On Tuesday, US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid released the “Clean Energy Jobs 5 and Oil Company Accountability Act of 2010”—the latest version of the energy bill to emerge from the Senate. Division B of the bill outlines two major transportation-related initiatives to reduce oil consumption and enhance energy security, including up to $3.8 billion in rebates to buyers of natural gas-powered vehicles, from light- to heavy-duty; and $400 million to support the deployment of plug-in vehicles in targeted communities.

The addition of the electric vehicle provisions was a last-minute achievement, noted Ron Minsk from the Electrification Coalition during his talk at Plug-in 2010. Heading into the weekend, the bill only dealt with oil spills, natural gas vehicles, Home Star and land and water.

Natural Gas Vehicles (Division B, Title XX). The bill establishes within the Department of Energy a Natural Gas Vehicle and Infrastructure Development Program for the purpose of facilitating the use of natural gas in the United States as an alternative transportation fuel, in order to achieve the maximum feasible reduction in domestic oil use.

The program will establish a $3.8-billion rebate program for qualified owners who convert or repower a conventionally fueled vehicle to operate on compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas, or to a mixed-fuel vehicle or a bi-fuel vehicle.

The rebates are primarily targeted at medium- and heavy-duty vehicles; of the funding allocated for rebates, not more than 25% is to be used to provide rebates to qualified owners for the purchase of qualified alternative fuel vehicles that have a gross vehicle rating of not more than

8,500 pounds.

In general, rebates will offset 90% of the incremental cost of a qualified alternative fuel vehicle to a qualified owner for the purchase of a

15 qualified alternative fuel vehicles. Maximum values are determined by vehicle weight:

• ≤ 8,500 lbs, $8,000
• 8,501 – 14,000 lbs, $16,000
• 14,001 – 26,000 lbs, $40,000
• > 26,000 lbs, $64,000

Mixed-fuel vehicles receive a rebate of up to 75% of the amount provided for vehicles that operate only under natural gas; bi-fuel vehicles receive 50% of the amount for pure NGVs.

The bill also provides funding to establish fueling infrastructure, and a loan program for domestic manufacturing.

Plug-in vehicles. (Division B, Title XXI) The bill establishes with the Department of Energy a national plug-in electric drive vehicle deployment program to assist in the deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles. Specified goals of the national program include:

1. the reduction and displacement of petroleum use by accelerating the deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles in the United States;
2. the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by accelerating the deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles in the United States;
3. the facilitation of the rapid deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles;
4. the achievement of significant market penetrations by plug-in electric drive vehicles nationally;
5. the establishment of models for the rapid deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles nationally, including models for the deployment of residential, private, and publicly available charging infrastructure;
6. the increase of consumer knowledge and acceptance of plug-in electric drive vehicles;
7. the encouragement of the innovation and investment necessary to achieve mass market deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles;
8. the facilitation of the integration of plug-in electric drive vehicles into electricity distribution systems and the larger electric grid while maintaining grid system performance and reliability;
9. the provision of technical assistance to communities across the United States to prepare for plug-in electric drive vehicles; and
10. the support of workforce training across the United States relating to plug-in electric drive vehicles.

Eighteen months after the enactment of the Act, and biennially thereafter, DOE is to submit to Congress a report on the progress made on implementing the program. DOE is also to make information regarding cost, performance, usage data, and technical data regarding plug-in electric drive vehicles and associated infrastructure available to the public.

Two years after the enactment of the Act, DOE is to carry out a national assessment and develop a national plan for plug-in electric drive deployment that includes:

1. An assessment of the maximum feasible deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles by 2020 and 2030;
2. The establishment of national goals for market penetration of plug-in electric drive vehicles by 2020 and 2030;
3. A plan for integrating the successes and barriers to deployment identified by deployment communities;
4. A plan for providing technical assistance to communities across the US to prepare for plug-in electric drive vehicle deployment;
5. A plan for quantifying the reduction in petroleum consumption and the net impact on greenhouse gas emissions due to the deployment of the plug-ins; and
6. Recommendations to the President and Congress for changes in federal programs to better promote the deployment of and reduce the barriers to plug-ins.

