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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla's Europe plans, Chevy Bolt details

Hybrid Cars takes a close look at the battery cooling system and gearbox in the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt. While information is still limited, we can make educated guesses about the car's inner workings. The Bolt's liquid battery cooling system appears simpler than that of the Chevy Volt, eschewing active inter cell cooling plates for what appear to be bottom cooling plates. The Bolt has a coaxial gearbox, with the electric motor and the drive shaft on the same axis. It uses a simpler parallel-helical gear set rather than the planetary reduction set used in the Chevy Spark EV. These simplifications have the benefit of helping lower the cost of the Bolt. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Tesla is planning to expand its Supercharger network in Europe in 2016. While a handful of countries in western and central Europe have an established Supercharger network, many European countries still have no Tesla presence. That should change this year, as a map of planned locations includes Spain and Portugal, Ireland, Scandinavian and Italian expansions, and the first Superchargers in many eastern European nations, including Poland, the Balkans, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and even Moldova. By the end of the year, you should be able to take that electric road trip from Lisbon to Moscow you never knew you were planning. Read more at Teslarati. National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe sat down for an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. In the interview, Jobe discusses biodiesel's environmental impact and relationship with the fuel market. He talks about its production, and its differences from the other major biofuel, ethanol. Jobe says the biggest challenge is dealing with the petroleum industry, which biodiesel needs to work with despite their differences. "It's a threat when you have the largest, wealthiest most powerful industry in human history making it a top priority to eliminate policy that is aimed at helping incentivize renewable energy," says Jobe. Read more from the Tampa Bay Times. Related Gallery 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV: Detroit 2016 View 10 Photos News Source: Hybrid Cars, Teslarati, Tesla Motors, Tampa Bay Times Green Chevrolet Tesla Alternative Fuels Biodiesel Electric recharge wrapup

There are still 6,000 first-gen Chevy Volts on dealer lots

The next-gen 2016 Chevrolet Volt looks to be a pretty fantastic vehicle with more electric driving range, better fuel economy than its predecessor, and a lower starting price. However, if you're looking for a deal, the 2015 model of the plug-in hybrid might not be a bad place to check because Chevy has a ton of them to get rid of. According to The Detroit Free Press, there are around 6,000 examples of the 2015 Volts that are still sitting on dealer lots. That might not sound like a lot, but Chevy only sold 905 of them in April and 2,779 through that month in 2015. It moved 18,805 of the PHEVs for all of 2014. Buyers are in a pretty good spot to haggle at the moment, too, with the a new Volt right around the corner. According to The Detroit Free Press based on TrueCar figures, the current average closing price for a 2015 model is $30,607 before any federal or state tax credits. You can also lease one for 39 months for $299 a month and $1,649 due at signing. In April, Chevy was reportedly offering customers 2.9-percent financing for 48 months and leases with no money down for buyers trading in a vehicle from a competitor. Of course, there's also always the option to buy a pre-owned example. Just a few months ago, prices for used Volts were reportedly as low as $13,000 at auction.

Recharge Wrap-up: Panasonic, Tesla on Gigafactory deal?

Bentley has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard for reductions of carbon, water use and waste production in manufacturing. The Carbon Trust is an organization that helps groups such as businesses and governments reduce carbon emissions, use of energy and resources, and waste output. From 2011 to 2013, Bentley reduced CO2 emissions by 16 percent per car manufactured, curtailed water use by 35.7 percent, and saw significant waste reductions. Darran Messem of Carbon trust says, "Bentley is clearly passionate about continuing to improve its environmental performance, which is reflected by the fact the company has consistently invested in new technology." Read more in the press release below. Chevrolet is giving 12 Volts to MBAs Across America. The organization will use the range-extended electric cars in its efforts to help MBA students learn from and work with small business owners. As part of the MBAs Across America program's first year, four students drove 8,000 miles to provide entrepreneurs with free business counseling. The program has expanded, and this year, teams of MBAs will use the Volts to travel to 25 cities to offer their services. Learn more about the partnership between Chevrolet and MBAs Across America in the press release below. A professor from the University of Michigan has found fuel cycle analysis to be too flawed to be relied upon for measuring CO2 impacts of transportation fuels. Professor John DeCicco of the university's Energy Institute feels that the flaws in calculating the carbon footprint of liquid fuel production and combustion make such lifecycle analysis impractical. He suggests, instead, to focus to carbon capture. Since capturing CO2 directly from a vehicle is probably never going to happen, DiCicco believes the solution is to capture carbon from the atmosphere in sectors outside of transportation. Says DiCicco, "Research should be ramped up on options for increasing the rate at which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and on programs to manage and utilize carbon fixed in the biosphere, which offers the best CO2 removal mechanism now at hand. Such strategies can complement measures that control the demand for liquid fuels by reducing travel activity, improving vehicle efficiency and shifting to non-carbon fuels." Read more at Green Car Congress. Global transportation energy consumption is expected to increase by 25.4 percent by 2035, according to a report by Navigant Research.