The battery can also be produced onto a sheet form and can carry larger amount of electricity. The added capacity can be beneficial for electric vehicles and add up to their range per charging. Using them on Evs may mean 1,000 kilometers or so per single charge compared to today’s electric cars which can travel 200 kilometers or a bit more at most.

The lithium-ion batteries that we have at the moment are using organic liquid electrolytes which require stricter safety precautions. Using them in a large scale set up means more complicated set up and very high cost. These issues can be addressed by using solid electrolytes. The use of solid electrolytes right now is hindered by their conductive properties.

An article by Toyota appeared on the pages of Nature relating the development of Li10GeP2S12 which is a lithium superionic conductor with new 3D structural framework. The proponents of the project reported of the highest conductivity for a solid state electrolyte in room temperature even surpassing that of the liquid electrolyte.

There are several advantages when using a solid state lithium-ion battery. Some of these are big potential, high conductivity, stability, safety since it is non-explosive, and easier fabrication.

The replacement of conventional vehicles with alternative fuel and/or electric vehicles will be done by the Virginia Office of Fleet Management Services whose office has been overlooking the operations of about 4,000 passenger vehicles. These 4,000 conventional vehicles are being uses by over 175 agencies and institutions across the state.

According to the executive order, the state is adamant in pursuing cost-effective and practical options to pursue, promote, and encourage the usage of alternative-fuel and/or electric vehicles. Moreover, Governor McDonell expressed that the move to resort to unconventional vehicles will largely decrease the long-standing dependence on foreign oil.

Relatively, the use of alternative-fuel/electric vehicles will create jobs in the Commonwealth and expand local businesses in the private sector. Lastly, this alternate fuel move will also give the Commonwealth the biggest chance to meet its goals.

More and more cities/states are seeing the benefits and practical sense of using alternative-fuel/electric vehicles.

Likewise, more and more car companies are participating in the assessment programs done in various cities all over the world to see how electric vehicles will par in everyday life. The use of such will also help in cleaning up the environment. It wouldn’t come as a surprise when one day, all of the public passenger vehicles will be powered with alternate fuel.

The plug-in vehicles can be rented starting December 15 in New York. The rental scheme of the green vehicles will soon be rolled out to San Francisco, Texas, Washington DC, and London by next year. Hertz is also studying the possibilities of extending the services to different colleges and universities in N. America and may be even in China by the last quarter of 2011.

The process of renting a plug-in vehicle with Hertz is pretty simple but the number of green cars available is quite limited. Hertz is limiting the services to members only. Those who are interested can sign up via the website of Hertz. There is a variable fee collected for the membership. Upon payment, the members will be asked to submit some information. The rental agency will contact the member for availability of the vehicles.

Slots are expected to fill up quickly since Hertz will only have 1,000 vehicles by the end of 2011 with only 20 cars joining the program by midyear. Book asap if you want to try these green cars.

The first trial that was a pilot was run through this month and it was successful. Seeing this the first phase of this project is going to have 60 Think City Eco friendly cars. These cars will be available to the tourist for hire for Euros 45 only per day. These are going to be stationed outside tourists hotels, and resorts. This will be marketed online by Alpmobil the company so that tourists can book these cars before they arrive at the Alps.

There are several battery charging stopovers located all over the city so as to make it convenient for the tourists to go on to recharge them. This is an extremely fun and affordable way to travel around the Alps and at the same time ensures that you are able to use renewable electric source which is powered by hydroelectricity. If you are concerned about the planet then you will love this most unique and innovative of ways to travel around. This car, rightly called the City can travel as fast as up to 70 miles per hour. Once you have recharged it you will be able to travel 100 miles before you need to recharge it once more.

The most likely environmentally friendly van of the future is one that runs on a mixture of ethanol and petroleum. The goal is to have vehicles that run on a half and half mixture. Since ethanol doesn’t produce the same emissions as petroleum it will reduce the amount of carbon released into the environment. The biggest problem with this approach is getting enough ethanol. Ethanol is a biofuel and is produced from crops like corn. Given that we currently have trouble feeding all of the worlds people using food to fuel cars is not really a good solution. Especially given the massive amounts of ethanol that would be needed. In order to run every car on a mixture of half ethanol would require more crops than we currently produce in total. Ethanol is a short term way to reduce pollution but it isn’t really a long term solution, so when you’re considering a Van Lease, it’s not the best option!

The next most likely technology to create an environmentally friendly van is the the electric motor. The plan here is to create a van that can be plugged in to charge it and that also contains a small gas generator as a supplement. The problem here is that we are a long way from producing batteries for electric cars that have a long enough life to be practical. The gas generator is a solution to this problem but nor an ideal one. The other problem with electric cars is that there is no plan for where all the electricity is going to come from. We are struggling to meet our current electricity needs, replacing all of the cars on the road with electric cars would effectively double our electricity requirement.

Most people believe the best solution will eventually be hydrogen fuel cells as a means of powering an environmentally friendly van. Although this technology is farther into the future. There are currently working fuel cells that have demonstrated that the technology works but there are still hurdles involved in putting them into large scale use. The biggest issue here is likely to be getting the hydrogen.

