The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded over $175 million over the next three to five years to accelerate advanced vehicle technologies such as better fuels and lubricants, lighter weight materials and cheaper electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The funding will support 40 projects across 15 states that aim to improve the fuel efficiency of next generation vehicles.
The cost-shared projects will result in over $300 million in investments.
The awards announced today focus on eight approaches to improving vehicle efficiency:
- Advanced fuels and lubricants: 8 projects will improve fuels and lubricants to enable optimal performance of advanced combustion engines.
- Light-weighting materials: 5 projects will accelerate commercial availability of lighter weight vehicles using advanced materials that dramatically reduce vehicle weight while maintaining the highest safety standards.
- Light weight multi-material prototype: 2 projects will design, build, and test a light-weight vehicle that’s 50% lighter than a baseline light-duty vehicle. These projects are part of the Clean Energy Dialogue with Canada.
- Advanced cells and design technology for electric drive batteries: 12 projects will develop high energy or high power batteries for EVs that significantly exceed existing state-of-the-art technologies in terms of performance and/or cost.
- Advanced power electronics and electric motor technology: 4 projects willl develop next generation power inverters and electric motors to meet demanding performance targets while achieving significant cost reductions.
- Thermoelectric and enabling engine technology:
3 projects will improve the efficiency of thermoelectric devices to convert engine waste heat to electricity. In September, projects will be selected to develop early-stage enabling engine technologies that improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. - Fleet efficiency: 5 projects will develop and demonstrate fuel efficient tire and driver feedback technologies that improve efficiency of the passenger car and commercial fleet.
- Advanced vehicle testing and evaluation: 1 project will conduct lab and field tests of advanced technology vehicles and related infrastructure, while developing new or modified test procedures.
Read the full list of award winners here (pdf).
Last month, the President announced historic fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks which will bring fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon by model year 2025.
Earlier this week, the White House announced first-of-their-kind fuel-efficiency standards for work trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles, which will save American businesses who operate and own these commercial vehicles approximately $50 billion in fuel costs over the life of the program.
‘Billion-Ton’ Study Highlights Opportunities in Bioenergy
The US could produce a billion dry tons of biomass resources annually for energy uses without impacting other vital U.S. farm and forest products, such as food, feed, and fiber crops, according to a DOE study.
The study provides county-level data and includes analyses of current US feedstock capacity and the potential for growth in crops and agricultural products for clean energy applications.
For example, with continued developments in biorefinery capacity and technology, the feedstock resources identified could produce about 85 billion gallons of biofuels – enough to replace approximately 30% of the nation’s current petroleum consumption, the report says.
The findings suggest that increases in biomass-derived energy sources can be produced in a sustainable manner through the use of widely-accepted conservation practices, such as no-till farming and crop rotation.
DOE notes that biofuels crops would be environmentally beneficial. For example, removing tree portions that are unfit for market in the forest industry can reduce forest fire risk, and planting energy crops on marginal lands can reduce soil erosion.
The baseline scenario in the report shows that biomass resources could be increased from a current 473 million dry tons annually to nearly 1.1 billion dry tons by 2030, under a conservative set of assumptions about future increases in crop yield.
Read the full study:
Loading...