In a surprising decision, Ford Motor Company and Smith Electric Vehicles US have agreed to terminate the development project of an electric car-derived van that would have been based on the Transit Connect.

The UK-based Tanfield Group, Smith Electric Vehicles US’s parent company, announced that due to growing demand for its production ready Smith Newton, the forecast volumes for the electric Transit Connect did not in the short- to medium-term justify the investment required. What’s more is that proceeding with the Transit Connect would have meant limiting the working capital available to support the growth of the Newton, which has already commenced production at the assembly facility in Kansas City, Missouri, and has an order book of 255 trucks.

According to Tanfield, the Smith Electric Vehicles US Corporation believes investing in existing Smith platforms will make better use of its financial resources and there is concern that the market for electric car-derived vans would become increasingly competitive. However, Tanfield will remain as Ford of Europe’s official collaborator on commercial electric vehicles.

Now, Ford will partner Azure Dynamics Corporation to deliver a pure battery electric Ford Transit Connect van for the Canadian and US markets in 2010.

Azure Dynamics, which is based in Oak Park, Michigan, will integrate its battery electric drivetrain into the Transit Connect BEV, which will have a targeted range of 80 miles minimum on a full charge. The collaboration will build on the existing relationship between Azure Dynamics and Ford, as well as their shared experience with battery supplier Johnson Controls-Saft.

Vauxhall is to launch its greenest ever Corsa. The new Corsa emits just 98g/km of CO2 and achieves a staggering 76.3 combined mpg.

Adding to the growing number of sub-100g/km CO2 vehicles, the new Corsa ecoFLEX has shaved off an extra gram off the old model taking it in line with the Ibiza Ecomotive and piping the new Golf Bluemotion.
Even in its five door variant, the new Corsa ecoFLEX emits just 99g/km.

As a result, Corsa ecoFLEX drivers will benefit from not only the lowest 13 per cent BIK diesel band, but full exemption from VED (Vehicle Excise Duty).

Yet incredibly, this parsimony has not dented this Corsa’s driveability. Despite the improvement in fuel consumption and emissions, the ecoFLEX packs 21 per cent more power from its 1.3 CDTi turbodiesel engine, its output rising from 75 to 95PS. Torque is also up by 20Nm to 190Nm available at just 1750rpm, allowing drivers the kind of flexibility normally vacant in eco-class cars.

Available to order from January 2010, with pricing details yet to be revealed the new Corsa uses a variable geometry turbocharger increase power and efficiency at the same time. It will now accelerate from 0-62mph in 12.3 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 110mph.

Using the chassis and aerodynamic modifications from the current Corsa 105g/km model, the new ecoFLEX also benefits from a 20mm lower ride height than standard and in Life trim gets 175/70 low-rolling resistance tyres on 14-inch steel rims (Club models get 15-inch steel rims with alloys as an option) and aero-optimised wheel trims.The Corsa ecoFLEX iwill be available in Life and Club trim only.

Asian carmakers are still outperforming their Euorpean and American counterparts in environmental sustainability, a new report finds.

A focus on tailpipe CO2 emissions has distracted away from the impact of car production, suggests Professor Frank Figge who co-authored the ‘Sustainable Value in Automobile Manufacturing’ study.

The largest ever study of the sustainability of car manufacturing of 17 of the world’s leading car companies found that Asian car manufacturers are outperforming their North American, and many of their European competitors, in using their economic, environmental and social resources more efficiently.

However the finding also suggest that the economic downturn may have played its part in poor performance in the US, as car giant, General Motors’ poor financial performance is accompanied by the worst sustainability performance recorded. Disappointingly, the report also found that leading manufacturers including Porsche, KIA and some Chinese manufacturers are still not producing sufficient sustainability performance data.

Professor Figge from Queen’s University Management School said: “Economic crisis, energy crisis, climate crisis and recent global developments have affected the automobile industry like few other sectors. Never before has it been as important for car manufacturers to employ their economic, environmental and social resources wisely – and efficiently.

“However, while issues such as fleet consumption and CO2 emissions have been firmly put on the public agenda, the equally considerable environmental impact of the production phase of car manufacturing has as yet been largely ignored. The survey attempts to close this gap.”

The unique report, which covers the period between 1999 and 2007, was created by researchers at Queen’s University Management School in Belfast, alongside colleagues from the Euromed Management School Marseille, and the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT) in Berlin.

It provides a full account of the societal impacts of car production, including issues such as the volume of greenhouse gas emissions from production facilities and the number of work accidents recorded by a company. It also looks at how efficiently car manufacturers used key natural resources compared with their industry peers and how much profit or loss was generated with these resources.

The ratio of sustainable value to sales was calculated in the report so that different companies could be directly compared irrespective of their size. Sustainable value includes not just the use of economic capital but also environmental and social resources. It is the first value-based method for assessing corporate sustainability performance.

