performance Renewable) fuel has shot up 300% since its introduction in Southern California in August 2015, the company said; that’s compared to its former biodiesel product (B20). Diesel HPR is a low-carbon fuel that meets the ASTM D-976 petroleum diesel specifications for use in diesel engines while offering drivers better performance and lower emissions. A California Air Resources Board study shows that renewable diesel can reach up to 70% greenhouse gas reduction compared to petroleum diesel.
Lightning Hybrids wins NREL award: Lightning Hybrids received the “Best Venture” award for its hydraulic hybrid system at the Industry Growth Forum held last week in Denver, which was hosted by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The hydraulic hybrid system for medium and heavy duty vehicles has strong global market opportunities and provides benefits to a large and diverse group of stakeholders by providing fleets with a way to run cleaner and more efficient vehicles, the company said. The award named 30 emerging cleantech industry company finalists from a field of 115 to present their technologies and business models to a panel of knowledgeable investor judges.

Fuel cell cars and Chevrolet Volt gain prominence at 2015 LA Auto Show

The Honda Clarity Fuel Cell, Chevrolet Volt, and Toyota Mirai were the leading green cars at this year’s LA Auto Show in gaining media attention. The Volt took its second “best” award since its initial launch in late 2010. Other auto show highlights included launching of the ROEV Association electric vehicle group, a first look at the production version of the Elio Motors 3-wheeler, and the Volvo Concept 26 self-driving car (and the Wahoo’s Fish Taco van pictured to the left.)

The Honda Clarity Fuel Cell had its North American debut at the LA Auto Show with more details released on the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle’s gains in interior space, efficiency, and performance. The Clarity Fuel Cell has a fuel cell stack that is 33% more compact than its predecessor with a 60% increase in power density compared to the outgoing Honda FCX Clarity. Honda says that the arrival time for the Clarity Fuel Cell will be in late 2016 for the U.S. market. Honda also announced that the platform used in the Clarity Fuel Cell will also serve as the foundation for a next-generation Honda plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that will launch nationwide by 2018, with more than triple the all-electric range of the Accord Plug-In Hybrid Sedan.

The completely redesigned 2016 Chevrolet Volt has been named Green Car of the Year, repeating a victory it claimed when the original plug-in hybrid debuted five years ago. The revamped 2016 Volt has been built on a new, lighter chassis, utilizing a smaller but more powerful battery pack that allows it to now squeeze in five passengers, and increases range to 53 miles per charge. The four 2016 model year finalists were: Toyota Prius which has a new body style and a fuel economy increase of about 10%; Honda Civic, which was also redesigned for 2016; Hyundai Sonata with its high-mileage gasoline engine as well as both a plug-in and a standard hybrid option; and Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, the automaker’s first U.S. plug-in hybrid model.

The Volt was available for the ride and drive, along with the Toyota Mirai fuel cell car. Those visiting the Toyota exhibit inside the hall could look under the Mirai’s hood; they could also watch a video playing tribute to the anniversary of the “Back to the Future” movie trilogy. Toyota participated in the 30th anniversary of the first film in the series with a commemorative video with the film’s stars, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. It also served as a kickoff for the U.S. debut of the 2016 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. Toyota says that about 2,000 people have already placed orders for a Mirai, which is now on sale in select California markets. Toyota anticipates that it will fulfill about half of those orders for the 2016 model year.

Located in Gilbert Lindsay Plaza right outside the convention center, the Green & Advanced Technology Ride & Drive also made available the Chevrolet Impala Bi-Fuel; Fiat 500e; Ford Focus 1.0-Liter EcoBoost; Ford Focus Electric; a Harman International test model with connected car features; Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell; and Nissan Leaf.

The Ford Transit Connect urban delivery van was prominent in the Ford Motor Co. exhibit space. As seen in the photo, one of the vans shown in the Ford display was a fleet vehicle used by Wahoo’s Fish Taco for catering. The most visible vehicle at the Ford exhibit was the refreshed 2017 Ford Escape that will go on sale next summer. Ford will put about 275,000 of these new vehicles on the road with start-stop technology, making it Ford’s biggest push into the fuel-saving technology to date.

