We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

BMW brought 80 software developers and computer programmers together to tackle the themes of sustainability and electro-mobility in a hackathon last month. BMW hosted the Sustainability Hackathon to deal with a widespread problem – electric vehicles that get parked at charging stations – for example, during the workday – for extended periods of time beyond the few hours needed for charging.

One typical problem the coders were trying to solve was this: a driver shows up at a charge station needing just a few minutes of charging to reach his destination, but there's another car hooked up. The solution could be to anonymously contact the driver of the parked car to request permission to charge for a few minutes, and reconnect the original car upon completion. The winning apps in the contest would enable this sort of communication to more efficiently use charging stations. Fifteen apps for smartphones and mobile phones competed for first place in seven award categories. A total of $3,000 in prize money was awarded to the most practical, creative apps. The Hacker League page has a list of categories and winners.

The event, held April 27-29 at BMW's Technology Office in Mountain View, CA, was sponsored by BMW's car sharing subsidiary DriveNow and charging station network developer ChargePoint.

Demand for the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid is strong enough that Ford will change the production mix from 20 percent to 30 percent hybrids for the 2014 model year.

It's part of an overall MKZs comeback, which saw sales increase in April sales now that the car is no longer quite as slow to roll of the line. MKZ sales more than doubled last month, hitting the 4,000 units sold mark for the first time and setting an all-time monthly sales record for the Lincoln brand.

Ford is targeting younger customers for the MKZ. The MKZ is doing especially well in the coastal areas. Los Angeles is the fastest growth market where retail sales more than tripled, lead by the MKZ hybrid, said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of US marketing, sales and service. In LA, the hybrid made up about 60 percent of MKZ retail sales.

With the exception of the Lincoln Navigator, the other members of the Lincoln family had a very poor sales month. The MKS plummeted 44 percent, the MKX dipped eight percent and the MKT dropped 31 percent.

The Ford brand did much better in April, with the F-Series pickup, Fusion sedan and Escape crossover each seeing impressive gains – and the Ford models sell much higher unit volumes than Lincolns do. The Taurus sedan, Flex crossover and Transit Connect were the only Ford models that dropped in sales during the month.

Back in October of last year, the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid was given a combined 45 miles per gallon rating. At that time, it was behind the Ford Fusion Hybrid's 47 mpg estimate. These days, that 45 mpg rating for the MKZ Hybrid is looking pretty darn good.

The official, revamped website for Fisker Automotive appears to be more of an homage to the company's focus on style rather than an accurate snapshot of the struggling automaker's actual troubles.

When you click on the homepage, you'll see red, white and blue images of its elegantly designed Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid sports car, which Bob Lutz said is "quite possibly the most beautiful four-door sedan ever." Click on the "Tomorrow" tab to see images of the Atlantic, Sunset and Surf models – which we all know may never make it to dealer showrooms. Fisker offers up a hopeful message, though: when you scroll over "Tomorrow," a pop-up reads, "Tomorrow never dies."

The redesigned website has taken awhile to be launched. On April 24, the site was down all day, right at the same time as Fisker and the US Department of Energy were being raked over the coals during a Congressional hearing. There were also court papers discovered taking Fisker to task for unpaid bills, including the designer of the website and mobile apps claiming the company owed $535,000.

Whatever the backstory is, there are still some glitches on the site. Click on the "Press" tab and the "Contact" page comes up. The inquiries[at]fiskerautomotive.com is the only contact point mentioned (three times), but when you try emailing that address, it gets bounced back as undeliverable. In the FAQ, the "Are there other Fisker models?" question does not mention the Atlantic at all. Also, the "About Fisker - Story" link also goes nowhere, which is poetic and telling.

The city of Lansing, MI, will reduce emissions and save money on its electric bill by going solar. Lansing celebrated Earth Day with the installation of a five-kilowatt solar carport, called "Energy Parking," supplied by Italian company Giulio Barbieri S.p.A. and its Canadian partner renewz sustainable solutions inc.

The installation of the solar charging station at the riverside City Market will generate enough renewable energy to recharge the plug-in vehicle fleet of the Lansing Board of Water & Light, the municipal utility that provides electricity and water to the residents of Lansing. It's projected to reducing Lansing's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 115 tons and power about 300,000 miles of clean driving over the next 25 years.

