(Source:  The Detroit News & SFGate.com)

Supporters have dropped an attempt to add “cash for clunkers” legislation to a tobacco regulation bill now before the Senate, a setback in efforts to boost car sales with federal subsidies.

“There are technical details to work out and the senator continues to look for a vehicle to pass this very important piece of legislation,” said Brad Carroll, a spokesman for Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Two congressional aides said the measure was derailed by objections from the Senate Appropriations Committee to using money from the $787 billion economic stimulus package for the measure, which would offer up to $4,500 credits for consumers trading in older, low-gas-mileage vehicles.

In January, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill, S247, that would give vouchers to people who turn in a car or truck that gets 15 or fewer miles per gallon to a dealer that scraps it.

Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, introduced one in the House, HR1550. A compromise version was attached to the 900-page energy bill that was passed last month by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., introduced an almost identical one in the Senate. Her bill, S1135, would provide vouchers of $3,500 or $4,500, depending on the difference in gas mileage between the clunker and the new vehicle. The vouchers could only be used to buy or lease new vehicles, not for used vehicles or mass transit.

Environmentalists oppose the two industry-supported bills because they would provide vouchers to people who scrap more fuel-efficient vehicles (18 mpg or less) than under the Feinstein proposal (15 mpg or less).

Last month, Sen. Feinstein proposed an alternative that is less stringent than her original bill but stricter than Stabenow’s. For details, see links.sfgate.com/ZHHC.

It’s not clear whether the Senate will back the Stabenow bill, the new Feinstein approach or a compromise.

“Fiscal conservatives and environmentalists oppose the more permissive Stabenow bill as an expensive subsidy for the ailing auto industry, while union and manufacturing interests oppose the stricter Feinstein approach, which would likely favor fuel-efficient imported vehicles,” said Benjamin Salisbury, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, in a report.

“The Senate could vote on both amendments and add the most popular one to unrelated legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products,” Salisbury wrote.

Idea likely to stick around

That didn’t happen Wednesday, as many expected. But with President Obama in favor of cash for clunkers, the idea is not likely to die.

Becker hopes Congress will not rush into passing a bill without enough research and debate to determine how much the program will cost and who will benefit most. “Somebody might come along and do clunker dating,” matching up people who want to buy new cars with people who have clunkers, he says.

He adds that Germany started a 1.5 billion euro cash-for-clunkers program this year and it has already swelled into a 5 billion euro program.

Consumers waiting to buy a new car until a bill passes should first figure out if their existing car would qualify under the scrapping plan. If so, the next question is whether the voucher would be worth more than the price they would get if they sold or traded in their car. If so, they should figure out whether the new car they want to buy would qualify. With so many unknowns remaining, it’s hard to reach a conclusion.

(Source: Autobloggreen & Royal Automobile Club Foundation)

A new study by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation found that as many as 6.75 million British drivers are thinking about or could consider buying an electric vehicle – once they become available, of course. RAC surveyed 1,000 motorists over two weekends this month and asked the question: “Would you consider or are you planning on purchasing an electric car within the next five years?” Twenty percent picked either “Yes, would consider” or “Yes, planning on purchasing an electric car.” We’re right there with you, says the UK government, which will offer incentives worth up to £5,000 for EVs starting in 2011.

Also, the RAC points out that 20 percent of 33.8 million drivers means there could be a lot of people who want but can’t buy an EV. They say, “The RAC Foundation has discovered that by the Government’s own reckoning electric vehicles won’t be available on the mass market until at least 2017, leaving millions of potential buyers frustrated.”