On Thursday morning at the LA Auto Show, five partner companies announced the creation of the ROEV Association (which stands for Roaming for Electric Vehicle charging), a collaboration of industry stakeholders designed to support electric vehicle adoption by facilitating public charging network interoperability. BMW of North America, Nissan, and three EV charging networks – CarCharging/Blink, ChargePoint, and NRG EVgo – are working together on ROEV. The association says that its participants operate about 91% of the charging stations open to the U.S. public, with a total of 17,500 stations. One of ROEV’s primary goals is to provide easier access to all networked, public EV chargers by adopting and promoting interoperability standards. “The ROEV Association is working to streamline EV charging access across multiple charging networks in order to help bring EVs further into the mainstream,” said Simon Lonsdale, Chair of the Board of ROEV. (To learn more, visit www.roev.org.)

Those attending LA Auto Show were able to view the debut of the production version of 3-wheel gasoline-engine car from Elio Motors. The car is small and light enough to get 84 mpg and will cost $6,800. The company plans to launch production at an old General Motors plant in Shreveport, La., by the fourth quarter of 2016. Elio Motors is still looking for more financial backers to get the car ramped up for production and out for sale.

The Volvo Concept 26 is still years out, but gained attention during the auto show. It will be equipped with features such as a tablet computer built into the center console, a fold-away tray table, and a 25-inch color monitor that pops out of the passenger-side dashboard. The Concept 26 shares the same new Scalable Product Architecture used for most of Volvo’s future products, including its new XC90 SUV. Volvo says that the concept car had “26” added to its name as a reference to the fact that drivers average 26 minutes a day stuck in traffic-snarled cities like Los Angeles, which adds up to 100s of hours each year.

This Week’s Top 8: EPA expanding diesel testing, First plug-in hybrid Hyundai launched

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the eight most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

EPA testing: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be expanding on-roads emissions tests for all diesel vehicles. The EPA practice had been to test only a handful of new vehicle each year to confirm laboratory results. Its first tests have recently included diesel vehicles from other Volkswagen Group brands, which found that about 10,000 VW, Audi, and Porsche vehicles using a 3.0-liter diesel V-6 also had illegal software. European regulators also plan to add on-road testing, although for somewhat different purposes than their U.S. counterparts.
Hyundai plug-in hybrid: The 2016 Sonata Plug-in Hybrid is the first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle launched by Hyundai and comes with a 27 mile All-Electric Range (AER). “The flexibility of this alternative powertrain delivers efficient hybrid operation and eliminates any concerns for range anxiety, while providing an impressive total driving range capable of 600 miles,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president, corporate and product planning, Hyundai Motor America. The Sonata Plug-in Hybrid’s 9.8 kWh lithium polymer battery system helps deliver 99 MPGe.
Best mpg pickup: The 2016 Chevrolet Colorado two-wheel drive with the Duramax turbo-diesel is the most fuel-efficient pickup in the U.S. with an Environmental Protection Agency-estimated 31 mpg highway fuel economy. The EPA-estimated highway fuel economy for 2016 Colorado four-wheel drive diesel is 29 mpg. With the Colorado’s 21-gallon fuel tank, the 2WD model offers an estimated maximum highway range of 651 miles per tank.
EcoBoost benchmark: Ford launched its EcoBoost fuel-efficient engines in 2007 and is getting close to selling one million vehicles with these downsized, gasoline turbocharged, direct-injected (GTDI) engines. Currently every Lincoln-brand vehicle and every Ford from the Fiesta through the F-150 has at least one EcoBoost engine available as either standard equipment or an option. EcoBoost has been part of Ford hitting its fuel economy targets along with hybrid and plug-in vehicles.
Fuel cell alliances: Audi may be getting into the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle business, and has acquired a number of patents on fuel cell technology from Canadian company Ballard Power Systems, a developer of fuel cells. Ballard has an agreement with Audi, with the two working together through 2019. Ballard thinks that the patents will help Audi develop a fuel cell vehicle that will be ready for the commercial market at some point in the future. In another alliance, 3M will support Plug Power’s expansion into hydrogen-enabled electric vehicle applications outside of the material handling market. 3M will supply Plug Power with membrane electrode assemblies to be used in Plug Power designed proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks under a new strategic supply agreement.
Recycled seat material: Carol Kordich, Ford lead designer, global sustainability materials strategy development, accepted the Society of Plastics Engineers’ Automotive Innovation Award in the Environmental category. Kordich was recognized for her work to replace traditional seat fabric with one made of 100% recycled material. Kordich’s effort helps to divert more than 11 million water bottles from landfills annually.
Port of LA SCIG court hearings: On Nov. 16-17, California Superior Court Judge Barry Goode will listen to attorneys representing environmental organizations, community members, and regulatory agencies. Several parties have filed suit and will be heard by the court over two days over the planned Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) railyard. This plan was first announced in 2005 for a train path adjacent to West Long Beach. The Port of Los Angeles and Burlington Northern Santa Fe have committed to allow the Port to handle more cargo and reduce air pollution. Those filing suit have said that the SCIG will make air pollution worse, especially for the low-income, disadvantaged communities.
Ford begins Mcity testing: Ford will become the first automaker to test out the 32-acre Mcity facility at the University of Michigan. Ford has been testing autonomous vehicle technologies for more than 10 years, and will expand testing of its Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research vehicle. The research project combines driver-assist technologies, such as front-facing cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors, with four LiDAR sensors to produce a real-time 3D map of the vehicle’s surrounding environment.

