West Coast News

The West Coast Governors' Association has released a report that calls for increased use of alt fuels as well as increased fuel efficiency, mass transit and smart growth strategies. The report has a series of major findings, which include extending the tax credits for alt fuel and hybrid vehicles for up to 10 years, having states adopt goals for reducing petroleum consumption and increasing alt fuel use, and having states provide funding support for alt fuel and hybrid vehicles. The full report is available here.

There is a new program for doctoral students at the University of Washington. UW has launched a $3 million program in which students will partner with faculty and Native American Tribes to study ways to use local forestry and agricultural wastes as biofuel feedstocks. The students will study the economic, social and environmental impacts of biofuel production throughout the products’ life-cycles.

California filed its expected lawsuit against EPA for its denial of California’s waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Gov. Schwarzenegger said “(i)t is unconscionable that the federal government is keeping California and nineteen other states from adopting these standards.” Washington and a number of other states have joined in the lawsuit. Meanwhile, automakers have apparently taken their lobbying efforts to the state level to try to “educate” states on why they should not adopt California’s standards or support the state’s lawsuit. In DC, California’s Sen. Boxer has introduced a bill that directs EPA to grant California the waiver in dispute. California’s hydrogen highway has hit a roadblock – people are now actually turning down state funds to build hydrogen stations. Three organizations have turned down over $1 million each to build three stations. Plus, three existing stations have recently closed. These decisions are causing automakers to reconsider plans to put hydrogen vehicles in California. The City of San Francisco has passed regulations that will require all taxis operating in the city to be alt fuel or hybrid vehicles by 2011. The move is expected to reduce greenhouse gases from taxis by 20% by the time the regulations are fully adopted.

Auto Industry Developments

Toyota has unveiled a new fuel savings strategy: gauges. Following Nissan’s example, Toyota says it will install gauges showing instantaneous fuel economy in all its cars and trucks. The gauges will be similar to ones already found in Toyota’s hybrids. The company claims drivers “could experience estimated improvements of from 5-10% in fuel economy.”

Renault/Nissan announced a major electric vehicle effort in Israel. The vehicle will have a lithium-ion battery that will allow 60-100 miles per charge and is to be on the market by 2011. It will be built in Europe and sold in Israel initially before being brought to other countries including the US. Pricing wasn’t announced but the vehicle is expected to be priced akin to how cell phones and plans are sold. A buyer will pay a certain price to buy the vehicle (less than the actual cost of the vehicle) then pay a monthly energy/battery fee based on his or her usage (miles driven per month). Israel was chosen as the test bed because of the country’s small size and the driving habits of its citizens although the country’s particular sensitivities to foreign oil dependence couldn’t have hurt. Another company will set up charging and battery-replacement stations throughout the country, which are expected to use renewable sources of energy to power the stations.

In an indication that the company is serious about these vehicles, GM has formed a new “engineering organization” dedicated to hybrid and extended-range electric vehicles (E-REVs) as well as advanced battery technology. E-REV is the acronym GM has applied to vehicles like its Volt that feature an all-electric range with an added engine to recharge the battery when needed. The company claims having a dedicated team like this will get these vehicles on the road more quickly and efficiently.

Alternative Fuel News

After opening a number of biodiesel pumps throughout Washington, Safeway is expanding its biodiesel efforts. The company has announced it is going to use biodiesel (B20) in its truck fleet throughout the US. Safeway’s VP for Pubic Affairs said the company wanted to “make a statement.”

Johnson Controls and Saft have opened what the companies claim is the world’s first factory exclusively dedicated to lithium-ion batteries for vehicles. The plant, which is located in France, will initially produce 5,000 batteries per year although the companies say the plant can be quickly ramped up to increase that number. The companies also say they intend to expand manufacturing to other regions of the world as well. VeraSun Energy has started work on an add-on to its South Dakota ethanol plant that will extract corn oil from distillers grains for use as a biodiesel feedstock. The ethanol plant has a capacity of 120 million gallons per year. The oil extraction facility is expected to produce 7-8 million gallons of oil per year. Following successful completion at the South Dakota plant, VeraSun plans to use the technology at two of its Iowa plants as well.

A new NREL study has shown dramatic improvement in biodiesel fuel quality around the country. Following on earlier studies that showed questionable fuel quality, NREL collected samples from producers using various feedstocks in facilities of varying capacities between Apr. and Oct. 2007. The samples covered 70% of US biodiesel production at the time. NREL presented the results at the recent National Biodiesel Conference. A report with the results should be available soon. Another study showed dramatic energy gains for cellulosic ethanol made with switchgrass. The study involved farms in Nebraska and North and South Dakota that tracked inputs and outputs of switchgrass farming over five years. The study showed that the crop produced 540% more energy in fuel than was needed to grow the crop. This is a considerable improvement in energy balance over corn ethanol. The suty also showed 94% lower life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions for the fuel compared to gasoline. Read the news release here; the research paper is here.

