Articles

    Fuel Cell in some History… A fuel cell converts the chemical energy of a fuel (usually hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (usually oxygen) into electricity in a process that requires a catalyst.   It has been with us since the 19th Century, although it took until the 1950s to create a design for use in vehicles. During the early 1960s, General Electric produced a fuel cell-based electrical power system for NASA’s Gemini and Apollo space ca ...

    It is now mandatory, virtually across the globe, that vehicle manufacturers must include catalytic converters in all their production, in order to reduce the number of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels which in turn reduces the amount of smog and greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere. Most manufacturers produce their own catalysts (OEM) to exacting standards, in order to ensure they do not run foul of the law. Although the ...

    Today at Eco Cat News, we will take a particular look at the upcoming and actual regulations concerning vehicles.   Why making car regulations? Governments that are concerned with the environment recognize that vehicles are major contributors to global warming and climate change, and attempt to limit this negative impact through enforced regulations. Manufacturers run the risk of very hefty penalties if they ignore or seek to manipulate these regulations and are ...

Chief executive of Tesla Elon Musk declared last week that the manufacturer will open a new electric-car factory in Shanghai. This plant in the Chinese city will be the first facility outside the US and will manufacture much more than usual. Indeed, this new automotive factory will produce 500 000 a year; while usual ones manufacture 200 000 to 300 000 a year. Thanks to the new plant Tesla will be able to produce 1m vehicles a year, doubling its past production. Shangha ...

    The Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota made a big announcement at the Geneva Motor Show. Actually, they reported that they will stop selling diesel cars in Europe by the end of this year.   The company will keep selling diesel vehicles like the Hilux truck, Land Cruiser SUV and Proace van though, mostly for the demand of these types of vehicles (with a lot of space to store and a powerful motor) by the consumers, but nothing more.   ...

  In recent times, there are some suspicions concerning several German manufacturers like Daimler and Volkswagen. Apparently, they would manipulate their vehicles’ engines to validate the tests on polluting emissions of their diesel engines. According to the newspaper Der Spiegel, which published an article on the topic last Friday, they are now under threat of a new recall action for some of their diesel vehicles.   How do they fraud? Apparently, the fr ...

In many countries, particularly the USA, the automobile is the single most recycled consumer product. Despite cars long being the bane of environmentalists, the auto recycling industry is vibrant and entrepreneurial; environmentally friendly, market-driven, and sustainable. Cars are lasting longer than ever before, but in the end, all vehicles have a lifespan and end up scrapped. “Scrap”, though, is, perhaps, an unfair descriptor to define the unroadworthy vehicle. Indeed, ...