(Source: TreeHugger; HuffingtonPost & Bike Europe)

While news of the four-wheel variety remains bleak with news that GM is on the brinkof bankruptcy, news for the two wheel set is mostly good. In fact, more bicycles were bought in the first quarter of 2009 than cars and trucks. Dennis Markatos @ HuffingtonPost points out, the news isn’t all good. Overall, bicycle sales are down 30 percent for the year, but the good news is that bikes are outperforming cars. In total, around 2.6 million bicycles were sold, compared to less than 2.5 million cars and trucks.  That doesn’t mean all is well for the American bicycle market and it is hard to say that bicycle sales are unfazed by the recession.  In units the Americans imported 1.1 million bicycles less this year. Remarkably the average value increased by 37.2% in the same period. The average FOB value now stands at US$ 96.60 against US$ 70.41 in 2008.

But that percentage drop is slower than the35+% drop in sales for cars and trucks. Since nationwide gasoline prices are now rising above $2.40 per gallon at the pump, we may see another wave of US residents shifting to bicycles for their everyday trips. The large savings from riding a bike over short distances rather than driving can help consumer confidence and support economic recovery.

(Source: The Brookings Institution)

The Obama administration’s move to increase vehicle fuel economy standards and reduce greenhouse gas emissions addresses the source of one-third of U.S. CO2 emissions—transportation. In this report, the authors analyze the current state of carbon emissions by metropolitan area, listing the places that emit the least per capita and proposing policy avenues to move the entire nation toward reduced climate impact.   

America’s Challenge

The nation’s carbon footprint has a distinct geography not well understood or often discussed. This report quantifies transportation and residential carbon emissions for the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, finding that metro area residents have smaller carbon footprints than the average American, although metro footprints vary widely. Residential density and the availability of public transit are important to understanding carbon footprints, as are the carbon intensity of electricity generation, electricity prices, and weather. 

Limitations of Existing Federal Policy
Numerous market and policy distortions inhibit metropolitan actors from more aggressively addressing the nation’s climate challenge. Economy-wide problems include underpriced energy, underfunded energy research, missing federal standards, distorted utility regulations, and inadequate information. Policy impediments include a bias against public transit, inadequate federal leadership on freight and land-use planning, failure to encourage energy- and location-efficient housing decisions, and the fragmentation of federal transportation, housing, energy, and environmental policies. 

A New Federal Approach
Federal policy could play a powerful role in helping metropolitan areas—and so the nation—shrink their carbon footprint further. In addition to economy-wide policies to motivate action, five targeted policies are particularly important within metro areas and for the nation as a whole:

• Promote more transportation choices to expand transit and compact development options
• Introduce more energy-efficient freight operations with regional freight planning
• Require home energy cost disclosure when selling and “on-bill” financing to stimulate and scale up energy-efficient retrofitting of residential housing
• Use federal housing policy to create incentives for energy- and location-efficient decisions
• Issue a metropolitan challenge to develop innovative solutions that integrate multiple policy areas

Click here to Read/Download Full Report

(Source: earth2tech via Reuters)

Cities have thrown down the gauntlet for electric car charging in recent months, and utilities are increasingly eager to tout infrastructure efforts. Among automakers, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has been out in front working to coordinate governments, utilities and charge station companies to develop regional networks of hardware and services that drivers will need to make the automakers’ upcoming electric cars practical for daily use. But what steps follow a big partnership announcement, after a utility, a vendor or an automaker says it’s done a deal to ready the power grid for an EV rollout?

For at least one of the 26 partners that the Renault-Nissan Alliance has lined up so far — utility San Diego Gas & Electric — the vision for how to support plug-in vehicles at even a pilot scale is just beginning to take shape. In an interview last week, SDG&E’s Clean Transportation manager, Bill Zobel, gave us a glimpse of what the utility has accomplished so far, and what it has in the works.

At this point, Zobel said, the company is still in the process of assembling its internal team for the project. When that group is fully established next month, it will help develop milestones and oversee outreach to customers and “integration across the broader utility.” By September, SDG&E aims to have commitments from fleet operators in the San Diego area to trial at least 100 electric cars coming from Nissan next year. Zobel said the University of California, San Diego is “ecstatic” about the program. The city and county of San Diego, several nearby cities and the U.S. military may also sign up to try the vehicles. SDG&E plans to have at least 15 of the cars in its own fleet.

(Source: Autobloggreen)

With rising gas prices and often limited mass transit options in the United States, car pooling is often an excellent option for many urban commuters. However, finding people to car pool with can be problematic as can sharing costs fairly. The “creepiness” factor has often played against the willingness of many interested commuters to consider this as a viable option, at least until now.

Image Courtesy: Carbuddy

That’s where CarBuddy.com comes into play. When you sign up with CarBuddy, you enter information about your start and end points and whether you prefer to ride, drive or both. CarBuddy matches you up with ride partners that you can select from.

