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I think they ought to spend some of the money to double-track additional BN trackage between St Paul and Seattle. The Empire Builder has been held up nearly every day by huge crude oil trains and the EB is one of the few Long Distance trains that comes close to being profitable.
Amtrak as a whole is a bargain. Just 1.5Bn of federal support per year and they deliver an entire passenger transportation mode. Now that the new electric locomotives are arriving some of the east coast lines will lose less, or possibly even make a profit. Amtrak has seen ridership increases with record setting numbers in 11 of the last 12 years.
President Obama, DOT Secretary Foxx announce $600M for 6th round of TIGER funding for transportation projects
US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx joined President Barack Obama to announce that $600 million will be made available to fund transportation projects across the country under a sixth round of the US Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGE...
Nice article, but I couldn't find the important number (the city mpg), anywhere in it. Did I miss something?
I am tired of articles boasting about highway mpg since most of us do a lot more city miles than highway miles and it is relatively easy to boost hwy mpg by going a bit taller on the top gear.
New Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan features standard nine speed transmission, expected 35 mpg highway
2015 Chrysler 200. Click to enlarge. Chrysler introduced the revamped new 2015 Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan at the Detroit Auto Show. The mid-size sedan segment is one of the largest segments in North America, with more than 2 million sales annually. The 200 is the industry’s first mid-size ...
Switchgrass is a possible crop in areas that have too little rain to even consider corn production. My family is from Montana and the average precipitation there is between 10" and 12". I would love to see switchgrass growing there alongside wheat fields and pasture land.
It would also be really interesting to see the secondary impact of the change in crops, in that it would probably increase the amount of deer and wild fowl in the area as well as giving farmers another tool to use in order to keep the land healthy, productive and profitable.
Study cautions on sole focus on energy crop biomass yield; perennial grasslands deliver greater ecosystems services than corn
A study by a team from the DOE’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Center has concluded that focusing on the yield of an energy crop alone can come at the expense of many other environmental benefits. The study, published as an open access paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)...
One thing is for certain, if the Fresnel really does concentrate the light 8x, you won't see any vehicles ICE'ing your parking spot more than once. Can you imagine how hot it would cook a car that didn't have a PV array on its roof? On second thought, just how hot would the C-Max get, even if it does have a panel on its roof?
Ford unveils C-MAX Solar Energi concept; “plug-in” hybrid not dependent on electric grid can fully recharge from sun
Ford’s C-MAX Solar Energi concept combines a rooftop solar panel with an off-board solar concentrator—essentially an inexpensive Fresnel lens canopy. The vehicle moves beneath the canopy during the day to maintain maximum concentrated solar irradiance. Click to enlarge. Ford Motor Company a...
Henrik, I have to agree that Tesla Motors is still fairly fragile unless Musk decides to use his own money to cover short-lays as they ramp up production.
But if they do get the Gen 3 out within 3-4 years at the price point Musk just spoke of, "$35,000 without a subsidy" all bets are off. Especially if the X is fairly successful and it actually comes out next year.
Interesting days.
Tesla sold 5,150 Model S units in North America in Q2; non-GAAP profit $26M, GAAP loss $31M
Tesla Motors reported strong sales results for the second quarter, posting 5,150 units of the battery-electric Model S in North America, along with a significant improvement in automotive non-GAAP gross margin. Tesla had projected deliveries of 4,500 units. Q2 revenues were $551 million on a ...
I can not believe that GM is going to sell the Cadillac ELR with a 3.3 kW charging rate. That is beyond absurd.
Obviously, most of the ELR owners are going to charge at home most of the time. But they will be looking to top off the battery mid-day from time to time, and hooking up to an L2 charger and then be limited to 3.3 kW charging speeds will be a huge downer for ELR owners.
I know how frustrating it is to grab a bite and spend an hour at a cafe while my car is charging, only to come back to my Volt and see that I gained just 9 more miles of AER in an hour of charging.
