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DETROIT -- Chrysler Group will launch Fiat-designed diesel engines and dual-clutch transmissions in its North American products, Chrysler said today. The company also will launch its new Pentastar V-6 engine on the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the second quarter of 2010, said Paolo Ferrero, Chrysler powertrain chief. The Pentastar will replace all Chrysler’s V-6 engines, from 2.7-liter to 4.0-liter displacement. The first dual-clutch transmission will appear on a D-segment vehicle at the end of 2010. Also about that time, Chrysler will launch stop-start technology on the Jeep Wrangler. Chrysler did not immediately specify when it would introduce Fiat-derived diesel...

Released on October 28, 2009 (Next Release on November 4, 2009) Changing Distillate Export Patterns Distillate (including diesel) is the second largest petroleum product consumed in the United States, used for everything from fuel for trucks and trains to residential heating and even a small amount of power generation. Although still overshadowed by gasoline consumption within the United States, global trends have been rapidly increasing the demand for distillate. This is causing major changes in the United States’ role in the world distillate market. For many years, the United States was a net importer of relatively small volumes of distillate,...

PDATED (October 2, 2009): Volkswagen has now officially released details on the 2010 Golf TDI. The new model is rated at 30/41 mpg (city/hwy) for the manual transmission and 32/42 mpg with VW’s advanced DSG automatic transmission. The car is priced from $21,990. Noticeably absent from the North American market since 2006, the Volkswagen Golf TDI will return for 2010. The new model was showcased today at the New York Auto Show, along with the high performance GTI (see our review here). There weren’t any standard Golfs on the floor, but we do have info on that model too....

Diesel fuel used to cost less than the more highly refined gasoline. Is there a real reason for this, or is it price gouging? The main reason is rising global demand, but new environmental restrictions and higher federal taxes also are factors. Historically, the price of diesel fuel at the pump actually has been higher than that of regular gasoline more often than it has been lower, as can be seen in this chart, which is based on weekly statistics from the federal Energy Information Administration. Until recently the normal pattern has been for gasoline to cost more than diesel...

Link only due to copyright............. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/10/biodiesel-hybrid-bu/

ARLINGTON, Va. —The Truck Writers of North America (TWNA) announced Detroit Diesel Corporation’s DD15 engine turbo compounding as the winner of its Technical Achievement Award for 2008 during TMC’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 9-12.

We first saw Jay Leno's EcoJet mid-engine turbine coupe at the 2006 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Leno, with General Motors' Design Chief, Ed Welburn, and Frank Saucedo, who heads the automaker's west coast studio, penned the design concept. Leno has both a motorcycle and a pickup truck powered by "jet" turbine engines, so the plan was to create an automobile that would run on a similar powerplant fueled by biodiesel. The EcoJet was initially a static exhibit, but one thing about Jay's Garage is that everything runs. So Jim Hall, Bernard Juchli and the other wizards in the Burbank...

Unless you drive one of its tractors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is an unfamiliar name. That should change as the company enters the U.S. truck market by year’s end. Two Hampton Roads automobile dealers have bought territories: Beach Ford Lincoln Mercury for Suffolk and Cavalier Auto Group for Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. "We really wanted it if we could get the entire market," said Steve Klimkiewicz, vice president of Cavalier Auto Group, which will open showrooms on the site of its wholesale used car store on Military Highway in Chesapeake and in Saturn of Virginia Beach's used car...

The winners: Supermini Fiat 500 Start&Stop £9,700, 113g/km, 58.9mpg Small family car Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe S £17,495, 104g/km, 72.4mpg Family car Toyota Avensis 2.0 D-4D T2 £17,545, 135g/km, 55.4mpg Executive car BMW 318d ES £24,235, 123g/km, 60.1mpg MPV Citroën Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 HDi £19,095, 140g/km, 53.3mpg 4X4 Lexus RX450h SE-L £50,460, 148g/km, 44.8mpg Sports car Mini Cooper S £16,575, 149g/km, 45.6 mpg Luxury car Audi A8 2.8 V6 FSI SE £49,970, 199g/km, 34.0mpg Technology Vauxhall Ampera Editor's award Tesla

It’s rare that we test two-year-old cars, but this particular Accord is rarer—in the U.S., anyway—than burlesque houses in a Texan polygamy camp. Under the hood is a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine. It’s happy as low as 1300 rpm, but power starts at about 1600, with a whopping 251 pound-feet of torque (55 percent more than the current four-cylinder Accord) available at 2000 rpm. There is a nearly imperceptible difference between 70- or 80-percent throttle and flat-footing it, meaning the car feels quick when driven at about 8/10th, but sluggish when it’s really hammered. It took 8.9 seconds to wind the...

