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Posted Feb 18, 2014, 7:45 PM
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BANNED
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: lodged against an abutment
Posts: 7,556
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BDNT cooperates with ABB to roll out world’s largest EV fast charger network in China
Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. chooses ABB to supply direct current (DC) fast chargers for rapid charging of new DENZA electric vehicle over the next six years
Zurich, Switzerland, Feb. 13, 2014 - ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, announced a strategic collaboration today with Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. (BDNT) to supply direct current fast chargers over the next six years for DENZA. China will become the global leader for electric vehicle (EV) fast charging.
The wall-mounted chargers will have a number of innovations designed for user convenience and safety, such as a mobile app that allows remote monitoring and control of charging sessions, with the option of charging status change notifications. First deliveries are expected in mid- 2014. The charging solution will be sold through DENZA dealerships along with the vehicle.
EVs are one of China’s seven emerging strategic industries. ABB and DENZA will work together to help support China’s efforts to increase sustainable mobility.
The Chinese government has introduced a direct current (DC) fast charging “GBT” standard to encourage technical innovation and stimulate market acceptance of EVs. The urban charging infrastructure will be a key driver for EV adoption. The GBT standard will give Chinese consumers the opportunity to conveniently charge their vehicles at home or at public charging stations. Public DC fast charging is expected to be rolled out in China in the near future.
“We are honored to be a partner in this venture to move urban transportation forward in a more sustainable way. By combining car sales with fast chargers, DENZA is taking a bold step to address a key obstacle for potential buyers of EVs,” said Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB Group. “ABB’s EV charging solutions have been expanding rapidly worldwide as the underlying technology combines our key strengths in power electronics, software, service and power distribution.”
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http://www.abb.com/cawp/seitp202/02F...D0048C382.aspx
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/17/...network-china/
http://inhabitat.com/china-to-unveil...rging-network/
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Audi’s Strategy to Enable Carbon-Neutral Driving
Scott Shepard — February 16, 2014
Audi recently announced that results from testing of the company’s synthetic liquid fuels, or e-fuels, indicate that e-fuels perform significantly better than conventional fuel counterparts in conventional vehicle internal combustion engines. The company subsequently announced that it will broaden its e-fuels initiative through its partnership with French biofuels company Global Bioenergies. Audi’s e-fuels initiative is unique, as no other major automaker has pursued the development or distribution of gaseous or liquid fuels – carbon-neutral or not – for the transportation market.
Through a partnership with Joule, Audi’s e-fuels program aims to produce three products: e-gas, e-diesel, and e-ethanol. Audi also intends to produce e-gasoline through a partnership with Global Bioenergies. The purpose of this initiative is to provide drivers of Audi vehicles with carbon-neutral driving options as a selling point for its gasoline, diesel, and/or compressed natural gas- (CNG-) powered vehicles. However, Audi drivers worldwide may be physically unable to fill up with the carbon-neutral synthetic fuels developed by Audi due to a lack of refueling stations. The automaker will enable Audi drivers to indirectly contribute to increased amounts of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels into the overall fuel pool through what amounts to offsets.
Powered by E-Gas
An example of how Audi’s strategy works is its production of e-gas, the e-fuel closest to market. E-gas is produced from the electrolysis of water, which produces hydrogen, which is then combined with waste CO2, producing methane as a synthetic natural gas substitute. The e-gas production facility is powered by wind turbines and uses concentrated waste CO2 from a nearby biogas plant. The production and consumption of e-gas using this system generates no new carbon emissions. The e-gas is then piped into the greater natural gas network at the e-gas production facility in Werlte, Germany.
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http://www.navigantresearch.com/blog...eutral-driving
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Karma Chameleon
China potential sparks electric car investment
Ethan Bilby
February 18, 2014
Last Updated at 21:21 IST
China is already the world's largest car market. Now the likes of Tesla and parts maker Wanxiang Group are betting the same will soon be true of electric vehicles. Though infrastructure lags behind the West, dense cities and strong central planning should give Chinese sales a jolt.
Wanxiang Group recently won the battle to buy what's left of bankrupt US electric carmaker Fisker. For an upfront investment of $149 million, China's largest car parts maker got a dormant American manufacturer of plug-in hybrid coupes which foundered over technical problems. Wanxiang had already bought Fisker's battery provider at an earlier auction.
Gaining control of designs for Fisker's high-end Karma cars provides a leg up towards making electric cars in China, which is set to be the world's largest by sales in 2020, according to International Energy Agency data. Tesla is also bullish: it expects global sales to double in 2014, and that China will account for about 30 per cent of the total. That implies it will shift about 14,000 all-electric cars on the mainland, despite the price tag of 734,000 yuan ($121,000).