Commenting on the findings, the director of the RAC Foundation Professor Stephen Glaister had the following words:

• “What the Government is in danger of doing is putting the cart before the horse. It is actively promoting the purchase of electric vehicles long before there is any chance of manufacturers making them widely available.”
• “It has gone out of its way to encourage people to make green choices, yet these choices are not yet realistic.”
• “Ministers’ thinking on green technology is all over the place. They talk of incentives of up to £5,000 for prospective buyers of electric cars from 2011. Yet at that stage there will be almost nothing in the showroom for people to purchase.”
• “The RAC Foundation fully supports the introduction of green vehicles. But electric cars are not the short-term solution. What the Government should be doing is improving the road network and encouraging manufacturers to refine existing technology. That means increasing road capacity to cut congestion and CO2 emissions; focussing on producing leaner petrol and diesel engines; and making smaller and lighter cars.”

(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 & 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: 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.

(Source: Wall Street Journal & Politico via Yahoo)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to order auto makers to increase the overall fuel economy of automobiles sold in the U.S. to 35 miles per gallon by 2016, four years faster than current federal law requires, people familiar with the matter said Monday.

The move is part of a broader overhaul of fuel economy rules aimed at cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.

Image: Fueleconomy.gov

The Obama administration is expected to announce a plan to revamp federal vehicle fuel-efficiency standards to bring them into harmony with the goals of a California greenhouse-gas law. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation will jointly raise fuel-economy standards and reduce greenhouse-gas pollution under the plan.

Separately, auto makers have agreed to drop litigation challenging the legality of state-level curbs on tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases, people familiar with the matter said.

An announcement of the agreement is expected Tuesday, with representatives of several large auto companies, including General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Fritz Henderson, and the president of United Auto Workers, Ron Gettelfinger, planning to participate, people familiar with the matter said.

The agreement worked out by aides to President Barack Obama represents a partial victory for the auto industry. The industry will be able to operate under a single national standard on fuel economy, rather than multiple regimes at the federal and state levels. Auto makers have long opposed California’s tailpipe emissions program as tantamount to state-level regulation of fuel economy, traditionally a federal responsibility.

But the standards will require huge investments by auto makers to remake their U.S. fleets so that they have roughly the same overall efficiency as vehicles they now sell in Europe, where gasoline is two to three times more expensive as in the U.S. By moving the 35 mpg requirement to 2016 from 2020, the administration is stepping up the pressure on the industry to overhaul its product lineup faster. It typically takes three to four years for auto makers to design and bring a new vehicle to market.

Auto executives are flying into Washington from around the world for the White House announcement.   California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is expected to attend, the sources said.

The CAFE standard was established by Congress in 1975 in response to the Arab Oil embargo.   A 2007 energy law requires auto makers to boost the average fuel economy of their vehicle fleets to at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40% increase from the roughly 25 mpg standard for the current fleet.  Last summer, the Transportation Department estimated that requiring auto makers to achieve 31.6 mpg by 2015 would cost the industry $46.7 billion, a sum the agency said would make it among the most expensive rule makings in U.S. history.

“This rule will be a down payment on a broader and sustained effort to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” he said. “Going forward, my administration will work on a bipartisan basis in Washington and with industry partners across the country to forge a comprehensive approach that makes our economy stronger and our nation more secure.”

According to two industry officials familiar with the plan, mileage standards would rise slowly at first — from a combined requirement of 27.3 miles per gallon for cars and trucks in 2011 — and faster approaching roughly 35 miles per gallon in 2016. That would give auto makers more time to adjust — and collect credits if they can manage to exceed earlier targets — before the steeper increases kick in.

It is unclear how quickly the EPA and the Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be able to make a formal proposal for curbing emissions and boosting fuel economy. The EPA on Monday was holding a public hearing on its proposal to find that greenhouse gases endanger public health, the first step toward regulating them.

(Source: Autobloggreen) & HyNor)

As the US government is cutting down its funding and research/deployment interest in Hydrogen-based transportation systens, Norway is thinking the exact opposite.  In an all out push, Norway is moving ahead with the deployment of a 580 kilometer highway peppered with hydrogen fueling stations.  One of the biggest questions surrounding hydrogen-powered vehicles right now is where to find an appropriate hydrogen pump, and looks like Norway has moved to answer that question by opening it up its first hydrogen highway.

