After eight months of careful evaluation, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the first recipients of the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program which was enacted last year. Nissan, Ford, and Tesla will be getting an $8 billion loan to develop technologies and vehicles which will be fuel efficient and eco-friendly.
Ford will get a bigger chunk of $5.9 billion from the fund. Nissan will be able to use $1.6 billion while Tesla has a share of $465 million.
DOE spent about 8 months sitting on the funds while deliberating which companies will make good use of the money approved for release by the Bush administration.
The car manufacturers who got the loan will be able to go full efforts on their hybrid and EV programs. Despite Ford and Nissan getting the bigger chunk, experts say that Tesla benefits most of the program. Tesla will be able to construct a new plant to help in the assembly of their Sedan Model S which is projected to be a big seller.
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A study conducted by Ford reveals that the use of their E85 boosting system for direct injection in combination with a gasoline PFI or port fuel injection is more efficient in its use of fuel and can be more cost effective than using a modern diesel.
The idea dates back to 2005 from MIT experts who suggested the use of E85 boosting to take advantage of the properties of ethanol and other alcohols with similar composition. Ethanol has excellent evaporative cooling effects when it interplays in the fuel air mixture when it enters the cylinder.
The concept will require a vehicle to have two fuel tanks and of course acceptance of the owner for a dual fueling concept.
The E85 concept resulting to suppressed knock can allow 
compression ratios to be increased and may permit higher boost for turbo or super charged engines. The technology will ultimately lead to downsizing of engines without sacrificing the performance of the vehicle.
The team from MIT developed an ethanol boosting system to commercialize their idea in 2006. They are now collaborating with the research and development team of Ford.
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A team of talented MIT undergraduates came up with a hydraulic power-generating shock absorber that can reduce the vehicle’s fuel consumption by about 10%. Vehicle owners might one day thanks road imperfections with this new device.
The invention was spearheaded by MIT senior Shakeel Avadhany. Aside from the power regeneration features, these shock absorbers are also reported to perform better than conventional shocks.
The prototype for this invention is powered by a hydraulic system that pushes fuel up a turbine connected to a generator. This system is electronically controlled, making the ride smoother while generating enough power to recharge the mechanism’s batteries.
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Last March 19, 2009, President Obama declared the $2.4 billion fund to aid the engineering and construction of electric vehicles and the technologies that will be needed to charge them up. The fund was derived from the ARRA or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The ARRA 2009 is presented into three parts. First, there is an allocated $1.5 billion for manufacturers in the US to let them create components and batteries. Second, to help manufacturers produce components like the electric motors, a fund of $500 million is reserved for them. And lastly, for evaluation and demonstration of plug-in hybrids and other electric enhancements, the act gave them $400 million. These electric enhancements are comprised of electric rails, charging stations and trainings for the technicians for the creation of the electric vehicles.
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By Paul | February 21, 2009
Daimler-based Detroit Diesel gave a preview of their Blutech technology at the TMC (Technology and Maintenance Council) Conference recently. This technology was pegged to control the emission levels of trucks and cars in 2010. The engineering project is especially bent on meeting the demands of North America’s trucking industry.
Three engines are set to be developed by the company in lieu of this technology: the DD13, the DD15, and the DD16 which are still yet to be introduced into the market. The Blutech technology includes emission filtering technologies already present in today’s engines, including Diesel Paticulate Filter, Diesel Oxidation Catalyst, and Exhaust Gas Recirculation.
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By Paul | January 23, 2009
Better Place, the global leader in mobility operations, is collaborating with the Ontario government to introduce electric cars to the province to build a foundation for the use of EVs in the whole of Canada.
The province of Ontario is one of the biggest car producing region in North America. The vehicle manufacturing sector wants to start a transition to increasing roll out of electric vehicles and lower greenhouse gas production.
The Ontario government and its people is aiming to reform their system to give way to more environment friendly cars and propel the province as prime mover for economic growth and saving the environment.
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By Paul | January 7, 2009
Cleaner air to breathe. This is the primary goal of the EU legislators as they pass onto a law a proposal to lower new car CO2 emissions to 130 g/km by 2015.
The new requirement translates to a fuel mileage of 52 mpg for petrol cars and 58 mpg for diesel powered vehicles. The program aims to have 65% compliance by 2012, 75% by 2013, and a completion by 2015. Violators will face heavy fines on a per gram of CO2 emitted basis.
Car manufacturers express their support for being earth friendly but are also very vocal about the challenges that they must face to comply with the law.
A lot of moves have been made by the auto industry to contribute in the strategy of conserving the environment. Car manufacturers are among the leading sectors spending a hefty sum of money for research and development to further strengthen the cause of CO2 emission reduction.
The production lines of vehicles have significantly decreased their energy consumption by 12%, land fill usage by 25%, and water utilization by 12%.
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By Paul | December 26, 2008
Aside from producing luxury cars, Mercedes-Benz also manufactures trucks, buses, and high technology automobiles. The company is also running a very aggressive program to develop automobiles that utilizes hydrogen fuel cells. One of the most talk about line of concept cars from Mercedes is BlueZERO.
The manufacturer presents 3 variants of this electric driven car. They are designed on a modular basis to permit flexibility.
The E-Cell makes use of a liquid cooled battery made of lithium ion.
This is considered to be a pure electric vehicle and can run for 125 miles without any charging.
Another concept car for release is the E-Cell PLUS which makes use of turbo charge facility. This added feature does not bring in more power to the car but serves the purpose of charging the battery when they are low. The vehicle will run for around 60 miles before tapping into the power of the turbo charge.
The higher end model of the BlueZERO concept is the F-Cell. This car offers 250 miles of travel utilizing the power from the battery and the cell range extender triggered after 60 miles.
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By Paul | November 4, 2008
Those who love their Ford cars and love to keep the environment clean will be pleased to know that the Ford Motor Company, the organization that manufactures Ford cars are making lots of efforts in promoting ethanol as alternative fuels for their cars. Though many other car manufacturers are also competing in bringing back ethanol as a possible source of fuel, Ford are the current leaders. Those who know about the history of Ford Motors will know that the quadricycle, built by Henry Ford, the founder of Ford, used ethanol to run.
One should know that compared to gas, ethanol is one of the most eco-friendly fuel and is also renewable. Many scientists are of the view that one day ethanol will become the world leader as far as renewable fuel is concerned. The reason behind this is that there are many sources of this fuel, whereas gas and diesel, which are currently used as the primary source of fuel, have a limited stock and are in danger of getting depleted after a few more decades.
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Posted in Ethanol, Ford |
By Paul | October 20, 2008
Diapers are one of the worst offenders when looking at landfill problems as millions of diapers are thrown away daily. Modern day eco conscious parents are reverting back to cloth diapers but so few people see cloth 
diapers as feasible alternatives that the ones who do use the reusable nappies are not making a positive dent in the problem. Good news has surfaced, however, and it may be possible to use those discarded diapers as the raw material for fuel to power our cars.
One of the reasons diapers are a viable source of conversion to fuel is the fact that they are consistent in substance. Using random garbage generates serious problems as the manufactures do not know what contents are present in any bundle of garbage. Diapers, on the other hand, are made basically the same way and can be collected in segregated disposal bins to carry to the processing plant. This means that the resulting concoction is the same every time creating a stable and consistent mix. And while other materials are incinerated causing deadly or toxic emissions, the diapers will be broken down molecule by molecule in a process called “pyrolysis” preventing any dangerous emissions and creating an alternative car fuel.
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