The EV charging station was developed by renewz with chargers by Eaton and solar panels by SILFAB Americas; LED lighting and highly visible side and top banners were also installed. The modular aluminum structure was designed with Michigan weather in mind. The structure is 100 percent waterproof and fully wind, snow and seismic code compliant.

Giulio Barbieri, founder of his company based in Ferrara, Italy, thinks the Lansing installation places his company in a strong position to serve the growing renewable energy market in the US. Sass Peress, CEO of renewz, says the solar canopy was built in the city that will soon assemble the Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid and demonstrates how municipalities can power fleets sustainably.

Lansing's solar chargers might offer a solution to the city of Watertown, NY. City Attorney Robert Slye recently determined that installing charging stations in a municipal parking lot would be unconstitutional. New York state's comptroller issued the same opinion to the city of Ogdensburg, NY. It looks like New York and its municipalities may not allow public charging projects unless users can be charged for the electricity. Perhaps creating free electricity from solar power could be a win-win situation for New York?

States and municipalities are getting creative as they look for ways to raise tax revenues from electric cars. More and more plug-in vehicles are on the roads each year, and as gasoline-engine vehicles become more fuel efficient, there's simply less fuel tax revenue coming in. New Jersey is considering a tax scheme that will seem more reasonable to some and unfair to others.

The average EV driver would pay over $100 in extra taxes each year.

New Jersey state Sen. James Whelan (D-Atlantic) has sponsored S2531, which, if enacted would charge EVs a fee of 0.00839 cents per mile. For the average EV being driven about 12,000 miles per year, that comes out to $100.68 in tax. That's higher than what gasoline-powered vehicle drivers are paying. New Jersey's current state tax is 14.5 cents per gallon. If that car drives 12,000 miles per year and gets an average of 25 miles per gallon, that would come out to $69.60 in taxes per year. Of course, federal taxes increase the overall amount for gasoline-engines, making the gasoline tax fairly close to what electric vehicles would be taxed if the bill becomes law.

Electric vehicles are not specifically named in the S2531 bill, but internal combustion engines are exempted. For now, the bill, "Establishes mileage-based fee on passenger vehicles; exempts passenger vehicles from motor fuels tax."

New Jersey's proposal might be more affordable than other states. Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Virginia, Arizona and Texas have proposed or enacted electric vehicle taxes and they vary by how much the EV owner would end up paying. They're based on fixed fees, mileage charges and other means as governments try to recoup some of the fuel tax revenue lost to EVs.

Oregon government officials are considering a bill that would enact a per-mile tax for plug-in and highly fuel efficient vehicles. Fees would be charged for vehicles that get at least 55 mpg. The fee would be about a cent and a half per mile, coming out to about $230 annually for cars being driven about 15,000 miles per year. Ouch.

Officials in the San Francisco bay area are taking a more "technology neutral" approach to raising transportation taxes. They're studying a plan to tax drivers by the number of miles driven instead of number of gallons burned – drivers could be charged less than a penny or up to a dime per mile. To determine mileage, cars registered in the area would be fitted with a GPS device to track the number of miles traveled. Double ouch.

EVs are feeling the brunt of these new taxes nationwide. For EV owners who already pay more overall for the electric car and a home charging station than they would for a small ICE car, that has got to be annoying.

General Motors has signed on to the Ceres "Climate Declaration," which is dedicated to stopping – and therefore acknowledges – climate change. While other major corporations like Starbucks, Ikea, Intel and eBay also signed on, GM is the only automaker so far to do so.

The signing took place at the Ceres Conference in San Francisco, and was organized by sustainability advocacy group Ceres and its Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP) coalition. Signers of the declaration are calling on policymakers to deal with climate change by promoting clean energy, energy efficiency and limiting carbon emissions.

Climate change tends to go through periods of public support, followed soon by waning interest. The petition does not in any way say that humans are responsible for climate change. Last year, GM got into trouble for funding the climate-change-denying Heartland Institute. Owner revolt ended that.

