Good Green Cars » New Tech

2010 Ford Flex to Use Straw-Based Plastic

kristen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:04:07 +0000

Ford Motor Company announced that it will be using a wheat-straw-reinforced plastic in the interior storage bins of the 2010 Ford Flex. While this might seem like a baby step — and it is — Ford says the change to a 20% wheat-straw plastic will reduce petroleum use by 20,000 pounds per year and CO2 emissions by 30,000 pounds per year. The wheat straw itself is a byproduct of processing the grain.

These numbers are drops in the pollution bucket, but you have to start somewhere. Ford says it will be using the biomaterial in other places and other vehicles in the future. This is in addition to Ford’s soy-based polyurethane seat cushions and headliners, seat fabrics made from post-industrial recycled yarn, and post-consumer recycled resins for underbody covers.

A wee bit of wheat trivia, courtesy of the Ford press release: This isn’t the company’s first foray into the wheat world. In the 1920s, Henry Ford developed Fordite, a mixture of wheat straw from his farm, rubber, sulfer, silica, and more, that he used to make steering wheels.

X Prize Contenders at SEMA 2009

kristen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:50:05 +0000

A dozen of the contenders for the Progressive Automotive X Prize were on hand in the “Making Green Cool Zone” at SEMA 2009 in Las Vegas. I’ll keep the text short — you know by now that this is a competition to create a buildable, drivable car that gets 100 MPGe with a $10 million purse — so you can peruse the cars below.

Team Hydrophi Ford 500 PHI Ride
Team Future Vehicle Technologies eVaro
Team Edison 2 Very Light Car
Team EVI Wave 2
Team Tango
Team Optamotive Surge
Team Aptera 2e

Government in Action: Three-Wheeled EVs and Hydrogen Fuel

kristen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:07:33 +0000

These are your tax dollars at work, people. (Unless you live outside the U.S. But your tax dollars are doing something equally worthy, I’m sure.)

Let’s start with the electric vehicles: After Energy Secretary Steven Chu eliminated funding for hydrogen fuel from his budget, the Senate has reinstated it for the department’s 2010-2011 budget. Chu prefers straight-up battery electric vehicles for the future of greener transportation, but he says he’ll work with Congress on hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric vehicles.

Speaking of electric vehicles, you may have noticed that many of the EVs on the road today, especially neighborhood electric vehicles, have three wheels instead of four. Thanks to some heavy lobbying by Aptera and its three-wheeled brethren, Congress has extended research and development loans to manufacturers of safe, high-mileage vehicles, even if they are short a wheel.

Requirements for the loan:

Vehicles must be fully enclosed
Vehicles must meet all the same safety standards as conventional vehicles
Vehicles must carry two adults
Vehicles must average 75 mpg or equivalent

Speed Bumps Generate Irritation, Electricity

kristen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:13:25 +0000

It’s no secret that speed bumps are irritating, but it may help to know that driving over them will generate electricity — at least at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. or a McDonalds in New Jersey.

The speed bumps, called MotionPower, are built by New Energy Technologies. According to a post on the New York Times’ Wheels blog, the action of a car driving over the bump sends the energy to a generator. A green light comes on to let you know it’s working.

No word on how much electricity the speed bumps actually generate, but it should be enough to power roadsigns or streetlights. It’ll be on the market sometime in the next couple of years, and cost about $2000. I know a street here in Portland that could power the nearby middle school if it replaced its seemingly dozens of speed bumps with these babies.

Frankfurt 2009: Renault’s Four Electric Cars

kristen — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:55:39 +0000

Renault successfully out-greened everyone else at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show last year, with the debuts of four electric cars in its booth. These vehicles are slated to start appearing as soon as 2011, though a gasoline version of the Fluence will be in European showrooms this fall. Here are all four electric Renaults in a nutshell:

Renault Twizy Z.E.

All electric, zero emissions
Two-seater, with the passenger behind the driver
Developed for city driving
Performance comparable to a 250-cc motorcycle

Renault Zoe Z.E.

All electric, zero emissions
Optimized climate control for better fuel economy
“Hydrating,” “detox,” and “active scent” functions for the interior climate

Renault Fluence Z.E.

All electric, zero emissions
Designed for families
100-mile range

Renault Kangoo Z.E.