This Week’s Top 10: VW recall list expands, Fiat Chrysler entering hybrid market

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the 10 most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

VW recall list expands: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has expanded the list of 3.0-liter TDI diesel engines that have illegal emissions software – this time adding several Audi models, one Porsche diesel model, and another VW. VW’s corporate headquarters has been fighting the new EPA decision, but has issued a stop-sale order to its dealers on the newly named models. The latest list includes: Audi A6 TDI: 2014-2016; Audi A7 TDI: 2014-2016; Audi A8 TDI: 2014-2016; Audi Q5 TDI: 2014-2016; Audi Q7 TDI: 2013-2016; Porsche Cayenne Diesel: 2014-2016; and Volkswagen Touareg TDI: 2013-2016. These include both new and certified pre-owned versions of these cars. In other news, several Volkswagen engineers have admitted manipulating carbon dioxide emissions data because goals set by former CEO Martin Winterkorn were difficult to achieve, a German media outlet reported. And to appease VW owners, Volkswagen of America will offer $500 to owners of 2.0-liter diesel vehicles with illegal emissions test-rigging software.
First Chrysler hybrid: A hybrid version of the redesigned Chrysler Town & Country will be part of the minivan’s launch at the Detroit Auto Show. It will be the first step in converting “most of the fleet,” adding a hybrid version throughout the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles vehicle lineup in the 2020-to-2025 time frame, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne said during a conference call. It will be motivated by meeting federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards of reaching a fleet average of 54.5 mpg (equivalent to about 42 mpg on the window sticker) by 2025. It may also have something to do with FCA backing off adding new diesel models to its lineup in the wake of the VW emissions scandal. For several years, Chrysler had been experimenting with plug-in hybrid test models; it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that some of the news hybrid models will also have plug-in versions.
Tesla 3Q report: Tesla Motors reported total revenue of $937 million – above Wall Street expectations, but a drop from second-quarter revenue of $955 million and a rise from third-quarter revenue of $852 million during 2014. The company reported a loss of $230 million, or $1.78 per share. Stock closed at $208.35 but surged to as high as $231 per share in after-market action. Tesla had $392 million in capital outlay, largely the result of factory expansion to accommodate the new Model X production line in Fremont, Calif., and investment in its Gigafactory battery factory near Sparks, Nev. The company also reported $39 million in sales of government-awarded zero-emissions vehicle credits, and $33 million in sales of pre-owned cars. The company expects to manufacture “several hundred” of its Model X SUVs by the end of the year.
Faraday sets up shop: A luxury electric carmaker has come to California, setting up a corporate office with 400 employees. Housed in Nissan’s former U.S. sales office in Gardena, Calif., Faraday is planning on launching its first electric vehicle in 2017 and is looking for factory locations in California, Georgia, Louisiana, and Nevada. Incorporation papers filed with the California secretary of state’s office links Faraday to a Chinese media company operated by Jia Yueting, an entrepreneur who founded Leshi Internet Information & Technology. Jia may have net worth of $7 billion; he recently launched a line of smartphones and took a 70% investment stake in Yidao Yongche, an Uber-like car service in China. Jia has made comments that he plans on developing a car that could compete with Tesla Motors. Faraday may be investing $1 billion in its manufacturing facility. Chaoying Deng, a woman who runs a Leshi affiliate in the U.S., is listed in the filing as Faraday’s chief executive. Nick Sampson, who headed vehicle and chassis engineering for the Tesla Model S sport sedan, is now serving as senior vice president at Faraday. Richard Kim is head of design, and had provided those services to BMW, Porsche, and Audi.
