CCFA counters Paris mayor’s proposed total diesel ban with suggestion to focus on legacy fleet

16 December 2014

The Comité des Constructeurs Français d’Automobiles (CCFA) (the French automobile manufacturers association) characterized the recent declaration by Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, that she wished to eliminate diesel vehicles in the city by 2020 as lacking realism, and suggested that the best solution to improve urban air quality requires taking action on the more heavily polluting legacy fleet.

Mayor Hidalgo described her anti-pollution plan, which will be considered by the Conseil de Paris (the assembly governing the city) on 9 February, to the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche (leJDD) on 6 December. Among the elements of the plan are a total ban on diesel in Paris in 2020; the Rue de Rivoli and the Champs-Élysées to be dedicated to ultra-low emission clean vehicles; and the four districts of the center to be transformed into vast semi-pedestrian areas.

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In an interview with leJDD in November, Mayor Hidalgo said that she intended to go much further than what had already done on restricting the travel of the most polluting vehicles in the city. Her longer-range plans include heavy reliance on public transport, electric vehicles, and cycling.

In the interview in which she outlined the scope of her anti-pollution plan, she said:

The measure is clear: I want the end of diesel in Paris in 2020, and possibly beyond the périphérique [Boulevard Périphérique is a controlled-access dual-carriageway ring road in Paris, and is generally accepted as the boundary between the city of Paris and its suburbs.]

Reaction to the proposed plan has been, as might be expected, mixed. A review of the situation in the New York Times noted that while praised by public health officials, the plan has been called elitist by its critics. Until recently, the Times also observed, policy makers in Europe, including France, “were extolling diesel cars as cleaner and more fuel efficient compared with gas-guzzling vehicles, emitting less carbon dioxide per kilometer. The promotion of diesel fuel has been especially notable in France, where it is less expensive than unleaded gas.”

The French automakers in their CCFA statement tried to draw a distinction between older, more highly polluting diesels and the new Euro 5/6 diesels on the market now. (The CCFA has five members: Alpine, Citroën Automobiles, Automobiles Peugeot, Renault and Renault Trucks.)

The CCFA has always supported the accelerated renewal of the older car parc, because the performance of new vehicle meets the latest European diesel standards, among the strictest in the world. When Madam Mayor of Paris declared her wish “eradicate diesel vehicles by 2020,” it makes no distinction between the old diesel vehicles and modern diesel vehicles equipped with the latest pollution control technologies (standards Euro 5/6). The difference is real and it would be wrong to suggest that today we can speak of “the” diesel as a single technology.

European regulations reduced pollutant emissions from diesel vehicles to those of gasoline vehicles. How, in this context, to justify the prohibition of [diesel] traffic? Why not rely on the order of May 2013, which identifies the vehicles in the fleet, according to their levels of emissions, for the implementation of the traffic restriction project in the capital?

By adopting this plan 2020, Paris is the only city [of those] in Europe that have implemented traffic restrictions (e.g., London, Berlin …) to ban diesel vehicles that comply with European regulations.

Japan, for its part, provides even now tax incentives for diesel vehicles at Level Regulatory particulate emissions… CCFA joins the opinion of the ADEME [Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie (France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency)] which states that “in order to reduce the impact on the air quality of road transport in the most polluted urban areas, it is necessary to act primarily on the most polluting vehicles particles and NO_x, especially diesel vehicles without closed particulate filters which still account for about two-thirds of the park.”

However, a recent study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found that on-road NO_x emission levels of Euro 6 diesel cars in Europe are on average about seven times higher than the NO_x limit set by the Euro 6 emission standard. (Earlier post.) The study follows another recent ICCT report showing that the gap between official and real-world fuel-economy figures in Europe has risen to about 38%. (Earlier post.)

The study—the most comprehensive report on the real-world behavior of the latest generation of diesel cars published to date—found “remarkable” differences among individual vehicle models, indicating that technologies for real-world clean diesels already exist but are not being employed consistently by different vehicle manufacturers.

Unless the appropriate technical measures are adopted, the high on-road emissions of NO_x from the new diesel technology classes of passenger cars could have serious adverse health effects on the exposed population. Regulatory action is urgently required in Europe, where all new diesel passenger cars sold from September 2014 belong to the Euro 6 class and the regional share of diesel vehicles in the passenger car fleet is higher than anywhere else in the world. In this sense, the European RDE-LDV initiative … requiring the inclusion of on-road testing with PEMS as part of the passenger car type-approval process in the EU is a step in the right direction. However, the existence of the real-world diesel NO_x issue must be acknowledged by regulators in its full extent and subsequently addressed in collaboration with vehicle manufacturers and other stakeholders.