Using a separate E85 direct injection boosting system combined with gasoline port fuel injection (PFI) makes the engine more efficient in its use of gasoline, and can be viewed as a more cost-effective alternative to a modern diesel, according to a Ford study presented by Robert Stein, currently of AVL, formerly of Ford, at the SAE 2009 World Congress.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices fell Tuesday as investors respond to the expiration of the May futures contract and ongoing economic concerns. Light, sweet crude for May delivery was down $1.06 to $44.85 a barrel in pre-market, electronic trade in New York. The May contract, which expires Tuesday, tumbled nearly 9% in the previous session. Oil for June delivery was down $3.96 to $48.51 a barrel. Trading is often volatile in the days leading up to the expiration of monthly futures contracts as investors not wishing to take delivery of physical oil roll positions into the front-month contract. Meanwhile,...

Two years ago Imperium Renewables feted U.S. senators and other bigwigs at the opening of a biodiesel plant at the port of Grays Harbor, Wash. The $88 million plant was heralded as a great green hope in the fight against global warming. At the event, Imperium chief executive Martin Tobias dipped his finger in a container of biodiesel and took a taste for the crowd. Imperium's prospects aren't looking so sweet today. The plant at Grays Harbor is sitting idle. Most of Imperium's employees (110 two years ago), including Tobias, have been sent packing. The company has not much to...

($) 1…2…3? With the U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline now above the $2 per gallon mark, many Americans may be wondering if even higher gasoline prices await this summer. Does the surge over $2 per gallon signal a re-run to the $3 level or higher this summer, adding to the budgetary strain already experienced by average consumers? Although future market conditions are highly uncertain, EIA does not see gasoline prices climbing to such levels this year. It does seem likely, however, that gasoline prices will average more than $2 per gallon this summer. On average, prices of crude...

While U.S. gasoline demand (measured as deliveries) ticked up 2 percent for February, perhaps in response to lower prices, February diesel demand plunged 12 percent and jet fuel demand dropped 6.6 percent from a year ago, reflecting the faltering economy, according to API’s Monthly Statistical Report. Overall, total oil-product demand fell 3 percent from a year ago, marking the lowest demand for a February since 1999. With demand off, refinery inputs fell – by 2.9 percent from a year ago – to their lowest February level since 2002. Even so, industry gasoline production averaged over 8.8 million barrels per day,...

Released on March 11, 2009 (Next Release on March 18, 2009) Changing Expectations A lot has changed over the last several months, here in Washington with the new Administration, and across the U.S. and the rest of the world as economic conditions continue to deteriorate. It has been the latter change that has impacted EIA’s short-term global oil market forecast. In the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), just released yesterday, EIA is projecting 2009 global oil demand to be 3 million barrels per day lower than we projected as recently as six months ago, in our September 2008 STEO. Why...

Released on March 4, 2009 (Next Release on March 11, 2009) The Bakken Formation Helps Increase U.S. Proved Reserves of Oil This Week In Petroleum for January 28, 2009 noted that North Dakota had the Nation’s third largest increase in proved reserves of crude oil in 2007, 70 million barrels (17 percent). Most of this increase came from development of the Bakken Formation. What is the Bakken Formation and why does it matter? What is the Bakken Formation? The Bakken Formation contains a major onshore unconventional oil resource in Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan, Canada. It has three distinct layers,...

VW Introduces Fifth Generation Polo; Weight Down, Fuel Consumption Down Volkswagen unveiled the fifth generation of the supermini Polo at the Geneva Motor Show. Despite improvements in all aspects of the car, Volkswagen was able to reduce the Polo’s body weight by 7.5%. The introduction of new TDI and TSI engines, as well as the 7-speed dual clutch transmission (DSG), has resulted in reduced fuel consumption and emissions over a wide range of engine power outputs. As an example, the 1.2 TSI turbocharged four-cylinder direct injection gasoline engine produces 77 kW (103 hp), while consuming 5.5 L/100km (43 mpg US),...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

Are Gasoline and Crude Oil Price Patterns Actually Diverging? Recently, we at EIA have received many inquiries about why gasoline retail prices have been rising compared to the New York Mercantile Exchange’s (NYMEX’s) reported price of crude oil. The national media have also run several prominent stories on this divergence in prices. In particular, EIA’s reported average retail price of regular gasoline in the United States rose from $1.61 to $1.96 between December 29th and February 16th. During the same period, NYMEX’s most reported price for crude oil was volatile, but had no clear upward trend. So what’s going on?...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