Toyota’s artificial intelligence arm: Toyota Motor Corp. will be investing about $1 billion in a U.S.-based r&d company, Toyota Research Institute Inc., to develop artificial intelligence technologies for future vehicles. Gill Pratt, Toyota’s technical adviser and a former Pentagon robotics expert, will be the CEO of the new enterprise. TRI will be based in Silicon Valley near Stanford University, and the office will open in January. Another office will be set up near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Projects will include systems that prevent traffic accidents and makes driving accessible to more people; including cars that can help handicapped people or the elderly stay behind the wheel; and another objective will be at-home technologies such as helper robots.
Bob Lutz predicts doom for Tesla: Ex-GM vice chairman and Via Motors chairman of the board Bob Lutz doesn’t think Tesla Motors will make it. “Tesla’s showing all the signs of a company in trouble: bleeding cash, securitized assets, and mounting inventory. It’s the trifecta of doom for any automaker, and anyone paying attention probably saw this coming a mile away,” he wrote in a Road and Track guest commentary. One big problem is the real cost of a retail store with its service bays, chargers, and well-trained staff. A dealership location takes a lot of cash flow, he says.
Installing hydrogen stations: For anyone building hydrogen fueling stations in California or other states, check out the GO-Biz Hydrogen Permitting Station Guidebook. Aimed at station developers, permitting officials and Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), the guidebook provides insights and lessons captured from the past two years of hydrogen station development in California. The Guidebook provides a detailed discussion of the permitting process and suggested best practices for local and regional governments and station developers seeking to open (or in the process of opening) a hydrogen fueling station.
Autonomous vehicles on roads: Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to agree with a study last year by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) predicting that fully autonomous vehicles will be on U.S. roads between 2030 and 2035. During a conference call, Musk said that vehicles that can’t switch into autonomous mode will be seen as having “negative value.” He predicts that within 15 to 20 years, it will be “quite unusual to see cars that don’t have full autonomy.” Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn seems to understand why Tesla is investing in Autopilot so early in the game. Last week at the Tokyo Motor Show, Ghosn introduced Nissan’s IDS (Intelligent Drive System) concept car with its autonomous vehicle mode and long-range battery drive system.
Steve Jobs and an Apple car: Back in 2008, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had conversations with Apple senior VP Tony Fadell about launching an iCar. In the time frame soon after the iPhone launch, Jobs was interested in talking about why type of car they would build, what would be placed on the dashboard, and how it would be fueled or powered. In an interview with Bloomberg, Fadell talked about how the two collaborators on the iPod and iPhone swapped ideas about car designs – long before Apple began investing in the potential of designing autonomous electric vehicles. The crash of the auto industry the next year got their attention on other priorities.
Keystone pipeline: As expected, President Obama has rejected the request from Canadian company TransCanada to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline. “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” Obama said at the White House. “And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.” This decision ends a seven-year review that had become a battleground in Washington.

A look at year-to-date numbers on U.S. green car sales

Car shoppers are weighing the pros and cons of buying their first-ever or next-generation acquisition of clean technologies in new vehicles. Gasoline prices staying down and the 2016 model year launch of refreshed models are influencing purchase decisions.