Participants also provide information about the car being driven and CarBuddy calculates fair costs for the trip being taken. The costs are updated weekly and based on more than fuel prices. CarBuddy also factors in wear and tear and depreciation on the car being driven. Based on distance traveled, a cost is calculated for each participant and passengers are charged each week and drivers reimbursed. CarBuddy takes 8 percent off the top of the transaction to pay for its services. Users can cancel at anytime or even switch car pool partners if they want.

The company will also pay for a cab service up to four times a year in the event a passenger gets stranded.

Blueprint America: Road to the Future, an original documentary part of a PBS multi-platform series on the country’s aging and changing infrastructure, goes to three very different American cities – Denver, New York and Portland, and their surrounding suburbs – to look at each as a microcosm of the challenges and possibilities the country faces as citizens, local and federal officials, and planners struggle to manage a growing America with innovative transportation and sustainable land use policies.

Over the next 40 years, America’s population will grow by more than an estimated 130 million people – most will settle in or near the country’s major population centers. At the same time, an unprecedented multi-billion dollar public works investment has just been made by the federal government to rebuild both the weakened economy and stressed national infrastructure. And, Congress is about to consider a transportation bill that will determine the course of the nation’s highways and transit for years to come.

(Source:  Autobloggreen)

Before you think we’ve gone crazy, let’s make clear that this is a post about a serious report published in Nature Geoscience. According to this report, lead that was expelled to the atmosphere through exhaust gases stimulated the growth of clouds. Larger clouds imply less solar radiation, which has a definitive cool effect. In this EU funded study, investigators from Switzerland, Germany and the U.S. “captured” clouds on some mountains and compared them to artificial ones created in laboratories. Their conclusion: if the air has some lead suspended in it, temperature and humidity didn’t pay as significant a role in cloud formation.

The Notre-Planete observed “the major part of atmospheric lead comes from human activities, the main sources are coal combustion, gasoline lead, small aircraft flying at the altitude where the clouds form and construction that release lead from ground.

Emissions of greenhouse gases are the main cause of global warming, but the emission of small particles of substances such as lead may have the opposite effect by interacting with water vapor in the atmosphere to trigger the formation of clouds. Depending on their altitude and the thickness of the clouds can reflect sunlight into space or trap the heat radiated by the Earth.

What’s interesting is that their models show that between 1970 and 1980, before unleaded gasoline became common, most dust on the Earth’s suface had lead particles in it. This might have helped more clouds get created, and that reduced the impact of greenhouse gases accumulation in the atmosphere.  Though research has proved time and again the ill effects of lead on human health, it is surprising to see the “side effect” that has helpedin guarding the environment.

(Source: Autobloggreen & Gizmag) & Mc24.no)

It’s been a little while since we last heard from Suzuki regarding its planned hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle, Crosscage, but apparently the Japanese company has been hard at work getting the machine ready for production. According to Ivar Kvadsheim over at MC24.no, teams from both Suzuki and Intelligent Energy were present at the EVS24 event in Stavanger, Norway, with their fuel cell-powered machines.

Image Courtesy: Autobloggreen

In the ENV and Cross Cage used tl cell to produce electricity to recharge the batteries, which in turn drive electric motor. On the prototype cell gives a power of 1 kW and delivers power to a motor that gives 8 horsepower. The new cell will be used in the production models are lighter and more efficient and delivers 1.8 kW, almost double the output. 

Over the last few years, Intelligent Energy has reportedly managed to increase the output of its fuel cell from 1 kW to 1.8 kW, and both its ENV bike and Suzuki Crosscage will use this same power source. That’s great, but the real issue holding up production is the bike’s hydrogen storage tank. It seems the two companies were planning to use a tank from BMW, but later found out that unit was only approved for automotive use and couldn’t be legally used in a motorcycle.  So we have to go through the entire process to create and get approved a new container, “explains Dennis Hayter of Intelligent Energy. 

This process will probably take about four months. Then both Suzuki and Intelligent Energy to run a few months of testing with an approved container, before they can be put into regular production.

It is expected that both ENV and Cross Cage arrive for sale in the course of next year, probably already in the spring. Bikes will have a range of 160 miles and Hayter estimates a price of around 8000 Euro.

According to Gizmag, Suzuki’s Crosscage will feature a single-sided suspension front AND rear. The brushless electric motor’s mounted inline with the rear wheel, and looks-wise it’s so far out there that it’s on its way back again. It was rumoured that Bridgestone’s even developed a special futuristic-looking tyre to match the bike’s oddly tesselated discs.

(Source: Autobloggreen & Detroit Free Press)

It seems that calls from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to fast track the Cash-For-Clunkers bill through the legislative process may have fallen on deaf ears. According to the Detroit Free Press, the somewhat controversial bill will be tacked on the much broader Climate Change bill that’s currently being drafted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

 Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton’s amendment made it onto the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the legislation being marked up this week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Approved by a vote of 50-4, the amendment provides a voucher of up to $4,500 for trading in an old, lower mile-per-gallon vehicle to purchase a new one.

The measure wouldn’t favor domestic vehicles over those made by companies based overseas but it has incentives for trucks and sport-utility vehicles which could be of particular help to American automakers. President Barack Obama and key House Democrats agreed on the provisions contained in the amendment at a recent White House meeting.

