A number of major car brands, like Honda, General Motors, and Toyota, promises a limited number of production version of fuel cell vehicles by 2015. Hyundai wants to get ahead of the race and announced last year that they will have production hydrogen cars by 2013.

The first batch of HFCV or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will debut later on this year and be officially rolled out by next year. These vehicles will not be driven on the roads of Korea or of North America but will hit the asphalts of Europe where hydrogen powered vehicles has a wider acceptance.

Hyundai taps the Tucson ix which is derived from the crossover of the same name. The tag price of the fuel cell vehicle is expected to be $88,550 before deducting any government incentives. The car manufacturer aims to sell their vehicles below the $50K line by 2015 which makes them well ahead of the competitions who also announced possible release of their fuel cell vehicles. Hyundai foresees selling around 10,000 units of this green car annually by 2015.

Hyundai was recently praised and tapped by the government of Denmark for their FCEV initiative. The country acquired 10 Hyundai Tucson ix units to do a road test. Countries like Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands among other countries in Europe are trying to form a “hydrogen highway” complete with the necessary infrastructure. Car brands like Hyunda, Honda, BMW, Toyota, and Mazda are working with the said governments to do a test run of this green highway.

The hydrogen revolution in Europe goes well beyond cars and will include heavy vehicles as well as public utility buses.

Not everyone is a fan of hydrogen cars but you the naysayers should wonder why almost every brand of vehicle in the world is pouring in big funds and talents to produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

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The Air Resources Board of California is looking for applications for a grant that will award $1 million for the demonstration of hybrid technologies for school buses. The board requires an applicant match of at least 50% of the projected cost of implementation. Ten percent of the match should be available in cash.

The solicitation seeks demonstration and administration of advanced hybrid systems that can be applied to school buses. The ARB believes that the exposure of the school districts to the new technology will help them decide which direction to take for their school buses in the future.

School buses that will be part of the demonstration should be equipped with an advanced hybrid powertrain. The hybrid setup was defined to have a dual source of power to propel the school bus.

The main source of the propulsion can be the battery pack, engine, or other sources which will have the bus move . The secondary source of power can be a battery or any other power storage device which will not depend on the primary energy source directly. The secondary power sourced from the power grid, regenerative braking, or other sources must supply stored energy which will contribute to the propulsion of the school bus.

The school buses which will be funded by the grant for purposes of demonstration should provide transportation for school children in California and should pass safety inspections according to the regulations of the state.

The application for the grant is due n December 14, 2011. This is open to public agencies based in California such as local government entities, state agencies, or other state or local public agency with capabilities of implementing a demo program and with a good background on operation of school buses.

The sad fact is that vans are some of the worst polluters on the road and the manufacturers have made very little effort to change this situation. The primary reason that vans are bad for the environment is that there are currently no hybrids available. It is well established that hybrid technology is the best way that we currently have to improve fuel mileage. Better fuel mileage means less pollution. Unfortunately the manufacturers haven’t seen fit to put hybrid technology into the worst polluters, the vans.

This is especially odd since they have gone to great lengths to put hybrid technology into SUV’s. The reason that this is strange is that SUV’s and vans have the same chassis and usually the same drive train. It is really just the body that is different on an SUV. Yet for some reason you can get a wide variety of SUV’s with a hybrid and yet no vans are available. One would assume that the reason is that there is no demand for a hybrid van but this isn’t the case. Toyota do have a hybrid van called the Estima but it is only available in Japan. However there is a petition going around to press Toyota to make the Estima available in the US.

After the Estima the least polluting option would be the Ford S-max, which runs on a diesel engine, unfortunately this isn’t available in the United States either. This is easier to explain than the Estima’s unavailability. The simple fact is that there has always been a limited demand for diesels in the US. The S-max was built specifically to be sold in Europe where diesels are much more common and widely accepted.

The best option currently available in US is the Mercedes-Dodge Sprinter. This is especially odd because it is also the larges van available. One would assume a mini van would be the best option but that isn’t the case. The Sprinter was designed to be a delivery van in which saving fuel was important to keep the delivery company profitable. However the Sprinter has started to become very popular with other users because it is so fuel efficient.

After these there aren’t really any good options available. As far as the mini vans which make up the vast majority of the van market go, they are all about the same when it comes to fuel efficiency and pollution. Hopefully at some point that situation will change but for now there is simply no environmentally friendly van available.

The researchers are collaborating with LG Chem in developing a silicon anode that can absorb more lithium during charging which in effect will increase its storage capacity. The batteries using these nanotubules are expected to hit the market in three years time.

