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.

These fuel cells and hydrogen storage systems will be used mainly for transportation purposes. The autonomous projects will focus largely on applications, manufacturing volumes, and system sizes not only for transportation purposes but also for handling equipments and backup power mechanisms. These projects will help the US Department of Energy in terms of fuel efficiency.

The autonomous cost analyses will go through the National Laboratories’ system models, literature and patent research, development presentations, and peer review. Here’s a rundown of the four autonomous projects that have been selected for an award:

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose home base is located in Berkeley, CA, has been awarded with $1.9 million. They are to develop cost models for high and low temperature immobile fuel cell systems at 250 kilowatts.

Direct Technologies, Inc., whose home base is located in Arlington, VA, has been awarded with almost $3 million for their two projects. The first project will focus on transportation fuel cell systems while the second one will focus on hydrogen storage systems.

Battelle Memorial Institute, whose home base is located at Columbus OH, has been awarded with $2 million for them to produce cost assessments for immobile fuel cell applications that includes backup power units, a combination of power and heat systems, primary power, and forklifts.

Cars2go is an auxiliary of the Daimler North America Corporation. During a recently held press conference, Cars2go made an announcement that San Diego, California will be the first city in North America to experience the full benefits of their program, which is the use of pure-electric vehicles through a car “sharing” program.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has expressed his excitement about the Cars2go program. He added that this move supports their goal to make the city America’s capital for EVs. The Cars2go program in San Diego will kick off with 300 Smart ForTwo EVs and will commence before 2011 ends.

According to the President and COO of Cars2go, Nicholas Cole, the San Diego launch is monumental as it signifies the start of a new era in car-sharing in the North America region. The company’s goal is to aid in meeting the transportation needs of the city as well as giving them the option of using emission-free vehicles to conserve fuel and save the environment.

The funding comes after a feasibility study conducted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change or UK DECC which granted release of funds worth $6.6 million. Other investments will come from Regional Development Agency One North East amounting to $4.1 million.

The plant will be built in Tees Valley in the United Kingdom where the INEOS Seal Sands is. The factory is expected to come up with 30 million liters of carbon-neutral fuel and produce electricity that will be for expert amounting to 3 MW from about 100,000 tons of commercial and household biodegradable wastes. This amount of fuel production can cover for the electricity demand of about 6,000 households and 250,000 vehicles running on E10 fuel.

The advanced factory is scheduled to for completion by 2012 pending certain final agreements. The project will also create 350 construction jobs and 40 permanent positions when the factory is operational. There are also plans to integrate a biorefinery plant and high technology waste treatment come 2015.

The technology used by INEOS combines biochemical and thermochemical processes to complete the process of biofuel production using industrial and household waste materials.

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.