XXX NewS 22 ALTERNATIVEFUEL NEws Honda does not, believe in pure electric cars The parent company of the first electric car launched on the market in 1997, the Honda EV Plus (in production for only two years), is now skeptical on the success of this kind of car. The head of Honda’s research, Tomohiko Kawanabe, said: “we need to see if consumers are willing to accept limited autonomy of electric cars and the ‘hassle’ of long time reload”, then added, “we are continuing research into electric cars, but at present I would not advise”. The skepticism of Honda is in contrast with predictions of another major Japanese manufacturer, Nissan, previewing by 2020 a market share of 10 percent for electric cars. The problem is that cars like the Mitsubishi i-Leaf or Miev have limited autonomy, about 150 – 160 km, influenced by the use of onboard services, such europe’s first commercial fast-charging ev station opens Europe’s first commercial smart-charging station for electric vehicles (EV) has opened for business in The Netherlands. Developed by smart-charging solutions leader, Epyon Power, and operated by Dutch utility company, Essent, the charging stations are fully operational and accessible at the Tamoil petrol station in Leeuwarden, the capital city of Friesland province. The motivation for the charging stations is obvious: to stimulate Electric Vehicle use, to show how quick the smart-charging stations can be installed, and to show that they can also function safely in the controlled environments of petrol stations. The fast-charging station delivers 50 kilowatts of power and can fully Mascoma lands deal with Chevron Mascoma, which wants to develop microbes that can convert woody biomass into ethanol, has signed a important deal with Chevron Technology Ventures. Under the deal, Chevron will supply feedstocks to Mascoma, and then Mascoma’s microbes will convert the material into ethanol and lignin, the tough material that protects plants. Chevron will then evaluate the result. To survive and thrive, biofuel startups will invariably have to partner with as air conditioning, or the route: it consumes more in the long distances with the accelerator fully depressed. Indeed, not all think like Nissan: Menahem Anderman, president of a consulting firm for the alternative energy segment called Advanced Automotive Batteries, believes that by 2020 not more than 1 percent of cars in the world will mount an electric motor. Honda has a vision made reality by the electric car prototype FCX Clarity, driven by an electric motor, but powered by a hydrogen fuel cell which produces the power required by the electric motor. Who is right? – In fact no one in the sense that there is, today, a “definitive” solution. The current battery technology is limited and expects a generation jump (which will not happen soon) to see “batteries” with a significantly increased capacity of storing energy. So probably, within the next 10 years we will mainly see electric city cars. For longer journeys there will be hybrid cars in their various technological designs. The electric-powered Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen should have a more limited market, because of the lack of a network of hydrogen filling stations. charge the 9-person taxi-vans of Taxi Kijlstra in only 30 minutes. The stations are also remotely monitored and controlled through Epyon’s Power-Routing Network. A single fast charging station can operate several compact outlets so multiple EV’s can be charged simultaneously from a single charging station. Taxi Kijlstra, the largest taxi firm in the north of the Netherlands, recently transformed two of their taxi fleet into electric powered vehicles without any limitations on the service side. The taxi-vans can drive 100 kilometre or more on a single fast charge. Friesland has an ambitious target of having 100 000 EV’s on the road within the next five years. the major fuel companies. Chevron already has an R&D alliance with Solazyme, which makes algal biodiesel. Shell has deals with 70 or so different alternative fuel companies, according to sources. Mascoma recently underwent some management changes. CEO Bruce Jamerson became chairman and also chairman of Frontier Renewable Resources, which is trying to raise money to build a plant in Michigan based around Mascoma’s microbes. LateSt aLterNatIve FueL NewS – www.PetroLPLaza.CoM ohio chooses local business to expand its fuel solutions A family business in the US, which turned to compressed natural gas to fight rising fuel costs for its fleet, has been chosen by the state to spread the solution to other parts of the Ohio. Kirk Energy Group LLC has received more than US $ 2.7 million in federal stimulus grants through Clean Fuels Ohio to build four compressed natural gas fuelling stations in the state. “Our [customer] demographic is not Joe and Mary Smith; our demographic is the fleets in the market we operate”, said Christian Pedersen, co-managing member of Kirk Energy, along with his brother-in-law, Andrew Rill, who shares the title. The two are executives in other family businesses in Findlay: Mr. Pedersen, with H&O Services, a Findlay waste-hauling and property management company, and Mr. Rill, with Findlay Machine & Tool Inc. The two firms have a diverse combined fleet of about 250 vehicles – from massive 40-ton trucks down to light-duty vans and pickups. “We formed Kirk Energy in response to the fuel price spike”, Mr. Rill said. We came together collectively to brainstorm on an answer because, as a family unit, we were spending millions on diesel fuel. We settled on compressed natural gas because it offered up the most strategic advantages as a fuel source for our fleets. The state-administered grants – part of an US $ 11 million federally funded program to promote cleaner fuel technologies state-wide – will help pay for construction of four compressed natural gas fueling stations and a portion of the cost to convert fleet vehicles to use the fuel. Clean Fuels Ohio expects the investment to leverage another US $ 19 million in private funds. Compressed natural gas can cost as much as US $ 1 per gallon cheaper than the equivalent amount of gasoline or diesel fuel, Mr. Rill said. When the four stations are online, expected by 2015, they will double the number of existing compressed natural gas filling stations in the state that are open to the public.
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