Automotive Archives - Green Businesses

Nikola Positioned to Accelerate Hydrogen Economy

Competitive electricity price paves the way for hydrogen production in Arizona Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ: NKLA) has secured an innovative electric rate schedule with Arizona Public Service Company (“APS”) that makes possible the accelerated development of hydrogen-based fueling solutions for the transportation industry. Nikola is a company dedicated to the advancement of innovative zero-emissions truck solutions and the energy infrastructure required to make this feasible. By facilitating low-cost production of hydrogen, the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (“ACC”) approval of this rate schedule paves the way for the curtailment of greenhouse gases in the transportation sector, while also providing benefits to key constituents via novel grid-balancing solutions. Today’s unanimous approval of this agreement by the ACC provides Nikola with a competitive electric rate specifically designed for the production, processing, and dispensing of hydrogen. This will support, among ot…

200 Mile range Helps New Chevy Bolt Crack the EV Code

All New. All Electric. All Good. Electric Avenue is abuzz at CES 2016 this week about the 2017 Chevy Bolt. GM Chief Engineer for Electrified Vehicles, Pamela Fletcher, talks with John McElroy about the upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EV and how the company believes it has cracked the EV code. Not only does the Bolt have a 200-mile range and a price around $30,000, but it has has plenty of interior space and was designed for both personal and shared use. Car Sharing is one of the hot topics at CES, and the Bolt features easy connectivity for multiple users. Watch the video below and share your thoughts on the latest EV.

The Greenest and Meanest Cars for 2015 – No “Mr. Fusion” DeLorean on the List Yet!

Modern cars have come a long way from their gas guzzling roots and with our consumer priorities becoming ever greener each year– ratings and rankings are more important to car manufacturers than ever. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 18th annual environmental ratings for vehicles on its newly launched website greenercars.org, which provides an online database containing vehicle environmental scores for models from the year 2000 to present. Ranked number one in the list of top twelve green cars is the third generation of the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. The only conventional gas fueled car to make the list is the Mitsubishi Mirage (renamed Space Star) landing in tenth place. The rest were either plug-in electric vehicles or hybrids. Aptly named by ACEEE as the Greenest and Meanest lists, here are rankings: Greenest List: 1 Mercedez-Benz Smart Fortwo Elec. Drive Convertible / Coupe 2 Chevrolet Spark EV …

New Study: Bioenergy May Be Bad News for Forests, Climate

Resource: Global Forest Reporting Network BioFuels like Ethanol have more than just an image problem (Growing food vs growing fuel). Now a new report from the World Resources Institute finds that dedicating land to the production of biofuels may undermine efforts to achieve a sustainable food future, combat climate change, and protect forests. The problem, of course, is that if you dedicate land to growing crops like sugarcane, corn, soybeans, or wood solely for the production of biofuels, you can’t use that land to grow food--or as a carbon sink. We already use a whopping three-fourths of the world’s vegetated land for crops, livestock grazing, and wood harvests, according to the WRI paper. And the remaining land really should be left as is, since it protects clean water, supports biodiversity, and stores carbon. Watch this video about new biofuels made from cellulose with the help of a bacteria under the development of AE Biofuels, which acquired Zemetis in 2011.

Move Over George Jetson – it’s the Apple iCar!

Since Valentine’s Day online news has been exploding around the rumor of an Apple iCar in the works. The first breaking of the story came from the Wall Street Journal with the inspiring headline “Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars”. The article goes on to cite several interesting tidbits surrounding a secret R&D project called “Titan” lead by respected Apple VP Steve Zadesky, such as: Steve has recently traveled to Austria to meet with car manufacturers Steve has been given permission by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, to build a 1000 person team to work on his car project. Sources say that he has been recruiting people internally from different departments within Apple as well as poaching talent from the likes of Tesla that have automotive expertise. An unsolicited email sent from an “Apple Employee” to Business Insider about Vehicle Development stated “"Apple's latest project is too exciting to pass up," ….."I think it will change the landscape and give …

This Bus is Powered by Your Waste. Holy Sh*t!

New York City was first with it’s No-Idling laws, but the UK, it seems, won’t settle for #2. Unless of course it’s the #2 (Human waste) that just happens to be fueling the first-of-its-kind city bus. The 40-seater Bio-Bus runs on fuel generated from treated sewage and food waste and helps improve urban air quality as it produces fewer emissions than traditional diesel engines. The bus can travel up to 200 miles on a full tank of gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works – a plant run by GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water. Up to 10,000 passengers are expected to travel on the Bio-Bus each month. It’s not petrol, bio-diesel or natural gas. It’s Biomethane, and can even be used to power up to 8,500 homes, and although the bus's graphics seem to imply it’s a moving shitter, the fuel is actually a product of Bristol sewage treatment, which treats around 75 million cubic meters of sewage waste and 35,000 tons of food waste through a process known as anaerobic digestio…