6.6 kW is the bare minimum a car builder should consider. The new RAV4-EV has 10 kW charging and that is pretty decent. You don't need Tesla type fast charging, but there is a minimum level that is acceptable to most buyers, and I think 6.6 kW is the bare minimum.
Ultrasonic welding in the battery pack for the Cadillac ELR
GM is using ultrasonic welding in the 16.5 kWh battery pack in the new Cadillac ELR extended-range electric luxury coupe that goes on sale in North America in early 2014 (earlier post). The battery-specific welding process is a result of collaboration among GM’s Manufacturing Systems Research L...
Nice price point. Impressive 0-60 times, too bad there are next to no DC fast chargers out there. Not sure how active the pack management system is, but it has to be better than the Leaf has.
Too bad it is a compliance car for just the ZEV states. Hopefully, if it is selling/leasing well, GM will enlarge the area that they are selling it in.
Chevrolet Spark EV to lease for as low as $199 per month; MSRP $27,945 pre-incentives
Spark EV. Click to enlarge. Chevrolet announced a low-mileage lease on the new 2014 Spark EV 1LT (earlier post) for as low as $199 per month for 36 months, with $999 due at lease signing including security deposit (tax, title, license dealer fees extra), making the vehicle one of the most a...
One of the ugly aspects of carbon black is the ubiquitous nature of the its sources. I was hiking in Nepal in a completely agricultural area and the only time you saw a bit of clear sky was at dawn, within half an hour of dawn the sky was full of wood smoke. And this to the point of you wondering where in the denuded world these people were finding wood to burn. The government was encouraging them to use natural gas/propane stoves but wood gathered by a kid is free, so you can imagine how the new stoves went over.
Then there are peat fires and subterranean coal fires to account for, and manufacturing processes, energy production and transportation...
Talk about a plethora of targets for reductions, though.
But don't even think you can touch my pellet stove or bother my rotisserie chicken place!
Black carbon is a much larger cause of climate change than previously assessed; about twice previous estimates, and 2/3 the effect of CO2
Schematic overview of the primary black-carbon emission sources and the processes that control the distribution of black carbon in the atmosphere and determine its role in the climate system. Source: Bond et al. Click to enlarge. Black carbon (BC) is the second largest man-made contributor ...
It would be easier to take this paper seriously if the editors of the Journal of Geophysical Research knew the difference between complementary and complimentary. Editors? Really?
And I don't doubt that carbon black is a larger factor than previously thought, just that somebody ought to at least look at JGR-A's comments before they submit them.
Next thing you know they will be mixing up loose and lose.
Black carbon is a much larger cause of climate change than previously assessed; about twice previous estimates, and 2/3 the effect of CO2
Schematic overview of the primary black-carbon emission sources and the processes that control the distribution of black carbon in the atmosphere and determine its role in the climate system. Source: Bond et al. Click to enlarge. Black carbon (BC) is the second largest man-made contributor ...
Kelly, I have been saying something similar, i.e. I thought that the economies of scale would kick in and the price of a Volt would drop after they built 1,000 a month or more. And I am still waiting for the MSRP to drop more than $1,000. Admittedly, some Chevy dealers are now offering Volts at $3,000 below MSRP so the real world price has dropped by nearly 10% in 25 months of production. $36.2k with incentives means a net price of $28.7k after the credit, which isn't bad. But only a few of the top dealerships are giving those deals.
And GM refuses to build enough Volts to satisfy demand. Cars.com had just 3650 Volts in the entire US 2 weeks ago, despite the fact that there are 3079 Chevy dealers and they were selling nearly 3,000 Volts a month in 3 of the last 4 months. That is absurd. 5 weeks of inventory including the demo cars?
