DOE and USCAR Invest $195 Million to Develop Energy-Efficient Vehicles

DOE and USCAR Invest $195 Million to Develop Energy-Efficient Vehicles

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman and leaders of the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) recently announced an agreement that could reach $125 million over five years to develop advanced high-performance batteries for electric, hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicle applications.

"Industry, government and academic partnerships like the ones announced today are key to securing our nation’s energy future," Bodman said. "Energy-efficient technologies that will result from our work have the potential to significantly help American families by reducing fuel costs and preserving our environment."

The new $125 million agreement is set for three years, with two one-year continuing options in which the government and industry will share the costs of research. Combined with the $70 million agreement initially signed in May (to develop lightweight, high-strength materials that increase fuel efficiency through a reduction of vehicle weight), this brings the total joint investments in vehicle technologies to a potential $195 million over the next five years.

As part of the new agreement, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) FreedomCAR Program and USCAR’s U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) will split the cost of research and development for a number of new battery materials and technologies that have the potential to increase energy storage and charge/discharge performance, improve durability and reliability and reduce cost.

The DOE/USCAR partnership has been ongoing for more than 10 years. One of its major accomplishments has been the development of the nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery technology used in all current, commercially available, light-duty hybrid electric vehicles. In addition, USABC is pursuing the development of advanced lithium ion systems. This emerging technology offers the promise of compact, longer-life, high power and high energy batteries for electric, hybrid-electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.

Published 08/05/2005