GM has worked with Ceres for more than two decades to refine its sustainability strategies. Ceres has been pushing for its mission of reducing climate change while building economic opportunities and job creation. In 2011, the group supported the strong 54.5 mpg by 2025 federal mandate, and actually wanted the limit to be set even higher.

UK-based transmission engineering and control specialist Vocis wants to take electric vehicles in another direction, one with dual clutch transmissions. Vocis says its dual clutch transmissions provide seamless shifting and up to 15 percent improvement in EV efficiency. Vocis' DCT is currently on display in a Mercedes-Benz Vito minibus demonstration vehicle.

Many EV powertrans use a single e-machine (motor/generator). Vocis uses two smaller e-machines, each driving a separate input shaft. It's described as an eDCT (electric dual clutch transmission) and resembles a DCT configuration – but with two motors instead of twin clutches.

A multi-speed transmission offers faster acceleration and a higher top speed than a single e-machine. This improves hill climbing and pull-away performance, and its higher ratios in the transmission can provide more efficient high-speed cruising.

The multi-speed transmission can also help reduce the cost, because a smaller battery battery pack combined with the multi-speed transmission can deliver the same traveling range as a larger battery on a single-speed EV. Smaller battery, lower cost.

The eDCT was designed with modular architecture to make it pliable for a wide range of vehicle types, said Richard Taylor, technical director of Vocis Driveline Controls. The motors can be installed parallel to each other or on opposite sides of the unit, providing layout flexibility. Vocis' second-generation unit has received partial funding from the Niche Vehicle Network, a specialist car and chassis manufacturer association. It also was nominated for an SMMT Automotive Innovation Award last year.

Vocis first showed off its EV two-speed transmission during the Low Carbon Vehicle Event 2011 at Rockingham Motor Speedway in the UK. It was fitted for yet another minibus – this one a prototype electric minibus developed with powertrain supplier Zytek.

If the US would like to stop importing 80 percent of its lithium, mainly from China, and if Bolivian sources don't come through, it looks like there is a big domestic opportunity: Wyoming. Having an ample domestic supply would bring down the price of lithium, which could mean electric vehicles would become more cost competitive.

Researchers at the University of Wyoming have found quite a lot of lithium in Rock Springs Uplift, a geological section of southwest Wyoming. Data collection is early, but so far it suggests that brines within a 25-square mile area could offer 228,000 tons of lithium. It's nearly twice as large as the nation's current largest lithium producer, which is located in Silver Peak, NV.

The university's discovery highlights several advantages of tapping Wyoming's lithium reserves. For one, Rock Springs Uplift's storage site is located within 30 miles of the world's largest industrial soda ash supplies. Production of lithium from brines requires soda ash, and being that close to such a large supply reduce delivery costs. Another factor is that a process that adds to lithium cost is removing its magnesium, which needs to be done before lithium can power batteries. The brines from Rock Springs Uplift contain much less magnesium than brines at other existing mining operations. The third positive aspect deals with extraction through heat and pressure. Rock Springs Uplift brines are so far underground that they're already at a higher pressure and temperature than brines at existing lithium operations. These natural conditions eliminate a step in the process, bringing costs down even more.

All this makes us think that lithium could become a factor in an emerging domestic energy system, in some ways like the current boom in natural gas. If that happens, here's hoping that no bad news comes of it, because we've had enough of side effects like methane leaks.

Two days after a Congressional hearing about a US Department of Energy loan to Fisker Automotive, Bob Lutz wrote a column pondering what should be done to stop the financial hemorrhaging at the company that builds – well, used to build – the Karma extended-range sports car. When Lutz was vice chairman at General Motors, a federal bailout kept that company's factories open and helped bring the Chevrolet Volt to market. So, should the same sort of logic be applied here and Fisker given access to more money? Lutz wrote, "After all, the feds bailed out GM! What's the difference? Ah, there is one! GM was a product powerhouse, preparing the best line of cars and trucks in the last 50 years."

Lutz had good things to say about the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid itself, calling it "quite possibly the most beautiful four-door sedan ever" and that the powertrain technology was ground-breaking (while acknowledging that it is similar to what the Volt uses). But there were a host of problems: battery pack issues, the A123 bankruptcy, losing 800 Karmas in New Jersey following the hurricane and producing a very small volume of cars for sale all worked together to place Fisker in world of trouble, Lutz wrote.