Hybrids are down 15.7% year-to-date compared to the first nine months of 2014; sales are down 5% from September and declined 1.3% from October 2014. Gasoline prices are staying down, and are expected to do so into at least the first months of 2016. With more cost-competitive, highly rated small cars and crossovers, the competition is steep. The Toyota Prius hybrid models made up nearly half of October hybrid sales, and Toyota and Lexus models made up six of the top 10.
On the plug-in electric vehicle side, the Tesla Model S continues to lead in sales. The revised 2016 Chevy Volt is starting to roll out slowly to dealerships, and is getting a turnaround on soft sales – coming in at 2,035 compared to 2,100 for the Model S and 1,238 for the Nissan Leaf. Consumers seem to be waiting longer for the new Leaf. The Volt closely trails the Leaf in total U.S. sales to date since the initial launch in late 2010, with 84,656 delivered and the Leaf at 87,190. The Leaf is about 3,500 units sold ahead of the Volt year-to-date in 2015.
Fueleconomy.gov just released its 2016 EPA mileage ratings. The BMW i3 led the list in estimated mileage (MPGe) with 117 combined MPGe for the BMW i3 REX (range extender) plug-in hybrid and 124 combined MPGe for the BMW i3 battery electric model. The Volt came in at #2 on the plug-in hybrid ranking with 106 combined MPGe for the 2016 model; and the Chevrolet Spark EV finished at #2 on the battery electric chart with 119 combined MPGe. At 986 total sales in October, the BMW i3 has held a steady position in the top five this year.
The Ford Fusion and C-Max continue to hold a steady pace mid-way on the sales list this year for the Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid; and the C-Max Hybrid and C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid.
The first wave of the Volkswagen TDI diesel emissions scandal has hurt sales on the VW models named on the list; and that list looks to be expanding with a new EPA report (which is being fought by VW). The Ram Pickup continues to dominate the list of diesel passenger vehicle sales, which was in the works long before the VW scandal. That truck has had a strong share of diesel sales for several years, and hasn’t been dragged into allegations of misreporting its emissions. At 48,789 pickups sold this year, it far outpaces No. 2 on the list for October – Audi Q7 diesel, which has sold 3,579 units in the U.S. this year.

This Week’s Top 10: Highlights from Tokyo Motor Show, How are you shopping for cars?

by Jon LeSage, editor and publisher, Green Auto Market

Here’s my take on the 10 most significant and interesting occurrences during the past week…….

