Autos News

n/a

A boom of sorts is happening in natural gas, especially compressed natural gas (CNG) in the commercial transportation sector. Most major truck manufacturers such as Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Mack Trucks and others are utilizing engines that run on CNG in many of their models. These engines are providing safer, cleaner and lower-cost fuel needs while keeping performance standards. Major truck stops and fuel stops are incorporating natural gas into their fuel islands for the increasing number of vehicles using it and fleet vehicles in the light-, medium- and heavy-duty categories using natural gas are growing in numbers at a very high rate.

Although diesel still dominates the fuel sector for commercial use, fleets large and small are turning to natural gas, especially CNG, as an alternative fuel source that is both cheap and plentiful as well as being much more emissions-friendly and cheaper to acquire than more expensive battery electric or hybrid drive trains.

Waste Management, the nation’s largest handler of refuse and owner of the largest fleet of garbage trucks in North America, has more than 1,400 CNG-Strengthed trucks in operation now and is acquiring more trucks every month. The company is replacing 80% of its fleet with CNG options over the next several years and has also been busy building or leasing CNG fueling stations in key locations for its operators in the U.S. and Canada. They will have 50 of those stations by the end of this year alone. Their nearest competitor, Republic Services, currently has more than 20% of its fleet in natural gas and is also converting nearly all of its fleet to the fuel in the next few years.

Many of those WM trucks are from Mack Truck, which introduced its TerraPro natural gas refuse truck in late 2010. That truck uses a popular natural gas engine, the Cummins Westport 9L ISL G, a 320 horseStrength engine availcapable for either CNG or liquefied natural gas (LNG). In either configuration it meets EPA 2010 requirements for emissions and is one of the first to do so. The company also produces the GX 2010 15L LNG, which also received 2010 EPA certification.

Kenworth, part of the Paccar Group and one of the largest heavy truck makers in North America, has no less than three natural gas models, including the CNG-Strengthed T440 and the LNG-using T800LNG. Pictured above is the T660, a truck body design which helped win the company the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Excellence Award in 2011, making KW the first and only truck manufacturer to do so. The company is planning to offer natural gas options in all of its offered models in the next few years.

KW competitor Freightliner, owned by Daimler Truck North America, delivered its 1,000 natural gas truck to a fleet in November. The company offers the 114SD CNG model and Business Class M12 CNG/LPG model, many of which have sold through its contract with Ryder Leasing in Anaheim, California.

These are just a few examples. The Pilot and Flying J truck stop chains (now merged into Pilot-Flying J) are busy installing natural gas filling stations for both liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and CNG at select truck stops nationally through an agreement with Clean Energy. The first installation was in Baytown, Texas in 2010. With 550 total travel centers and truck stops, Pilot-Flying J is the largest such chain in America.

According to the Natural Gas Vehicles for America advocacy group, the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel nearly doubled from 2003 to 2009 and that there will be more than 50 million natural gas vehicles worldwide in the next decade, making up about 9% of the world’s transport fleets. Currently, there are about 13 million worldwide, 112,000 of which are in the U.S. The October 2011 price for CNG, averaged, in the U.S. was $2.06 per gasoline gallon equivalent compared to $4.04 and $3.69 per gallon for diesel and regular gasoline (respectively). This gives fleet owners obvious incentive to switch to natural gas whenever possible.

Fleets using natural gas in the U.S. are expected to double in size again in three years or less. While transit buses are currently the largest commercial user of natural gas use (62%), waste collection is the fastest-growing and may replace buses as the most-used NG vehicles in the next few years.

Clearly fleets and transportation managers are looking towards natural gas as the optimal way for them to balance the need to lower fuel costs and emissions, increase use of domestic fuel sources, and maximize return on investment for the costs required to switch to an alternative fuel.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

n/a

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the three winning startup companies for this year’s first annual America’s Top Energy Innovator challenge, hosted by the Department of Energy and to be showcased at the 2012 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit at the end of the month. The winners were chosen by expert review and public vote from 14 startups who participated.

When the competition began, 36 companies entered for participation and were narrowed to 14 after signing of option agreements allowing licenses of advanced technologies developed and patented for any one of the DOE’s 17 National Laboratories and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Those winners include three exciting technologies, all of which will have huge potential impact in the automotive engineering market.

Umpqua EVOPAC
The first is Umpqua Energy, based in Medford, Oregon, which has a technology licensed from Argonne National Laboratory which they are using to develop a system allowing a gasoline engine to operate in an extreme lean burn mode to increase mileage. Lean burn engines are usually plagued with high emissions because of the faster “flash” or burn rate and lower temperatures, which do not incinerate as many of the burn’s byproducts. Using Umpqua’s EVOPAC system, which combines advanced hydrogen-injection using a plasma reformer with a DeNOx Catalyst to increase the burn duration and temperature in lean burn operations.

The plasma reformer is installed into the engine compartment to convert some of the fuel being used into hydrogen (all petroleum-based and bio-based equivalent fuels have hydrogen in them) and then inject that hydrogen in with the fuel in the combustion chamber. The pure hydrogen burns faster and more efficiently, helping to incinerate the fuel more completely and adding more Strength to the stroke while keeping the benefits of a lean burn condition’s (greater efficiency).