The bill requires DOE to provide technical assistance to State, local and tribal governments to assist with the national deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles. The technical assistance to be provided will include: training codes and standards for building and safety inspectors; ideas on how to expedite permits and inspections; and education and outreach on the various types of plug-in electric drive vehicles and the associated technology. It also provides grants for training first responders, electricians, contractors, and engineers who will be installing infrastructure, code inspection officials, dealers, mechanics, and others. Provides grants for programs in designing plug-in electric drive motor vehicles and associated components and infrastructure.

The bill directs the federal government to count electricity used to refuel a plug-in electric drive motor vehicle as an alternative fuel. Also, it directs the Federal Energy Management Program and the General Services Administration to compile a report on how many plug-in electric drive vehicles could be deployed in federal fleets based on needed functionality and costs.

Federal agencies are to request funding for these vehicles in their annual budget requests. Finally, it directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to acquire and deploy plug-in electric drive vehicles to be used in a pilot program in federal fleets and authorizes funds to cover incremental costs.

The bill also creates a target Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Communities Program—at least 5 and not more than 15 deployment communities that reflect diverse populations, geography, and a model for deploying electric drive motor vehicles. At least one deployment community will have population of less than 125,000. This is funded with the $400 million.

Other provisions include:

• Establishing an R&D program in DOE to work on all aspects of the development, production, and deployment of electric vehicles. This section also establishes a research, development, and demonstration program in the Department of Energy to identify and assess possible uses for vehicle batteries at the end of their useful life in a vehicle. It provides grants for selected demonstration projects and directs the Secretary of Energy to carry out a study on recycling materials from electric vehicles and batteries.

• Establishing a competition for the development of a 500-mile vehicle battery.

• Conduct a study identifying the raw materials needed to manufacture plug-in electric vehicles, batteries, and other components, to describe the known sources of these materials and the risk associated with their supply, and to identify ways to secure the supply chain of critical raw materials.

• Entering into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study to identify what data that may be collected from electric vehicles, such as location, charging patterns and usage of electric vehicles. This study will be used to provide recommendations on procedures, technologies, and rules relating to the collection, storage and use of this data.

• Requiring electric utilities to consider the potential levels of plug-in penetration that they might expect to see on their systems in the near term, investigate the potential impacts on their transmission and distribution infrastructure, and plan for the deployment of electric vehicles in their service area.

• Providing loan guarantees for eligible entities that purchase more than 200 qualified automotive batteries in a calendar year for use in nonautomotive applications. This program will help attract battery manufacturing facilities to the US while plug-in electric drive vehicle production is still ramping up.

• Establishing a technical advisory committee to advise the Secretary of Energy on matters relating to plug-in electric drive vehicles. The committee is to coordinate with the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technical Advisory Committee and the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. The bill also establishes an Interagency Task Force, chaired by the Secretary of Energy, to coordinate federal actions related to plug-in electric drive vehicles and infrastructure.

Resources

• Detailed summary of Reid bill

• Full text of the Reid bill as of 27 July 2010

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected four advanced coal gasification projects for funding of up to $5.9 million, with an addition $1.7 million of non-Federal cost sharing funds. The projects will test membrane technology to separate hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from coal or coal/biomass-derived synthesis gas (syngas), such as from Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power systems.

The work will be managed by the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Analysis of advanced IGCC power systems indicates hydrogen membrane separation technologies could increase overall power plant efficiency, with a resulting decrease in electricity cost to the consumer. Hydrogen produced from the separation could be utilized as an additional turbine fuel or be further used to co-produce other fuels and chemicals. As an added benefit, the membrane separation process can help mitigate GHG emissions by isolating the CO₂ produced during gasification, facilitating permanent geological sequestration, or storage.

Until now, advanced hydrogen membrane separation technology development has been primarily conducted at the laboratory scale. These projects are intended to move the technology development to the next level, conducting testing using actual coal-derived synthesis gas. This will provide the pathway to further scale-up this technology to membrane module demonstrations, with the eventual goal of designing and fabricating commercial scale processes for incorporation into advanced power plants.

