In the face of its urban pollution problems, China is substantially investing in the electric vehicle.
An official agreement has been signed between sixteen Chinese businesses representing oil companies, automotive manufacturers and producers of batteries and charging terminals. The alliance should invest €12bn (almost £10bn) in research and development for electric vehicles, according to Avem, which will certainly make China a major player in this sector in the years to come.

Asian cities are already preparing themselves for the arrival of the electric vehicles by implementing a charging infrastructure. Caradisiac tells us that the city of Shanghai is counting on electric vehicles to reduce polluting emissions, with 400 charging stations to be installed by 2010. The city is even going to establish a purchasing subsidy in order to encourage the development of these sustainable vehicles.

We also learn from Caradisiac that, in South Korea, Seoul is also following this movement towards sustainable mobility in Asia: the metropolis has just announced that over 100 charging terminals will be deployed across the city by the end of 2010.  

According to the Journal du développement durable, researchers at Edinburgh Napier University have succeeded in developing a biofuel made from whisky distilling by-products. Unused until now, these by-products could be incorporated into 5% to 10% of traditional fuels, according to the Scottish researchers.   

Other waste products could be used to make biofuels to run our vehicles: according to the website Marcelgreen, an English company, GENeco, wants to run cars off methane gas emitted by our household waste and …our sewage.  The company has developed a hybrid car prototype that runs off petrol initially and then off methane gas. The car can drive up to 183 kmh (114 mph).

Now for biomaterials, and more specifically the hemp variety allowed in industrial usage, Cannabis Sativa, which is of interest to a Canadian manufacturer from Calgary, Motive Industry. The company wants to transform the hemp leaves into a compact fibre which could eventually replace fibre glass. Green Autoblog stipulates that this biomaterial has the advantage of being cheaper and lighter than fibre glass. 

It is not only in Asia that electric vehicle research is making progress. In France, a research network bringing together academic and industrial players has just been launched by the French National Alliance for Energy Research Coordination (ANCRE). Around thirty researchers will take part in the project, which aims to “accelerate innovation in order to develop the French involvement in the battery sector” according to Valérie Pécresse, Minister for Higher Education and Research. The network’s objective is to produce batteries that are twice as light by 2015, adds the Journal du développement durable.

Still in France, Michelin is launching a 10-inch tyre, which has a diameter of around 3 to 4 inches less than a traditional tyre. This innovation will make electric vehicles lighter by 40kg, stipulates CarTech, which will lead to decreased electricity consumption.

In the Unites States, a start-up has just been launched by a materials science professor from MIT,
Yet-Ming Chiang, who believes that he can reduce battery manufacturing costs by 85% by changing battery design. In an article in Technology Review, Professor Chiang adds that he will achieve his target by combining the advantages of fuel cells with traditional electrochemical batteries.

In Finland, the government hopes to create the first “green motorway” in the world, linking its West coast to the Russian border in the East. According to Maxisciences, this kind of ecological motorway will mean installing geothermal pumps or reusing waste in order to produce ethanol.

Despite budget cuts in the British civil service, the government has decided to maintain its Plugged-In Places project, announces Green Autoblog . This initiative aims to equip the country with an efficient charging infrastructure; around 11,000 charging stations will be installed over the next three years.