Endesa, a Spanish-based (Italian-owned) utility company will be soon distributing to its customers in Santiago Chile an EV car. The model, the Reva EV (which we tried in Barcelona last year) hasn't been much of a big seller in most of Europe (40 units in Spain) so the distribution via the own utility company in Latin America seems quite a good deal. The Reva is currently going through homologation procedures throughout Latin America, except Argentina. Endesa's subsidiary in Latin America, CAM, will not only sell the Reva but will also create charging stations once enough models are sold. Details about how the cars will be sold/leased are yet unknown.

[Source: Endesa via Econoticias]

85 liters of ethanol per each tonne (metric) of sugarcane harvested. This is the output of a standard sugarcane ethanol plant. As we know, 45 percent of Brazilian fuel needs are covered by ethanol. Of course, what once was thought as the easy solution to replace fossil fuels is now being blamed for a dramatic rise in food prices (or not), by as much as 86 percent. However, we found an article that states that only one feedstock has maintained prices since 2006: sugarcane.

Then there are the surface constraints. UNICA (the Brazilian association of sugarcane producers) states that only 1 percent of Brazil's agricultural land is used to produce ethanol, yet it supplies 45 percent of the country's fuel needs. UNICA also says that there's about seven times more land available from rough surfaces that can't be used for anything else, not to mention that they can plant different species of sugarcane which produce throughout the year.

Therefore UNICA's answer is "yes," ethanol is still a good alternative

[Source: El Mundo via Madrid+d]

Fourth of July equals fireworks, parades and, if the Brazilian sugarcane growers - represented by UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association - get their way, a reduced or eliminated ethanol import tariff. UNICA is calling on the U.S. Congress to eliminate the 54-cent tariff on each imported gallon of ethanol. Doing so, they argue, would reduce the cost of using cars for U.S. drivers as UNICA's "Are We There Yet?" campaign will try to prove. After all, UNICA says, the ethanol tariff is a relic from 1980 and was never meant to be permanent anyway.

UNICA's website, which features the oh-so-subtle graphic seen above, doesn't highlight how badly American ethanol producers would be hurt by letting Brazilian ethanol flow more cheaply in U.S. pumps. Still, if cheaper gas is the result, then I'm sure not many drivers will really care where their fuel comes from (see also *cough* Wal-Mart *cough* China). Read more after the jump.

[Source: UNICA]

Brazil's best-selling vehicle just got a complete makeover, but just about all we know of it is the picture you see above. The Volkswagen Gol (not Golf) has sold more than five million units in Brazil and an additional million outside. Built over the PQ24 platform, which is shared with the current Polo and Fox, the new Gol now adopts transversally-mounted engines, the same as the ones fitted to the Fox: the 1.0-litre and the 1.6-litre EA-111 VHT, which are both flex-fuel. Rumors say that the signature 1.4 TDI used in Europe could also be fitted to the car, but there's no confirmation of this yet. VW's main target is to make the Gol a low-cost global car, like the Fiat Palio or the Dacia/Renault/Nissan Logan. Expect to see it in South America, Iran, India and Eastern Europe.

[Source: Worldcarfans]

When we mention Brazil, we're usually speaking about their aggressive ethanol (alcoól) policy or their availability of flex-fuel cars. But today we're speaking about a creative proposition: The Brazilian Câmara dos Deputados is discussing a bill which will make planting trees mandatory as a means of paying fees for certain legal proceedings. Which ones? Getting married, getting a divorce, buying a new car or trading estate.

For example, if you want to get married, you would have to pay to plant 10 trees (25 if you later need a divorce). When purchasing a car, you would need to plant 20 trees, 40 if it's a light-duty van or 60 if it's a heavy vehicle. When trading estate, 10 trees would be required to sell a house, 20 to sell a business.

The idea is that all these activities harm the environment and so we should give something back. The law aims to recover the rainforest and offset the country's carbon emissions. Conservative estimates from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics calculate that about 65 million trees would be planted per year under the proposed rules.