In the report Asian car manufacturers including Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Honda, and to a lesser extent, Suzuki have all out-performed their North American competitors. In stark contract to the Asian manufacturers, both North American carmakers Ford and General Motors (GM) lie well into negative territory, with GM showing the most striking downside trend.

There is a mixed picture among European manufacturers. While BMW tops the ranking of all 17 manufacturers in most of the years assessed, other European carmakers PSA (Peugeot, Citroën), Renault, Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler/Daimler AG only occasionally keep pace with the industry leaders. FIAT Auto consistently falls behind throughout the entire review period.

The survey examined a set of nine environmental, economic, and social resources: capital use, water use, and waste generated as well as emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, and volatile organic compounds; further, the number of employees and the number of work accidents are taken into account.

GM achieved a sustainable value of minus €9.87 billion, in comparison with BMW, which having used all the resources considered necessary to create value doubled its sustainable value to €2.8 billion from 1999 to 2007.

Ralf Barkemeyer from Queen’s University Management School conclude: “The study shows that in 2005 GM had by far the worst negative Sustainable Value within the industry which is mainly the result of a dramatic profits slump in 2005. But GM‘s value contributions from carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sodium oxide emissions as well as waste generation are very negative during the period 1999 to 2007. Its sodium oxide value contributions show the worst level of resource efficiency in the entire study.

“The example of several of the other car manufacturers shows that there is a multi billion euro potential for a company like GM to improve both its environmental and social and its financial performance simultaneously.”

In a move that is likely to spark controversy among supporters of rainforest conservation, Brazilian diesel fuel vehicles will be required to run on a five per cent biodiesel blend from January 2010 – an increase from the previous level of four per cent.

The announcement, made by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is expected to increase biodiesel production levels in the country to 2.4billion litres and will move Brazil to being the second largest producer of biodiesel in the world, behind only Germany. Currently, Brazil ranks fourth behind Germany, the US and France.

It wasn’t until early 2008 that mandatory blends were introduced – and this was quickly followed by a raise from two per cent to three per cent in July of the same year. This was again increased from three to four per cent earlier this year with the increase to five per cent originally scheduled for 2013.

The rising standard has meant a steady expansion of the Brazilian biodiesel market with 43 plants currently in operation with a collective production capacity of 3.6billion litres.

It is hoped that the increase will lead to the creation of jobs and the generation of more income through family farming. More than 90 per cent of the market has received the Social Fuel Label, which is used by the federal government to ensure joint participation by small farmers and agribusinesses in the production chain.

It is expected that using biodiesel as a substitute to regular diesel should reduce CO2 emissions by 62million tons from 2008 to 2017.

Eco-Innovation Technology Company Ricardo has been awarded a contract to develop a new vehicle under the Fuel Efficient Ground Vehicle Demonstrator programme for the US Army.

Known as the FED programme, it was launched in late 2008 with the goal of improving military vehicle technology while reducing fuel consumption on the battlefield and cutting the nation’s dependence on oil.

By applying its expertise, Ricardo will aim to develop and manufacture a demonstration vehicle that maximises fuel economy while maintaining the capability and performance of light tactical wheeled vehicles.

According to Paul Luskin, Ricardo’s chief programme engineer for the programme, the project is a testament to Ricardo’s experience in supporting military vehicles.

“The FED project leverages Ricardo’s experience and success in supporting the development of a broad range of military vehicles over several years,” he said. “In particular, TARDEC has recognised Ricardo’s role on the Future Tactical Truck System, in which we successfully implemented advanced technology into an innovative vehicle architecture.

“Our objectives include not only training embedded government engineers in order to enhance TARDEC’s vehicle engineering capability, but also educating government staff on the issues relating to fuel economy, including implementation of technology and trade-offs in performance requirements.”

The contract is for the second phase of the programme and follows on from the initial phase in which Ricardo applied its total vehicle fuel economy systems to evaluate current and emerging technologies that could improve the fuel efficiency of the entire vehicle. The efforts drew on Ricardo’s expertise across a variety of fields including hybrid propulsion, transmissions, driveline systems, controls and electronics.

Chinese company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Company Ltd has emerged as the leading contender to take over Ford’s iconic Swedish brand, Volvo.

Ford announced that a consortium led by the company is its preferred bidder and that it will engage in more detailed and focused negotiations with Geely in the near future – no final decisions have yet been made.

The objective of the discussions, according to Ford’s executive vice president and chief financial officer Lewis Booth, is to secure an agreement in the best interests of all parties. He states that any sale would have to ensure that Volvo has the resources to strengthen the business and build its franchise.

According to Booth, Ford believes Geely has the potential to be a responsible future owner of Volvo and that it will preserve its core values and its independence. However, much work is still required and further discussions are necessary. There is no timeline for the discussions.

Ford would continue to co-operate with Volvo after a potential sale but does not intend to retain any shareholding. Ford has also outlined that it will maintain appropriate communications with key stakeholders including Volvo employees and the Swedish government during the process.

