5/15/2012 10:05:36 AM
It’s a fueling groovy morning as stories abound related
to all kinds of fuels and energy sources. First up is a new study from
the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development with findings that
growing use of
domestically produced ethanol
in the U.S. reduced gasoline prices last year by an average of $1.09
per gallon, up from an $0.89/gallon reduction in 2010. One of the
Professors involved in the research will be part of a media call at 2
eastern time this afternoon.
The brainiacs at Brookhaven National Lab have been doing some studying,
too, and the result could mean significantly lower costs for hydrogen,
leading to a new generation of emission-free
hydrogen fueled vehicles.
They are calling it “Goldilocks Chemistry” and what makes it just right
is instead of using expensive platinum ($50,000/kilogram) as the
catalyst for the chemical reaction to produce hydrogen, they’ve been
messing around with molybdenum ($32/kilogram) and nickel ($20/kilogram).
Total Transportation Services already has their eye on the fuel cell
prize as evidenced by signing a purchase order (PO) for 100
zero-emission Class 8 trucks
from Vision Industries. That’s a $27 million PO and the total value of
the contract is $108 million. TTS-I President Vic LaRosa sees signing
the agreement as a signal that the trucking industry has embraced the
zero-emission platform.
Baltimore is hailing the arrival of a new
propane autogas
fueling station as they roll out the red carpet for Veolia
Transportation to convert 300 of their taxis nationwide to the fuel.
Fifty Checker and Yellow Cabs in the city will run on LPG. Last summer
Waste Management was out with the news that their fleet included 1000
natural gas trucks.
This week the company has announced that they are adding 35 NG powered
collection trucks to their Houston fleet, and it will also include a
public NG fueling station. Last year Texas authorized an $8 million
annual allocation for converting trucks to NG and $2 million/year for
fueling infrastructure.
It could be me but San Francisco-based Mission Motors wins my 2012
ubiquity award. Not only are they at all of the “must attend”
conferences but even Jay Leno has invited them into his garage. The
company is a supplier of EV technology and they developed the
Mission-R electric motorcycle
to show what the technology can do. The small but growing company
believes that their motorcycle platform is the key to helping companies
get better hybrids and EVs into the market.
Crazy, Cool Gadgets is out, just in time for summer, with news about Audi’s B-Bike buzz. This bike allows enthusiasts to pop
wheelies eco-style.
The bike has a touch screen that allows for five riding options ranging
from pure mode (translated-you are the energy source) to eGrip which
provides electric power and can reach a speed of 35 MPH. Need a visual?
Check out Julien Dupont of Bavaria who has mastered the capabilities of
this light, sleek e-bike.