BYD will begin operating an electric bus manufacturing facility and an Iron-Phosphate energy module (large-scale battery) manufacturing facility in the coming months. Both will be located in the California city of Lancaster.

These mark the first manufacturing facilities in the United States for BYD Motors Inc, a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of the Chinese firm BYD Company Ltd (1211.HKE).

“We truly are making history,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “The City of Lancaster is honored to play host to BYD, a first-rate firm known around the globe as a leader in battery and sustainable energy technologies. Our community looks forward to working hand-in-hand with BYD as they develop and perfect their e-bus and energy storage technology right here in Lancaster. The opening of not one, but two manufacturing facilities will provide local workers with hundreds of jobs as BYD expands its operations here in the United States, and also represents a significant investment into our local economy and in California.”

China-based BYD, short for “Build Your Dreams,” boasts more than 160,000 employees around the world, with operations in China, the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions.

BYD’s US corporate headquarters is located in Los Angeles, while the Lancaster facilities mark the firm’s first manufacturing facilities in North America.

“Our relationship with the City of Lancaster started in 2009, when Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and the LAEDC President, Bill Allen, introduced us,” said Stella Li, President of BYD Motors. “We have been extremely impressed with the resources of LA County and the leadership shown across many cities, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and Lancaster.”

In 2010, Supervisor Antonovich led a trade mission to China, inviting Mayor Parris and City representatives to join in an effort to attract firms to Lancaster. Mayor Parris and his team visited BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China to further develop the relationship.

“We were pleased to initiate this vital partnership with BYD, the County and the City of Lancaster and look forward to its continued success with two new world-class manufacturing facilities that will create jobs and enhance the economic vitality here in the Antelope Valley and throughout the region,” said Antonovich.

As a result of the trip to China, the BYD-City of Lancaster relationship bore its first fruit: the “Home of the Future.”

Upon returning to the US, Mayor Parris led an effort to partner with BYD and homebuilding giant KB Home to create this “Home of the Future,” which utilized BYD solar panels, BYD LED lighting, energy-efficient technologies, and BYD residential energy storage to create an affordable green energy home. “

This innovative use of cutting-edge technology, coupled with the ability of the BYD/KB team to think outside the box to create the most affordable production green energy home our country had ever seen, was truly inspiring,” said Parris. “This cemented the concept in my mind that BYD must be part of Lancaster’s future. Their developing technologies dovetail perfectly with our community’s sustainable energy goals, while also providing stable green jobs for local residents.”

In April, BYD was awarded a $12.1 million contract with Long Beach Transit Authority to produce 10 zero-emissions, all-electric buses. The company’s electric buses provide a range of over 155 miles on a single charge, said by BYD to be among the highest in the electric bus industry.

“BYD is thrilled to be a part of the new zero-emissions legacy beginning in Long Beach with their electrified public transportation. Mayor Foster and LBT CEO Larry Jackson are visionary leaders in that community,” stated Stella Li. “Additionally, our Los Angeles Headquarters will continue to expand research and development jobs to support these manufacturing facilities as well as sales and HR support for all of North and South America – thanks to Mayor Villariagosa.”

BYD has purchased the former Rexhall Industries recreational vehicle manufacturing facility in Lancaster at 46147 BYD Boulevard (previously 7^th Street West) to house its electric bus manufacturing operations, as a decrease in demand for RVs has led to excess capacity at the plant.

Rexhall Industries will combine its manufacturing operations with its sales facility on 23^rd Street West, while President and Chief Executive Officer of Rexhall Industries, William Rex, will stay on as General Manager for BYD Coach & Bus LLC.

A number of current Rexhall employees will also stay on as the plant transitions to BYD ownership.

“This truly is the best of both worlds,” said Mayor Parris. “With this arrangement, BYD benefits from a ready-made, fully-permitted facility which perfectly suits its needs, and will also enjoy access to the expertise of highly trained personnel with extensive experience in the manufacturing industry. Simultaneously, Rexhall staff will enjoy stable, green-sector jobs, along with a significant number of local families who will benefit from the new jobs BYD’s operations will create.”

