Nissan develops range extender on ethanol and natural gas

Nissan is developing a new drive train consisting of an electric vehicle equipped with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) range extender. Nissan aims to bring the technology to market in fleets by 2020. The test runs on bio-ethanol but other fuels such as natural gas can also be used. The fuel is reformed on-board to create hydrogen which is then used in a solid oxide fuel cell.

SO fuel cells more affordable than PEM fuel cells currently used in hydrogen vehicles as they don't require platinum catalysts. Bio-ethanol and natural gas/biogas are also cheaper than hydrogen and require much lower infra structure investments.

The downside of SO fuel cells are the high operating temperature which leads to higher start-up times. Also the reformer has long response times, which limits the use of SO fuel cells in vehicles to range extenders and APUs.

Next-generation Toyota Prius has solar electric drive

The next-generation Prius plug-in hybrid gets a little greener with a the rooftop solar panel for recharging the batteries. While Toyota already produces a Prius with a rooftop solar system, that panel was only used to drive the air conditioning system as apparently Toyota found it to risky to integrate this new technology into the drive system.

Sun power only amplifies the eco-car cred of one of the most efficient vehicles. The cells charge the car even when it is parked and can boost fuel efficiency by as much as 10 percent by allowing longer electric-only driving times.
Unfortunately for U.S. fans of all things green, the technology will only be offered in the Japan and European versions of the car -- at least initially. But Koji Toyoshima, chief engineer of the Prius plug-in and its standard Prius hybrid sibling, says Toyota aims to introduce the panels Stateside too. The problem: The Japan market solar panels are laid on reinforced glass sheeting that doesn’t pass America’s more stringent rollover crash tests.
Toyota doesn’t have the technology to laminate the photo-voltaic cells in a resin that won’t shatter dangerously during a rollover, Toyoshima said. But the company is working on a solution so that it can introduce the solar panels to the U.S. version of the car during its life-cycle.
In Japan, the plug-in Prius will be called the Prius PHV. Toyota has not announced whether the solar panels will be standard or optioned here.
Various uses
Aside from recharging the batteries during a standstill, the solar panels also supply electricity to accessories such as lamps, power windows and air conditioning when the car is running, Toyota says. As Toyota whittles down their cost, Toyoshima said the company hopes to introduce the solar-powered technology to other hybrids across the lineup.

Advancements in solar technology have made solar ready to be used as an additional power source for cars.
Tesla recently made a bid to purchase SolarCity - a hint that Tesla may have similar plans.

Tesla + SolarCity = Solar electric vehicle

When Elon Musk announced Tesla's takeover bid for SolarCity he talked about synergy: using solar power to charge up your Powerwall home battery. And then using that electricity to charge your Tesla car. This deal has been criticized by many because there seems to be very little synergy between his car making business and selling rooftop solar panels.
When Tesla announced construction of its own Li-ion battery factory it made sense to people: you use the batteries in cars and you can sell the same batteries for storage at home. Now the thing is: it's no different with solar panels. It has already been shown that solar panels can be used to extend the range of electric vehicles. This bid is an indication that Tesla may be considering offering solar roofs on its cars.

Hydrogen car feeding electrical grid

For the first time in Europe and possibly worldwide a hydrogen vehicle supplied electricity to the power grid. At the Green Village at the Delft University of Technology a Hyundai ix35 was connected to the electrical grid to feed it with electricity. The Green Village site is used to demonstrate new technology. The demonstration marks a step towards a hydrogen economy where excess renewable energy is converted to hydrogen and where hydrogen vehicles can supply backup power at times when there is insufficient (renewable) electricity available. This means that no conventional electric plants will be required as backup.

Many European diesels have high emissions under real driving conditions

It appears that Volkswagen is not the only one with high NOx emissions under real driving conditions. Tests performed by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) show that Opel and Renault diesels also have increased NOx emissions under normal driving conditions. DUH claims that Renault Espace diesels have up to 25 times higher emissions than allowed in Europe. In a response Renault claims that their diesels pass the test. Of course Volkswagens also pass that test. It's the difference between between emissions under real driving conditions and the test that's disturbing. Volkswagen cheated by using a cheat device. It seems that officially Renault didn't cheat. Instead the cause seems to be that Renault tests with a cold engine. Lower temperatures lead to lower NOx emissions. In real life those engines heat up over time and then emit poisonous NOx emissions that kill people. In real life we need stricter regulations to ban such practices.

VW scandal expands to gasoline cars

Only a few hours after I wrote my post yesterday, asking whether Volkswagen's dieselgate scandal would expand to gasoline cars, the news broke that it did. I noted yesterday, that a defeat device that affects engine operation may also be used in gasoline cars. As a consequence performance and fuel economy will be reduced.

In the latest scandal Volkswagen admits overstating fuel economy and as a result CO2 emissions for 800,0000 vehicles. The majority of these vehicles have diesel engines, which implies that at least some gasoline cars were also affected. Volkswagen stated that they don't know yet what caused the irregularities. So they don't know whether a defeat device was installed this time as well, but in light of earlier misdoing this seems to be the most logical explanation.

New Volkswagen violation - will scandal expand to gas powerd cars?

Earlier I described the technical details of dieselgate with regard to the EPA's September 18 Notice of Violation (NOV). Sadly Volkswagen Group's (VW) ordeal is not over yet. The EPA released a new NOV which now affects VWs 3.0 liter diesel engines.

There is a serious threat that the scandal will expand to more and more engine types and vehicle models. "ARB and EPA will continue to conduct a rigorous investigation that includes testing more vehicles until all of the facts are out in the open." This time the violation also affects Porsche which was unaffected by the earlier NOV.

Although the number of vehicles is limited (10.000 in 2014, plus an unknown additional number in 2015), the technical details are at least as disturbing as the earlier violation.

Again VW used a cheat device. This time exactly one second after the vehicle completes the initial phase of the standard test procedure, the vehicle changes to normal mode, where NOx emissions increase up to nine times the EPA standard. This time the engine cheats by running in a low NOx "temperature conditioning" mode. Engine temperatures are kept down as high temperatures increase NOx emissions.

The consequences of removing the cheat device would be a broad range of reduced performance, including reduced torque and increased fuel consumption. What's even more worrisome is that this time VW didn't just play with the post-combution exhaust cleanup. They changed the operating parameters of the engine. That method can be applied to a broad range of vehicles including those with gasoline powered engines.