The selected projects are:

• Praxair, Inc (Danbury, Conn.) Praxair will partner with the Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colo.) and T3 Scientific (Blaine, Minn.) to demonstrate palladium (Pd) and Pd alloy membranes on ceramic supports for hydrogen separation from coal-derived syngas. Praxair facilities available for the project include the research and development center in Tonawanda, N.Y., the Surface Technologies Center in Indianapolis, Ind., and the Specialty Ceramics Center in Seattle, Wash. Initial gasification tests will be conducted on the small-scale Colorado School of Mines gasifier with additional testing likely at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D.(DOE share: $1,500,722; $643,167; duration: 15 months)

• United Technologies Research Center (East Hartford, Conn.) This project will demonstrate hydrogen separation from coal-derived syngas using Pd and Pd alloy membranes in three forms: dense metal, surface modified dense metal, and nano-composite metal membranes. United Technologies will partner with Power+Energy, Inc. (Ivyland, Pa.). Gasification testing will be conducted in several gasifiers located at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D. (DOE share: $1,492,188; recipient share: $373,047; duration: 15 months)

• Western Research Institute (Laramie, Wyo.) Western Research Institute will collaborate with Chart Energy and Chemicals (La Crosse, Wis.) and Synkera Technologies (Longmont, Colo.) to develop and test planar Pd-based ceramic—anodic aluminum oxide—membranes for hydrogen separation from coal-derived syngas streams. Gasification testing will be conducted on Western Research Institute’s gasifier located in Laramie, Wyo. (DOE share: $1,399,998; recipient share: $350,349; duration: 15 months).

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Mass.) Worcester Polytechnic Institute in collaboration with Membrane Technology and Research (Menlo Park, Calif.), Siemens Energy America (Orlando, Fla.), and T3 Scientific (Blaine, Minn.) will demonstrate hydrogen separation from coal-derived syngas using Pd and Pd alloy membranes on porous metal supports. Gasification testing under this project will be conducted at the Power Systems Development Facility/National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Ala. (DOE share: $1,499,772; recipient share: $375,481; duration: 15 months)

New Zealand-based waste gas and syngas to fuels company LanzaTech (earlier post) has attracted US$18 million in Series B financing from investors led by China-focused venture capital firm Qiming Ventures.

LanzaTech uses proprietary bacteria to convert industrial waste gases into fuels and chemicals. The financing follows LanzaTech’s signing with Baosteel, China’s largest steel and iron conglomerate, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to commercialize its technologies for producing ethanol from steel mill off gases.

Since its Series A funding in 2007, LanzaTech has proven its process using unconditioned gas streams directly from a NZ Steel mill in Auckland to make fuel ethanol. Dr. Sean Simpson, co-founder of LanzaTech, says the funding will enable LanzaTech to further accelerate commercialization of its process.

We plan to have a pre-commercial plant operational in 2011 with plans to quickly scale to a commercial facility producing over 200 million liters of ethanol per year. The funding will also see expansion of the company’s focus to include the use of CO₂ as a feedstock gas.

—Dr Simpson

LanzaTech estimates its bacteria-based approach could produce more than 120 billion liters of ethanol per year using existing steel mill gases alone.

Gary Rieschel, Founder and Managing Director of Qiming, says Lanzatech represents a great opportunity for China.

The significance of its technology means that fuel can be produced with no impact on food supply or land use. Using industrial waste gases curbs GHG emissions and so maintains manufacturing sustainability in China.

—Gary Reischel

Qiming Ventures has been joined by Softbank China Venture Capital and two existing investors from the Series A round, Khosla Ventures in the US and New Zealand based K1W1.

LanzaTech has been working with a number of organisms, including: Geobacter sulfurreducens, Clostridium autoethanogenum, Moorella thermoacetica, Clostridium ultunense, Clostridium ljungdahlii, Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. pacificus, and Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans.

A paper just published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that C. ljungdahlii can be used as a unique microbial production platform based on synthesis gas and carbon dioxide/hydrogen mixtures. (Lead author Michael Köpke, formerly with Universität Ulm, is now affiliated with LanzaTech.)

