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Recharge Wrap-up: Honda FCV Concept comes to Detroit, Toyota seeks young green energy fellows

Honda will bring its FCV Concept to the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January. The hydrogen-powered concept made its Japanese debut in November, and will now make its way to North America for the first time. The FCV concept improves upon the design of the FCX Clarity with a more striking appearance and roomier interior. Its smaller powertrain packaging means more space for people, and the FCV Concept seats five passengers. Honda also expects the next-generation fuel-cell car, which is scheduled to go on sale in Japan in March 2016, to cost less and have a range of over 300 miles. Read more in the press release below. The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive has been awarded an environmental certificate from the TUV Sud technical inspection authority. The certificate is based not just on the vehicle's operation, but the entire lifecycle of the car, including production and recycling. The B-Class Electric Drive produces 24 percent less CO2 over its lifecycle than the Mercedes-Benz B180 when using the EU electricity mix, and 64 percent less when powered by hydroelectricity. Mercedes credits not just the use of electricity, but also the car's energy management system - such as its radar-based regenerative braking - for its carbon reductions. Read more in the press release below. Scania will test a wirelessly charged plug-in hybrid bus in Sweden. Beginning in June 2016, the bus will be put to daily use in Sodertalje. One of its stops will have a wireless charging station where the bus will recharge for six to seven minutes before continuing on its route again. The charger is located under the road surface and the bus positions itself above it to charge inductively. About $1.3 million will come from the Swedish Energy Agency to fund the test project, which could save up to 90 percent of fuel costs. If expanded to a fleet of 2,000 buses, it could save up to 13 million gallons of fuel each year. Read more at Green Car Congress, and in the press release below. Sandia National Laboratories and Linde are teaming up to expand hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The two groups have signed an agreement to research and develop new hydrogen stations, as well as ways to make fuel cell vehicles more desirable for consumers. They are looking at ways to incorporate hydrogen into existing fuel stations where possible, and make sure that it is able to be done safely.

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla firmware update videos, Mercedes S500 Plug-In Hybrid

See the Tesla Model S with Firmware 6.0 in action in new videos from Teslarati. The large software update includes improved traffic-based navigation, a calendar function, updated power management, "Location-Based Smart Air Suspension" as well as other improvements. Drivers get more route options to save energy, and more control over how the car saves energy. The car can also remember ride height settings when driving in those same locations again. Additionally, you can start and drive the car without a key, just using the smartphone app. See how it all works in the videos below, the second of which focuses on pairing with the updated phone app. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has deemed ride-hailing app Uber's carpooling service illegal. The way the UberPool service is categorized by the CPUC, charging multiple riders separate fares for a single ride runs afoul of the law. The technical details are a bit convoluted, and what supporters could deem arbitrary, but Forbes delves into the details a bit further to try to make sense of California's intentions (even considering the possibility of other ride services, such as airport shuttle companies, fueling the fire). Lyft - which operates a similar service called LyftLine - and Sidecar have also received notices from the CPUC. Read more at Forbes. China's recent enthusiasm for electric vehicles could be largely attributed to a single person, Ma Kai. After the Politburo member was named vice premier, he encouraged maintaining and increasing EV subsidies when China sought to decrease them. He also seems ready to fight for more EV deregulation to encourage more clean vehicles. Read more about Ma Kai and what he's done for China's EV legislation at Automotive News. Mercedes-Benz begins deliveries of the S500 Plug-In Hybrid this month. The high-tech luxury PHEV features energy saving modes based on driver, route and traffic, and features a haptic accelerator that can signal when the driver should ease off to save power. It's powered by a biturbocharged V6 and 85-kW electric motor. Its 8.7-kWh battery offers about 20 miles of electric driving. The S500 plug-in starts at about $146,000. Read more in the press release below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Recharge Wrap-up: KillaJoule hits 270 mph; Mercedes B-Class ED gets PlugShare

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive will get its own version of the PlugShare charging-station locator app. Developed by Recargo with the help of Daimler, the vehicle-specific app will be integrated into the car's navigation system. The system maps the location of nearby charging stations from various networks. So far, Mercedes-Benz doesn't offer a universal pay service for the various charging networks, like those offered by BMW and Nissan. Read more at Green Car Reports. HyperSolar uses solar energy to make hydrogen from water. Without using electrolyzers, HyperSolar uses a photochemical process to separate and capture the hydrogen in the water, which can then be used for clean energy, such as automotive fuel cells. The solar devices are submerged in water inside a container, and sunlight powers the device to free the hydrogen. HyperSolar claims that its process is more efficient and cost effective than other methods used to produce hydrogen from water. See some demonstrations in the videos below and learn more at HyperSolar's website. Eva Hakansson drove the KillaJoule electric motorcycle to a top speed of 270.224 miles per hour. After a computer model showed a possibility of about 270 mph, the team took the motorcycle with sidecar out to the salt flats for Mike Cook's Shootout. Everything went smoothly, and Hakansson easily surpassed speeds of the 249.1-mph world record she set a few weeks ago. The team is calling it quits for the season, but will make some tweaks to the KillaJoule in hopes of getting 300 mph out of the red bullet next year. Read more at KillaCycle Racing, or at Business Insider. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.