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2015 Green Car Of The Year finalists announced, run alt-fuel gamut

The 2015 edition of the Green Car of the Year award is following right in the footsteps of previous years with a variety of alt-fuel powertrains making the just-announced finalists list. You've got your plug-in vehicle (the BMW i3), your compressed natural gas (the Chevy Impala Bi-Fuel), your high-efficiency diesel (the Audi A3 TDI), your 40+ mile-per-gallon gas engine (the Honda Fit) and, finally, a car that can do a little bit of everything (the VW Golf). The Golf is available – at least in some parts of the US – with three different powertrains: a 2.0-liter diesel, a gasoline engine and all-electric drive. The Impala can burn either natural gas or gasoline in its 3.6-liter engine. The A3 is an efficiency champ, able to get 73.5 mpg on some European tests. The i3 can be a pure electric vehicle or come with a short range extending engine. And the Fit brings 41 miles to the gallon in a practical, affordable package. The GCOY award is announced every year at the Los Angeles Auto Show by Green Car Journal. The committee doesn't just take the fuel-saving technology into account, but also a vehicle's "availability to the mass market." Last year, the Honda Accord Hybrid/Plug-In Hybrid won top honors, following up on wins from the Ford Fusion models (plug-in hybrid and hybrid) for 2013, the Honda Civic Natural Gas for 2012 and the Chevrolet Volt for 2011. FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2015 "GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR"" Green Car Journal to Reveal Winner of 10th Annual Award at LA Auto Show" Press & Trade Days, November 20 LOS ANGELES, CA (October 21, 2014) – Green Car Journal has announced its five finalists for the magazine's high-profile 2015 Green Car of the Year® program. The 2015 models include the Audi A3 TDI, BMW i3, Chevrolet Impala Bi-Fuel, Honda Fit, and VW Golf. The Green Car of the Year® award, an honor widely recognized as the auto industry's most important environmental accolade, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. An increasing number of vehicle models are considered for the Green Car of the Year® program each year, a reflection of the auto industry's expanding efforts in offering new vehicles with higher efficiency and improved environmental impact. Green Car Journal has been honoring the most important "green" vehicles every year at the LA Auto Show, since its inaugural award announced at the show in 2005.

Recharge Wrap-up: Chevy hits CO2 goal, eVgo and BMW build fast charging

Chevrolet has met its goal of preventing 8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions over the last five years. Through its community-based carbon reduction initiative, Chevy invested $40 million and took part in 38 different projects in 29 different states. The projects included supporting wind farms, powering a hospital with landfill gas, helping truckers reduce their idle time and helping create the ongoing #CleanEnergyU dialogue between students and clean energy leaders. In the end, Chevy retired all its carbon credits rather then spending them to offset its own emissions. Read more from Chevrolet. NRG eVgo and BMW are partnering to add DC Fast Combo charging to locations around the country. Over the next two years, the groups will bring hundreds of the 50-kW chargers to 25 cities, with 24 of those markets getting at least one installed by the end of 2015. "eVgo will add reliable DC Fast Combo capability to what is already America's largest DC Fast charging network," says eVgo President and CEO Arun Banskota. "This will be the fastest and most cost effective build out of a new network ever – thanks in large part to our existing infrastructure and committed retail host partners." Read more in the press release from eVgo. The EPA has settled with a Utah gasoline refiner over Clean Air Act violations. The HollyFrontier Corporation subsidiaries will pay $1.2 million for producing about 42 million gallons of gas that didn't adhere to Reid Vapor Pressure standards, resulting in 10 excess tons of volatile organic compound emissions. Its Salt Lake City refinery will also implement a program to offset past emissions. "This agreement will benefit public health by requiring retrofits of storage tanks at HollyFrontier facilities that will reduce volatile organic compound emissions and use next generation technology to verify these reductions," says Assistant Attorney General John Cruden. "This settlement shows that fuel refiners can and must meet the nation's standards for controlling the emissions that cause ground level ozone and serious health problems for Americans." Read more in the press release below. U.S. Settles with Gasoline Refiner to Reduce Emissions at Utah Facility WASHINGTON -- The U.S.

BMW i wants to build the ultimate self-driving machine

Just a few years into its short life, BMW's i sub-brand is changing its mission from the pursuit of the electric cars to building the ultimate self-driving machine. That's according to Klaus Froehlich, shown above, a BMW board member and the head of research and design. "[BMW i] is now in ramp-up stage," Froehlich told Reuters. "We call it Project i Next." Project i Next won't abandon the electric car model – but instead, its next EV will feature the next-generation of self-driving technology. This is not the first time we've heard of BMW's autonomous aspirations, but it's the first time we've heard of a new name or designation for the brand. According to Reuters, BMW won't sell its next i-badged EV until 2021 – whether that's the oft-rumored i5 or another vehicle all together remains to be seen. Whatever BMW calls it, driverless tech will be a priority. Froelich added that such a vehicle could allow the company to fire up its own ride-hailing service to challenge Uber and Lyft, and their automotive allies, Toyota and General Motors. BMW is still working on its partnership strategy in that realm, Froelich told Reuters, but the company isn't sitting still – it made a small investment in ride-sharing app Scoop late last month. A raft of electric car competitors – Tesla, obviously, but also Porsche and Audi – and the struggling i3 are forcing BMW i's hand. It only sold 11,000 i3s here in the US last year, and with just 2,272 sold over five months, it's on pace to do less than half that volume in 2016. A Chinese electric startup has also plundered the brand's leadership ranks, Reuters said. Bloomberg claims this startup is Future Mobility Co., which is backed by Foxconn (among others). Just five months into 2016, i has lost the head of its powertrain group, Dirk Abendroth, its VP of product management, Henrik Wenders, and the head of the i8 program, Carsten Breitfeld. Considering these woes, changing gears might be i's best option for long-term viability. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: John Locher / AP Green BMW Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Electric bmw i driverless car klaus froehlich