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World’s first hydrogen fuel cell tractor debuts in Italy

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:06:00 +0000

Click above for a gallery of the New Holland NH 2 What fuel will power agricultural equipment in the future? There are a number of alternatives to the tried and true fossil fuels that we’re currently favoring, and many of them use crops that can be gathered right on site by the vehicles that are eventually going to use them. Ethanol (or other alcohol based fuels) and biodiesel stand out as the most commonly cited options, but some still have hydrogen on the brain. Farms may be an ideal source for the electricity needed to extract hydrogen from water since there is often an abundance of wind, sun or both. Still, the question remains: Why not just store that electricity and use it in something electric? The New Holland NH 2 is billed as the world’s first hydrogen-powered tractor, and it’s just debuted in conceptual form in Italy. The zero-emissions tractor gets its power from a fuel cell that sends electrons to a 106-horsepower electric motor powering all four wheels. Problems include a major lack of range and an awfully high price, so New Holland isn’t expecting to put the model into production until 2013. Gallery: New Holland NH2 [Source: New Holland via Farmers Weekly Interactive ] Continue reading World’s first hydrogen fuel cell tractor debuts in Italy Auto Blog: Hydrogen , Green Daily , Europe/EU World’s first hydrogen fuel cell tractor debuts in Italy originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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World’s first hydrogen fuel cell tractor debuts in Italy

New Chinese electric bus boasts 186-mile range

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:42:00 +0000

While we have a pretty impressive electric bus here in America, an announcement that a Chinese joint venture will begin building buses with a 300 km (186 miles) range certainly got our attention. The FAW Bus and Coach Company has teamed up with battery maker Tongkun New Energy Technologies Co., Ltd and plan to have their people-carriers on the roads around two different cities in Jilin province by June. They already have 70 on the order book and if they can deliver the range performance promised, we expect they’ll sell more. The 24 passenger bus can not only go far on its lithium iron phosphate ( LiFePO 4 ) batteries but it can also re-charge them in as little as 20 minutes. With a useful life of 2,000 cycles, they could last 300,000 miles. Not bad for a bus with a 500,000 yuan ($73,145) price tag and low running costs. Hopefully the new design will also be a little easier on the eyes than the current baby bus built by FAW, pictured above. [Source: Xinhua ] Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Transportation Alternatives , China New Chinese electric bus boasts 186-mile range originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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New Chinese electric bus boasts 186-mile range

Thermoelectric generator in a Volkswagen Golf Plus lowers fuel use by 5%

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Auto Blog: Volkswagen , Germany Not long ago, we reported that BMW was awarded a prize for installing a thermoelectric generator at the exhaust pipe of a car. This device works under the Seebeck effect and generates electricity by the difference in temperatures. Although we can’t use the generator to fill up our hybrid batteries, we can use one to produce about 30 percent of the electricity a car needs when running. A new prototype, shown at “Thermoelektrik – Eine Chance Für Die Atomobillindustrie?” meeting, generated about 600W. In the Golf Plus model it was attached to, this energy generation managed to lower the car’s fuel consumption by five percent. Not spectacular, but every little helps. When might we see such a device installed in cars? BMW said that it could be as soon as 2014. [Source: Green Optimistic ] Thermoelectric generator in a Volkswagen Golf Plus lowers fuel use by 5% originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green

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Thermoelectric generator in a Volkswagen Golf Plus lowers fuel use by 5%