Resources

• Vicente Franco, Francisco Posada Sánchez, John German, and Peter Mock (2014) “Real-world exhaust emissions from modern diesel cars: A meta-analysis of PEMS emissions data from EU (Euro 6) and US (Tier 2 BIN 5 / ULEV II) diesel passenger cars”

Infineon and UMC extend manufacturing agreement into power semiconductors for automotive

16 December 2014

The semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies AG and United Microelectronics Corporation, a leading global semiconductor foundry, have extended their existing manufacturing partnership into power semiconductors for automotive applications. Prior to this expanded partnership, the foundry had been producing Infineon’s logic chips for more than 15 years.

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Based on the recently signed agreement, both companies will jointly transfer Infineon’s automotive-qualified Smart Power Technology (SPT9) to UMC and extend its production to 300mm wafers. Production start of SPT9 products at UMC’s 300mm Fab in Taiwan is planned for early 2018.

SPT9 is a proprietary 130-nanometer (nm) process technology of Infineon that combines microcontroller intelligence and power technology on a single die.

In order to satisfy the demands of automotive applications for more functionality and safety as well as compact and cost-optimized solutions, an increasing amount of digital logic is required in power semiconductors.

In 2009, Infineon was the first semiconductor manufacturer to offer an automotive-qualified embedded power technology in 130nm technology node that combines complex digital logic circuits, sensor interfaces and power electronics.

Combining building blocks that are actually manufactured in three different production process technologies enables semiconductor devices that are highly integrated and take over many tasks of other system components. Since fewer components are required in the application, the vulnerability of automotive control systems to faults is reduced.

With SPT9, even semiconductors offering massive functionality are very small in size. SPT9 applications are varied, ranging from intelligent control for small electric motors in vehicles, such as used for power window lifts, wipers, sun roofs, power seats and fan/blower control, oil and water pumps, to airbags, and audio amplifiers.

UMC is a world leading semiconductor foundry, with annual revenues exceeding US$4 billion. In the 2013 global automotive semiconductor market, worth US$25.1 billion, Infineon is ranked number two with a 9.6% market share.

Fujitsu launches hydrogen station data management service to support spread of fuel-cell vehicles

16 December 2014

In conjunction with the start of sales of Toyota’s Mirai fuel cell vehicle in Japan (earlier post), Fujitsu launched a hydrogen station data management service, the first in Japan, enabling people to access real-time information on the location and hours of operation of hydrogen stations, both stationary and mobile.

The service uses the Fujitsu Intelligent Society Solution SPATIOWL cloud service to integrate information on the location of hydrogen stations and operating hours input by registered hydrogen suppliers. Information on the hydrogen stations is then transmitted in real time by car companies, through their data centers, to the car navigation systems and smartphones of fuel-cell vehicle users.

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For the Mirai fuel-cell vehicle and the hydrogen station application, for example, Toyota is providing a special application, Hydrogen Station List, for the navigation system included in its T-Connect Data Communication Module (DCM) package, as well as a “Pocket Mirai” smartphone application.

The service is intended to help people with fuel-cell vehicles drive with greater peace of mind and contribute to a greater level of convenience with fuel-cell vehicles, encouraging their broader use.

To meet the needs of drivers, Fujitsu plans to continue developing the service to in line with the needs of car makers and hydrogen suppliers, and aims to make driving fuel-cell vehicles and using hydrogen stations more convenient and wide-spread.

Fujitsu envisions that there will be growing demand for hydrogen stations, both in Japan and around the world. Two types of hydrogen stations are expected: fixed locations or mobile units. Conveying the information on the location of these stations and their hours of operation, both managed in an integrated form, enables convenience for the user.

SPATIOWL.

SPATIOWL. Fujitsu launched SPATIOWL in June 2011 in and outside of Japan as a cloud service that uses location data to provide new forms of added value. As a separate example, Fujitsu recently announced it had started providing SPATIOWL services to PT. Marga Utama Nusantara, a toll road management company in the Republic of Indonesia. The SPATIOWL probe traffic information service implemented by PT. Marga Utama Nusantara, which can be inexpensively installed on a smartphone, collects probe data such as vehicle location, time and speed, and generates and accumulates traffic information, such as congestion conditions and their duration.