BAY MINETTE — Cello Energy sprouted quietly here as a truly homegrown industry. But it won't stay that way, said David Bransby, professor of energy crops and bio-energy at Auburn University. The company has been in startup for about two months, making renewable diesel fuel from tires, hay, straw, wood chips and switchgrass. Full production should begin in March, with a goal of 20 million gallons a year, produced for well under a $1 gallon, company officials said. Created, built and financed by the father-and-son team of Jack and Allen Boykin of Daphne, the company will "shock the world," Bransby...

Diesel prices in many parts of the world should drop below gasoline this summer for the first time since mid-2007 as refinery projects lift output and slumping economies slash transport and manufacturing demand. The expected shift would restore the typical balance between the two fuels, market participants around the world said. Diesel, closely related to heating oil, traditionally has been more costly in the Northern Hemisphere winter but cheaper in the summer when temperatures rise and U.S. gasoline use peaks. "I'd say there's a fairly good chance that we could see gasoline regain its price premium this summer for the...

Refinery Yields “Refinery yield” is the measure analysts use to assess how the breakdown of petroleum products coming from crude or unfinished oils varies over time. Refiners can adjust product yields in response to changing product prices and other market conditions. Yield changes are made by varying how refinery process units are used and the type of crude oil that is used. EIA receives many questions about yields, including how much they may vary, why they add up to greater than 100 percent, and how to estimate yields from weekly data, which does not contain adequate detail to determine refinery...

T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday that he's seeking as much as $28 billion from the economic stimulus plan to convert heavy-duty trucks from diesel to natural gas engines. [...] Pickens' latest lobbying effort comes as congressional Democrats negotiate details of the $800 billion package of tax cuts and government spending. Pickens said he discussed his request Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller. A Pelosi spokesman refused to provide details of the "private conversation." "They, of course, didn't jump up and give me a standing ovation,"...

Mercedes-Benz introduced its new E-Class vehicles in Detroit on the eve of the 2009 North American International Auto Show. The range of engines available for the new E-Class comprises four-, six- and eight-cylinder units with outputs from 100 kW/136 hp to 386 kW/525 hp. The new E-Class models offer reductions in fuel consumption of up to 23% compared to their predecessors The four-cylinder engines are newly developed direct-injection units, which develop a higher output and torque than the comparable V6-engines of the preceding series despite a smaller displacement. The strategy is to replace to replace large, naturally aspirated engines with...

Released on January 14, 2009 (Next Release on January 22, 2009) What a Difference a Year Makes The monthly energy supply, demand, and price forecast published in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) was extended by one year, through December 2010, in the issue released yesterday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Unexpected economic and energy market events will surely arise to upset forecasters’ most carefully considered expectations. We can see how much such events can change expectations by looking at the STEO forecasts for 2009 that were published beginning with the January 8, 2008 edition. In January of last year...

Navistar International Corp., which has been locked in a bitter legal feud with Ford Motor Co. over a longstanding diesel-engine supply contract, said late Tuesday that the two companies have agreed to end their legal dispute – and to terminate Navistar's supply contract three years early. The two companies "benefited from a successful partnership that provided value to both companies for nearly three decades," said Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Ustian. "However, it's in our best interests to resolve our conflict and continue our relationship with each other in other areas." Navistar's contract to supply diesel engines for Ford's heavy-duty...

The Air Car, made by French company MDI, could be launched by Tata Motors in India by 2010-11. Replying to an email query, the French company said, "We will release in France the first cars for the Air France company before June 2009. The cars will be available for the public at the end of 2009." Mumbai-based Tata Motors, India's third biggest car manufacturer had signed a licensing agreement with MDI for manufacturing the car in India. The agreement between the two envisages development and refinement of the technology. The Air Car doesn't require traditional fuel options like petrol, diesel,...

Maximum driving fun with minimal fuel consumption: that's how VW has started car year 2009 by presenting the Concept BlueSport roadster at the North American International Auto Show. "The BlueSport proves to be a compact and passionate car with a clear Volkswagen signature. The car offers pure dynamics with a powerful 134kW Clean Diesel engine that is combined with the characteristic Volkswagen philosophy of efficiency," Volkswagen's board chairman Martin Winterkorn confirmed at the Detroit show. The Concept BlueSport is making its appearance at the car show in Detroit with a Flex Silver exterior and orange fabric convertible top. "It is...

