The UK Government today introduced legislation to remove VAT from supplies of emissions allowances (also known as carbon credits) traded within the UK, in order to prevent the risk of VAT fraud, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms has announced.

The new law, which takes effect from midnight tonight, follows evidence that commodity trading in emissions allowances is being used by fraudsters to steal VAT revenues from the UK, and that the UK may become a major target for this activity in the coming months. The change will have no effect on legitimate trading but will prevent fraudsters from charging and collecting VAT which they have no intention of paying to HMRC.

Similar measures have been taken by the Governments of France and the Netherlands to prevent this form of fraud. The UK Government has sought a derogation from EU law to cover this short-term action pending agreement with EU partners on an EU-wide solution.

From midnight, supplies of emissions allowances in the UK will be subject to the zero-rate of VAT. A zero-rate is still a taxable supply which means that although no VAT is charged, thereby removing the opportunity to steal VAT, the seller can generally reclaim VAT on any purchases that relate to those sales. This ensures that the legitimate trade will not incur additional tax costs from this change.

The threat became apparent after fraudulent trading on the Bluenext exchange prompted the French government to remove VAT from supplies of emissions allowances in France. The Government of the Netherlands has also made VAT changes in respect of emissions allowances trading.

The UK Government is actively engaged in discussions with the European Commission on establishing an EU-wide solution to this threat. However, UK monitoring indicates that there now exists a substantiated and increasing risk of the UK becoming a major target for the fraudsters during the next few months. This risk assessment is informed by HMRC’s experience in recent years of VAT Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud in mobile telephones and computer chips.  We have seen how quickly frauds of this kind can escalate and how effective decisive action can be in tackling them.

Legitimate business has been keen to see a swift response from the Government, to ensure that the integrity of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is not undermined by fraudulent trading.

The debate as to whether money should be invested into hydrogen fuel cell technology continues to rage across the Atlantic, where the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) published a whitepaper on the importance of continued research into hydrogen as a low-carbon transportation solution.

In a separate report from the National Research Council in July it was determined that although the Obama administration’s focus on near-term technologies to improve fuel consumption is on the right track, there is still a need for investment in longer term, higher-risk technologies such as hydrogen storage and hydrogen fuel cells.

Now, in its report, USCAR, which was founded in 1992 with the goal of strengthening the technology base of the US auto industry, found that electric vehicles “cannot compete with hydrogen fuelled vehicles” for general usage in terms of range and refill time. 

It believes that profitable, high-volume deployment of fuel cell vehicles is dependent on significant progress in multiple technologies both and on and off vehicle, and that the USCAR OEMS have made the deployment of hybrid, plug-in hybrids and electrics their near-term focus. However, there is still firm belief that fuel cell vehicles will be an important powertrain option in a future of sustainable transportation.

The whitepaper goes on to recap some of the recent developments and successes of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. It outlines cost and energy density as key areas for improvement in hydrogen storage and states that steam methane reforming could serve as the first of many future hydrogen production pathways.

It would like to see a network of 12,000 hydrogen stations that would put hydrogen within two miles of 70 per cent of the US population and connect the major metro areas with a refuelling station every 25 miles.

Previous advances in engine technology may have been based on separate developments by the fuel and lubricants industries, but Ricardo believes that there is a need for an integrated approach between automakers, Tier 1 equipment providers, lubricant additive manufacturers and oil companies.

That’s why the company has launched a new consortium to evaluate the lubricant innovations that are required to enable implementation of many promising low-friction, high efficiency engine technologies.

It believes that by bringing together interested parties from each industry sector, it can create a framework in which fundamental challenges can be investigated and researched.

The particular areas of interest would be: the implications of extreme engine downsizing and increased specific power; tolerance to increasing volumes of exhaust gas recirculation; advanced component designs and new material applications; a drive towards thinner, lower viscosity lubricants; and the chemical impacts of lubricants on biofuel dilution.