The post BYD To Build Electric Buses In California appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Propel said it is bringing locally-produced, low carbon fuels to drivers in Fresno through its innovative fueling station model — the Clean Mobility Center.

The station, located at 4994 E. Ashlan Avenue, will be the first in Fresno to offer E85 Flex Fuel and biodiesel, both sourced from Central Valley producers including Community Fuels in Stockton and Calgren Renewable Fuels in Pixley.

The grand opening of this new station was held today, April 9, at 11 am.

Propel Fuels describes itself as a leading retailer of renewable fuels and clean mobility solutions.

Fresno’s Clean Mobility Center offers renewable fuels alongside conventional fuels to, according to the company, provide drivers with true choice at the pump. In addition, the station enables drivers to offset carbon from their fuel purchases, improve their vehicle’s fuel economy, find public transit, tune bicycles, and recycle on the go.

“Rapid swings in fuel prices are a constant reminder of our need to increase choice and competition in the fuel market,” said Matt Horton, CEO of Propel. “And as more consumers embrace local, renewable fuels and seek cleaner means of transportation, Propel Clean Mobility Centers will help make progress toward our country’s most pressing economic and environmental issues.”

The company said their new station model rethinks the traditional gas station, providing a highly visible platform to introduce the renewable fuels to a mainstream driver base alongside conventional fuel options.

Today more than one million Californians drive alternative fuel-ready vehicles, but most do not have access to renewable fuels.

Propel’s stations were the first to offer drivers the option to offset carbon emissions from their fuel purchase right from the pump. Drivers and fleets can also track and report CO2 emission reductions from their use of renewable fuels through Propel’s proprietary CleanDrive program.

“Until now, Fresno’s drivers have not had the option of filling up with renewable fuels like E85 and biodiesel,” said Ashley Swearengin, Mayor of Fresno. “Our community welcomes these new choices at the pump and our city is pleased to play a role in supporting local manufacturing.”

Propel’s new Fresno station will sell locally-sourced biodiesel from Community Fuels in Stockton and ethanol from Calgren Renewable Fuels in Pixley.

Community Fuels produces high quality biodiesel at the company’s 13 million gallons per year bio-refinery at the Port of Stockton which has been in continuous operation since 2008 and is one of the largest operating advanced bio-refineries in the Western U.S.

Opened in 2009, Calgren’s 55 million gallon per year ethanol plant is one of the most efficient operations and lowest carbon footprint facilities in the country.

“Propel’s new station in Fresno makes it easier than ever for our fuels to reach local drivers,” said Lyle Schlyer, President of Calgren. “As Propel expands their network of stations in the area, we look forward to growing our partnership with Propel so more Central Valley drivers have convenient access to high quality, American made fuels like ours.”

Propel Fuels also said that its Clean Mobility Centers utilize green design and sustainability practices that promote cleaner transportation in the communities they serve. Each station has free air stations for tires to increase vehicle miles per gallon (MPG), education centers offering information on local public transit, innovative bicycle tuning centers, recycling stations at the pump, and in the future, emerging fueling types such as natural gas and electric vehicle charging.

Propel currently operates more than 35 stations throughout California and Washington State; more than 200 stations planned for new and existing markets over the next two years.

The post Propel Fuels Station Opens Today In Fresno, CA appeared first on HybridCars.com.

“We are delighted to offer MITRE employees on-site, electric vehicle charging services,” said Michael D. Farkas, CEO of CarCharging. “MITRE and its employees are working together to help reduce their impact on the environment, and we are honored to support their efforts.”

MITRE is a not-for-profit organization that operates federally funded research and development centers for the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“MITRE is committed to being a good environmental steward,” said Ray Leavitt, director of Corporate Real Estate at MITRE. “We look for ways to help support environmentally friendly practices on our campuses.”

CarCharging’s services utilize EV charging stations manufactured by ChargePoint, which provide 240 volts with 32 amps of power to recharge an EV’s battery.

EV drivers can easily request a CarCharging card online to initiate use and payment at any intelligent CarCharging station. The CarCharging card also allows drivers to use charging locations on the ChargePoint Network.

