Green

Recharge Wrap-up: new biodiesel ad campaign, Tesla Powerwall savings calculator

Tesla Buyers in Tianjin, China Get Free License Plate

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces Powerwall
Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces Powerwall / Image Credit: Tesla Motors
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The National Biodiesel Board has launched a new ad campaign and website touting the benefits of the fuel. The campaign includes television, digital and print ads promoting biodiesel as a low-carbon, renewable fuel. The new website focuses on informing visitors about biodiesel, and offers individual video stories from users, producers and suppliers around the country. "Biodiesel shows that forward-looking energy initiatives work to promote new ideas and innovation that deliver results," says, National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. "We have a lot to be proud of and want to showcase to leaders in Washington and around the nation the environmental, economic, and energy benefits biodiesel brings right to their communities." Check out the new biodiesel website and read more at Farm Futures.

Tesla customers in Tianjin, China will get a free license plate when they purchase a Model S. This allows owners to bypass the bidding system and costly fees Tianjin has in place to limit the number of vehicles on the road. The waiver, usually only available to electric vehicles made in China, is being extended to an imported car for the first time. Tianjin is home to one Tesla store and service center, one Supercharger, and 12 public Tesla wall chargers. Read more at Car News China.

A new cost calculator helps customers find out if the Tesla Powerwall battery will save them money. Users can input the price of the battery and installation, price of electricity, amount of energy storage, inverter efficiency and a couple other fields, and it will show how much you'll save (or spend) over the life of the battery. The baseline values are for the average German customer, which shows the customer basically breaking even over 10 years. With the prices of energy sold back to the grid in the US being less than that of Germany, the economic benefits aren't yet there for Americans. Of course, the value of clean energy, backup power and being an early adopter are still on offer. Read more at Green Car Reports, and check out the calculator at Catalytic Engineering.

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