The consortium’s work will be structured into a series of modules. According to reports, it has already gained interest from many leading oil companies, lubricant additive manufacturers and car makers. A first meeting is planned in October 2009.

If you thought the humble bee was only was useful for keeping your cupboards stocked with honey, then researchers at the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have got news for you.

They have discovered an innovative way to use bees, pollen and helium-filled balloons to verify that no carbon dioxide (CO2) leaks from carbon sequestration sites. These methods can determine environmental impact without the need to disrupt habitats.

The researchers injected chemical tracers at low levels to fingerprint CO2 during storage differentiating it from natural carbon dioxide. Researchers then determine if pollen collected by bees contains measurable quantities of tracer or if the bees bring back tracer from direct contact with foliage.

They placed hives about 150 metres upwind and downwind from a controlled CO2 release source, with a third hive located some distance from the test plot. From there samples of the bees’ pollen that had been taken from the hive were placed, along with sorbent packets, near the hive entrances to monitor hive ventilation gas for tracer. A third monitor was also used and placed about 25 metres away from each hive to account for any background levels of tracer.

By exposing the sorbent in a small packet of sorbent tubes to the atmosphere and then heating them while helium gas flows through them, the tracer is desorbed and analysed.

As part of the test, atmospheric tracer levels were also monitored. Results from the study will be applied to more extensive experiments in atmospheric plume monitoring.

In an effort to produce a new electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries, Nissan has joined forces with EnerDel to co-fund research at the Argonne National Laboratory.

Currently much of the information about the research and development project remains under wraps but, according to Dr Khalil Amine of Argonne, speaking to Green Car Congress, the system to be developed is based on a self-extinguished silane-based electrolyte with high conductivity, low viscosity and that is stable against the reduction of long-life batteries and oxidation.

Lithium-ion automotive battery producer EnerDel is currently concluding a $2.5million USABC research project in partnership with the Argonne National Laboratory which looked at developing a battery system that matches the safety of a lithium titanate anode with a safe, high voltage spinel cathode. This would support a 10mile electric range plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

EnerDel and Argonne have also co-operated on the development of the lithium titanate battery chemistry, for which they shared the research and development 100 Award for excellence in technology from R&D Magazine.

The South Korean government has signed a memorandum of understanding with global steel producer POSCO and energy and petrochemical producer SK Energy to develop coal conversion technologies including synthetic natural gas (SNG).

It is hoped that the companies can form SNG through a coal-to-gas conversion process using low quality coal as Korea bids to drastically reduce its dependence on imported liquefied natural gas.

As part of the plans, POSCO will invest around 7.8billion won into research and development of coal conversion technologies, while SK Energy and the Korean government will contribute 17.2billion won and 25billion won respectively.

POSCO now plans to build a coal-to-SNG plant with an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons by 2013.

Carmaker Hyundai and a postgraduate student from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a prototype solar-powered hydrogen car, the Telegraph reports.

Named the Hyundai City Car 2020, it uses solar panels to use sun’s rays to create electricity, which is subsequently used to create a hydrogen fuel source.

The electricity is fed into a water tank where it separates the hydrogen needed to powers the car. Pure oxygen is pushed out of the exhaust.

On-board hydrogen production is a necessary element to the development of the fuel as a serious mainstream contender. Current generation hydrogen cars, such as the Honda FCX Clarity are limited by the need to store hydrogen on board on the car and refill at a fuel station. As hydrogen is not a naturally free gas, it means that the hydrogen used in the FCX Clarity needs to prepared in advance to as part of an energy-intensive industrial process. Currently this usually means steaming it from natural gas.

Nicolas Stone, the student behind the project, said he believed that the use of solar energy could help solve the problem of cutting motoring’s carbon impact.

“My goal for this project was to ‘attack’ the global energy crisis from a fresh perspective,” he told the Telegraph. 