The post Electric Vehicle Charging Services Now Available At MITRE appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The attorneys representing Toyota owners who claim that their vehicles are prone to sudden, unexplained acceleration announced Dec. 26 that Toyota has agreed to a settlement valued between $1.2 and $1.4 billion.

This settlement includes direct payments to consumers as well as the installation of a brake-override system in an estimated 3.25 million vehicles.

The case was filed in 2010 after drivers across the U.S. began reporting that Toyota vehicles suddenly and unintentionally accelerated. Toyota has long maintained that the vehicles were free from electronic flaws causing the acceleration.

Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nor the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was able to find any defects in Toyota’s source code that could cause these events.

After a flurry of lawsuits were filed against Toyota, Judge James Selna consolidated the cases in U.S. District Court in California and appointed attorney Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro as co-lead counsel on May 14, 2010, placing Berman in charge of directing the class litigation and leading settlement discussions with the Japanese auto manufacturer.

“After two years of intense work, including deposing hundreds of engineers, pouring over thousands of documents and examining millions of lines of software code, we are pleased that Toyota has agreed to a settlement that was both extraordinarily hard-fought and is exceptionally far-reaching,” said Berman.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Toyota will install a brake-override system in vehicles subject to floor mat entrapment recalls.

Brake-override systems cut power to the throttle under certain circumstances when the car receives simultaneous signals to accelerate and to stop.

In addition, the settlement establishes a fund of $250 million to be paid to former Toyota owners who sold their cars during the period from Sept. 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2010, to compensate those owners for an alleged reduced value as a result of publicity concerning unintended acceleration.

Concurrently, a separate fund of $250 million will be established to compensate current owners whose vehicles are not eligible for a brake-override system. The amount consumers receive depends on the model and year of their Toyota, and the state in which the car was purchased.

The settlement also provides that all 16 million current owners will be eligible for a customer care plan that will warranty certain parts that plaintiffs allege are tied to unintended acceleration for between three and 10 years.

The agreement also provides $30 million in education grants to independent academic institutions to further the study of auto safety and to enhance driver education. “We hope that this research can aid in finding out the causes of unintended acceleration, and the solutions to fixing those issues,” said Berman.

The total value of the settlement is estimated to be between $1.2 and $1.4 billion.

This estimate amounts to the largest settlement of this type in US history in terms of dollars paid out and number of vehicles involved.

“This agreement marks a significant step forward for our company, one that will enable us to put more of our energy, time and resources into Toyota’s central focus: making the best vehicles we can for our customers and doing everything we can to meet their needs,” said Christopher P. Reynolds, group vice president and general counsel, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A, and chief legal officer, Toyota Motor North America. “In keeping with our core principles, we have structured this agreement in ways that work to put our customers first and demonstrate that they can count on Toyota to stand behind our vehicles.”

Reynolds continued: “This was a difficult decision – especially since reliable scientific evidence and multiple independent evaluations have confirmed the safety of Toyota’s electronic throttle control systems. However, we concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interests of the company, our employees, our dealers and, most of all, our customers.”

Judge Selna is expected to review the proposed settlement on Dec. 28, 2012, and if he agrees with its fairness, will grant preliminary approval.

Current and former Toyota owners will receive information about the settlement and instructions on filing a claim in the coming months.

If this settlement is approved by the judge supervising multidistrict litigation (MDL) pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Toyota will launch a new customer-support program that will provide prospective supplemental coverage for certain vehicle components and will retrofit additional non-hybrid vehicle models subject to the floor mat recall with a free brake override system (BOS) to provide an added measure of confidence.

“From the very start, this was a challenging case,” Berman added. “We brought in automotive experts, physicists and some of the world’s leading theoreticians in electrical engineering to help us understand what happened to drivers experiencing sudden acceleration. We are extraordinarily proud of how we were able to represent the interests of Toyota owners, and believe this settlement is both comprehensive in its scope and fair in compensation.”

Limited details of the settlement are available at www.hbsslaw.com/toyota, www.ToyotaELsettlement.com or by calling 1-877 283-0507.

More information will be available once the court gives preliminary approval to the settlement.

