While electric vehicles hold big promise in 2021, another aspect of decarbonizing transportation could get major support this year: reducing car driving.
Cutting down on car trips isn’t about guilt-tripping folks into abandoning cars. Many of us need to use cars. It’s about providing much better opportunities, infrastructure and incentives for alternatives to driving including walking, biking, micromobility and public transit, as well as better options for remote work and urban housing.
The 2021 National Biodiesel Conference and Expo happened the same week a new president was inaugurated, and that timing did not go unnoticed. From policy expectations to the environmental benefits of various fuel sources, here are some of the key takeaways for fleet operators from this event.
Livonia Public Schools has added 22 Blue Bird propane autogas-fueled buses to its fleet with funding received from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).
The district was granted $844,386.40 through EGLE’s Fuel Transformation Program to purchase propane school buses that began operation when Michigan schools opened for the 2020-21 school year.
Clean Power Capital Corp. has provided additional information about the technology being developed by PowerTap Hydrogen Fueling Corp., an investee company of Clean Power. PowerTap’s third generation onsite hydrogen production module unit is enhanced for blue hydrogen classification via Advanced Carbon Capture and using renewable natural gas as its main feedstock to generate blue hydrogen.
FRANKFURT, Germany — Ford announced a major push into electric vehicles in Europe, vowing to convert its entire passenger car lineup on the continent to electrics by 2030.
Ford will spend $1 billion to revamp its factory in Cologne, Germany, and make it a base for production of zero local-emission cars using Volkswagen’s mechanical framework, Stuart Rowley, president of Ford of Europe, said during an online news conference Feb. 17.
Lordstown Motors has released an update on its business plans that includes several bits of news.
The Ohio-based EV builder confirmed that it has signed a multi-year battery supply agreement with LG Chem for the Endurance. The upcoming electric pickup will use 2170 cylindrical cells like the ones used in Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y.
A patented technology to convert landfill gas to ethanol has been garnering attention, most notably from the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Plans are in the works to contract an independent engineering firm to conduct a technical, economic feasibility study for the technology at one of the city’s landfill sites.
The process was developed and patented by Bio-Thermal-Energy Inc. of Cedar Rapids, specifically to improve economics and reduce environmental impacts of landfills. Studies suggest the new process generates a net annual revenue, without a subsidy, and reduces carbon emissions from the landfill by more than 50%.
Honeywell, an international licensor of processing technology and supplier of engineering services, catalysts and equipment for the global refining and gas processing industries, has introduced a single-stage UOP Ecofining technology offering for the production of renewable diesel fuel.
The company notes the new single-stage technology is a fast-to-market, low capital cost solution that is ideal for repurposing an underutilized hydrotreating or hydrocracking unit, producing higher yields of renewable diesel fuel than other single-stage technologies.
The 2023 Baja 1000 challenge makes a lot more sense now.
Electric pickup truck fans, rejoice: you will soon have the option to buy one more vehicle. This is especially important for Nikola Badger‘s orphans, who thought they would eventually drive a pickup truck powered by hydrogen. That pickup truck is coming, and it challenged the Tesla Cybertruck even before it was revealed. Guys, meet the SCG 010 Zero.
This is the name of the vehicle Jim Glickenhaus plans to put on the 2023 Baja 1000 to beat the Tesla Cybertruck if Elon Musk accepts the challenge Glickenhaus proposed on December 30, 2020. At the time, he called that vehicle the Boot, which won the Baja 1000 in its class in 2019 and 2020.
With a recent order, Amazon Inc. is adding hundreds of compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks to its fleet as it looks for ways to reduce emissions in its operations, according to a recent article from Reuters.
The article goes on to say that due to various degrees of economic and social lockdowns – and restrictions implemented in the wake of COVID-19 – the country’s delivery sector experienced a spike in activity. Last year’s truck volumes exceeded 2019 levels. As the trucking sector increasingly looks to lower emissions, more and more companies are turning to clean fuels to meet their climate goals. Reuters writes that a majority of the country’s freight is delivered with medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which account for 20% of the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.