The Fisker Karma is "quite possibly the most beautiful four-door sedan ever" - Bob Lutz.

GM, on the other hand, was dragged down by "overwhelming legacy costs." Lutz didn't elaborate, but these are usually considered to come from GM's labor union contracts and the massive costs of manufacturing too many cars through too many brands. In short, Lutz is basically saying GM was too big to fail but an ambitious start-up like Fisker is not a good investment. But he did forgot to mention Tesla Motors, another DOE automotive loan recipient that seems to be working out pretty well.

Lutz wants to see Fisker survive, if for no other reason than to support his investment in VL Destino which he designed with industrialist Gilbert Villereal. This performance sedan is built using a Karma body with with a Corvette drivetrain and Lutz says demand is strong for the VL Destino while electric Karmas are just languishing on dealer lots. He also wrote, "The green craze is, frankly, ebbing, and interest in conventional cars remains strong."

In the end, Lutz waffles on the question he poses, saying that whether or not Fisker should be given more federal money is, "A tough call. Glad I don't have to make it!" Click through to read the full Forbes article.

GreenTech Automotive may have lost its founder, but it has renewed an integral growth strategy – partnerships with Chinese automakers.

The Mississippi-based electric car company has made an agreement with Chinese automaker JAC (Jianghuai Automobile Co.) to bring 2,000 battery electric vehicles to the US market. The vehicles, based on JAC's Rejoice vehicle platform, will be assembled in Mississippi. After the first 2,000, GreenTech says it "plans to establish another assembly facility for the sedan." It's the third-generation version of JAC's EV featuring upgraded driver modules; improved battery capacity and range; and performance improvements for speed, climbing and stability. The battery power has improved in the third generation – it has increased from 15 to 19 kWh, which helped the driving range extend from 62 to 81 miles.

JAC brings a lot of automotive experience to the table – more than 40 years building vehicles such as light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, sedans, buses and more. The company now produces more than 700,000 vehicles a year and 500,000 engines, and is one the 10 largest Chinese automakers.

GreenTech unveiled its first offering, a $15,500 tiny NEV called the MyCar (pictured), in the US market last year. GreenTech founder Terry McAuliffe had bought the rights to MyCar by acquiring its original maker, EuAuto Technology, a Hong Kong-based company, for $20 million. It's being built now at GreenTech Automotive's Horn Lake, MS, factory. The two-seat, low speed MyCar can go about 115 miles on a charge.

The problem is that McAuliffe and his GreenTech partners (well, ex-partners, since he resigned last year) are being questioned on whether the plant was actually "a 'visa-for-sale scheme' for Chinese investors," as The New York Times put it. The story has some calling it "Coda Redux" and we expect we'll hear much more about it as long as McAuliffe (D) keeps running for governor of Virginia. His Republican opponent, Kenneth Cuccinelli II, the state attorney general, is using the GreenTech story to attack McAuliffe's business credentials and a strategist said the saga shows, "The central premise of Terry McAuliffe's candidacy has been undermined. Why would we not talk about it?"

Tuk-tuks are the three-wheeled passenger vehicles commonly used in Asia, and they're often noisy and most-certainly-not-emissions-free. To counter the current state, Japanese start-up company Terra Motors has launched an electric tuk-tuk and thinks its electric tricycle will be a cost competitive taxi in Asia.

The company plans to build the car in the Philippines and start selling it later this year for about $6,300. It can go about 31 miles on a two-hour charge, which could propose a bit of a limitation for all-day taxi use. This three-wheeler ties into a national program in the Philippines to replace 100,000 gas-powered tuk-tuks with more efficient, cost-effective EVs by 2016.

Drivers can acquire the Terra tuk-tuk on a lease-to-own basis. The idea is to save drivers money by offering lower fuel costs while reducing air pollution in densely populated urban areas. The challenge is that drivers can buy a gas-powered tuk-tuk for somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500, and those don't have a 31-mile range limitation. Still, plans call for the company to expand the business to the broader Asian market while continuing to work on hitting the right price point, according to Terra Motors director of business development Tetsuya Ohashi.

