Detroit 2008: Johnson Controls shows off its lithium-ion battery technology originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ask any pragmatic member of the automotive community when we might see a hydrogen-powered vehicles (fuel cell or internal-combustion engine), and the answer will probably range from "several years" to "several decades". General Electric looks to be trying to push that towards the lower end of the range with a prototype electrolysis device that promises low-cost hydrogen.

GE has replaced certain expensive metal components in the electrolysis process with Noryl, an inexpensive thermoplastic (although not by the standards of the resin world!). We're guessing that this is Noryl GTX, which was developed for use in electrostatic paint processes and thus is electrically conductive by means of embedded carbon fibers. By doing so, the cost of hydrogen may potentially plummet from $8/kilogram to $3/kilogram, or what is said to be in the same realm as current gasoline prices (presumably, this still doesn't include the costs of storing the hydrogen in a practical "fuel tank").

As the saying goes - what should come quickly usually takes a lot longer than anyone thinks, and what looks to be way out on the horizon often appears much more quickly than anyone expects. The category that hydrogen happens to fall into remains to be seen.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

GE works on cheaper hydrogen electrolysis originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 07 Jun 2006 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Land Rover North American VP Richard Beattie was on the podium in New York to show Americans the Land Rover Land_e, which makes use of the company's e-Terrain technology to provide improvements in emissions and fuel economy, without impacting on- or off-road performance. Included in its technology portfolio are an integrated starter-generator, an electric motor in the rear drive axle that provides tractive power and also enables the "seamless" propshaft disconnect and use of Ford's Powershift dual-clutch semiautomatic transmission. The concept was billed in Geneva as being powered by a biodiesel oil-burner, but apparently Land Rover thought that we'd be more impressed if they told us 'mericans that it ran on E85 (when the prototype is a series of flashing lights and not actual hardware, it's easy to make such changes).

The chaps from Land Rover also announced Go Beyond TV, which makes the brand "the first auto maker to offer [its] own broadband TV station". The programming is said to focus more on the "Land Rover brand spirit" than the SUVs themselves, with six different "channels" (Places, People, Adventure, Sport, Culture, and Land Rover) of lifestyle programming.

We've posted a few more live shots of the Land_e after the jump.  

Continue reading New York Auto Show: Land Rover Land_e makes Stateside debut

New York Auto Show: Land Rover Land_e makes Stateside debut originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 18 Apr 2006 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.