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Honda starts building flex-fuel City sedan in Brazil

Here in North America, the only non-gasoline fueled cars offered by Honda are the natural gas-powered Civic GX and the hydrogen-fueled FCX Clarity. You can buy diesel-powered Hondas in Europe and, in Brazil, ethanol is the preferred alternative. Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda has just launched production and sales of a flex-fuel version of the compact City sedan in the South American country. After September of this year, availability will spread to other South American markets, as well as Mexico. The City uses a 1.5-liter four cylinder ... Read more →

REPORT: With Fiat's help, Tata could sell the Nano in Latin America Xavier Navarro

Tata Nano - Click for high-res image gallery We knew that the famous – and now available – $2,500 Indian car was heading to Europe and the United States. The next market where the ...

Bill Clinton: don't destroy the forest to make ethanol Sebastian Blanco

During the big Ethanol Summit 2009 down in Brazil this week, former President Clinton gave a bit of advice to that country's ethanol industry: don't destroy so much forest land just to make biofuel. ...

President Clinton headed to Ethanol Summit 2009 Sebastian Blanco

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) has snagged former U.S. President Bill Clinton to be a speaker at the upcoming Ethanol Summit 2009. The Summit takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil ...

Nissan adds flex-fuel version of the Versa ... in Brazil Sam Abuelsamid

In Brazil, ethanol tends to be the fuel of choice over gasoline thanks to favorable pricing and the local sugar cane feedstock. As a result most of the cars available there are offered in flex fuel ...

Nissan launches first flexfuel model in Brazil 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

Click on image for a gallery of the Nissan Livina The fact that one of the most important automakers in Brazil didn't offer a flex-fuel vehicle there is quite a surprising fact. Nissan is fixing this by offering the Nissan Livina, a compact 5-seat van (think Mazda5), with a flex-fuel engine ...

Brazil having a hard time selling its biodiesel in Europe 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

Brazil's President Inázio Lula da Silva visited Europe not long ago and he promoted the benefits of Brazilian biodiesel in France and Spain. This might have seemed like a good idea, if it weren't for the fact that Spain's biggest oil company, Repsol, had just frozen the construction of a new ...

How Brazil created the international ethanol boom 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Maybe Americans need to be pointing our fingers south at Brazil for making us spend so much money on ethanol. The William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review has just published an article that delves into how the South American country helped fuel the recent world-wide ethanol boom. ...

A bit of history: Fiat 147, the first mass-produced ethanol car 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Today, ethanol is not the most favored solution to oil dependency, but it was not always so frowned upon. Here's a car that deserves a place in the history of ethanol's growth. A Brazilian friend of mine pointed to me to the first mass-produced ethanol car (with the exception of the Ford T): the ...

Another eco option for Brazilians: Citron Xsara Picasso Eco 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

It seems that it's not just Europeans who are getting green (or blue) labels for virtually every model of the road. We recently reported that Volkswagen has taken the BlueMotion badge to Brazil and that the Smart fortwo is being put on sale there. Well, it looks like Citroën has had the same ...

BlueMotion arrives in Brazil and gets local (ethanol) flavor 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

As you know, blue is the new green, at least marketing-wise. Therefore, Volkswagen has decided to offer the BlueMotion badge in Brazil, albeit adapted to the homegrown fuel from the South American continent: the Brazilian BlueMotion bagde vehicles will be powered by ethanol. BlueMotion will be an ...

Smart due in Brazil's urban centers in April 2009 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

While Brazil still gets its share of ethanol-friendly auto debuts (see: Sand'up, Renault), not every green-leaning vehicle introduced there needs to suck down the sugarcane. Daimler's smart fortwo, for example, gets solid MPG numbers and low CO2 emissions when running on gasoline and, starting in ...

Fiat Brazil shows off all-electric Bugster 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Click on image for a couple of images of the Fiat Bugster Fiat's subsidiary in Brazil is going to introduce a new concept car, called the Bugster, for the 25th Salão Internacional do Automóvel, Brazil's Motor Show. It reminds one of those early '70s buggies that were made up from ...

Friends of the Earth, Brazilian sugarcane industry fight it out on ethanol 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Photo by Marxchivist. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. It's been so long (like six months) since there was a nice dispute about the impacts of Brazil's ethanol industry. In the past we've seen questions raised about the workers' conditions and the environmental standards of the ...

Is sugarcane ethanol still a good alternative? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

85 liters of ethanol per each tonne (metric) of sugarcane harvested. This is the output of a standard sugarcane ethanol plant. As we know, 45 percent of Brazilian fuel needs are covered by ethanol. Of course, what once was thought as the easy solution to replace fossil fuels is now being blamed for ...

Volkswagen Brazil announces the refreshed global Gol 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Brazil's best-selling vehicle just got a complete makeover, but just about all we know of it is the picture you see above. The Volkswagen Gol (not Golf) has sold more than five million units in Brazil and an additional million outside. Built over the PQ24 platform, which is shared with the ...

Buying a new car? That'll be 20 trees, please. 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

When we mention Brazil, we're usually speaking about their aggressive ethanol (alcoól) policy or their availability of flex-fuel cars. But today we're speaking about a creative proposition: The Brazilian Câmara dos Deputados is discussing a bill which will make planting trees mandatory ...

Biofuels to make up 3 percent of Latin America's energy needs 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Up to three percent of the energy needs of Latin America and the Caribbean could be covered by biofuels in 2018. This is the main finding of a report published by the Organizacion Latinoamericana de Energia (Olade, Latin America Energy Organisation) that was presented during the 3rd Biofuel ...