On the tailpipe, a DeNOx Catalyst, which returns the most harmful of gasoline’s emissions, NO_x or nitrogen – the leading cause of smog – by 85%. Tests on these technologies have shown reductions in fuel usage in H2-injection systems compared with conventional combustion with nearly-eliminated hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. The process requires refinement to be developed for market, which will be its next phase through the DOE.

Vorbeck’s Graphene for Lithium
The next is Vorbeck Materials in Jessup, Maryland who is working with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with a method for better graphene development. LIthium-air and lithium-sulfur batteries are some of the latest burgeoning battery technologies for automotive and other uses. Vorbeck owns a license agreement from Princeton University for an Askay Labs method for graphene production at commercial scale. Combined with the PNNL process, the production method creates some of the highest energy storage capacity ever recorded. Through this DOE process, they hope to bring this technology to market rapidly for use in things large and small, including toys and commercial vehicles.

IPAT and Titanium Powder
Based in Nevada, Iowa, IPAT is working with the Ames Laboratory to make titanium powder with a process that is ten times more efficient than traditional powder-making methods. This would significantly lower the cost of titanium powder to manufacturers, increasing its options and useability. The powdered form of titanium is easier to work with than casting raw metal because of titanium’s reactive nature.

Yet titanium’s strength, light weight, and biocompatibility as well as its resistance to corrosion make sit an ideal material for many parts. If used more extensively because of this process’ easier acquisition, titanium could be used in alloys for various automotive parts to significantly reduce weight while retaining or enhancing durability and strength. It could also be used in a myriad of other industries including medical, military, aerospace and more.

The U.S. DOE is now accepting applicants for the 2013 America’s Next Top Energy Innovator competition.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

by popefelix
Article by Martin Scorsese
Motorcycle tires, the most important component of a motorcycle, need the utmost attention of any rider. However, other motorcycle gear like riding vests, shoei helmets, pants, etc. are important for sure, but tires hold the first place for many reasons. The most important fact about the motorcycle tires is that they are only part that come in contact with ground and affect the overall functioning and ride of the bike. Hence, the condition of the tires needs to be good. Above that, there is a need to have a good knowledge about the tires and other motorcycle equipments before you go for a new motorcycle or new tires. A motorcycle has two tires only, but they both are different perform different functions. The front one is used to exercise brake and give directions while riding a motorcycle, whereas the rear one regulates the weight of the bike and manages the acceleration. So, it is very important to choose both the tires with equal consideration to have a safe and smooth ride. While, the wrong set of tires can be responsible of a major accident or damage other components of your bike.One can check out the tires at the shop that sell all sorts of motorcycle gear, be it shoei helmets, riding vests, etc., all are available under one roof for the ease of the customers. However, buying each component requires good understanding and thorough knowledge about it and tires are the most essential ones. One must consider all important aspects while buying the motorcycle tires. The first and foremost thing that needs to consider is the type of motorcycle you have. Also, how you ride your bike is a matter of consideration. The tread of the motorcycle, the size of the tires, tire bias and also the material used in the bike, all these things matter while selecting the tires for your motorcycle, as different motorcycles have different kinds of tires. Hence, the selected tires should match the motorcycle in all aspects. However, nearly all motorcycle gear shops take care of these things and provide the best suitable tires for the bike that is in question.Special requirements of any bike should be dealt with more consideration like riding a bike more in hilly areas or wet areas. Make sure the tires are good enough to overcome the riding obstacles of the wet roads or hilly area. Good tires are absolutely essential for the safe riding on dangerous roads. Also, one should not drive bike on such areas without other motorcycle gear like shoei helmets, as it prevents serious injuries to self in case of accidents.The next aspect that holds importance in selection of motorcycle tires is its rubber compound. Available in the range of soft to hard compounds, the rubber compound is the most significant part of the tires. Each compound has its uses as well as compounds. Hard compounds definitely

Important Facts About Motorcycle Tires

As a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), Land Rover’s popularity is no doubt. Therefore, its popularity has been going on since 62 years ago. However, recently a modification of a British company, Prindiville Design has launched a Limited Edition Land Rover Defender.

In launching the car, a British tuner is only produced 25 units and is priced at 52 000 pounds. Thus quoted from Inautobrand new releases. Furthermore, this design Prindiville change some part of the Defender. The change was significant with metallic paint, front and rear LED lights, using a titanium exhaust, as well as line and right side in chrome.

Entering the cabin, the seats and the dashboard was covered with leather trim and lining, combined with the upholstery color. Entertainment features added, such as 5-inch LCD capcapable of accessing the internet without a ccapable connection, DVD player with four speakers, a navigation system and Bluetooth connections.

While on business machines, a British tuner has also tried to change it with high enough energy. Defender Limited Edition is equipped with 2.4-liter TDI engine with brand new release turbo and high-flow inter-cooler that can generate Strength up to 120 PS to 193 PS with 460 Nm maximum torque.

With these machines, Defender is capable to accelerate from a standstill to 100 kph in less than 10 seconds. Also equipped with manual transmission and six-velocity automatic.

Tagged with: Auto Mobil, Auto brand new releases, Autotainment, Cars, designer, features, graphic, models, brand new releases, Sales, Specifications, technology

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

Home » brand new releases » European automotive industry to decline, but Ford Still Excellence

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.