Hydrogen is relatively plentiful and easy to extract but there is currently no infrastructure in place to make it available to the ordinary driver. This creates a bit of a chicken and the egg problem. Nobody is going to buy a fuel cell car unless hydrogen is readily available but nobody is going to sell hydrogen unless there are customers with fuel cell cars to buy it.

The Minister for Science and Technology announced the funding during the launch of the project held at the Institute for Marine Biosciences of the National Research Council.

Other organizations and industrial partners are also pouring financial support amounting to about C$1.2M plus some help in kind.

The initial stage of the project involves making a cultivation plant with a capacity of 50,000 liters along the Ketch Harbour. The algae will rely on carbon dioxide from combustion of fossil fuel to aid its growth.

Carbon2Algae, an industrial partner of the project, plants to setup photobioreactors of algae to capture the CO2 expelled by powerplants in Alberta which will allow the local algae to thrive.

In the future, it will be possible to operate an algae facility next to a generating plant using fossil fuel. The short term goal of the researchers will be to find the best species of algae that will be optimal for biofuel production.

Researchers in Nova Scotia have been growing and studying algae for more than five decades now. At the moment, they are looking into 64 species of algae which have already been collected. Twenty four of the specimens are being cultivated while six of these are under intensive scrutiny because of their impressive oil yields.

Moves to optimize the CNG-fueled spark injection for the parallel hybrid powertrain can be traced back to the year 2006. During the latter part of the year, IVK, FKFS, Robert Bosch, and Opel were already collaborating on a natural gas hybrid vehicle project. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

According to reports, for the past two years, efforts to downsize and downspeed were made to establish a lower CO2 emitting vehicle in the market. The researchers made it a point not to sacrifice the performance of the engines despite the lower levels of CO2 released. Instead, they worked on shifting the engine operations to higher loads which in turn also helped to make the machine’s brake specific functions more energy efficient.

By using a hybrid power train layout, possibilities for a turbocharged ICE became broader. Researchers state that this will enhance the efficiency of the whole range operation. The active waste gate control also contributes by improving the machines performance on all speeds. The basic underlying principle of the methods that were implemented is this: they minimized the pumping mean effective pressure (PMEP) to increase the engine’s fuel efficiency.

Controlled Power Technologies, a company in the United Kingdom was able to find a way to harness electricity and use it to run a supercharger that can help improve the performance of combustion engines and reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

CPT was able to build VTES or Variable Torque Enhanced Systems. This is the electrically run supercharger which is an enhancement of conventional superchargers that uses belts connected to the crankshaft of the vehicle’s engine to save fuel during heavier power demands. They were able to demonstrate that the VTES reduces the emission of the combustion engine and make it as efficient as diesel engines.

CPT collaborated with a German company that develops vehicle power trains. They paired the turbocharger with a demo unit of the Volkswagen Passat and were able to plot impressive results. A standard VW Passat with the same configuration gives off 194g/km of carbon dioxide while the one which used the electric supercharger recorded 159 g/km.

According to engineers from CPT, the supercharger can be used with any diesel or gas engines even if they are configured with turbochargers.

The British company aims to mass produce the electric supercharger. No car manufacturer has forged a deal with them as of now but the potential for the product is very high. They also plan to sell to individuals but they are still finalizing the marketing details about the move. Can you imagine a Pony Car with an electric supercharger on the V8?

The proponents of the research see a direct correlation between consumer acceptance of electric vehicle technology and batteries being sold separately.

At first look, consumer may be hesitant on buying a $15,000 battery pack with their vehicles. They might be thinking that the battery technology is not yet proven and it may have issues on longevity and durability. EV owners may also think that the car they purchased may not fit their need in the long run and will be a bit reluctant on getting the battery as part of the total cost.

Car manufacturers looked into the study and are following what it suggests. Nissan is not yet decided if it will include the battery with their LEAF and considers leasing the battery as another product. Other major car makers have long decided that leasing the battery is the right way to go.

Marketing wise, the cost of the vehicle with the battery also makes the price appear to be a lot lower. Car buyers do not see the rolled in cost if the $15K battery comes with the package. Most buyers see the monthly leasing battery fee as a more affordable option.

Experts expect a turn around in the attitude of consumers as soon as feedback with regard to battery and electric vehicle technology start to come in. When this time comes, consumers may want the battery to come with the total cost and they may see some other use for the car battery pack after it has served its purpose with their EVs.

Adding to the upgrading of their vehicles, CCE also said that they now have a heavier duty hybrid tractor. The said vehicle is aimed at supporting a 55,000 lbs gross vehicle combination weight. The said innovation is a welcome development for the company’s 33,000 lbs gross vehicle weight.

CCE’s newest truck is designed with a hybrid powertrain for heavier loads. The new hybrid tractor is also in line with CCE’s campaign toward less energy consumption. The new truck is said to consume 305%less fuel that that of its old counterparts. CCE officials also said that the truck is said to produce 30% less of their old hybrid truck’s emissions.

The popular beverage company is not entirely new to the hybrid campaign. CCE has, in fact, started their research for hybrid trucks since 2001. The company has partnered with their suppliers in the search for hybrid electric trucks.

As of press time, CCE has deployed hybrid electric cars in different cities in North America. Some of them include Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto and Washington DC. Company officials said that the new hybrid acquisitions are planned to be deployed.