Ethanol usage up exponentially in U.S. and Brazil; not as much in Europe 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

For the first time, sugarcane ethanol was a more important energy source for Brazilians (16 percent) than hydroelectricity (14.7 percent). This makes ethanol Brazil's second most-used energy source, right after oil-derived products. The U.S. still produces and consumes a lot of ethanol, with 23.7 ...

Brazil starts pro-ethanol diplomatic offensive 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Brazil is going to try really hard to convince the world that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is just great. The Latin American giant is about to start what they're calling a "diplomatic offensive" that will culminate in a World Biofuels Summit from November 17th to 21th in São Paulo. According ...

Fiat to launch new ethanol/diesel engine in Brazil 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

According to an article in The New Economic Times, Fiat is planning to launch a new ethanol-powered engine for the Brazilian market. Ethanol is widely used for fuel in Brazil and half of the country's sugar cane crops are currently used for its production. Fiat intends the motor to be run on fuel ...

Is tectonic activity the real source of oil? Should we be using it? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

We missed this item recently about a major new oil find off the coast of Brazil. If current estimates pan out, there may be as much as 33 billion barrels of crude oil in the new sub-Atlantic field. That would make the new find the third largest reserve in the world and it could be a huge boon to ...

Bioenergy Alliance looks to Miami to get more Brazilian ethanol into the U.S. 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

A new group called the Bioenergy Alliance (BEA) will launch in Miami tomorrow with the goal of expanding Brazilian ethanol exports to the U.S, Mexico and Guatemala. Currently, all ethanol that is imported to the U.S. - hundreds of millions of gallons a year - is subject to a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff. ...

Brazil working on bio-propane from biodiesel byproduct 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Image by Gaby_bra. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. The increase in biodiesel production the world over long ago spelled the end of the need for synthetic glycerin. Since glycerin is a by-product of biodiesel production, communities are finding ways to process the excess material. ...

Triciclo Pompo - ethanol powered three-wheeler made for Brazil 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Click on the image above for more shots of the Pompéo There are plenty of people who would love to have the fuel mileage of a 250cc motorcycle, but choose not to ride one because of the inherent safety problems and the lack of weather protection. Brazilian company Triciclo thinks that they ...

USA and Brazil working together on ethanol in the Caribbean and Central America 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Two teams from Brazil and the USA have been working together to launch several ethanol production projects in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Up to eight projects have been started under this new agreement. Funding will be provided with credits from the ...

Petrobras creates biofuel subsidiary 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Petrobras has announced that it's creating a subsidiary company which will work exclusively with biofuels and could become Brazil's leading biofuel exporter. The Brazilian giant believes a new company will create good economies of scale to reduce costs in biofuel production, storage and ...

Review: Deadly Brew, the Human Toll of Ethanol 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

I saw the Bloomberg documentary Deadly Brew, the Human Toll of Ethanol, which aired last Thursday and I have to agree with some of the criticisms that UNICA levels at the film. The documentary, which focused on the working conditions of cane cutters in Brazil, gave both sides but seemed to favor ...

Brazilian sugarcane industry not happy with "Deadly Brew" documentary 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

This past week, Bloomberg Television aired a documentary on the Brazilian ethanol industry called "Deadly Brew: The Human Toll of Ethanol." With a name like that, you can probably guess that the filmmakers have a certain viewpoint on the way ethanol is made from sugarcane in Brazil. Well, the ...

Bloomberg to air documentary about Brazilian ethanol worker labor conditions 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

According to the video above, the Bloomberg TV network will air Deadly Brew - The Human Toll of Ethanol, a documentary about the horrible labor conditions of Brazilian ethanol workers on January 24th (next Thursday). The video above includes lines like "the cars run on human blood" and the video ...

Networks to reuse cooking oil for biodiesel production 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Seriously: what do you do with your leftover cooking oil? Most people just pour it down the drain (not pointing any fingers, here). This is quite bad for a couple of reasons: first because it can affect waste water treatment plants and second because a potential fuel is lost. We have written a lot ...

Brazil's B2 law goes into effect at 35,000 fuel stations 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

As of Tuesday of this week, all diesel fuel sold in Brazil contains just a pinch (two percent) of biodiesel. The UPI reports that its sources say the law is good for farmers in the country and "won't increase costs for fuel marketing companies" or how much customers pay at the pump. UPI says that ...

So Paulo searching for cleaner ethanol through mechanization 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Marcos Jank, president of the Sugarcane Union Industry (Unica) in Brazil recently said that, "We're ready to discuss an environmental, social and economic certification of ethanol." São Paulo's ethanol industry is ready to introduce new methods for sugarcane production, such as better ...

State-owned Brazilian bank invests $1.777 billion in biofuels 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The fact that the ethanol industry is heavily subsidized does not come as a surprise for our readers. Take the case of Brazil, where the National Bank for Social and Economy Development (Bndes) is funding the biofuel industry with $1,777 billion US this year, which is 58.4 percent more than in 2006. ...

Fiat introduces the Palio Eltrico in Brazil 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Demetrio tips us again on another new Fiat, this time the Palio Elétrico. This electric Fiat uses nickel metal hydride batteries to support the electric motor which is capable of producing 15 kW (about 20 hp) of power with 50 Nm (less than 40 lb. ft) of torque. That is not very much power, ...

Brazil wants to become the Saudi Arabia of ethanol 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

"Brazil has all the necessary conditions to become the Saudi Arabia of ethanol", affirms Petrobas board member, Paulo Roberto Costa. He also adds "Brazil is surely to become the preferred biofuel provider of the world". After such enthusiastic (!) affirmations from Mr. Costa, let's have a look at ...

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