A solar car made by students from Japan’s Tokai University was announced the winner of the 3,000 km Global Green Challenge 2009.

The race, which saw entries from across the globe, started in Australia’s northern city of Darwin on October 24 and took entrants across the country’s vast deserts and past some of its most famous locations.

The winning team crossed the finish line yesterday at 3.39pm local time in the South Australian capital of Adelaide.

In what appeared to be a near faultless run over the 3,000 kilometre distance from the Darwin, Tokai University team’s first and only reported issue occurred in the final stage of the journey when car, known as the Tokai Challenger, suffered a flat tyre, 2824 kilometres from the Darwin start. They finished a day ahead of other entrants and the official closing date of the race.

The victory by Tokai Challenger is the first by a Japanese team since 1996 when the event was won by Honda Dream II. Honda also won the previous event in 1993.

The Global Green Challenge in its former guise as the World Solar Challenge was first run in 1987 and has been conducted every two years since. This year the race was expanded to include production and prototype eco friendly vehicles that are, or soon will be available to car buying public.

Other entrants included the world’s fastest all electric sports car the Tesla, a Honda ‘postie bike’ run on alcohol fuel entered by Top Gear Australia, Deep Green Research entered an electric Honda, motoring writer Peter McKay drove a Fords Fiesta Econetic and a Suzuki Alto was steered by Carsguide’s Karla Pincott and writer Feann Torr.

Having signed memorandums of understanding to promote the development of electric mobility in numerous countries and major cities around the world, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has now secured arguably its most high profile agreement yet – with the city of Barcelona, Spain.

The two organisations will work to promote the use of electric vehicles in the Catalan capital after Barcelona made environmental sustainability a key policy initiative through the use of renewable sources of energy and a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Earlier this year, the city outlined its plans to implement a sustainable mobility programme through a scheme that would include tax breaks for electric vehicle buyers, dedicated electric vehicle zones and parking spaces. It also calls for the establishment of 191 charging points across the city by 2011.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is well equipped to be at the forefront of steps towards electrification. At the Frankfurt Motor Show last month, Renault introduced four new electric vehicles that will enter the market between 2011 and 2013, while Nissan announced its LEAF electric vehicle back in August that is set to be launched in late 2010.

Indeed the Alliance can already boast a strong presence in Spain with Renault having announced the production of a fuel combustion engine and a full combustion vehicle in Castille and Leon. Its four plants in Spain feature solar panels which are said to save more than 160tons of CO2 every year.

Meanwhile, Nissan’s Zona Franca plant created the largest solar panel structure for industrial use in Spain and has cut CO2 emissions by 20 per cent. Last year, Nissan picked up the Carles Ferrer Salat Award which recognised its efforts to improve energy efficiency.

In an effort to speed up the commercialisation of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, some 50 representatives of European electricity companies, as well as national electricity sector associations and power distribution system operators, have signed a declaration on infrastructure for charging electric vehicles.

As part of their declaration, the signees confirm that they are determined to co-operate with stakeholders to develop and apply industry pre-standards until official standards have been set by the relevant bodies. They have also called on policymakers to support the drive towards an environmentally friendly transport sector.

CEOs from the company have pledged to promote investment in infrastructure in an effort to develop all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles while the EURELECTRIC Task Force on Electric Vehicles works to indentify any market hurdles that may prevent the development of common infrastructure standards.

The association, known as the Union of the Electricity Industry-EURELECTRIC, which was formed thanks to a merger between UNIPEDE and EURELECTRIC in December 1999, represents the interest of the electricity industry at pan European levels as well as its associates on various other continents.

Miljobil Grenland AS, the Norwegian subsidiary of Tata Motors, the company that bought out Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008, has awarded a contract to supply batteries for the Indica Vista electric vehicle project to South Korea’s Energy Innovation Group (EIG).

The agreement will see EIG supply 20Ah lithium-ion polymer cells to Miljobil Grenland AS for design validation and engineering sign-off scheduled for early 2010. The supply agreement will also see two million battery cells supplied through to the end of 2012, along with their associated parts and services.

The cells are optimised for application in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and full electric vehicles with specific energy of 175Wh/kg and energy density of 370Wh/L.

EIG achieved its certification for design earlier this year – making it the first Korean large format lithium-ion manufacturer to do so.  Following an audit by Miljobil Grenland and Tata Motor’s European Technical Centre it was recognised as meeting the requirements of a preferred supplier.

The news comes one year after battery supplier Electrovaya announced it would partner with Tata Motors and Miljo Grenland/Innovasjon to manufacture batteries and electric cars in 2009. As part of the deal Electrovaya became a shareholder of Miljo Grenland, which is establishing a manufacturing facility in the country.

The plant will focus on zero emission production and will meet all EU and Norwegian environmental requirements. However, as the plant will take some time to set up, Tata requires a cell supply for its initial production period hence it needed a second source supplier in the form of EIG.