This hydrogen highway is part of Norway’s HyNor project and stretches for 580 kilometers from Oslo on the eastern coast to Stavanger on the western North Sea coast. So far, the route consists of 12 hydrogen pumps, which is apparently sufficient to allow the Mazdas to be refueled along the way.

It is worth something and appropriate to mention a recent New York Times article titled “Norway Thrives by Going against the tide“, which articulates how Norway’s investment decisions for its future saved its economy from going bust, while the recession monster is shaking up the financial foundations of many Western economies, including those of US and UK.  The article points out “With a quirky contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged landscape, Norway has thrived by going its own way. When others splurged, it saved. When others sought to limit the role of government, Norway strengthened its cradle-to-grave welfare state. And in the midst of the worst global downturn since the Depression, Norway’s economy grew last year by just under 3 percent. The government enjoys a budget surplus of 11 percent and its ledger is entirely free of debt.”

If the above mentioned investment decision is a good indicator to go by, Norways decision to invest in a hydrogen based transportation future seems foretelling and something worth noting, especially for the United States which just dealt a blow to hydrogen research by cutting down the investment.   The HyNor website notes the following: The HyNor Partnership and StatoilHydro are pleased to announce the official opening of the Norwegian hydrogen highway, HyNor, on 11 May 2009 at StatoilHydro’s new hydrogen station at Økern in Oslo. HyNor was opened by Norway’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Liv Signe Navarsete. H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway joined the first stage of the EVS Viking Rally, from Oslo to Lier, together with internationally renowned race car driver Henning Solberg. The governing mayor of Oslo, Erling Lae, opened StatoilHydro’s new hydrogen service station at Økern, and Navarsete opened the hydrogen station at StatoilHydro’s service station in Lier.

The first hydrogen station was opened at Forus in Stavanger in 2006, the second in Porsgrunn in 2007, and now the two new stations are open in Oslo and Lier. HyNor has some 50 partners and manages a fleet of more than 50 hydrogen vehicles made by Mazda, Toyota and Think.

“We are very pleased to open up this hydrogen infrastructure for testing and demonstrating hydrogen cars. By doing this, we nurture our ambition to help implement hydrogen as a fuel in the transport sector,” says Anne Marit Hansen, Chairman of the board in HyNor. 

The EVS Viking Rally vehicles are the first to drive the Norwegian hydrogen highway. The rally commences with H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon racing together with the famous Norwegian race car star Henning Solberg. 14 hydrogen vehicles, two plug in hybrid cars and 14 battery electric vehicles are starting in Oslo and will reach the beginning of the EVS (Electrical Vehicle Symposium) 24 in Stavanger on 13 May. Events will take place along the way in Porsgrunn, Grimstad, Arendal, Kristiansand, Lyngdal and Egersund. Another 10 battery electric vehicles will join the rally in Egersund. 

This is reportedly the first integrated network of hydrogen pumps in the world, and it’s a creation of Norway’s StatoilHydro, the company that installed the underlying structure as well. Future plans call for the highway to extend into the rest of Scandinavia, as shown in the map to the right. Afterward, the alliance intends to extend into Germany. For your information, Mazda has shipped the first Hydrogen RX8 REs to Norway, indicator of a strong response to the government’s interest in Hydrogen vehicles.  

Note:  A related article from NY Times articulates how California’s efforts to build a similar Hydrogen Highway has fallen behind. One of the leading investors in Hydrogen fuel research was the State of California.  Soon after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) took office in 2003, he set in motion a campaign promise to build, by 2010, a “hydrogen highway” composed of 150 to 200 fueling stations spaced every 20 miles along California’s major highways.  In spite of the great interest, the hydrogen infrastructure has not expanded much since its inception.   the program has fallen short of expectations. With less than 10 months until the end of the decade, 24 hydrogen fueling stations are operating in California, most of them near Los Angeles.State officials say all this is part of what they now view, in the words of ARB spokesman Dimitri Stanich, as a “retooled” hydrogen highway.

