Ford Motor Company said it will end production of Mercury vehicles in the fourth quarter of this year to fully devote its financial, product development, production and marketing, sales and service resources toward further growing its core Ford brand while... Mike Millikin

Saab will launch a revised 9-3 range this autumn that includes a low emission model producing 119g/km - good, if not as impressive as the 109g/km of the recently launched BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics.

THINK, the Scandinavian electric vehicle maker, is delivering its first EVs into South America as part of a new collaboration with Brazilian electricity supplier, CPFL Energia S.A. CPFL Energia has purchased three THINK City EVs, which it intends to showcase... Mike Millikin

Locations for the ChargePoint America program. Click to enlarge. Coulomb Technologies, in partnership with Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA, will provide 4,600 free home and public ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations for electric vehicles throughout the United States through the ChargePoint... Mike Millikin

Researchers from UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National laboratory have developed a new mode for dynamic transmission electron microscopes (DTEMs) that can enable direct time-resolved observation of processes such as nanowire growth, catalyst poisoning, and Ostwald ripening at nanosecond timescales.... Mike Millikin

World markets for HEV/PHEV/BEV medium- and heavy-duty trucks 2010–2015. Source: Pike Research. Click to enlarge. Pike Research forecasts that worldwide sales of medium- (MD) and heavy-duty (HD) hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric trucks are will grow at a compound... Mike Millikin

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) will begin shipments of its i-MiEV electric vehicle (EV) to Australia starting from July. The sale of the i-MiEV in Australia marks the second market outside of Japan that the i-MiEV will be sold, after Hong... Mike Millikin

Chevrolet, OnStar and leading national first-responder organizations have launched the first automotive manufacturer-sponsored training program to educate first responders nationwide on electric vehicle technology. The announcement was jointly made at the San Francisco Fire Department with leaders of Chevrolet, OnStar,... Mike Millikin

Measured variations in CO2 emissions for different drive cycles. Click to enlarge. The UK Department for Transport has published the findings from the Light Goods Vehicle (LGV or van) CO2 emissions study completed earlier. This project, carried out by a... Mike Millikin

Idaho National Laboratory has nominated its supercritical/solid catalyst for biodiesel production from waste fats, oils and greases for the R&D 100 Awards. The lab also nominated medical imaging from better radioisotope production, and significantly improved gun sight optics. INL has... Mike Millikin

Progress Rail Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) for $820 million in cash from Berkshire Partners LLC and Greenbriar Equity Group LLC. Upon completion of the transaction, EMD will become... Mike Millikin

As of 1 June at least 80% of the diesel fuel refined in the United States for use by off-road vehicles must be ULSD fuel (15 ppm sulfur). Since 2007, off-road diesel has had a 500 ppm limit. Prior to... Mike Millikin

The University of California, Davis announced the appointment of Professor Nicole Woolsey Biggart of the university’s Graduate School of Management to the Chevron Chair in Energy Efficiency. The Chevron Chair directs the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center in its mission... Mike Millikin

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the first in a series of performance tests on its compact gasifier, which is designed to help reduce the cost of coal gasification. (Earlier post.) Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp.... Mike Millikin

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, have deciphered the structure of a bacterial phytochrome, a light-sensing molecular “switch”, similar to that used by plants. Their findings, described... Mike Millikin

Citroen has revealed the next version of its Ford Focus-rivalling C4, which it claims will be able to teach you how to save fuel.

Nissan Canada has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government of Québec, the City of Montréal, Québec City, Hydro-Québec and the Agence de l’efficacité énergétique du Québec to advance electric mobility in Québec. The parties will work... Mike Millikin

General Motors of Canada will invest $245 million in the St. Catharines powertrain facility, which will be expanded to produce fuel-efficient six-speed transmissions beginning in early 2012. The St. Catharines facility also recently announced a $235 million investment to support... Mike Millikin

Sandia has been working on “Sunshine to Petrol” technologies for a number of years. Source: Sandia. Click to enlarge. An alliance of industry, academic and government organizations has formed to commercialize technologies that will utilize concentrated solar energy to convert... Mike Millikin

Ener1, Inc., parent of Li-ion manufacturer EnerDel, has executed an agreement with its principal shareholder, Ener1 Group, an investment vehicle established by Russian industrialist and entrepreneur Boris G. Zingarevich, for the purchase of common stock and warrants for $65 million.... Mike Millikin