Eleven Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states will cooperate to develop a regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The 11 states—the 10 members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) plus Pennsylvania—will work together to create an emissions-performance standard that will eventually provide incentives for energy providers to use lower-carbon fuels. In June, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick sent a letter to the governors of all 10 RGGI states inviting them to work with Massachusetts on developing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard that would apply to the entire region, creating a larger market for cleaner fuels, reducing emissions associated with global climate change,...

Volvo Cars is introducing an entirely new 2.4-liter 5-cylinder diesel engine in the Volvo S80. Sharing only the D5 badge and the 5-cylinder configuration with the previous generation, the new D5 is Euro-5 compliant and is more efficient than its predecessor. Featuring sequential twin turbochargers, ceramic glow-plugs and piezoelectric fuel injectors, the new engine applied in the S80 delivers 205 hp (153 kW) of power and 420 Nm (310 lb-ft) of torque, with fuel consumption of 6.2 liters/100 km (38 mpg US) and CO2 emissions of 164 g/km. The previous engine generation has undergone constant development in a series of...

Porsche just launched its first modern diesel engine in the Cayenne sport utility vehicle, and the German automaker said when it was first introduced that it was planning on bringing the model to other markets. Considering that the Cayenne is Porsche's best-selling vehicle in India, it's not all that surprising that the oil-burner is slated for an Indian introduction in short order. Even better, according to Car Trade India, "a diesel version of this popular SUV is expected to sell like a hot cake." That sounds good, right? Currently, Cayenne diesels are produced at Porsche's Leipzig factory, and this is...

With the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel impacting costs for automobiles, trucks, buses and the overall economy, a Temple University physics professor has developed a simple device which could dramatically improve fuel efficiency as much as 20 percent. According to Rongjia Tao, Chair of Temple's Physics Department, the small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car's engine near the fuel injector. With the use of a power supply from the vehicle's battery, the device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces its viscosity, so that...

Panel wants fuel taxes hiked to fund highwaysBy JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Updated 04:20 p.m., January 1, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) — A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by a federal commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads. **SNIP** With motorists driving less and buying less fuel, the current 18.4 cents a gallon gas tax and 24.4 cents a gallon diesel tax fail to raise enough to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. **SNIP** A...

There is no sign that California motorists are returning to their gas-guzzling ways even though pump prices have taken a tumble. Third quarter figures just issued show that consumption was down for the 10th consecutive three-month period. That’s a 6.1% decline compared to the same summertime quarter in 2007. That amounts to a quarter-of-a-billion fewer gallons. Diesel consumption fell more than 10 percent for a drop of 84.7 million gallons.

Jaguar is introducing a new 3.0-liter diesel engine—the AJ-V6D Gen III—in two power levels in its XF Diesel S sedan for the European market. The new V6 engine, derived from the 2.7-liter diesel, improves fuel economy by 12% and produces 10% less CO2 (179 g/km) than the 2.7L, while increasing power by 33%. The new 3.0L engines are Euro-5 compliant. The 275PS (271 hp, 202 kW) version delivers 600 Nm of torque, accelerates the sedan from 0-60 mph in 5.9 seconds, and has combined fuel economy of 35 mpg US (42 mpg UK, 6.7 L/100km)—a 12% improvement in fuel economy...

Despite a steep contango in the forward market, a lack of ULSD in tank continues to support European barge premiums with particular tightness in the prompt market, said market sources Wednesday. Platts assessed 10 ppm ULSD barges at $445/mt on Tuesday, representing a premium to ICE gasoil futures of $28/mt. The premium has increased by more than $10/mt in the past week, according to Platts data. Despite an open arbitrage through much of December that attracted significant volumes of diesel from the US Gulf into Europe, there remains a lack of diesel in storage locations in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Amsterdam,...

With Americans pumping less gasoline and predictions that the trend could continue, refiners are taking steps to boost production of diesel fuel, which is expected to be in higher demand around the world in coming years. The moves are helping refiners stay afloat after gasoline profits evaporated in 2008 amid the sharpest pullback in gasoline usage in more than two decades. But they also suggest a broader shift in focus by the nation's refiners, from the U.S.-centered gasoline business to the faster-growing global diesel market. "Clearly, the global emphasis is on diesel right now," said Sherman Glass, president of Exxon...