The knowledge about silicon anodes having this property has been known for quite a while but they are improving on the technology to avoid faulty developments before which led to cracks on the lithium ion batteries when charged. The new design provides better spacing for the ions to interact resulting to less mechanical strain.

On another development, experts from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found out that we can use Titanium Oxide, a rare earth metal which can make current lithium ion batteries perform better. The titanium oxide can not do it on its own so it was used with grapheme, a lattice of carbon components first discovered in 2004.

Graphene has been used in integrated circuits and other electronic components because of its high flexibility and conductivity. It is also less prone to extreme heat up compared to other carbon based components.

The grapheme in tandem with titanium oxide can help lower the prices of lithium ion batteries used for electric vehicles and hybrids.

The batteries have yet to be demonstrated to the public but EEStor promises that it will present the laboratory certification and produce a unit so the public can see this month. The information about the research has been tightly sealed with insiders for almost a decade now.

The barium-based EESUs are said to have better power density and energy than the lithium ion batteries we know today. They are also cheaper to make and has lifetime functionality as claimed.

On the other side of the story, the proposal of ZENN Motors was coursed to the U.S. DOE through Zenn America, a subsidiary of the Canadian company. A multi-million dollar funding is being sought for to support research efforts and construction of a development facility for small electric cars.

Law makers are set to meet with representatives from Zenn and see the feasibility of the request submitted to DOE. They seem to be interested with the details of the technology being developed and how it will impact the industry, and how it will help Americans who are in need of employment.

The department may reach a decision by the end of September following the release of lab certification for the EESU technology.

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.

Ford is not on the losing end though. A recent study by car experts foresees that the Detroit big three will gain if they can improve the fuel mileage of their range of vehicles. If they will be able to improve their current 26.9mpg average to meet the mandated 35mpg, a profit of $2.9 billion can be raked in.

Ford is planning to invest about $14 billion to advance their car technology in the next seven years. Some of the funds will be used to retool their factories and help in the production of more fuel efficient cars.

Nissan is focused on developing zero emission vehicles and expand their Smyrna assembly line.

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.

The use of the E85 boosting system with the gasoline PFI will make car owners and consumers realize that gasoline can be used more efficiently with their cars as gasoline is the fuel primarily used in most vehicle models.

Conclusions of the study established that the concept can hold water as a more cost efficient biodiesel alternative. Construction of an engine using the technology will also be a lot less than building a diesel engine. This engine will also be able to pass strict emission guidelines because of the high efficiency in terms of conversion of the fuel into energy.

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.

Meanwhile, Boston-based Electric Truck LLC has claimed commercial rights to a similar regenerative power chock absorber. Electric Truck LLC’s mechanism, unlike the MIT invention, runs on electro-magnetic charge.

This was developed and engineered by Tufts professor emeritus Ronald Goldner, with his colleague Peter Zerigian. The project was under Tufts School of Engineering, funded by Argonne National Library.

The MIT student found that their device could generate up to 1kW per shock absorber on a 6-shock heavy truck running on a standard road. This power, according to the study, can displace the large alternator, and sometimes even run accessory devices like hybrid refrigerators that are found in most trailers.

One of the test vehicles in this experiment was lent by AM General, a motoring company interested in the technology. AM General filed for a patent late last year, forming a company called the Levant Power Corp. This team will spearhead the production of the commercialized version of this device, to be dubbed GenShock.

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.

The declaration of the funding for US car manufacturers was the highlight of President Obama’s speech that is focused on energy and on the economy. His Excellency pointed out the must to find revitalized resources for electricity and to gain little dependency on imported oils.

This funding will not only help the creation of more electric and efficient vehicles, but also, it will open vast opportunities for the unemployed. This is an initiative to produce tens of thousand jobs in the United States. This will also give way to the Americans who will patronize these vehicles a claim on their tax credit for up to $7,500.

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.

All three SCR (selective catalytic reduction) systems are designed to meet the EPA standards of 2010. Because these EPA standards also require the operators to fill their vehicles with DEF, Detroit Diesel is including components like the DEF tank, doser, guage, SCR catalyst and aftertreatment control module into their systems.

DEF (diesel exhaust fuel) is made up of 66.7% water and 33.3% automotive-grade urea. This fuel reacts against smog forming gases, reducing the NOx levels emitted by the vehicle. Although the Blutech technology is designed to be more environmentally conscious, it doesn’t ditch the current base engines of Detroit Diesel altogether.

The company is only working to improve their already existing base engines. Aside from the reduced NOx levels emitted by Bluetec engines, these engines are also designed to save more fuel. A significant 5% improvement in fuel efficiency has been recorded during the dry-runs of these Bluetec engines.