Terra Motors is counting on consumers enjoying the space-age design and ample interior seating. Investors such as former top executives at Apple Japan, Google Japan, Sony and Compaq have been impressed by Terra's plans, despite a small number of Chinese companies also marketing electric tuk-tuks. Of all the e-tuk-tuk builders, Terra is considered the most ambitious and you can see a TV news report on the company's six-seat taxi video below.

Pro FMX Rider Ronnie Renner recently had a realization that happens to a lot of people who ride an electric bike – it may use an electric motor and not an internal combustion engine, but the torque and horsepower sure are exceptional. Oh, and it's a lot of fun to ride.

Renner visited KTM Electric Motorcycle's headquarters in Mattighofen, Austria. He and his biker comrade Steve Haughelstine tested out the Freeride E, KTM's in-development electric bike. Renner thinks it's revolutionary because you can ride the dirt bike close to a city or town, and it goes 45 minutes to an hour on a charge. Strap that motor onto two wheels and you've got quite a bit of horsepower. It's got all the torque you need to jump over an incline and it's pretty quiet.

After testing out the bike on KTM's grounds, Renner rode his bike solo into the Alps near Salsbury to a motocross track called the X-Bowl Arena. He was given a 250F motocross bike that he'd requested, but he never took it out of the truck – he'd been having so much fun riding the electric bike, and there's video to prove it. See below for Ronnie Renner's "Upside Down & Inside Out" episode in Austria.

Nissan is conducting field tests with FedEx in Singapore for its all-electric NV200 commercial van. The road test for what Nissan now calls the "e-NV200" is part of a comprehensive field test program that was started up by Nissan and FedEx at the Hannover Motor Show in Germany last September.

Once the Singapore project is completed, the program will be taken to other countries, including the US and Brazil. Field tests have already been conducted in the UK and Japan.

Singapore was chosen by Nissan and FedEx because of the nation's stance on environmental policies including efforts to reduce air pollution. It ties together commitments from the automaker and delivery company to improve the environmental impact of their operations.

The field test will not be elaborate, as only one e-NV200 will be monitored as it makes delivery trips for a month. After that, both companies will evaluate whether the vehicle is ready for local delivery of international air cargo. Nissan will also utilize the data for future development of the e-NV200. The company press release is available below.

The Nissan e-NV200 will be launched in 2014, and will be the second electric vehicle in Nissan's lineup. There may be an opportunity for Nissan to provide the electric cargo van in other markets, especially now that that the Ford Transit Connect Electric has gone away.

Mary Nichols, chairman of California Air Resources Board, recently took a jab at automaker trade groups for urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to block California's zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates. They're undermining the progress they've been making in creating the market for electric cars and other ZEVs, she said.

"Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot, or maybe I could say, tripping over your own halo," Nichols said at Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International's World Congress in Detroit.

The two major auto manufacturer trade groups – Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers – filed a petition with the EPA last month. Automakers would like the federal government to block California's requirement that 1.4 million electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles be sold by 2025.

Automakers would like the federal government to block California's requirement that 1.4 million electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles be sold by 2025.

California mandates require that GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Honda sell a combined 60,000 battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell cars in the state through 2014. By 2018, the ZEV rules will be expanded to include Hyundai, Kia, Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW and Mazda. Last year, the state established standards for rising annual targets and that ZEVs reach 15 percent of its new car sales by 2015. California's standards are being followed by more than a dozen states.

California has been through this fight with automakers in years past. Nichols would like to see stakeholders work together this time to make it happen. Nichols asked, "Rather than rehashing the same, tired legal battles of our past, why not work together to collectively support and develop this market?"

Gloria Berquist, a spokesperson for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, responded with a recurring automaker concern in an email to The Washington Post: "Automakers hope that consumers will buy zero-emission vehicles in large volumes, but so far, sales have been lower than necessary to meet California's aspirational goals. It serves no one, not the state economy or consumers or automakers, to have these vehicles sit unsold on dealer lots."

Ah yes, the "big picture" question faced by proponents of ZEVs – what will it take to develop the market?