Posts Tagged ‘NYCLHVCC’

Please contact NYCLHVCC by February 7, 2011 if you would like assistance with the grant application. Contact: info@nyclhvcc.org or (212) 839-7728

The U.S. Department of Energy announced that it is currently accepting applications for a $184 million over three to five years to “accelerate the development and deployment of new efficient vehicle technologies that will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, save drivers money and limit carbon pollution.”

The Funding Opportunity Announcement released today focuses on eight approaches to improving vehicle efficiency:

• Advanced fuels and lubricants: Improve today’s vehicle fuels and lubricants to enable optimal performance of advanced combustion engines.
• Light weighting materials: Accelerate commercial availability of lighter weight vehicles using advanced materials like magnesium and carbon fiber to dramatically reduce vehicle weight.
• Multi-material light weight material prototype: Design, build, and test a light-weight vehicle that is 50% lighter than a baseline light-duty vehicle.
• Advanced cells and design technology for electric drive batteries: Develop high energy or high power electric vehicles that significantly exceed existing state-of-the-art technologies in terms of performance and/or cost.
• Advanced power electronics and electric motor technology: Develop the next generation of power inverters and electric motors to meet demanding performance targets while achieving significant reductions in cost.
• Thermoelectric and enabling engine technology: Improve the efficiency of thermoelectric devices to convert engine waste heat to electricity. Develop early-stage enabling engine technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
• Fleet efficiency: Develop and demonstrate fuel efficient tire and driver feedback technologies that will positively affect efficiency of the fleet of passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
• Advanced vehicle testing and evaluation: Conduct laboratory and field evaluations of advanced technology vehicles and related infrastructure, while developing new or modified test procedures.

Grant applications can be found at: http://www.grants.gov/

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, an announcement on December 14th confirmed that the EPA will allow all vehicles from 2007 or newer to use E15 (15% ethanol). Please check out the technology bulletin HERE for general information and common questions and answers.

Question of the Month: What information will be included on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy label for new and upcoming all-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)?

Answer: Nissan and General Motors recently released the EPA fuel economy ratings for their new advanced vehicle models, the Nissan LEAF EV and Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle (EREV*). These announcements were made while EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) are finalizing regulations that would change the information currently included on fuel economy labels for all vehicles, including EVs and PHEVs.

Proposed Advanced Vehicle Fuel Economy Ratings and Labels

On September 23, 2010, EPA and NHTSA released a proposed rule to change the fuel economy labels that appear on the windows of new vehicles for sale. The goal of this new label is to provide consumers with simple, straightforward comparisons across all vehicle types. The proposed rule includes additional information that would be available for advanced vehicles, including:

* Driving Range: The label would identify how many miles EVs and PHEVs can drive before needing to recharge and/or refuel.

* Different Modes: For vehicles that can operate using more than one fuel or technology (e.g., all-electric and gasoline only modes for PHEVs), the label would provide fuel economy information for each distinct operating mode.

* Energy Consumption: For EVs, the label would show energy use in kilowatt-hours (kWh) per 100 miles, as well as miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe). For PHEVs, the label would show only MPGe for all-electric mode. The MPGe rating is an important metric for comparing advanced vehicles to conventional vehicle models that are rated in miles per gallon (mpg). In the proposed rule, EPA and NHSTA included the following calculation to compare electricity as it is conventionally measured on a utility bill to gallons of gasoline: 33.7 kWh = 1 MPGe.

The final rule is scheduled to be released by the end of January 2011, and the proposed changes to fuel economy labels will likely take effect starting with Model Year (MY) 2012 vehicles. However, for those advanced vehicles that will be introduced to the market prior to MY 2012, EPA is working with individual manufacturers on a case-by-case basis to develop interim labels under EPA’s current regulations that can be used prior to MY 2012 and that are consistent with the proposed labels for advanced vehicles (see Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt announcement information below). For more information on the EPA and NHSTA rulemaking, please visit the following EPA Web site: http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/regulations.htm.

Recent Announcements

The information included in the recent Nissan and General Motors announcements related to fuel economy for their advanced vehicle models follows very closely with the proposed fuel economy label changes outlined above. Most notably, the all-electric fuel economy for these vehicles is measured in MPGe, based on the assumption that 33.7 kWh of electricity is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline.

According to Nissan, EPA estimates that the 2011 LEAF has a combined city/highway fuel economy of 99 MPGe, or 106 MPGe city and 92 MPGe highway. For more information on the Nissan announcement, including a picture of the actual label, please see their Web site: http://nissannews.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=115CC03B552751581633F948371F29B0?&id=2101&mid=.

As described above, according to General Motors, EPA split the 2011 Chevrolet Volt PHEV fuel economy values into separate ratings, one representing the vehicle’s fuel economy while it is operating in all-electric mode (93 MPGe) and one representing the fuel economy in gas only mode (37 mpg). For more information on the General Motors announcement, including a picture of the actual label, please see their Web site: http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/news/news_detail.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2010/Nov/1124_volt_label.

Though EPA has yet to formally announce these ratings, Oak Ridge National Laboratory expects the LEAF and Volt ratings to be available on the fueleconomy.gov Web site soon. Additional advanced vehicle fuel economy ratings will also be posted to fueleconomy.gov as they become available.

For more information:

Clean Cities Technical Response Service Team

technicalresponse@icfi.com

800-254-6735

Eaton Corporation is now working with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in making a solar assisted electric vehicle charging station! This important infrastructure is necessary so that new electric vehicles coming to the road can have a place on the roadside to charge up.