Vehicle Updates

GM says it plans to have lithium-ion batteries in vehicles by June to test in real-world conditions. This is another step along the way to making the Chevy Volt a reality. This test was supposed to happen in the spring but was pushed back to June after problems with acceleration in initial tests. Apparently, the test vehicles took 60 seconds (yes, with a zero) to go from 0 to 60. Still, GM’s Vice Chairman Lutz is sticking to the (late) 2010 launch date for the Volt although he says everything has to continue to go right. Paraphrasing a classic quote from Donald Rumsfeld, Lutz said “You don’t know what you don’t know. Could it go later than 2010? Yes.”

GM is unveiling more hybrids at the Chicago Auto Show. This time, it’s the 2009 GMC Sierra/Chevy Silverado and a Denali concept truck. The Silverado/Sierra will use the two-mode hybrid used in the hybrid Tahoe and Yukon, instead of the mild hybrid system used in the Sierra a couple of years ago. The system is estimated to result in 25% better combined fuel economy in the trucks, which will hit the market in 2009. The Denali concept uses the two-mode system but also features an E85 capable engine.

Ford has added three more vehicles to its list of FFVs for 2009. The Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator and E-series vans will be capable of running on E85. While it is unfortunate that this continues the trend of making only the automakers’ largest vehicles capable of running on E85, the E-series van announcement is noteworthy. Similar to Ford’s historical dominance in pickup trucks, the E-series van has been the best selling full-size van in the US for 28 years so having a version capable of running on a renewable fuel is an encouraging step.

Federal Government Report

The US, Brazil and EU governments have released a report that compares biofuel standards used in the three regions. The report identifies instances when the standards are similar; different, but easily reconcilable; or different and not reconcilable as currently written. Standards for ethanol were determined to be very similar with only one specification that might not be reconcilable as is. Biodiesel standards were more problematic although the report says many of the differences could be managed via blending different types of biodiesel.

DOE made two funding announcements recently. First, DOE announced funding of up to $114 million over four years for four biorefinery projects. The projects are for plants that are approximately 10% of commercial-scale plants and will produce fuels as well as chemicals and other industrial products using a variety of feedstocks and process techniques. One of the winning projects is a plant co-located with the Pacific Ethanol plant in Boardman, OR. This project will convert wheat straw, corn stover and poplar into cellulosic ethanol as well as other products. The project is supposed to start operation in 2009 and expand to commercial scale by 2012. Other winning projects are a plant in Wisconsin that will primarily produce renewable diesel via gasification, a plant in Pennsylvania that will primarily produce cellulosic ethanol, a plant in Kansas that will primarily produce cellulosic ethanol.

Next, DOE announced $30 million in cost-sharing funding for PHEV development and demonstration projects. Of the $30 million, $7 million is available in 2008 with the rest coming in 09 & 10 pending Congressional appropriations. The funding is to support projects that improve battery performance to allow up to 40 miles of all-electric range and will remove barriers to making the vehicles cost-competitive by 2014. DOE has highly encouraged only high-volume, US manufacturers to apply.

In brief...

• Research News – Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories have built a device that breaks down carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen using “concentrated solar energy.” The device can also break water down into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The researchers suggest that the carbon monoxide and hydrogen then be reacted to produce “liquid solar fuel.” No word on the energy involved in these processes and how that energy use compares to other potential mechanisms of producing less carbon-intensive fuels. Theoretically, this device could also use ambient CO2 although the researchers have not yet fully explored the feasibility of this. Meanwhile, researchers at UCLA have genetically modified E. coli to produce biofuel. The modified bugs consume glucose and produce butanol and other higher-chain alcohols. The technology has been licensed to a biofuel startup in Pasadena.
  

• Racing News – The American Le Mans Series is partnering with EPA, DOE and SAE International to develop and incorporate “green racing” principles into the series. The series is also creating a “Green Racing Challenge” for its 2008 season, which will encourage the use of green technologies throughout the season. Full details on these new programs are expected in the spring. Initial indications are that the program will include the use of renewable fuels, well-to-wheel energy and GHG analyses, and emission controls. Last season, clean diesel and E10 were used as racing fuels. This season E85 will be added to the options manufacturers can use in race vehicles. To that point, the Corvette Racing team plans to be the first to use E85 made with cellulosic ethanol in the series’ first 2008 race in mid-March. The fuel will come from the Wyoming plant mentioned above. In news from the other Le Mans series, Toyota says it is bringing a hybrid to the 24 hour Le Mans race in France. Toyota hasn’t competed in the event since 1999.