[Source: Globo]

If you live in a major city on just about anywhere on the planet and had reason to be out and about Saturday afternoon you may have noticed a large group of cyclist causing traffic chaos. It wasn't only that they were on a large group ride, in many cases carrying signs protesting pollution and promoting cycling, they were also naked. Yup. Nuda. Divested of apparel. Disrobed. Attired in only their birthday suits.

Apparently, June 7th was the fourth annual "World Naked Bike Ride Day" according to the official (NSFW) website. (There's also a safer wiki.) While we aren't sure if the ride was effective in helping end "indecent exposure to vehicle emissions," we are pretty sure lots of people enjoyed the happening and are already looking forward to next year's edition of this increasingly popular event. One last thing, if you do want to bicycle naked, do it as part of an organized effort and not solo in Oklahoma.

[Source: worldnakedbikeride.org / enjoy your bicycle.de]

Up to three percent of the energy needs of Latin America and the Caribbean could be covered by biofuels in 2018. This is the main finding of a report published by the Organizacion Latinoamericana de Energia (Olade, Latin America Energy Organisation) that was presented during the 3rd Biofuel Latinamerican and Caribbean Summit held in the Dominican Republic. Latin America's main biofuel producer is Brazil (no surprise there), a country that produced 3.25 billion m³ of biofuels last year. Using the most recent figures available (from 2006), the study found that Colombia came in a distant second with 165,000 m³ and then Costa Rica, which produced just 25,000 m³. Paraguay, with 34,000 m³, came in fourth.

[Source: Agroinformacion]

Click above for more pictures of the Nach One 2.0

There are plenty of ways to improve the efficiency of a given vehicle, many of which don't involve modifying the engine in any way. Aerodynamics and rolling resistance can offer huge gains as does reducing the weight of the vehicle. This is the route taken by a new company in Argentina known as Bravo Motor Company. After creating its first concept vehicle, the Nach One, last year, Miguel Angel Bravo is now showing off version 2.0. Argentina Auto Blog (no relation) got the scoop on the new vehicle, which is to be powered by a one-hundred horsepower engine as standard with a one-hundred-fifty horsepower version optional. The engine is located at the rear of the vehicle. Weight is kept low by using plastic components, namely bodywork of polyethylene along with translucent polycarbonate for the clear dome overhead. Normal laminated glass will be used for the windshield, though. This is an interesting concept to be sure, and we'll try to keep an eye on it in case of any further developments. Check out the video pasted after the break. Thanks for the tip, Carlos!


[Source: Argentina Auto Blog]

We're not 100 percent sure what "verified sustainable ethanol" means to everyone, but we do know that Swedish ethanol company SEKAB has worked hard to define the term. In fact, SEKAB is claiming to be the first in the world to supply this type of ethanol, which is made from Brazilian sugarcane and "is quality assured from environmental, climate and social perspectives."

How does SEKAB make this claim? By assuring that the Brazilian producers develop sustainability criteria for the entire lifecycle of the ethanol, from field to fuel tank. With Brazil's questionable labor practices in the ethanol fields (denied by some), SEKAB's criteria include:

• Zero tolerance for child labour, non-organised working conditions (slave labour) and the destruction of rain forests. There are also requirements concerning working conditions, labour laws and wages.
• Harvesting is to be at least 30 per cent mechanised today and this will increase to 100 per cent by 2014.
• In terms of the climate, the demands will result in a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from farming, production and transport by at least 85 per cent compared with gasoline.

The sustainable ethanol will begin showing up in Swedish pumps in August. We've posted the company's release after the jump; it's also available as a PDF.

For the first time, sugarcane ethanol was a more important energy source for Brazilians (16 percent) than hydroelectricity (14.7 percent). This makes ethanol Brazil's second most-used energy source, right after oil-derived products. The U.S. still produces and consumes a lot of ethanol, with 23.7 percent of America's corn production used to make the biofuel. While these two countries a happily sipping the yellow fuel, the European Union had only a moderate ethanol increase in 2007. Less ethanol was produced in the EU last year, although the difference was compensated by Brazilian imports. Nevertheless, France almost doubled production (up to 578 million liters), which made it the most important European producer, ahead of Germany (394 million liters) and Spain (348 million liters).