SPATIOWL consists of two different service types: a platform-provisioning service and task-oriented services. The platform-provisioning service uses probe data collected from moving vehicles and vast amounts of location data gathered from various sensors. This diverse assortment of data is analyzed in real-time and delivered through cloud computing as a functional group that is linked with external data. This enables, for example, corporate and other group customers to develop unique services that employ location-based data to create new value, such as those for reporting traffic information in real-time, those that facilitate urban planning, and the delivery of new services to local residents.

The task-oriented services, specialized services that offer data collected by Fujitsu, with analysis, and adaptation for specific purposes will be offered in a menu of immediately available services that include traffic information and routing support services for commercial vehicles. It provides probe data access services that comprise traffic provision and information data service and routing condition analysis service. In addition to urban management services, it also provides telematics services that consist of moving information service, Commercial Vehicle Telematics Service, and voice processing service.

Lux Research: wide variance in cost of cellulosic feedstocks for bio-based fuels and chemicals

16 December 2014

In a new report, Lux Research analysts have examined the costs and availability of cellulosic biomass sources for use as feedstock in bio-based fuels and chemicals. They found that while there are 2.4 billion tons of cellulosic biomass available today—led by 1.2 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) costs vary widely. Corn stover costs $91/MT, palm fruit bunches and fronds vary from $75/MT to $105/MT, while wood residues at $33/MT and bagasse $38/MT.

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MSW is a wildcard—it can have negative costs of up to $55/MT due to tipping fees, but is more challenging to convert than other biomass feedstocks. To put the cost in perspective, an $80/MT feedstock converted to fuels at typical yield, adds $1/gallon to fuel cost.

Cost and local availability are the two most important metrics when analyzing the feasibility of cellulosic biomass options. Despite cellulosic feedstocks’ potential, too many business plans today are still built around unrealistically low feedstock costs, failing to take into account the value of alternative uses, or rising costs as producers prove feedstock value.

Lux Research analysts examined the cost and availability of eight cellulosic biomass sources. Among their findings:

• Local availability is key. Due to transportation costs, plants need local biomass to be viable. Using a radius distance of 50 km, municipal solid waste is the most plentiful at 1.2 million MT. Corn stover is the next most abundant at 800,000 dry MT; other sources range between 250,000 MT and 350,000 MT.

• Wood residues and sugarcane bagasse are the two cheapest cellulosic biomass resources, costing about 50% less than other sources and can yield 241 million MT. Wheat straw offers 268 million MT, while rice straw is even more plentiful at 642 million MT.

• MSW is the cheapest cellulosic source with authorities willing to pay an average $55 per MT for its disposal. However, it is unlikely that its price will always remain negative, as feedstock cost will increase significantly as successful producers come online.

ABB-led consortium launches $10.5M project to install fast chargers along key European highways

16 December 2014

A 5-partner consortium led by ABB has launched a €8.4-million (US$10.5-million) project, co-funded 50% by the European Union, to install a corridor of high-quality fast chargers along key European motorways until the end of 2015. In addition to ABB, the consortium includes the Dutch e-mobility operator and retailer Fastned B.V.; the Danish e-mobility operator CLEVER A/S; the Swedish public utility and e-mobility operator Öresundskraft AB; and the German Testing and Certification Institute VDE Prüf-und Zertifizierungsinstitut GmbH.

The aim of the ELECTRIC project is to create an open-access fast-charging corridor situated along major motorways connecting Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands via a total of 155 chargers, with up to 30 in the Netherlands, 23 in Denmark, 35 in Sweden and 67 in Germany.

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The ELECTRIC corridor is outlined in purple (2013-EU-92043-S). Click to enlarge.

Together the partners expect that this corridor resulting from ELECTRIC will help accelerate electric vehicle uptake in the involved Member States and the focus on interoperability, sustainable infrastructure setup and network planning alongside infrastructure deployment.

The first charging stations co-funded are already in place and ready to use in Denmark — operated by CLEVER A/S and in the Netherlands by Fastned B.V. The partners expect to complete the open access fast charging corridor by the end of December 2015.

ELECTRIC is funded by the the “Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T)”. (Earlier post.) Via TEN-T the European Union contributes to the internal market in order to harmonize and better connect transport systems in Europe. The objective of the TEN-T programme is to co-fund investments in transport infrastructure in order to ameliorate the European Transport Networks. The total budget of this project amounts to about 8.4 million euros.