Unlike hybrids, which can run on petrol, all-electric cars depend on a network of charging stations. Tesla has built a network of fast-charging stations in the United States, but repeating the trick in China may be less straightforward. Domestic rivals like BYD have similar plans, and Beijing has been pushing for carmakers to adopt a single standard for charging technology. The absence of charging stations explains why Chinese bought only 18,000 plug-in electric vehicles in 2013, while American drivers bought roughly five times as many. Finding a way to efficiently recharge cars for apartment dwellers is also a challenge.
However, the Chinese government has greater powers to force a rapid buildout of a uniform charging network. If done right, electric cars could quickly catch on among the country's dense urban population, especially given widespread concerns about pollution. Though China's love affair with the car has not extended to electric vehicles so far, don't bet on that lasting.
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http://www.business-standard.com/art...1801315_1.html
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02/17/2014 12:40 PM
Electric Vehicles Charge Forward With 150 Mile Range
SustainableBusiness.com News
Electric vehicles (EVs) are slowly winding their way into the hearts and minds of drivers and the pace is expected to pick up this year.
Worldwide production of all-electric and plug-in vehicles is expected to rise 67% in 2014 to 403,000 vehicles, up from 242,000 last year, according to market research firm IHS Automotive, when they were the fastest growing segment of the auto industry.
Last year, 96,000 EVs sold in the US.
Thanks to competition, battery prices are dropping rapidly - the most costly component of EVs - starting this year, bigger batteries will be in many cars, giving them a 150 mile range.
Battery makers now include LG Chem (Chevy Volt), Panasonic (Tesla's Model S) and Samsung SDI (BMW i3 and Fiat 500e).
IHS points to two reasons for greater growth this year: more stringent emission standards in Europe which take effect later this year and the greater variety of models available on the market.
New vehicles entering the market this year include: BMW's i3, Volkswagen's e-Up!, Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric and Audi's A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid. More product availability and greater choice will help widespread adoption of EVs.
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http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/i...splay/id/25521
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11 February 2014 Last updated at 19:13 ET
Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road
By Aidan Lewis BBC News, Washington
The idea of being fined for crossing the road at the wrong place can bemuse foreign visitors to the US, where the origins of so-called jaywalking lie in a propaganda campaign by the motor industry in the 1920s.
The California Vehicle Code states: "No pedestrian shall start crossing in direction of a flashing or steady "DON'T WALK" or upraised hand symbol." It also forbids crossing between controlled intersections, or "jaywalking".
Late last year, police began a concerted effort to enforce the rules in central Los Angeles. Pedestrians had been "impeding traffic and causing too many accidents and deaths", one traffic police official said. Fines range from $190-$250 (£115-£152).
Then in New York officials responded to several pedestrian deaths last month by issuing a flurry of tickets for jaywalking. The campaign quickly ran into controversy when an 84-year-old Chinese immigrant who had been stopped for jaywalking suffered a gash to his head during an altercation with the police.
Enforcement of anti-jaywalking laws in the US is sporadic, often only triggered by repeated complaints from drivers about pedestrian behaviour in a particular place. But jaywalking remains illegal across the country, and has been for many decades.
The first known reference to it dates to December 1913, says Peter Norton, a history professor at the University of Virginia and author of Fighting Traffic - The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. That month a department store in Syracuse hired a Santa Claus who stood on the street with a megaphone, bellowing at people who didn't cross properly and calling them jaywalkers.
A key moment, says Norton, was a petition signed by 42,000 people in Cincinnati in 1923 to limit the speed of cars mechanically to 25mph (40kph). Though the petition failed, an alarmed auto industry scrambled to shift the blame for pedestrian casualties from drivers to walkers.
Local car firms got boy scouts to hand out cards to pedestrians explaining jaywalking. "These kids would be posted on sidewalks and when they saw someone starting to jaywalk they'd hand them one of these cards," says Norton. "It would tell them that it was dangerous and old fashioned and that it's a new era and we can't cross streets that way."
"The newspaper coverage quite suddenly changes, so that in 1923 they're all blaming the drivers, and by late 1924 they're all blaming jaywalking," Norton says.
Soon, he adds, car lobby groups also started taking over school safety education, stressing that "streets are for cars and children need to stay out of them". Anti-jaywalking laws were adopted in many cities in the late 1920s, and became the norm by the 1930s.
In the decades that followed, the cultural ascendancy of the car was secured as the auto industry promoted "America's love affair with the automobile". Car makers portrayed them as the ultimate expression of personal freedom, an essential element of the "American dream".
Meanwhile, an overriding goal of city planners and engineers became allowing traffic to circulate unhindered.
"For years, pedestrians were essentially written out of the equation when it came to designing streets," says Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic - Why We Drive the Way We Do.
"They didn't even appear in early computer models, and when they did, it was largely for their role as 'impedance' - blocking vehicle traffic."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797
Last edited by amor de cosmos; Feb 18, 2014 at 8:29 PM.
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