Cadillac introduces the 2014 ELR extended range electric vehicle
2014 Cadillac ELR Click to enlarge. Cadillac unveiled the anticipated 2014 ELR extended range electric (EREV) vehicle (based on the Converj concept, earlier post) at the North American International Auto Show. (Earlier post.) ELR production begins in the US in late 2013 in limited numbers, ...
Interesting. SJC, the Overview page you cite has an MSRP of $32,950, but if you hit the Pricing tab, it shows an MSRP of $33,745, which is the same as the KBB page I linked to, but both those $33,745 MSRP's actually include the Destination fee. So my link to Kelley Blue Book is pointing to incorrect info. Sorry for incorrect information. I checked with ford.com and they now have the MSRP for the C-Max Energi, which they didn't have last week and it is $32,950.
I am not sure why KBB included the destination fee in their MSRP for the Energi, but on at least one page, so did Yahoo.com.
Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid heading to select US showrooms
Overview of the C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid. Click to enlarge. Ford began production of the 2013 C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid vehicle (earlier post) at Michigan Assembly in October, and the vehicles are heading for showrooms. Ford has tripled to more than 200 the number of dealers certified ...
I didn't see the actual MSRP in the article, so either I am skimming or the writer left out some fairly important info. Yes, the net is around $30k, but it only qualifies for a $3750 credit and the MSRP is $33,745.
So though all the plug-ins seem to be clustering around a net price of $30k (though the Leaf may be dropping below that number) the Energi does give you good bang for your buck. Though I hope the Energi comes closer to meeting its EPA CS mpg figures than the C-Max Hybrid does to its stated hwy mpg.
http://www.kbb.com/ford/c-max-energi/2013-ford-c-max-energi/sel/?vehicleid=378934&intent=buy-new#survey
Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid heading to select US showrooms
Overview of the C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid. Click to enlarge. Ford began production of the 2013 C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid vehicle (earlier post) at Michigan Assembly in October, and the vehicles are heading for showrooms. Ford has tripled to more than 200 the number of dealers certified ...
Heat and AC stay on, but in Eco mode. Your glass is half full.
Ford prices Auto Start-Stop system in non-hybrid 2013 Fusion 1.6L EcoBoost model at $295
Ford is offering the Auto Start-Stop system on its new non-hybrid 2013 Fusion equipped with a 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine (earlier post) for $295. Auto Start-Stop saves fuel use when the car is standing and running at idle. Savings vary depending on driving patterns, but owners who spend most tim...
Chad, FWIW, my colleague has an MKZ Hybrid and he gets 38 combined February through December and got around 36 mpg in January when we had "winter". So I don't know what your mpg would be but it would probably be better than Consumer Reports article that slammed it. It is a pretty nice car, the Fusion hybrid looks sharp inside and out but not as sharp as the MKZ.
Ford’s 3rd generation powersplit hybrid system
Output from Self-Organizing Map of attributes and component sizing. Each pixel in each 3d contour represents a design which plots an attribute against a design feature or a design feature against another design feature to identify optimum combinations to deliver desired effects. This is a ve...
83 mpg JA08 is going to be what in the newer US cycle? 65 mpg? Or more? The Prius gets 63 on the JA08 so if the Aqua got 83, it sounds like 65 mpg might be doable for the Aqua on the new EPA test cycle. I had thought that it was going to come in just under 60 mpg based on earlier comments but this is pretty impressive.
Toyota launches Aqua compact hybrid in Japan; targeting 12,000 units per month in sales
The Aqua hybrid. Click to enlarge. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) launched the Aqua gasoline-electric compact hybrid—to be marketed as the Prius c in the US—in Japan. The Aqua features a small 1.5-liter Toyota Hybrid System II (THS II) with reduction gear, which achieves fuel efficiency of ...
I missed the point by such a huge margin that I am rather embarrassed to return to the scene of my crime. I obviously thought that the 5C was a temperature.
I still wish there was a record of what the price per kWh was every month, if the past few years were documented in a site like this it would give us a better idea of what we could expect in the future.
