The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has released the latest issue of its annual statistical compendium designed to characterize transportation activity and explore data on other factors that influence transportation energy use.

Published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, this report is designed for use as a desk-top reference.  The Data Book represents an assembly and display of statistics and information that characterize transportation activity, andpresents data on other factors that influence transportation energy use. The purpose of this document is to present relevant statistical data in the form of tables and graphs. The latest edition of the Data Book is available to a larger audience via the Internet (cta.ornl.gov/data).
This edition of the Data Book has 12 chapters which focus on various aspects of the transportation industry.  The sources used represent the latest available data. There are also three appendices which include detailed source information forsome tables, measures of conversion, and the definition of Census divisions and regions. A glossary of terms and a title index are also included for the reader’s convenience.

Information on ordering printed copies of the report is available online.

(Source: Green Car Congress)

The Toyota Highlander Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle – Advanced (FCHV-adv) (earlier post) achieved an estimated range of 431 miles on a single full tank of compressed hydrogen gas, and an average fuel economy of 68.3 miles/kg (approximate mpg equivalent) during a day-long trip down the southern California coast.

In mid-2008, the US Department of Energy (DOE), Savannah River National Laboratory (SNRL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), approached Toyota to participate in a collaborative evaluation of the real world driving range of the FCHV-adv. On 30 June 2009, two fuel cell vehicles, two Toyota Technical Center engineers, an SRNL engineer and a NREL engineer completed a 331.5 mile extended round trip drive between Torrance, California and San Diego.

The drive began at TMS headquarters in Torrance, traveled north to Santa Monica, turned south to San Diego and finally retraced the route back to Torrance. The route encompassed a variety of drive cycles, including high speed highway driving, moderate highway driving and stop and go traffic on surface streets, in an effort to capture a typical commute. Each vehicle was outfitted with a data collection system that captured vehicle speed, distance traveled, hydrogen consumed, hydrogen tank pressure, temperature and internal tank volume.

(Source: Treehugger)