The post Unintended Acceleration Will Cost Toyota up to $1.4 Billion appeared first on HybridCars.com.

As the subtext in our masthead says, we actually cover all “Auto alternatives for the 21st century.” This has long since been seen as a natural evolution to the mission that years ago led to focusing on hybrids as a means to sustainable transportation.

Where we recognize the “all of the above” approach policymakers and the industry are edging toward with all-electric, diesel, natural gas, and other technologies, we’d be remiss not to cover these as well.

So, the saga continues, and today’s updated site is in keeping with our intent to move onward and upward as well.

We have good things planned for the months ahead and pushed this launch with much content from the original HybridCars.com carried over. There will be more updating in weeks to come, and our aim will be to continue with what you liked about HybridCars.com including news, reviews, features, videos now just begun, and more.

Having majored over the past year-plus on briefed daily news with car reviews interspersed, going forward we’ll be doing more features and longer pieces as well. These will be prominent on the home page. Some time after February we also will launch an updated newsletter which readers can easily sign up for via a sidebar interface.

Our forum will be cleaned up ASAP as well. The old site was in a different content management system more vulnerable to spam. We intend to nip that in the bud, and retroactively prepare a usable forum for worthwhile discussion.

Be sure also to check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

As always you can contact us with thoughts, suggestions, and questions.

Thanks for reading!

Jeff Cobb
Editor-in-Chief

The post Welcome to the new HybridCars.com! appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Jeff Alson, senior policy advisor at the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said that nearly 90 models sold today already meet or will meet with minor air conditioning upgrades the 2016 requirements. In Alson’s words, emissions and fuel efficiency improvements are happening at a “pace that none of us would have predicted a few years ago.”

Alson also said that half of these vehicles run on gasoline, but none of those gasoline models would meet the 2025 requirements.

Out of the 90 already meeting the 2016 requirements, 25 models do meet the 2025 emissions requirements, but they represent only 3 percent of total vehicle sales. These models are all either hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles or fuel-cell vehicles.

Experts say this does not mean the gasoline engine is doomed.

Robert Bienenfeld, senior manager of environment and energy strategy at American Honda Motor Co.’s Product Regulatory Office, told Karl Henkel of The Detroit News that “gas engines should continue to dominate — with improvements such as direct injection, downsizing and turbocharging — until about 2021.But by then costs for consumers will rise as improvements in vehicles increase; more electrification will be needed to meet the 2025 requirements.”

Improvements will come in many ways, including technology refinement, the use of special alloys to reduce weight, removing unnecessary interior elements and a drastic reduction in engine size.

Considering all this, Alson does not expect electric car sales to flourish before the end of the decade.

The Detroit News

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ChargePoint is holding its first annual electric vehicle charging station holiday photo contest.

Until Friday, Dec. 21, EV drivers and EV charging station owners can e-mail photos of their favorite EV charging stations for a chance to win a year of free EV charging.

The EV charging station photos will also be featured on ChargePoint’s new EV charging station photo array and in ChargePoint’s CES booth.

Photos will be judged in seven different categories: Holiday; Scenic; Signage; Retail; MDU; Parking facilities; and Other.

Each day of the contest, Team ChargePoint judges will post the best of the incoming entries in the EV Charging Station Photo of the Day section of the company’s Web site.

Winners will be announced on Dec. 28, 2012.

“ChargePoint is world’s largest EV charging station network with more than 10,000 EV charging spots in the United States alone,” said Pat Romano, president and CEO at ChargePoint. “We understand the pride and loyalty EV drivers have and know there is a lot of affection for their EV charging stations. We hope EV drivers and our customers will take a moment this busy holiday season and send us their favorite photos. Good luck to you all!”

The post ChargePoint’s Electric Vehicle Charging Station Holiday Photo Contest appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Whatever it turns into, the Energy Department has committed said funds over the next five years to finance a Chicago-area battery research hub to be led by the Argonne National Laboratory. The endeavor will be called Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR).

The goal? An automotive propulsion battery with five-times the range capacity, costing one-fifth present lithium-ion batteries, and to be completed in the next five years. In documenting the endeavor’s announcement, proponents are saying the effort is needed for national security.