All electric, zero emissions
Based on an existing model
Made for business use

Tell GM What You Want in a Green Car at The Lab

kristen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:06:40 +0000

One of the many criticisms of GM in the past couple of years, as the U.S. auto industry crumbled under its own weight, was that it didn’t listen to what consumers wanted today and instead built and sold what buyers wanted a while back.

No more! GM has launched The Lab, a site where your feedback on its eco cars of the future is taken into account. Right now, the discussion is centered on two vehicles: the Bare Necessity Truck and Bare Necessity Car. It turns out the people want a no-frills, fuel-sipping platform that can be customized by the buyer.

Users who create a profile can log in and volunteer for focus groups, leave comments, and let GM know what you want in a greener car or truck (small diesel engine, anyone?) and what you’ll pay to get it.

Lithium Batteries Can Be Recycled

kristen — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Two Japanese companies are gearing up to collect lithium from electric and hybrid vehicle batteries for recycling, making green alternative fuels even greener. And the U.S. Department of Energy granted several million to Toxco to build the first lithium ion battery recycling plant in this country. Toxco already recycles lithium in British Columbia, Canada.

Lithium recycling is pretty small potatoes right now. Most of the hybrids on the road use lead-acid batteries, which are cheaper (so far) but less energy dense. Lithium ion batteries are used in many small electronics, like MP3 players and iPhones, and they’re gaining traction in electric vehicle manufacturing. As more battery power is required to run cars, and as more cars run at least partly on batteries, lithium recycling is likely to be big business.

According to HybridCars.com, the lithium recyclers will go online as soon as 2011 in one case, with the others soon to follow.

Enginer Converts Cars to Fuels of the Future — and the Past

kristen — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:48:51 +0000

Enginer, a company based in Troy, Michigan, has given itself a mission: to make 100 mpg technology affordable. To this end, Team Enginer, as they like to call themselves, has developed two systems. One is on the cutting edge of 21st century technology, while the other recaptures some of the energy of the early days of the automotive age.

First, Enginer has two plug-in conversion kits for hybrids like the Prius that start at $1,995 — thousands less than the competition. It can be installed by a conversion pro or a do-it-yourselfer, though the company is hoping to get manufacturers to install the kits at the factory, which would qualify the car for some fat tax credits. And, of course, radically improve gas mileage.

Second, Team Enginer has a steam combustion engine conversion kit for sale. The kit goes into your existing car, captures waste heat, uses it to warm water, then uses the steam to drive the engine. In case you weren’t aware, around 1900, one-third of the cars on the road were gasoline-powered, one-third were electric, and one third ran on steam. Seems that Team Enginer would like a piece of all those pies, though they wouldn’t mind if the gasoline slice were a bit smaller.

230-MPH Electric Supercar Spawns … a Bus?

kristen — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:19:25 +0000

Researchers at Keio University in Japan have built an eight-wheeled electric vehicle that can go 230 mph. It looks weird, kind of like the crazed cat-bus in “My Neighbor Totoro,” for all you anime fans, but it can do 0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds — as fast as a new Lotus Exige sports car. The Ellica, as the car is called, has an 80-hp electric motor in each wheel rather than one central motor.

What will Keio University do with all this electric power? Turn it into a public transportation project, of course. According to Popular Science, the school has signed a deal with Isuzu Motors and the local government to build a bus using the Ellica’s technology to shuttle passengers up to almost 100 miles per charge. The bus will likely be produced in 2011.

Tree-Fiber Tires Give Better MPGs

kristen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:11:14 +0000

Researchers are Oregon State University (go Beavers!) have found that microcrystalline cellulose, which is made from plant fibers, could be used to reinforce rubber tires instead of silica or carbon black, which just sounds nasty.

Cellulose fiber has been used in other rubbery bits, like belts and hoses, before. Using it in tires reduced the cost of production and the rolling resistance. Lower rolling resistance makes for better fuel economy. The cellulose also upped the tires’ grippiness on wet roads, which is great for safety, especially here in Oregon. Silica, for its part, is a high-energy product to process, and carbon black is made from oil.

The only issue now is the durability of the cellulose-reinforced tires. No company has jumped on the cellulose bandwagon yet, but Yokohama’s dB Super E-spec high-performance passenger tires use orange oil, and Michelin’s Energy Saver tires promise increased fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.