About a year ago, Maxwell Technologies told the world about the Chinese government using its ultracapacitors in various official vehicles. Another July brings another announcement, and so we learn that the city of Milan, Italy will soon be using Maxwell's ultracap modules in its hybrid and electric buses. The 125-volt BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor modules will store energy from the bus' brakes and then spit it back out for torque assist when the driver steps on the accelerator. Overhead electric lines or a diesel generator will supply the rest of the energy needed to move the public transit vehicles. Milan has ordered 70 buses from Vossloh Kiepe and Van Hool and will soon take deliver of the first 15. More details after the break.

[Source: Maxwell Technologies Inc.]

We have spoken quite a lot about Low Emission Zones (LEZ) in Europe. The most well-known is the one in Central London, but we have also reported about Milan's and some German cities as well. If you want to see all of these areas at a glance, you can check this multilingual website, which includes an interactive map that includes each zone with descriptions. The website also has a very good definition of what LEZ are: "areas where the most polluting vehicles are restricted from entering an area. This means that vehicles are banned, or in some cases charged, if they enter the LEZ when their emissions are over a set level." According to the website, 28 European cities and a highway already run a LEZ scheme, while 33 will introduce it this year and five more are coming some time later.

[Source: Low Emission Zones]

As our readers know, Milan created a pollution tax system (called EcoPass) to stop highly-polluting cars from driving inside a section of the city center. One month after its introduction, la Reppublica has published a very encouraging article (in Italian) that details all the positive things the measure has brought for the Milanese. The article is very thorough, speaking about lots of indicators, but we'll just highlight the most important ones.

First of all, traffic figures are down by 22.7 percent, or by 26.7 percent if you exclude public transport vehicles (buses and taxis). This had the side benefit of increasing the average speed of the vehicles that do remain by 11.3 percent. The figures for the subway train lines (Metropolitana) went also up, with more people (9.1 percent more) using it to access the city center.

The highest reduction in car usage came from the most polluting cars (those under the Euro I, II and III norms), which have to face higher prices to access the zone: the number of these cars dropped by 40 percent.

Maybe the most remarkable figure is the measurement of the quantity of certain pollutants. Pm10 (particulates under 10 micrograms) were down by 26 percent, NOx was down by 21 percent and ammonia by 40 percent.

Lastly, the Comune (city hall) also got 2.5 million EUR of additional income.

Cities such as London, Toronto, Singapore and Stockholm have similar measures. Other places, such as Berlin, Cologne and Hannover, have decided to completely ban the most polluting cars.

[Source: La Repubblica (h/t to Karl-Uwe for the tip) - Link is in Italian]

Owning a polluting car has become expensive for drivers in Milan. With the new year, a new rule by Milan's City Council is charging cars a fee based on the EU's pollution levels. With this measure, the City Hall expects to drastically reduce the smog levels in the city center by almost a third which is a big deal, as Milan is considered one of Europe's 10 most polluted cities. The plan is expected to last for one year and won't affect mopeds, motorbikes, alternative fuel vehicles (LPG, CNG, hybrids or electrics), gasoline engines falling under Euro III or IV rules or diesels under Euro IV with a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter).

The scheme, called "Ecopass", is based on five levels depending on the vehicle engine. It will cost anywhere between two and 10 EUR to drive in the center, a designated area of about 8 km² (3 sq mi), pictured above. Cameras at 43 electric gates will monitor traffic and violators will be hit with fines that start at 70 EUR. The City Hall expects to generate 24 million EUR revenue which will be used for buses, bicycle paths and green vehicles.

With this charge, Milan is joining cities such as London, Toronto, Singapore and Stockholm, which all have similar measures. Other places, such as Berlin, Cologne and Hannover, have decided to completely ban the most polluting cars.

[Source: Reuters and Ecomilano, h/t to Karl-Uwe for the tip]