Eaton has been developing electrical and hybrid power systems for trucks and buses for more than 20 years. Eaton is the only company to offer hybrid-electric, as well as two hybrid hydraulic power system technologies, and the charging infrastructure for commercial and residential applications. (www.eaton.com).

Congratulations Eaton for getting your charging station curbside!

On December 7, 2010 a Sunoco Station in Hunts Point, The Bronx, announced that it will install and offer B5 Biodiesel to its customers. Tri-State Biodiesel LLC is supplying the fuel to Sunoco. Tri-State Biodiesel, LCC collects waste cooking oil from over 3,000 restaurants and transforms it into fuel.

For more information please visit: www.tristatebiodisesel.com

NYCLHVCC stakeholder, Smith Electric Vehicles, is selling electric vehicles to the New York City and Lower Hudson Valley Community. Check out this wonderful article about some of the companies that are getting involved, the savings they are achieving and how their shareholders are positively responding.

Check out the article HERE.

Question of the Month: Where can I find information about new fuels and technologies in the research, development, and initial deployment phases?

Answer: Like commercialized alternative fuels and advanced technologies, new fuels and technologies in development can provide benefits such as reduced petroleum consumption, improved vehicle performance, and reduced emissions. However, it is often difficult to find reliable information about these emerging fuels and technologies. Below we have included relevant resources that can provide valuable information to you and your stakeholders.

Fuels

The Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center (AFDC) Emerging Fuels Web site highlights several fuels that are in the early development stages. Currently, the site highlights biobutanol, biogas/renewable natural gas, biomass to liquids, coal to liquids, Fischer-Tropsch diesel (FTD), gas to liquids, hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel, and P-Series fuels. New information and fuel categories are continually being added to this Web site.

Please note that some developing/emerging fuels are not considered “alternative fuels” according to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 . While fuels that do not meet these criteria may be valuable alternatives to petroleum-based fuels, they may not be eligible for certain incentives and regulatory programs. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has the authority to designate additional alternative fuels through a petition and rulemaking process. For example, DOE currently maintains an open docket on a rulemaking to designate FTD. Reference the following Web site for more information on the petition process: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/epact/alt_fuel_petitions.html.

Also, remember that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations require that each manufacturer or importer of gasoline, diesel, or a fuel additive register the product through the Fuels and Fuel Additives Program prior to the commercial introduction. Additional information about this program and listings of registered fuels and fuel additives are available on the EPA Web site.

Technologies

The AFDC Vehicles Web site highlights vehicle technologies that are designed to reduce petroleum consumption. For example, the AFDC Idle Reduction Web site contains information on commercialized and emerging technologies related to vehicle idle reduction.

In addition, the EPA also administers two separate programs to evaluate retrofit vehicle technologies, one for light-duty vehicle retrofits (Gas Saving and Aftermarket Retrofit Device Evaluation Program: http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/reports.htm) and one for heavy-duty diesel vehicle retrofits (Diesel Retrofit Technology Verification Program: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/retrofit/index.htm). Additional information about these programs and listings of verified technologies are available on the EPA Web site.

Academia and industry, as well as by federal, state, and local government agencies, are always conducting new research on emerging fuels and technologies. In particular, DOE national laboratories are at the forefront of this work. Examples of their research can be found at the following national laboratory Web sites:

* Argonne National Laboratory: Transportation Technology Research and Development Center: http://www.transportation.anl.gov/

* National Energy Technology Laboratory: Onsite Research: http://www.netl.doe.gov/onsite_research/index.html

* National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Advanced Vehicles and Fuels Research: http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/

You may also reference research published in peer-reviewed or other industry publications for unbiased information on new petroleum reduction strategies. Scientific search engines, such as Science Direct, are a great place to start.

NYCLHVCC and NYPA are hosting an EV Symposium on November 30th! This event will cover a huge amount of information on Electric Vehicles including:

• Discussion on EV Readiness
• OEM Panel Discussion
• EV Charging 101
• Funding Opportunities
• Ride & Drive

Event Details:

November 30th, 2010; 9-4pm

NYPA: 123 Main Street White Plains, NY

For Directions click HERE

RSVP to: info@nyclhvcc.org

(212) 839-7728

Board President Steven Levy is awarded the Green Heart Award at GLICCC’s 2010 Advancing the Choice. This event draws fleet operators from Long Island to learn about the latest advances in alternative fuels and vehicles, hybrid vehicle technologies, and the AFV technologies. NYCLHVCC sends a major congrats to Steve!

Advanced Energy Conference 2010

Come join the many people interested and involved in advanced energy on November 8th and 9th in New York City. AERTC is hosting the 2010 Advanced Energy Conference to explore and inform people on advanced energy topics such as:

• Energy Policy, Energy Sector Finance
• Battery/Energy Storage/Load Management
• Intelligent Transmission, Distribution & Smart Grid
• Solar, BioFuels, Wind, Geothermal, Tidal, Hydrogen Economy
• Low Carbon Society, Climate Change & Sustainable Building
• Intelligent Transportation
• Energy Efficient Data Centers
• Energy Efficient Lighting
• Advanced Lighting Research

There is still time to REGISTER!

Event Details:

Location: New York Hilton; 1335 Avenue of the Americas, NYC

Dates: November 8th and 9th, 2010