U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat and staunch advocate of domestic automakers, said the cash-for-clunkers amendment, if passed, “will result in meaningful reductions in vehicle fleet carbon emissions and fuel consumption, all while providing much-needed stimulus for our ailing automakers.”

(Source: National Transportation Operations Coalition)

A coalition of transportation and technology leaders – including state and local officials, industry and academic leaders and prominent stakeholder organizations – is calling on Congress to focus federal funding in the surface transportation authorization bill on the deployment of smart technologies and innovative solutions in order to create a performance-driven, intermodal transportation system that is safer, cleaner, more efficient and more financially sustainable for communities, businesses and the traveling public.

America’s transportation system is facing significant challenges that must be addressed in the next surface transportation authorization bill, from financing our transportation system and reducing traffic fatalities to combating congestion and CO2 emissions. Solving these challenges will require transportation agencies and private sector partners to use all of the tools at their disposal, including intelligent transportation systems (ITS), related technologies, and multimodal operational strategies that can help prevent accidents before they happen, reduce traffic congestion and freight bottlenecks, provide more effective incident and emergency response, reduce energy use and emissions, and enable innovative 21st century financing options.

“As a result of successful research initiatives and private sector innovation, technologies are here today which can help increase safety, reduce congestion and emissions, boost competitiveness, improve system performance, and create more livable and sustainable communities,” the coalition wrote today to House transportation leaders. “While a continued and strengthened research role is still needed, it is critical that state and local agencies and private sector partners make better use of technology to modernize today’s infrastructure and optimize existing capacity, while building smart and efficient roads, bridges, transit systems, and multimodal transportation options for tomorrow’s transportation users.” 

(Source: TeslaMotors@Twitter)

Looks like the German automaker, Daimler AG (maker of Mercedes vehicles) strongly feels about the growth of electric vehicles in the market.  Early this morning TransportGooru received the hot alert from Tesla’s Tweet that Daimler has acquired 10% of the company.   Sweet Deal!!! It will be a great & mutually beneficial relationship for both parties as it not only provides the much needed financial capital for Tesla, it  also allows for collaborative development of technologies that will be deployed in the future platforms manufactured by either company. 

• German automaker acquires nearly 10 percent of one of the leading electric vehicle companies

• Automakers agreed to cooperate in battery systems, electric drive systems and vehicle projects

The press release on Tesla’s Website is here for you to read..

May 19, 2009 

STUTTGART, Germany, and SAN CARLOS, Calif.

– Daimler AG has acquired an equity stake of nearly 10 percent of Tesla Motors Inc. This investment deepens the relationship between the inventor of the automobile and the newest member of the global auto industry. Tesla is the only production automaker selling a highway capable electric vehicle in North America and Europe.

The two companies have already been working closely to integrate Tesla’s lithium-ion battery packs and charging electronics into the first 1,000 units of Daimler’s electric smart car. In order to benefit from each other’s know-how, the investment enables the partners to collaborate even more closely on the development of battery systems, electric drive systems and in individual vehicle projects.

“Our strategic partnership is an important step to accelerate the commercialization of electric drives globally,” said Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “As a young and dynamic company, Tesla stands for visionary power and pioneering spirit. Together with Daimler’s 120 years of experience in the automotive sector this collaboration is a unique combination of two companies’ strengths. This marks another important milestone in Daimler’s strategy for sustainable mobility.”

“Daimler has set the benchmark for engineering excellence and vehicle quality for more than a century. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Daimler would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla,” said Tesla Chairman, CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk. “Daimler is also on the leading edge in the field of sustainable mobility. Among others the lithium-ion pouch-cell battery developed by Daimler and especially designed for automotive applications is of interest to us. We are looking forward to a strategic cooperation in a number of areas including leveraging Daimler’s engineering, production and supply chain expertise. This will accelerate bringing our Tesla Model S to production and ensure that it is a superlative vehicle on all levels.”

Image Courtesy: Tesla Motors

Together on the road to electro-mobility

As part of the collaboration, Prof. Herbert Kohler, Vice President E-Drive and Future Mobility at Daimler AG, will take a seat on Tesla’s board of directors. 

This long-term partnership with Tesla complements Daimler’s multi-facetted strategy to advance the electrification of the automobile.

Daimler is also moving forward the industrialization of lithium-ion technology. In March, the company founded the Deutsche Accumotive GmbH, a joint venture with Evonik Industries AG. As a result, Daimler is the first vehicle manufacturer worldwide that develops, produces and markets batteries for automotive applications. This is based on a Daimler stockholding in Li-Tec, the German specialist for lithium-ion battery cells.

100 smart electric cars have already been undergoing large-scale trials in London since 2007. These electric vehicles are being tested in day-to-day assignments by fleet operators and private customers.

The Tesla Model S builds upon the success of the Tesla Roadster by leveraging its technology into the world’s first fully electric sedan. Based in Silicon Valley, Tesla unveiled the Model S in March and plans to produce it in California starting in late 2011.