Sequencing the complete genome of C. ljungdahlii revealed that it comprises 4,630,065 bp and is one of the largest clostridial genomes known to date. Experimental data and in silico comparisons revealed a third mode of anaerobic homoacetogenic metabolism. Unlike other organisms such as Moorella thermoacetica or Acetobacterium woodii, neither cytochromes nor sodium ions are involved in energy generation. Instead, an Rnf system is present, by which proton translocation can be performed. An electroporation procedure has been developed to transform the organism with plasmids bearing heterologous genes for butanol production. Successful expression of these genes could be demonstrated, leading to formation of the biofuel. Thus, C. ljungdahlii can be used as a unique microbial production platform based on synthesis gas and carbon dioxide/hydrogen mixtures.

—Köpke et al.

Resources

• Michael Köpke et al. (2010) Clostridium ljungdahlii represents a microbial production platform based on syngas. PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1004716107

Honda Motor Company will introduce a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and a new plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) to the US market in 2012, said President & CEO Takanobu Ito in his mid-year address in Tokyo, Japan. Ito also announced application of a lithium-ion battery to be supplied by Blue Energy, a joint venture company between GS Yuasa and Honda, in the next-generation Civic Hybrid in 2011.

BEV and PHEV demonstration programs will begin later this year in the US. By the end of 2010 and continuing through 2011, Honda will roll out a battery-electric vehicle demonstration program in the US with participants, including Stanford University, Google Inc. and the City of Torrance, Calif. The City of Torrance will also receive a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for evaluation by the end of 2010.

Plug-in hybrid. A new plug-in hybrid system for mid-size to larger vehicles is currently under development, Ito said. Vehicles equipped with this new system are scheduled to go on sale in 2012 in Japan and the US. Ito said that Honda will develop and adopt multiple hybrid systems that are appropriate for vehicles of different sizes and uses.

Ito said that Honda will also expand the lineup of its models equipped with the IMA hybrid system. Honda will introduce multiple models, mainly small-sized vehicles, equipped with the IMA system in Japan within approximately one year from now. The first one will be the Fit Hybrid which will be introduced to the Japanese market this fall.

Battery electric vehicle. Though there still are some issues that need to be addressed such as range per charge and recharging time, Ito said, battery EVs have the potential to create a new zero-emissions in operation market. By leveraging the technologies established through the development of fuel-cell electric vehicles, Ito said Honda will develop a battery EV with a goal to put it in real world use as soon as possible. Honda’s battery EV is scheduled to go on sale in Japan and the US in 2012.

Honda will introduce these products by around 2012 and further advance them and accelerate their more widespread introduction to the market in the next 10 years.

Other technology highlights of the speech included:

• Gasoline engines. Honda will begin renewing its engine and transmission lineup starting in 2012 to further improve its fuel economy.

• Diesel engines. In addition to the currently available 2.2L engine, Honda is making progress in the development of a smaller diesel engine. A model equipped with this new smaller diesel engine will be introduced in Europe in 2012.

• Fuel cell vehicles. In the long-term, Ito said, fuel-cell electric vehicles will provide the ultimate mobility. Honda will continue working on the technological advancement of the FCX Clarity as well as our hydrogen refueling systems.

• Electric bicycles. Honda is planning to introduce a new electric bicycle product into China in 2011.

• Honda Electric Mobility Synergy. In Japan, within this year, and conducted jointly with Kumamoto and Saitama prefecture where Honda already has some operations, Honda will begin the comprehensive demonstration testing of next-generation personal mobility that combines an energy supply infrastructure such as a solar-powered EV-refueling station with advanced environmentally-responsible vehicles such as the electric scooter EV-neo, plug-in hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles as well as other electromotive products such as the electric cart, Monpal.

Especially, as we are in the midst of a difficult business environment, nothing is more important than going back to Honda’s basic principle, that is, to see things from the customer’s view point, and continue offering products that please our customers.

Based on this understanding, Honda’s “Direction for the next 10 years” was set. What I think is most important and the message I conveyed strongly to all Honda associates was “to provide good products to our customers with speed, affordability and low CO₂ emissions.”

By “good products” we mean to embody customers’ wants and needs in attractive products using Honda’s unique technologies, knowledge and ingenuity. Such good products must be delivered with speed without making our customers wait, and at affordable prices which make our customers happy with their purchase. This is the direction Honda will take.

“With low CO₂ emissions” represents our conviction based on the strong sense of crisis that, as a manufacturer of personal mobility, Honda will have no future unless we achieve a significant reduction of CO₂ emissions.

—President & CEO Takanobu Ito