Gas 2.0

Pininfarina CEO Says Electric Car Still on Track for 2011 Debut
The Financial Potential of the New Electric Vehicle Market
“Mystery” Ceramic Could Lead to Cheaper, Stronger Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Pininfarina CEO Says Electric Car Still on Track for 2011 Debut

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 02:16 PM PDT

Legendary Italian carmaker, Pininfarina, may yet have some surprises up its sleeves. Even with recent financial difficulties, Pininfarina’s CEO, Silvio Pietro Angori, told Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24, that the company’s Bluecar electric car venture with french investor Vincent Bollore is not simply a concept car and still on track for a 2011 market debut.

While Electric Vehicles (EVs) gear up to hit Main Street next year, EVs are already rolling through Wall Street.

An example is the recent (and successful) initial public offering (IPO) by the American battery maker A123 (AONE). A123 provides lithium-based batteries for EVs, and through its IPO, has now provided the finance community with one of the first mainstream opportunities to invest in a pure EV play. The overwhelming response from the "Street" reflects tremendous market confidence in the future of the EV business.

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“Mystery” Ceramic Could Lead to Cheaper, Stronger Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 09:40 AM PDT

They don’t know how it works, but it does.

A team of researchers at Georgia Tech University has developed a new high-tech ceramic material that could make solid oxide fuel cells less costly and less finicky, and much more durable and efficient. The material is called Barium-Zirconium-Cerium-Yttrium-Ytterbuim Oxide. [Ed note: Say that three times fast and you get a gold star.] I don’t know if it’s any less of a tongue twister, but it’s known as BZCYYb for short.

Solid oxide fuel cells are of interest because they can generate energy without the need for an expensive catalyst such as platinum, which is typically used in hydrogen fuel cells. While nanotechnology is enabling the development of hydrogen fuel cells that use less platinum, with BZCYYb the prospects look good for ditching the precious metal entirely in favor of more sustainable technology—if solid oxide systems can be developed in a commercially viable form, that is.