“I feel this proposal is very realistic because the technology, as extreme as it sounds, really does exist. These technologies have enormous potential, I believe it is just a matter of time before it becomes more mainstream.”

Saudi Arabia is probably the last place you’d expect to see a concerted shift towards emission free motoring – after all, the Kingdom is the world’s leading oil producer and exporter. However, now one of its leading universities has signed one of the largest electric vehicle infrastructure deals, with Brighton-based Elektromotive the beneficiary.

Elektromotive will install 150 Elektrobay charging stations across the campus of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology by September this year. The charging points will be used for recharging the 150 new electric vehicles that will transport staff and pupils around the campus reducing the university’s carbon footprint and improving air quality. 

The deal presents a unique challenge for Elektromotive as the university’s engineers must install the charging points in car parks that have shallow, solid concrete flooring as opposed to typical on-street foundations that are 400mm deep. The company’s solution is to create a bespoke ground plate and mounting post and then integrating the electrical feed cable that can be bolted to the concrete surface.

Understandably, Elektromotive’s managing director Calvey Taylor-Haw is excited about the deal.

“We’re thrilled to be involved in this project,” commented Taylor-Haw.  “The project has already posed a number of interesting technical challenges, but we have the expertise and the experience to meet the university’s objectives on time and within budget.”

The news further cements Britain’s place as a leader in the development of electric vehicle infrastructure technology with Elektromotive already exporting to Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany.

Anyone who thinks the solution to excessive emissions from vehicles is to get us out of our cars and on to public transport may have to revise their plans if a new survey is anything to go by.

A report entitled ‘The Congestion Challenge’ published by the RAC Foundation and Ipsos MORI has revealed that more than half of all motorists would rather take the chance of being stuck in a traffic jam than get on public transport.

The report reveals that the public appears to have accepted that there will be a congested, low performance future although they remain unsure about the alternatives to the car and are unsupportive of most methods to reduce congestion unless they are paid for out of the public purse.

Among its findings, the survey found that:

• - 53 per cent of drivers would rather risk being in a traffic jam than take public transport.
• - 77 per cent support increasing the number and frequency of buses.
• - 61 per cent think congestion will rise over the next five years.
• - 41 per cent of drivers consider congestion a serious problem in their local area.
• - 44 per cent oppose any form of congestion charge for driving into the centre of towns and cities.

Despite the Government’s push for public transport it seems that most of us are less than convinced with fewer than three in 10 being optimistic about the future of buses and trains.

According to Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, politicians have a difficult job ahead in convincing motorists of the benefits of congestion charging and public transport.

“People are reliant on their cars and although there is widespread support for improvements in public transport, only a minority say they would switch to it in the near future,” he said.

“It is apparent that radical approaches to easing congestion will be difficult for politicians to sell to a sceptical population. This was proved in Manchester where there was an overwhelming rejection of a local congestion charging scheme. But as MPs on the Transport Select Committee recognised last week, doing nothing is not an option and some sort of national scheme might be necessary. It is the job of politicians to convince those understandably wary motorists of the benefits. They must not shy away from the challenge just because it is hard.”

As part of its refreshed 2009 range, Piaggio has introduced an electric version of the Ape Calessino, powered by lithium-ion batteries.

The three-wheel vehicle has sold more than two million units across five continents and Piaggio is hopeful that the new electric design can further its success. It is powered by the AEnerBox system from Archimede Energia, which includes a liquid-cooled, 222V, 6.88kWh lithium-ion battery pack built with 3.7V, 31Ah cells and an 18kW AC motor. It has a range of 47 miles on one charge with a top speed of 31mph.

It is expected that the vehicle will be released as a limited edition offer only with around 100 units available. It will have its own unique livery, with a blue and white two-tone colour scheme for the bodywork and canvas elements.

The vehicle was originally developed following the Second World War for small businesses and is seen as ideal for transporting goods even on narrow city streets.

The Ape Calession Electric Lithium has gone on sale in the Italian market for €19,900.