“It’s very much alive,” Stanich said of the program. “This vision is still there. It’s just being groomed.”

(Source: The City Room – New York Times)

Will New York City be left behind in the era of the electric car? Or will it perhaps become the first to embrace it?

Image: Reuters - Would New York City install charging stations like the one above, in London? The Bloomberg administration has commissioned a study on electric cars in the city.

With all the hubbub over electric cars of late (covered very well by our compatriots on the Green Inc. blog), the Bloomberg administration found that the strategies that electric car manufacturers were presenting to them did not apply well to New York City. “None of them felt like they were really tailored to New York City,” said Rohit T. Aggarwala, Mayor Bloomberg’s adviser on green issues. “The fact is that most drivers live in circumstances and use their cars very differently from New York drivers.”

As a result, the Bloomberg administration plans to commission a survey to understand the dynamics of New Yorkers and electric cars, as The New York Post reported Wednesday.

One of the key differences is that many American families live in a house with a garage, which gives them a place and opportunity to charge cars when they are parked at night.

“That works most places, but at least for a large portion of New York, they don’t store it in a garage,” Mr. Aggarwala said. Many New Yorkers park on the street (and contend with alternate-side-of-the street parking rules) or in shared garages.

In addition, average Americans may use their cars almost daily, but a large number of New Yorkers own cars but do not use them every day. “Our conjecture is that for local travel, many New York auto owners use public transit,” Mr. Aggarwala said.

Mr. Aggarwala also noted that perhaps the survey could find that the regions of the city that do have homes with individual garages may prove the most fertile for electric cars, as in the rest of the country. “That would mean you wouldn’t target it in Manhattan,” he said.

At the same time, if New Yorkers largely drive within the city and use their cars for errands, they may not mind the limited range and power of the current generation of electric cars.

Different circumstances are prompting communities to embrace electric cars at different rates. China, for example, also has very different driving dynamics — short distances, lots of traffic — and the government there has gambled that those factors create a fertile environment for introducing electric cars.

(Source: Green Car Congress)

Transport for London (TfL) will begin a six-month trial ofIntelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) technology which aims to reduce road casualties and help drivers avoid speeding penalties.  As part of the trial, which will start this summer, a London bus will be fitted with ISA.   The trial will monitor driver behavior, journey times and the effect that driving within the speed limit has on vehicle emissions. ISA uses the digital speed limit map of London which TfL launched on 29 January 2009. This is the first time all of London’s speed limits have been mapped accurately with regular updates.

This innovative technology could help any driver in London avoid the unnecessary penalties of creeping over the speed limit, and at the same time will save lives. We know the technology works, and now we want to know how drivers in all types of vehicles respond to it. ISA is intended as a road safety device, but if Londoners embrace this technology we may well see additional benefits including reduced congestion as a result of collisions and reduced vehicle emissions as drivers adopt a smoother driving style.

—Chris Lines, Head of TfL’s London Road Safety Unit

The UK government’s Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) and the Motorists’ Forum (MF) recently issued a joint report evaluating the impact of implementing an Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) system across the entire road network on reducing deaths and injuries on the UK roads and on reducing fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 and criteria pollutants.  Of the two proposed benefits of ISA—GHG emissions reduction and increased road safety—the report concluded that the calculated social benefits of the accident savings far outweigh the values of fuel or CO2 saved.

The intelligent technology, which works in conjunction with a GPS, enables drivers to select an option where acceleration is stopped automatically at the speed limit specific to any road in London within the M25 area. The unit can be disabled at the touch of a button, at which point it reverts to an advisory status where the current, legal speed limit is simply displayed as a driver aid. There is also a complete over-ride switch with disables the system entirely.

The practical uses of the technology will be tested in the six month trial after which a report will be submitted to the Mayor of London, and the technology will be made available to external organizations.