China’s Ministry of Railways spent $88 billion on HSR projects in 2009 – part of an existing $300 billion plan to expand and connect all of the country’s major cities with a projected 10,000 miles of HSR lines by 2020. Clean Edge included high-speed rail for the first time in its annual Clean Energy Trends report which tracks key developments in clean-energy markets.
“The U.S. innovation machine is the greatest in the world,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu as he spoke at Stanford on March 7. He outlined the potential for breakthroughs in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and in batteries. He outlined a new Industrial Revolution as he presented solutions for the latest climate risks.
Fleet managers of utilities, universities, and city delivery will be evaluating this new battery-electric truck. As I turn and accelerate on the busy city street, the vehicle is silent. I cannot even hear the electric motor. Zero to 60 in 11 seconds is nothing to brag about, but the acceleration was adequate on the level street. By partnering with Azure and JCS, Ford will be one of the first to delivery commercial freeway-speed electric vehicles in the United States.
Ford outsold Toyota in February in the United States. Ford’s monthly sales were up 43 percent over February 2009, while Toyota sales dropped 9 percent. Ford’s growing success comes at a time when Toyota is recalling millions of vehicles, and suspending sales of key models, due to accelerator pedal problems. More customers now feel safer in a Ford, Mercury, or Lincoln than in a Toyota or Lexus. Toyota commands four of the top 10 positions of Clean Fleet’s 2010 Hybrids with Best Mileage, but Ford plans on changing that with new hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars.
Yes, biodiesel and other transportation fuels can be made from algae, but after decades of effort the fuel is still expensive and only made in lab-scale quantities. There are many obstacles to replacing petroleum with algal fuel in this decade, yet hundreds of millions are being invested in algal fuel companies such as Sapphire Energy, Aurora BioFuels, BARD, Solix, GreenFuel, and Solazyme. From Boeing to BP, from DARPA to DOE, and from Arch Venture Partners to Bill Gates, serious money is betting that algae will someday be a major fuel source for our trucks, ships, and planes.
Google finally won FERC approval to be an electric utility. Now that they are making billions delivering web ads, do they want to make added billions selling electricity? Quite possibly. The U.S. total grid load is about 417 GW. If all U.S. cars will converted to V2G plug-ins with an average of 15 kWh per vehicle, they would provide 2,865 GW. A U.S. fleet of electric vehicles could provide 7X entire electricity needed in U.S.
Most of the 220,000 U.S. Postal Service vehicles only travel 20 to 25 miles per day making them a good match with the range of an electric vehicle. Hundreds of stops make hybrids and electrics ideal for capturing braking energy and regenerating the batteries. A bill is now being debated in Congress, the American Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Act, that would enable the USPS to have 20,000 vehicles with electric drive systems, including 2,000 pure battery-electric.
Ford Motor Company unveiled the all-electric version of the Ford Transit Connect – the 2010 North American Truck of the Year – at the Chicago Auto Show and confirmed the zero-emissions small van will be in fleet operators’ hands later this year. The 2011 Transit Connect Electric will use a Force Drive electric powertrain manufactured and integrated by Azure Dynamics who has built electric delivery truck drive systems for the U.S. Post Office, Purolator Courier, and Fed Ex.
Americans are spending 20 percent of their income on transportation. Big Oil and Big Ag are fighting for their share of that money by trying to control the EPA and pass new legislation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy.
Higher sales for every brand and in every product category propelled Ford to a 24 percent sales increase in January versus a year ago. Ford captured a 16.4 percent of the U.S. market, up from 14 percent in January 2009. Ford took the #2 spot from Toyota who is suffering from a massive recall and lawsuits related to braking problems. Toyota’s January share fell to 14.2 percent, from 17.9 last January. GM remains #1 in the U.S. at 21 percent, up from 19.6 last January.