High-capacity, high-rate Li-ion battery for HEV or EVs; mixed oxide cathode and Sn-C anode
The new battery features high energy content and high rate capability. Images of anode material (left) and cathode (right). Click to enlarge. Researchers from the University of Rome Sapienza (Italy) and Hanyang University (S. Korea) are developing a new advanced lithium-ion battery featuring...
85% at 5C? Isn't that setting the bar kind of low? It is below 0C nearly every morning for 3 months of the year so what kind of loss are we looking for during our morning commutes? I do like the fact that they spoke about both the cathode and anode instead of boasting about gains in one and not the other.
I wish GCC would have a monthly article on what the state of the art in wholesale and retail pricing, weight per kWh and expected life cycles for batteries that are currently being sold. It is useful to see what the universities claim to expect in 2 or 3 years, but it would be even more enlightening to see what the facts on the ground are, and how they have changed over the past few years.
High-capacity, high-rate Li-ion battery for HEV or EVs; mixed oxide cathode and Sn-C anode
The new battery features high energy content and high rate capability. Images of anode material (left) and cathode (right). Click to enlarge. Researchers from the University of Rome Sapienza (Italy) and Hanyang University (S. Korea) are developing a new advanced lithium-ion battery featuring...
Fuel efficiency gains might be useful, but if the US had had a way to produce clean, tasty drinking water in Iraq hundreds of American lives would have been saved. Nearly half of those truck convoys that were regularly attacked were carrying water.
Also in an environment like Iraq, a solar array linked to a battery park would have given BEV's a reliable energy source that again did not have to be shipped in by at risk truckers and escort teams.
But I think that the key word in this study is that there was no DIRECT military benefit. The indirect military benefits would be noticeable, and the military could possibly build technology that could be applied in a less expensive way in the civilian world.
RAND study concludes use of alternative fuels by US military would convey no direct military benefit; recommends energy efficiency instead
If the US military increases its use of alternative jet and naval fuels that can be produced from coal or various renewable resources, including seed oils, waste oils and algae, there will be no direct benefit to the nation’s armed forces, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Any benefits ...
56 mpg (US) in Europe, and what, 38 mpg for the models delivered here in the US? But we do get cupholders large enough for a 128 oz. big gulp.
Four new engines for next generation Kia Picanto
The new Kia Picanto. Click to enlarge. The new Kia Picanto, to make its global premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March, will offer four all-new powertrains—three versions of the 1-liter, three-cylinder Kappa engine (gasoline, flex-fuel and bi-fuel) and a single 1.2-liter four-cylinder gas...
I have been watching the ethanol debate for some time and the encouraging aspects of increasing efficiency and decreasing use of corn have been grindingly slow. The government puff pieces do show some improvements, like the article below:
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/factfict.pdf
And Pimental and Patzek have been pretty soundly debunked, as below:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/PimentelComments4_5_05.pdf
But it seems like the ethanol production efficiency is not improving much at all. Is that graph accurate? Has the yield on each gallon of gasoline invested in making ethanol still in the area it was around 1990?
Rats, I don't think those links are live, but they do have some interesting info if you care to cut and paste.
US EPA extends E15 fuel waiver to MY 2001-2006 light-duty vehicles
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waived a limitation on selling gasoline that contains more than 10% ethanol for model year (MY) 2001 through 2006 passenger vehicles, including cars, SUVs, and light pickup trucks. The waiver applies to fuel that contains up to 15% ethanol (E15). On 1...
Intriguing! The map above is pretty useless, but the only good map I can find is on a Gungho sort of Israeli website, but he does have the only decent map of the earlier Tamar find, and Rachel, the larger find is 47 km SW of Tamar, even further into Israeli waters. But the field itself is probably spread out over mainly Israeli but also Lebanese and Cypriot areas. I don't think it will extend past the Mari-B into the waters off of Gaza, but this really gives Israel an increasingly strong whiphand over the Arabs.
