Tata Motors, India’s biggest car manufacturer, has become the world’s first major car maker to enter the $10 million Progressive Automotive X-Prize, with plans to enter one car in the mainstream category (electric-hybrid) and one in the alternative category (microcar). Tata joins about 70 other teams, which include entries ranging from musician Neil Young to Tesla Motors.

Organizers hope Tata isn’t the last major automaker to enter.

The X-Prize starts out in 2009 with a qualifying event in New York and will pass through ten stages in cities across the US, with the $10 million purse going to the team or teams whose entries can get 100 mpg with the fastest times.

Source: Auto Week
Date: June 2, 2008

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European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will be displaying its A320 research aircraft, which features An onboard hydrogen fuel cell, at this year’s International Berlin Airshow (ILA).

The craft, known as the A320 Fuel Cell Demonstrator, has performed a number of successful flight tests in preparation for the ILA. The craft’s on-board fuel cell delivers over 20 Kilo Watts of electrical power to the electric motor pump. The pump is connected to the hydrolics and allows the pilot to operate the aircraft’s ailerons, rudder and a number of other flight control systems.

The A320 Fuel Cell Demonstrator will be part of the Airbus static display at the ILA from May 27 to May 29.

Source: Edubourse.com
Date: June 1, 2008

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When Olympians want to get around London in 2012, they may be able to hail one of the most advanced taxis in the world.

Thanks to a collaboration between hydrogen fuel cell developer Intelligent Energy, Lotus Engineering Limited, London Taxis International (LTI) and TRW Conekt, there are plans to have a fleet of classic London taxis powered by zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells on the roads in time for the 2012 London Olympics. The taxis are expected to run an entire day without needing to refuel, reach speeds of 120 km/h, and be able to refuel when necessary at hydrogen depots in a process expected to take just a few minutes. Additionally, the fuel cell will be small enough to fit in where the taxi’s current engine sits

Said Henri Winand, CEO of Intelligent Energy, “The black cab is an internationally recognized and iconic symbol of London, and this partnership is an important part of making low-carbon transport a practical and near-term reality.”

Source: Canadian Driver
Date: May 31, 2008

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French researchers at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEW) announced the development of a hydrogen fuel cell that backs up power for cell phones. The fuel cell gets its hydrogen from a cartridge no bigger than a cigarette lighter, which is being developed by the famous pen maker Bic.

Ideally, the fuel cell is meant as an backup only in the absence of electrical power. The mini- fuel cell, drawing hydrogen from the cartridge, is believed to offer as many as five recharges before a new cartridge is needed.

It is estimated the fuel cell recharger will be available to consumers by 2010.

Source: AFP
Date: May 29, 2008

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Soaring oil prices are bad news for most consumers, especially those who drive gasoline-powered cars and cringe each time they stop at the pump to fill up.

However, those prices have been good news for the alternative fuel vehicle market, in particular for Northern California-based electric car maker ZAP, which announced recently that backlog orders for the company’s Xebra electric sedan and pickup have reached the somewhat staggering figure of $6.8 million—a figure which is bigger than ZAP’s sales for all of 2007.

Those orders are coming from purchase contracts from car dealers; ZAP’s dealer network has more than doubled in the past year, from 20 in April of last year to over 50 in 2008.

The company also announced that it has over $700,000 in backlog orders for their consumer cars, such as the Zapino scooter.

Source: CNN.com
Date: May 28, 2008

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This year’s 2008 Green Grand Prix of Watkins Glen, New York, attracted a record field for the event—46 vehicles, powered by every imaginable alternative engine and fuel, including hydrogen fuel cells, flex-fuel, wood chips, liquid propane, biodiesel, vegetable oil and more.

Former art teacher and car nut Bob Gillespie dreamed up the Green Grand Prix four years ago, chiefly as a means to get the word out on alternative fuels and technologies. The event has been growing in size and profile every year since.

Some of the vehicles from this year’s Green Grand Prix included:
• A Harley-Davidson motorcycle powered by biodiesel won the top fuel award for earning 89 miles per gallon.
• A hydrogen fuel cell-powered Chevy Equinox;
• A 1988 Isuzu Trooper powered by wood chips.

Source: USA Today
Date: May 25, 2008

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Greensburg, Kansas, about 100 miles west of Wichita, is making the proverbial lemonade from its lemons, and gaining big-time recognition and resources in the process.

Last year Greensburg was utterly demolished by a brutal tornado, to the extent that President Bush saw fit to make a trip to the town of no more than 1,400 people at the time. however, Greenberg has chosen a novel way to rebuild their town: do it green.

As a result, the town has offered itself as something of a living laboratory to see how many of the green building initiatives will function in a real-world economy. In a sense this is a dream come true for green designers and builders, but it’s something quite like that as well to the residents of Greenberg. The town’s mayor, John Janssen, told the USA Today, “The tornado was one of the biggest blessings to hit our town. “We were like every other town in the Rust Belt and the Midwest. We were dying a slow, agonizing death. Suddenly, we don’t have a town. So we’re rebuilding a new green town.”

Consequently Greensburg became the first city in America to pledge that all of its city-owned buildings in excess of 4,000 square feet will meet the highest rating of the U.S. Green Building Council, called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum. Those buildings will use just half the energy that an ordinary building would.

While homeowners aren’t required to rebuild ‘green’, the town is encouraging them to do so.

Source: USA Today
Date: May 22, 2008

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According to a piece published in the International Herald Tribune, Tesla Motors is set to open the first of a number of projected ‘stores’ during the first two weeks of May.

The first, which will serve as the company’s flagship store, will be located in Westwood, near the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles. According to Jeremy Snyder, Tesla’s head of client services, the store’s location is no accident: “Because it’s Hollywood and glamorous,” he told the Tribune.

This store will be followed by another store in a few months, substantially nearer to the company’s San Carlos headquarters in the Silicon Valley.

Despite the store opening, no one will be driving a Roadster directly off the lot for quite a while, as Snyder told the Tribune delivery is “running about fifteen months.”

Source: International Herald Tribune
Date: May 20, 2008

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Powered only by solar energy and hydrogen, the zero-carbon Hy-Bird is a developmental aircraft designed by France-based high tech firm LISA Airplanes, which claims the craft will become the “first all-electric powered airplane on the market.” As a promotional tool, the company intends to fly the Hy-Bird around the world using only hydrogen and solar power.

The plane generates power through photovoltaic cells located on the wings, which supply the energy necessary for take-off, while a hydrogen fuel cell provides the power for cruise flight. According to Erick Herzberger, president of LISA, the Hy-Bird is “solely powered by an electric engine and will be the first airplane that does not emit greenhouse gases and is completely silent.”

Source: Fuelcellworks.com
Date: May 15, 2008

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It’s a start at least.

This week the super-luxury automaker displayed the so-called “Greenpower”—a one-seat, one-wheel drive electric vehicle designed, engineered and built by apprentices that work at its Crewe, England factory.

The Greenpower, armed with Michelin low resistence tires and fixed carbon-fiber suspension wishbones, reaches a maximum speed of 40 mph, emits no emissions, and uses a 24-volt motor supplied by a pair of 12-volt batteries.

Also featuring Bentley’s hide/Alcantara-trimmed interior, the Greenpower is set to enter a number of racing competitions culminating in October, with the team of apprentices in the pit and behind the wheel.

Source: Edmunds
Date: May 13, 2008

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