[Source: Agra via Energías Renovables]

Brazil is going to try really hard to convince the world that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is just great. The Latin American giant is about to start what they're calling a "diplomatic offensive" that will culminate in a World Biofuels Summit from November 17th to 21th in São Paulo.

According to André Caranha Correa, Chancelor's Director of Energy, there isn't enough information out there on Brazilian ethanol. First of all, Correa said, it should be excluded from the world rise of feedstocks. He also said that Brazil started working with ethanol in 1975 after the 1973 oil crisis, so it's a well-known and proven technology / solution. He compared sugarcane with USA's corn-based ethanol, saying the U.S. fuel could affect food prices. He insisted that ethanol is more environmental friendly than gasoline, even denying that the Amazon forest was being destroyed to produce sugarcane (maybe not, but don't forget this). As for the poor work conditions we've heard about, Correa said that these were completely against Brazilian legislation and that the Goverment was performing routine inspections to put an end to the dreadful situations.

Why is Brazil doing this? Remember that Brazil is fighting to export its ethanol into the EU. The "diplomatic offensive" aims to respond to all kind of attacks and defend the sustainability of this biofuel.

[Source: Agencia EFE via Econoticias]

We are not crazy: The image above is Greenpeace Argentina's way to protest against the country's efforts to produce soy-based biodiesel. The activist group took a Mercedes ML and a Porsche Cayenne and made them look like bulldozers to illustrate the idea that soy biodiesel destroys native forests and pollutes more than might be expected by most people. The two SUVs featured German flags, because not only these two cars belong to German brands, but because most of Argentina's soy product is exported to the Bundesrepublik.

[Source: Argentinaautoblog (Thanks to Carlos for the tip)]

Some countries believe that their development expectations can be improved if they switch from oil-based fuels to biofuels. Such is the case of Colombia, a country that has just received the support of the United States to produce biofuel to satisfy some of the country's energy needs. Gregory Manuel, from the U. S. State Department, stated that part of the $1 billion program the U.S. is investing in biofuels includes estabilishing partnerships with nations such as Brazil and Colombia. Speaking to the recent flare-up of criticism against biofuels, Manuel said that the reason for high food prices is not biofuels but bad logistics. According to his figures, only four percent of the world's grain production goes to biofuels.

Colombia's target is to produce sugarcane for ethanol in about 1 million ha, and palm trees for biodiesel in 2 million ha. The Colombian government also said that it will be extremely careful to avoid certain communities to become dependent on only one crop, and keeping the Paramilitary forces and the Narcos out of the biofuel industry.

[Source: EFE via Econoticias]

British Petroleum is acquiring a 50 percent stake in Tropical BioEnergia SA, a Brazilian company that's currently building a new ethanol plant in Edéia, Goias State, Brazil and planning a second plant. The new plant will have a capacity of 115 million gallons of ethanol a year from sugarcane. The combined investment in the two plants will be approximately $1 billion. Tropical BioEnergia SA is already a joint venture between Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group and the two original partners will each maintain a 25 percent stake in the company. BP is paying $60 million for its share.

The first refinery should start operations in the second half of this year and should hit full capacity in 2010. Supplies from the plants will be targeted at the domestic Brazilian market and could eventually be exported. The plants will both feature cogeneration capabilities using leftover materials after the sugar cane is crushed. The two plants are each expected to have 30MW of surplus electricity that they can sell in addition to the ethanol.

[Source: BP]

Although The Great Race has been postponed due to the recall of travel permits through China, the show will go on. According to the official website, "Great Race Sports owners, executives and participants are dedicated to honoring the history of this illustrious race." We think that the race, assuming it does take place, could gather a great deal of attention the world over. We've been keeping an eye on the race with posts on the E85-powered 1967 Aston Martin DB6 that will take part and other ethanol participants. This bears watching.

Vroom on to Number 2.