When a manufacturer expressly tells you that using certain types of fuel in a vehicle will cause damage and using said fuel will void the warranty, it's probably a good idea not to use the fuel in question. The city of Portland, Oregon certainly deserves credit for its aggressive use of biodiesel in its municipal truck fleet. However, if Portland or any other city is going to pursue such a program, they really should make sure the diesel engines in its vehicles are compatible with the fuel. Six of the 50 2008 Ford Super-Duty trucks purchased by Portland have suffered...

A pair of planned, more fuel efficient versions of the Dodge Ram pickup apparently remain as on-track as any program can be said to be in the current Chrysler situation. Our buddy Mike Levine at PickupTrucks.com spoke with Chrysler product development VP Frank Klegon about what's coming for the Ram. In spite of similar programs being canceled or delayed at Toyota, Ford and General Motors, Chrysler is moving ahead with its light duty diesel program. A Cummins diesel expected to displace 5.0L with a V8 configuration that will launch in 2010 - if Chrysler lasts that long. The HEMI V8/two-mode...

HOUSTON (AP) - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest oil refiner, will spend more than $1 billion in the next couple of years to increase its global production of cleaner-burning diesel by about 10 percent, the company said Monday. The announcement comes as many oil producers and refiners scale back spending because of the sharp decline in crude prices, dismal expectations for energy demand in 2009 and tight credit markets that have put many big capital expenditures out of reach.

SACRAMENTO, Calif, Dec 12, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Will Dramatically Cut Largest Source of Deadly Diesel Pollution in State The California Air Resources Board today approved two diesel truck regulations that will dramatically cut the largest source of diesel pollution in the state and are the first of their kind in the United States, according to Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The Air Resource Board estimates that the truck regulations are expected to save 9,400 lives between 2010 and 2025 and greatly reduce health care costs. "In passing these rules, California will continue to lead a nationwide movement to protect...

TransGas Development Systems LLC (TGDS) plans to build a $3B coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in Mingo County, West Virginia, according to company announcement made during the West Virginia Energy Summit. Projected to be operational by 2013, the plant will be built in Mingo County’s new energy park near Gilbert. TGDS estimates the facility will use up to 3 million tons of locally mined coal a year to produce more than 6.5 million barrels of gasoline. TGDS has signed a licensing agreement with Uhde Corporation of America for two 1,000 MWth PRENFLO (PRessurized ENtrained FLOw) gasifiers in the Direct Quench version (PDQ)....

As the owner of a small dump truck business based in Dixon, I was trying to do my part to clean the air we all breathe by replacing my outdated truck with a cleaner model. Because the California Air Resources Board (ARB) is set to vote on a new regulation this December targeting diesel vehicles I wanted to be one step ahead. The proposed rule would impact the almost 1 million trucks and buses used to transport goods and people on California’s roads, highways and farms - including my dump trucks. Starting in 2010, this proposal would require every diesel...

Retrospective Look at Refinery Operations after Hurricanes Thanksgiving is a time for retrospection. While most of us focus on our families, readers of this commentary may also reflect on industry events. Looking back at Hurricanes Gustav and Ike this past September, we are struck by, and can be thankful for, the contrast between these storms and Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in the fall of 2005. While both pairs of hurricanes wreaked tremendous damage, the refining sector and consumers dodged a bullet in 2008. The impacts of these hurricanes are evident in the Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refinery outages shown in...

VW Jetta Clean Diesel Wins! by Green Car Journal Editors 11/20/2008 This is an important time for ‘green cars,’ even amid some of the most challenging times the auto industry has ever seen. The reasons are clear. In many ways, ‘green’ cars represent the future of the auto industry and the products that will enable our mobility in the years to come. It’s no longer an option for automakers to address the efficiency and environmental impact of new models, but rather an imperative. It will become even more so as environmental performance, in all its forms, becomes a greater touchstone...

A fungus found in a Patagonian rainforest could provide an alternative source of biofuel, according to new research. "Many fungi make ethanol, but none to date produce this kind of mixture of diesel hydrocarbons," lead author Gary Strobel, professor of plant sciences and plant pathology at the US-based Montana State University (MSU), told SciDev.Net. A promising aspect of this discovery is that G. roseum produces myco-diesel directly from cellulose-rich products, skipping the fermentation step needed to produce ethanol, he says

If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor (F), known widely for lumbering gas hogs. Ford's 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic goes on sale in November. But here's the catch: Despite the car's potential to transform Ford's image and help it compete with Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC) in its home market, the company will sell the little fuel sipper only in Europe....