Ford Upfitting Michigan Assembly Plant for More Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Ford will be upfitting its Michigan Assembly Plant to the tune of $550 million for a line of common-platform gasoline and electric-drive vehicles. As part of the initiative, Ford will be working with six designated Qualified Vehicle Modifiers for compressed natural gas and propane. Ford’s strategy will be adjusted to follow where passenger car sales […]

2014 Ford Fiesta Powered by Three Cylinder Engine

Ford will roll out a 1.0L, three cylinder version of its updated Fiesta subcompact next year. It’s part of the turbocharged EcoBoost powertrain family. While the formal mileage numbers are yet to be released, Bob Fascetti, director of global operations for Ford, says it will yield in excess of 40 miles per gallon. That means […]

GM Ventures in Second Wave of Investments in Proterra and its Buses

General Motors’ venture capital arm, GM Ventures, has invested for a second time in Proterra Inc. and its battery-powered buses. Proterra is based in Greenville, S.C., and offers a pure battery electric, fast-charge bus, and will use the GM Ventures investment to increase delivery of its EcoRide buses to new customers and markets. The EcoRide is able to complete a fast charge in 10 minutes and has up to 40 miles of driving range per charge. The company says that it’s serving seven transit authority customers during a time when several municipalities and related agencies are adding more alternative fuel vehicles to their fleets.

GM Ventures is one of six companies to invest a total of $23 million in a new round of financing for Proterra. In 2011, Proterra received an additional...

Alternative Fuels Learning Program Offers Certification for Trainers

Curtis Martin, Antelope Valley Clean Cities Coordinator, will be conducting the Alternative Fuels Learning Program training at Rio Hondo Community College in Whittier, Calif., with training partner Professor John Frala. Martin will be conducting the last Train-The-Trainer workshop for Clean Cities Coordinators on Dec. 11, and the general stakeholder/public training will be conducted on Dec. 12 by Frala. This program is funded through US Dept. of Energy and developed by the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC), in conjunction with West Virginia State University (WVSU,) which will be present for this training session. Those attending the Train-The-Trainer session will be certified to go out and reproduce this training in their regions. Clean Cities Coordinators across the country are highly encouraged to attend.

The NAFTC Clean Cities Learning Program will support the mission of the DOE Vehicle Technologies Program by raising awareness and fostering a greater understanding of alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles...

GE and Ford Collaborating on C-MAX Energi Purchase and Research

GE now has a collaboration with Ford Motor Co. to purchase 2,000 new Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrids for its fleet. As part of the collaboration, Ford will work with GE on marketing GE’s alternative fuel infrastructure solutions to commercial customers and provide new alternative fuel vehicles for use at GE’s Vehicle Innovation Center. This will bring GE’s fleet up to 5,000 alternative fuel vehicles as part of the company’s goal of 25,000 of these vehicles. So far, GE employees have driven about 18 million miles in the company’s alternative fuel vehicles, saving about $2 million in gasoline costs and reducing CO2 emissions by about 12 million pounds.

GE and Ford will also work with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology on data collection and analysis on GE’s fleet in order to...