No wonder the Lebanese are screaming, first they have Israel to the south, making the desert bloom while the Lebanese are barely able to hold the Syrians at bay, let alone rebuild the healthy Lebanon of the past. Now Israel has an economy that is growing like gangbusters already, and you add in a find that rivals the North Sea. I think Iran will have to try to nuke Israel within 3 or 4 years or Israel will be so far ahead of the region that it will be impossible for the Arabs or Iran to keep up.
http://hashmonean.com/2010/06/16/future-war-israels-massive-natural-gas-reserve-discoveries-draw-enemy-eyes/
Noble Energy announces significant natural gas discovery at Leviathan offshore Israel
Noble Energy’s Eastern Mediterranean exploration. Source: Noble Energy. Click to enlarge. Texas-based Noble Energy, Inc. announced a significant natural gas discovery at the Leviathan exploration prospect offshore Israel. The results from the well confirm the pre-drill estimated resource ran...
I see it is only rated an 8.0, but it is an 8 out of 11, mind you. And 11 is louder.
How high would you rate "Spinal Tap"?
Someone recently pointed out IMDb's user rating of Spinal Tap is slightly unusual. --David
The other aspect of buses energy use is that it is intermittent. A bus travels for 1 to 2 hours at relatively low average speed, around 20 mph, which means total energy needed is relatively low. Then it parks at its destination for 10-20 minutes, changes the driver and then starts another trip on its route. Wouldn't that 10-20 minute wait give the bus to substantially recharge its battery, i.e. the battery would drain from its 100 mile range to 60 miles in a 2 hour circuit, then it would recharge to 80 miles, next circuit would draw it down to 40 miles, you recharge it longer over lunch to get it back to its full range, repeat as needed...
Just because a bus has just a 100 mile range it doesn't necessarily follow that the bus can only do 2 or 3 routes in a regular day, even if you mandate a 40 mile minimum reserve.
GE demonstrates dual battery system for electric buses; pairing high-energy density sodium battery with high-power lithium battery optimizes performance and lowers cost
Electric bus with dual battery system. Click to enlarge. The hybrid systems research team at GE Global Research has successfully demonstrated a dual battery system for an electric transit bus, pairing a high-energy density sodium metal halide battery with a high-power lithium battery. A123Sy...
Tim, what I know about ranching would make a rather short paper, I used to help out on my Grandfathers ranch and I do help on my Mom's ranch, but she didn't get her ranch until after I left Montana. But the way it seems to work for most ranchers in Montana is, calve in late March to early May, sell the calves in matched, sale-able lots (red angus in one bunch, black angus in another) in the fall & early winter. Usually keeping the runt or any calf that doesn't look the same as the rest or would affect the price you get at auction. Then you butcher the runt & the oddball in the fall of the next year when they are about 18-20 months, and eat it yourself of sell off a side or two.
Six Foods America Does Better Than Europe
#1? Beef. Nothing comes close to USDA Prime. Largely corn-fed, it has a richness of well-fatted flavor and, at its best — aged for weeks in ideal conditions — the primordial smell of animal that cooks up into a tender-but-not-soft slab of sizzling holy goodness. European beef is grass-fed and ba...
Impressive. All this tech and it gets 18 mpg in the city, 29 on the hwy. My CUV does better than that in the city.
CXL $26,249 2.4L I4 182 HP 19 / 30 mpg
CXL Turbo $28,745 2.0L I4 220 HP 18 / 29 mpg
GM highlights 32-bit Freescale microprocessor in Buick Regal direct injection engine control module
MPC5566 Block Diagram. Source: Freescale. Click to enlarge. The 2011 Buick Regal’s direct injection Ecotec 2.0L engine microcontroller features a 32-bit Freescale microprocessor that operates at 128 MHz—the fastest throughput engine microprocessor in the industry, according to Karla Wallace,...
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