Tapping into the politicized vein of thought held by those who object to government spending for technology that could fail, Fox News this week focused on taxpayer funds being risked yet again with the Obama administration’s blessing.

In defense of the expenditure, Jeff Chamberlain, the deputy for development and demonstration at JCESR, told Fox something must be done to counteract manifold ramifications of billion of gallons of oil being imported to the U.S. per day.

Chamberlain suggested that if just 5 percent of drivers switched to EVs, $100 billion in battery purchases would result, and this would represent a step toward broader reliance on domestic energy.

“The Chevy Volt sticker price is $40,000. If we can have a battery with five times as much energy [as the Volt’s battery] at even a third of the cost,” Chamberlain said, “then those vehicles become cost competitive with gas vehicles. If they are competitive on the lot, and they can save on costs to drive, people will buy them.”

The JCESR will be a think tank for government organizations and other private affiliates. More specifically, five DOE national laboratories, five universities, and four private firms will be key collaborators. Included in these will be such organizations as California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Washington’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and other private affiliates including Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls and General Motors.

But Fox also found some who are looking askance at the massive federal effort. In question is whether the government initiative can successfully lead to, perhaps, a $32,000 Nissan Leaf that goes 360 miles on a charge, or maybe a $32,000 Volt with so much electric range, that GM could potentially delete the range-extending generator.

Contending that taxpayer money could be wasted, the author of “Green Illusions,” Ozzie Zehner, who is also said to be a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, told Fox that government-funded labs should stay out of the EV market, and look for other green initiatives to get behind.

“Both the National Academies and, more recently, the Congressional Budget Office, have found no benefit to the environment from subsidizing electric cars,” said Zehner.

Also skeptical is Rob Enderle, described as an analyst who has studied battery innovations. “This is the definition of a money hole,” said Enderle, “They aren’t going to the Moon, they are just making something that exists better and setting goals that can’t be achieved in a reasonable time.”

In contrast, Amy Francetic, executive director of the Chicago-based Clean Energy Trust which helps with the transfer of government research to industry sees government as playing a key role.

“Batteries have made their way into every form of our life,” said Francetic to Fox, “Any time [something] is critical to our way of life, or an advancement of industry, it should be the role of the U.S. government. It is hard to make those advancements without the U.S. government.”

Further, Chamberlain said only the government has the resources needed for the purported moon shot. The JCESR is expected to grow its staff to 120 researchers, and they will have access with their collaborative partners to powerful supercomputers and even Stanford’s linear accelerator lab if needed, along with other resources not likely to be at the disposal of even larger private efforts.

Chamberlain noted Toyota – whose “father of the Prius” recently opined that EVs are not ready for prime time – may have 100 researchers working to make them ready for prime time.

And adding to her argument that the government has more resources than most companies, Francetic said “Physicists are behind inventing battery science, manufacturers are behind manufacturing.”

What to Think?

The above was one snapshot of some initial point-counterpoint comments. Undoubtedly more could be said, and we’ve included a couple links below for your perusal.

We’ll note an important question is whether the project can accomplish its lofty goal. We have heard of other private efforts, including one in which IBM strongly predicts it will have its own five-times more energy denselithium-air battery some time after 2020 – not as soon as the ambitious – but possibly better resourced – five year plan of Uncle Sam.

Until it actually happens though, this could be called yet one more promise in line with others before it.

No doubt EV fans would wish success for this effort for a five-fold energy density improvement while cutting costs by one-fifth in a mere half decade from now – just in time for ramping-up 2017-2025 CAFE rules.

And if it is successful, Chamberlain’s example of “5 percent” of consumers who switch away from petrol-based transport is probably too conservative given such a battery would make feasible a far broader migration away from fossil fuels.

What’s more, if taxpayer money is the root of such a success, do you think those who backed it will have political capital to burn? But if not, critics will be able to write “I told you so” over the Obama Administration’s legacy.

How about you? Do you believe it can be accomplished? It at least sounds like the beginning of a powerful effort in any event.

Press release, Fox News, JCESR.org Web site.

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