Green Energy News | March 28, 1999

March 28, 1999 – Vol.3 No.52

ENERGIES... week of March 28, 1999

YOUR COMPANY COULD DO THIS. In an effort to boost the market for electric vehicles and help clean the air, the Southern Company has created a program to sublease EV’s to employees - at discount rates.

The Southern Company Employee Electric Vehicle Lease Program will allow at least 100 employees each year for the next four years to lease either a Ford Ranger Electric Pick-up or a GM EV-1 at $150 or $200 per month respectively. The number of leases each year could increase with employee demand. Lease payments are automatically deducted from employee paychecks.

The Company already claims to have one of the largest EV fleets in the U.S. with 50 Chevy S-10’s, 32 Ford Rangers, 73 Toyota Rav 4’s and 27 GM EV-1’s.

APRIL FOOL’S MARKETING. Despite usually good marketing efforts sometimes mistakes are made. Business Week magazine has announced that Ford’s attempt to sell its fuel efficient Ka in Japan is dead on arrival. Apparently the Ka is only available with a manual shift - in a country where 90% chose automatic transmissions. But worse, “Ka” in Japanese means mosquito.

DIESEL NOTES. In the battle for clean and efficient automotive technologies, the short term winner may be clean diesels. In the wake of concerns over diesel pollution and health hazards, companies have acted quickly to offer new and greener diesel technology.

-- ARCO has begun preliminary testing of a new lower emission fuel, EC (Emission Control) Diesel. Initial testing resulted in a 15% reduction in particulates and a 5% reduction in Nitrogen Oxide emissions, with no loss in fuel economy.

-- Southern States Power Company has recently acquired a second BioDiesel extraction plant in Mexico, bringing total production capacity to 14 million gallons per year. BioDiesel can be burned by itself or mixed with petroleum based diesel fuel. According to company claims, the fuel has reduced emissions and has a higher cetane number than traditional fuels.

-- Siemens Automotive and Navistar have agreed to a $100 million joint venture to develop the next generation of diesel fuel injectors. The new company, to be known as Siemens Diesel Systems Technology LLC., plans to develop and manufacture at least 4 million Green Diesel Technology (SM) injectors per year by 2005. The low pressure injectors are electronically controlled and hydraulically actuated.

-- Isuzu’s advanced 3 liter 4JX1-TC direct injection diesel will be built in the U.S at the DMAX Ltd production facility in Moraine, Ohio - up to 100,000 per year by 2000. The new engine, used in Japanese versions of the Izuzu’s Trooper and Rodeo sport utility vehicles, utilizes a common rail fuel injection system.

-- DieselNet claims that diesels typically get 40% better fuel economy, thus 40% fewer CO2 emissions, than similar spark ignition engines. In steady-state running they are the cleanest, making them prime candidates for some hybrid-electric powertrains.