Highlights from Tokyo: Fuel-cell cars took the lead in green car debuts at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show; electric cars, hybrids, and autonomous driving were also central at this year’s event. Honda has launched its first production version of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle; the Clarity Fuel Cell (replacing the FCX Clarity model name). It will go on sale in Japan in early 2016, and will be brought to the U.S. later. The Lexus LF-FC concept car is a large hydrogen fuel-cell luxury sedan that may preview the next-generation Lexus LS. The Mercedes-Benz Vision Tokyo concept has self-driving capabilities and a bulbous shape. The Mitsubishi concept battery electric eX has a 45 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The Nissan IDS Concept electric car includes a wireless inductive charging feature. The IDS Concept may be setting the look for the next-generation Nissan Leaf, which is likely coming out in the 2018 model year; and it may come with a 60-kWh battery pack. The second Nissan concept car introduced at the show was the Teatro for Dayz mini-electric car. The Subaru Viziv Future has a turbocharged internal-combustion engine to power the front wheels, and an electric motor to power the rear wheels; it may someday be available as a hybrid crossover.
Sharing your perspectives on vehicle purchasing: Consulting company BKi is conducting a study about how people shop for new vehicles. If you bought or leased a new passenger vehicle for personal, business or fleet use, please complete this short, confidential survey. BKi focuses on energy, economics, and the environment. Clients include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Dept. of Energy, California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, Mercedes-Benz USA, Toyota, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and H2USA. Click here to take this brief survey.
The latest on Volkswagen: The recall list is getting longer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday issued a new Notice of Violation to Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche saying that the 2014 VW Touareg, 2015 Porsche Cayenne, and 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L and Q5 crossover with 3.0-liter diesel engines contained the illegal software. This covers about 10,000 vehicles from the 2014 and 2015 model years, and an unknown number of 2016 model year vehicles are involved.…….. A panel of federal judges will meet in early December to decide on a single venue to handle the expected a wave of class-action lawsuits. So far, more than 300 lawsuits have been filed against VW following breaking news that the automaker cheated on diesel emissions tests.
Honda Clarity launch details, and BMW announcement: The Honda Clarity Fuel Cell hydrogen-powered car will go on sale in Japan and the U.S. next spring. In the U.S., sales will start in California where a network of hydrogen fueling stations have been constructed. Driving range estimates have varied from over 300 miles on a tank of fuel to 435 miles. Its price is expected to start at $63,000, and the marketing campaign is expected to tell how its driving range and interior space are more than what Toyota is offering in its Mirai fuel cell car. Honda is also looking into a program offering a portable hydrogen station. BMW AG said last week that its first fuel-cell vehicle would likely be a larger-sized sedan which would go on the market after 2020. That’s right after BMW’s hydrogen R&D partnership with Toyota will end. The two automakers are developing a method to compress hydrogen at ultra-low temperatures to increase fuel storage volume.
Jaguar electric vehicle: Another luxury electric car may be coming out soon. Jaguar plans to launch a battery electric model called E-Pace, which will probably be a variant of the new Jaguar F-Pace SUV. Light carbon fiber and lightweight aluminum, and an aerodynamic shape, should help enhance the range it can travel on a full charge. The Jaguar E-Pace will use at least two electric motors, one or more for each axle for an all-wheel drive system.
Autonomous EV from Nissan: The Nissan concept car, IDS, mentioned in the Tokyo Motor Show coverage above, is being designed to be driven autonomously. The Intelligent Driving System (IDS) can be self-driven, and with its 60 kWh battery pack, will be able to go 200 miles between charges. CEO Carlos Ghosn says that it’s being designed to learn the habits of its owners to modify the way it drives, including recommending restaurants to stop at for meals. Ghosn thinks it would be ideal for crowded urban environments – and would “compensate for human error which causes more than 90% of accidents,” he said.
Carsharing will grow six-fold: Navigant Research estimates carsharing will grow six times by 2024 – from $1.1 billion this year to $6.5 billion in global revenue by 2024. While it’s been around for about 15 years now, it’s expected to mushroom in growth due to the popularity of one-way carsharing services; the adoption of electric vehicles in carsharing fleets is growing as carmakers help promote the technology, and this is also helping growth in carsharing usage. Those living in crowded cities appreciate having more options for multi-modal on-demand mobility, the study says.
Self-driving car research: A self-driving car study done by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute found that crash rates in driverless cars were higher than conventional, human-driven vehicles; but the self-driving cars were not at fault and the severity of the crashes were lower than for conventional vehicles. The study conducted a preliminary analysis of the cumulative on-road safety record in 2013 of self-driving vehicles for three of the 10 companies that are currently approved for such vehicle testing in California (Google, Delphi, and Audi).
Prius owners holding cars for long periods: Concern over the reliability of hybrids like the popular Toyota Prius is finding more good news. A study done by iSeeCars via Wards Auto found that the Prius is No. 2 on the list of longest-owned vehicles with 28.5% of original Prius owners keeping their cars for 10 years. The Honda CR-V crossover was No. 1 on the list, with 28.6% of owners keeping these vehicles for 10 years. “There are a rather large contingent of Toyota Prius owners who are happily touting the fact that their cars have logged 100,000 miles or more,” said iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly.
BYD sees strong performance results: Chinese automaker BYD has been seeing stronger sales and financial results this year – net profit for the third quarter totaled 1.49 billion yuan (about $236 million), up from 28.2 million yuan a year earlier. BYD’s sales of plug-in hybrids and electric cars soared 220% year-over-year in September to 6,013 vehicles. The Tang SUV, BYD’s third plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle, accounted for nearly half the total with 3,044 sold. The Qin plug-in hybrid saw 2,115 sold in September. Generous government subsidies and a popular new model (Tang) helped sales increase.